Postcards from Peru: Cusco (4)

Peru: Itinerary (1)
Peru: Lima and coastal Peru (2)
Peru: Amazon (3)

Cusco… how do I even start to explain all that this city stands for? A city so deeply steeped in culture and history, and a true testament to the human spirit—the determination and ingenuity of the Incas to build a civilisation at such incredible heights, more than 3,000 metres up in the immense Andes, with their own unique way of life - their unique traditions of farming, weaving, art, worship, architecture, and so much more.

Peru had been on my list of places to visit since I was a teenager. Mostly for Machu Picchu. But as our trip got closer, I started reading about the Andean civilisations, and I think I became more excited about visiting Cusco and the Sacred Valley, than the world famous Machu Picchu.

Traditional dresses

I had started reading the book, ‘The Conquest of the Incas’ by John Hemming before the trip. Leaving the whole colonialism aspect of it aside, just reading about the majestic valleys of the Andes and the traditions of the Incas had piqued my curiosity immensely, on how the world I had read about for months would actually look like. All the names of places I had read so many times - the magnificent capital of Cusco, the mighty fortress of Sacsayhuaman, the sun temple of Qorikancha, the town of Ollantaytambo, the terraces of Pisac, the Sacred Urubamba valley, the last stronghold of the Incas in the Amazon at Vilcabamba - all these names now held a meaning for me. And I was curious to see what stories they would tell me when I meet them.

And I was not disappointed. I wasn't able to visit all these places on my trip. And most of the Incan grandeur I had read about had been destroyed 500 years ago already. But what I found was still incredible. Cusco was still alive, its Incan heritage still beating. And I enjoyed the few days I was there, trying to explore and uncover this Incan heart, long challenged by Spanish colonisers, but which is still intact.

Cusco from above

From Puerto Maldonado, we flew to the Andes, to the town of Cusco. We stayed 2 nights in Cusco initially to acclimatise to the high altitude. Then we were off on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu for 5 days. After coming back from there, we stayed for 2 more nights in Cusco, taking a train to Puno after. In Cusco, we mostly walked around, shopped, ate, acclimatised, joined the festivities and mostly soaked in the Incan sights and atmosphere. 


Getting to Cusco

Flying over the Andes

The flight from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco was a short one, just 30 mins. It flew first over dense green forests, interrupted sometimes by wide meandering rivers and once in a while by a solitary road. And then we were flying over the Andes. As we got closer to Cusco, we saw many villages down in the valleys, spread along these valleys and also along the mountainside. And then Cusco appeared, a huge city spread out all along the Huatanay valley. And it was a beautiful sight landing there.


Cusco

Tika Wasi Casa hotel

For the first two nights, we were staying at the Tika Wasi Casa hotel which was up along the mountainside on the same hill as the Incan fort of Sacsayhuaman. The hotel was a cute little place, with a hammock in its garden (my favourite spot on this Peruvian trip), and a sweeping view of the city of Cusco. It was within the Cusco Centro Historico and within walking distance to Plaza de Armas and all the other sights to visit.

El Balcon hotel

The last two days after coming back from the Salkantay trek, we were staying at a different hotel, the El Balcon, near the Plaza. The building was in an old colonial design, with a nice green garden in between. It didnt have a view of Cusco though, as it was in the flat valley in the centre. It felt like in a residential area with lots of small gardens and squares around.

Cusco is located at a height of 3,400 metres, a height at which the human body has difficulty breathing due to a lower oxygen content. So we had kept the first 2 days for acclimatisation to the high altitude conditions, planning to just walk around and not exert much while we got used to thinner air. Still there was so much walking up and down involved, it was tiring. So we slept and rested a lot during this period while also exploring the town a bit.

We drank a lot of coca tea (every few hours). It's made by adding coca leaves to hot boiling water, and letting the flavour seep in. It is said to help with the high altitude. Locals generally chew the leaves on a daily basis, while tourists prefer to have the easier to drink tea version. It took me a while to develop a taste for it, but once I did, I was a regular. It also was very welcome given how cold the evenings got there. We also bought some coca candy for Cusco as well as the Salkantay trek later. It did help, but we still rested a lot more when walking around during the first few days. Also, it was difficult for me to fall asleep the first few days because of the thin air too.

For the next few days we explored Cusco, mostly around the historic centre, its lanes, its architecture, the food, the shopping and the overall feel. And also getting used to the mountain air. We did visit some historical sights like Cristo Blanco, the Convent of Santo Domingo and the fort of Sacsayhuaman but most of our time there was spent without a defined agenda, at the festivals around the Plaza de Armas. 


Walking around

The Centro Historico is the part of Cusco where the Incan capital used to be. When it was destroyed by the Spanish, they built a Spanish style city on top of the old capital. So even though the feel is of a Spanish town, the foundations of the city are very Incan.

Streets of Cusco

The streets of Cusco on the mountainside are quite steep, cobbled and narrow. They are all lined with one to two storeyed houses, painted in white, with orange roofs and blue wooden doors. Many of these houses have flowers in their balconies or outside their doors. And the streets have brass lamps everywhere. There is so much colour and art everywhere, it's a pleasure just to walk through them. (Of course you have to stop every few 100 metres to gasp for breath! And we took Uber quite often too, especially in the evenings when walking up the hill felt like a torture when we hadn’t acclimatised yet). One specific moment I remember is a street violinist playing at one of these streets while we were returning back at night. His music is one of the sweetest, most soothing music I remember hearing ever. 

