Peru trip - Cusco

From the get go, Cusco has it all. It is a picturesque place cradled into the surrounding mountains with many historical buildings dating back from the colonial era, the Inca artifacts having been demolished by the Spaniards and their jigsaw puzzle wall “recycled” into cathedrals.

The city, which is on the Unesco World Cultural Heritage list, is half a million strong, quite large for a tourist resort town, and spreads its neighborhoods all around its surrounding hilltops. We first explored the city on our own and fell under its charm. In the afternoon, we did the official tour with our Belgian friends.

The tour took us to the Koricancha Temple, an old Incan palace and main center for the worship of the sun god, Inti. Once the Spanish conquered Peru, the Dominican order built Santo Domingo, a spectacular church over this temple’s foundations.

We followed with the the Main Square, and then the adventure continued at the Sacsayhuaman Fortress (pronounced “sexy woman”) built of enormous stone blocks expertly carved to fit like a perfect jigsaw puzzle, Inca stule, these ruins were strategically located at the top of a hill overlooking the city of Cusco and offering a superb view of the city.

Unfortunately, half-way into the tour, we got drenched by a sudden rain shower! In spite of this, the tour continued with visits to three archaeological sites: Qenko, Puca-Pucara, and Tambomachay, that all were important religious and administrative centers for the Incas. Finally we visited an art workshop named Inkas Expresion, presenting silversmith and wood painting artists.

At night, we returned to our hotel in Cusco, the Quinta San Blas, steps from the center of town and run to perfection by Sandra, its manager. In the evening we discovered the “Cicciolina”, a terrific tapas bar that far exceeded our expectations. That night, we were almost through with our altitude-sickness problems and slept much, much better!