Weekend in Cuzco

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I decided it was time to investigate Cuzco (the largest (and only) city near/in the sacred valley). I took the bus on Saturday morning to Uru and then on to Cuzco. The buses here are pretty unique... they pack as many people on as possible, then shove in an extra 3 or so before slamming the doors. The buses always wait until the last possible moment to leave, so by that time, there are normally several grumpy men calling 'vamos' (pronounced 'Bammoss'), 'lets go'. Occasionally people also bring sheep and various other animals onto the buses. 2 to 3 hours of Peruvian Bus experience later, I arrive in Cuzco.

I met up with Alex (who I know from the Year In Industry 'Certificate in Management Course') and Anna... and we spent most of the day wandering around Cuzco. We found a nice two course lunch for 8 Soles (£1.25 ish!)... and then looked around Cuzco some more.

In the evening, we found a really decent three course meal, in a fairly posh looking place for 20 soles (less than £4). I had an Alpaca Steak, recommended. Seriously, everything here is 'Alpaca'... or so I'm told. Myself and Alex set out to explore Cuzco by night, and managed to find a few 'free drink' offers. Many bars do this to try and entice tourists to spend the evening there. Walking around the Plaza at night you get overwhelmed by Peruvians trying to get you to come into their venues! Later on we met Elissa, an American girl who had been on the TAPA language course... and at some point we all bought 'woolen animal finger puppets'. A good night was had by all.

On Sunday morning, there was some sort of Peruvian national parade going on around the Plaza de aramas which I watched for a while. There was also a big football match between Cuzco and a team from Lima due to happen in the afternoon... and a huge procession of Cuzco fans spent all morning going around the city, waving flags and chanting.

Later on I took a bus to 'Pisaq' to visit the legendary Pisaq market. It´s pretty big, as markets go. It mostly consists of the tourist stalls, but there are also locals trading food and necessaries. I´ve noticed that all the markets, street sellers and tourist shops seem to sell essentially the same gear... the standard Andean hats, socks, and scarfs, chess sets are another favourite!

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Photos

Street in Olly
This red ´flag´ means 'we sell chicha', the local brew. You see them everywhere.