A square in Cusco

As we were walking, we kept coming by so many grand squares, cathedrals and convents. Each of the squares would have a green space in the middle, and some grand colonial buildings around. Cathedrals and convent abound in the centre, each more impressive than the other. Many of these have been converted to museums now. I remember the Convent of St Assisi being one of the impressive ones. And Cusco looked so fascinating at night, with all the twinkling lights in the valley and along the hillsides. That view is also imprinted in my mind.

There were some streets in town where the buildings had foundations different from the colonial structures above. The base would be made of huge boulders precisely cut and fitted together without mortar, while the building on top would be built in a typical colonial style. Apparently this was the Incan style of dry-stone masonry which was used to build buildings to survive earthquakes. They were so strong, so robust that the Spanish had been unable to destroy them. So they had decided to build their churches and other buildings on top of the old Incan foundations. Many of these were exposed in the earthquakes of 1650 and 1950 when the colonial structures collapsed but the Inca foundations survived and showed up. And since then, many of these Incan walls have been left exposed so visitors can imagine what the town would have looked like centuries ago. I had read about it in my book, and walked around town looking for such structures. There were many and they were impressive, really impressive.

Streets of Cusco

Most streets looked quite similar, with old colonial houses in single lane cobbled streets. But some streets were different, especially one around the Plaza. That felt like a modern street with modern buildings, but most of Cusco felt like it belonged to a different simpler age.

Sometimes it was tough to figure out what part of Cusco was Spanish, what was Incan and what was just touristy. It just had so much to offer, it was fun to walk around. In the centre, there was so much activity at all times, either with the tourists or with the locals. We criss-crossed these streets so much, we had already started remembering them 😂.


Plaza de Armas

Our favourite of course was the main square, Plaza de Armas. It is a grand square with a park in the centre, the Cusco Cathedral and the Church of the Society of Jesus on one side, loads of cafes and shops on another and then a row of wooden buildings with colonial metal balconies overlooking the Plaza.

Plaza de Armas at night

These balconies are now lined with fine dining restaurants. So during the day we would sit at the Plaza enjoying the festivals. And the evenings we would be back there, eating at one of the restaurants with the balconies. The views outside were magnificent, with the whole of Cusco lighted up at night, and the after-festival party goers still having a great time. It was so surreal every night. The Plaza is the centre of all events in town. It is full of tourists all the time and feels so alive. And of course since we were there in May/June, it was festival time, with the Plaza being at the centre of it all. 


Corpus Christi festivals

In May and June, the festival of Corpus Christi is celebrated by Cusco for a week or so, with all the residents of the city taking part in it. And the whole town turns into a party town. Somehow even without timing it, we had turned up on the first 2 and last 2 days of this festive period! On the first day, the 15 saints and virgins from various other churches of Cusco are brought in a procession to the main Cusco Cathedral. What this involves is the residents of those parishes dressing up in traditional clothes and carrying their saints on elaborate platforms (known as andas), parading through town, all the way till the Cusco Cathedral. The processions move through town, with local bands walking in front providing music and the rest of the parade with hundreds of followers, dancing behind as the procession slowly snakes through town.

Corpus Christi festival

And whoever is not part of the procession, all assemble together in the Plaza de Armas. The whole day, they all dance, make merry and enjoy, sitting along the stairs of the cathedral when tired. It felt like the entire city was there to enjoy the festivities. After the saints are enshrined inside the Cathedral, they are said to remain there for eight days, and "debate" the city's future and the behavior of its residents.

On our first day in Cusco, we could hear music from the morning itself. And by the time we reached the Plaza, we could see multiple processions with thousands of people passing through the streets. It was amazing to be there, just sitting in the crowd and watching all the happenings going on. And the after-party did not end till very late at night - we could hear music coming from the centre till at least 2 am. And every day till the 8th day, there is some or the other festival going on. I think we ended up witnessing many of those events.

From the balconies

One of the days, we saw old men and women dressed up in traditional clothes dancing gracefully to band music late at night. One night, there was a DJ in front of the Cusco Cathedral, belting out song after song while everyone danced in the Plaza. In 5 degrees! One of the evenings, we saw groups of young boys and girls doing rehearsals late at night for the traditional dance performances the next day. And one day, we saw another group practising in one of the squares around, choreographing their dance, again in 5 degrees temperature. It felt like there was a festive environment all around, and everyone wanted to be a part of it. And every day while walking back, we would see all the people drunk and partying till late at night. It was like every day was a party day in Cusco.

Last day of the festivities

When we came back from our Salkantay trek, the festivals were still going on. And we saw the farewell processions again around the Plaza de Armas, where the saints were again taken with full pomp and show, accompanied by dancing and music, back to their own cathedrals. It was just so electric to be there at such a time.




Qorikancha and Church of Santo Domingo

After the first two days in Cusco, we were off to Machu Picchu for 5 days, hiking on the Salkantay trek. After the gruelling effort of traversing the Andes, we were back in Cusco for two days of rest and relaxation. Now that I was acclimatised, I finally did some touristy stuff around, while my friends were still doing high altitude hiking to Rainbow Mountain (I was done with hiking for a while) and learning traditional Inca weaving techniques.

One day, I explored the local markets and the temple of Qorikancha. The next day I walked up to Cristo Blanco (the White Christ), a huge statue of Christ located on top of the Pukamuqu hill overlooking the city of Cusco. It reminded me of Christ the Redeemer in Rio.

Street market

The first day, I just walked away from the historic centre, away from where all the touristy sights were. I saw parents picking up their children from a school, and vendors selling stuff like popcorn to those children. I walked through some local markets in front of a church where the locals shopped. There were 100s of different herbs and spices being sold there. And sugarcane too. I had sugarcane juice at a local stall. Then I walked to the San Pedro market, a covered local market selling a variety of local handicrafts and textiles. There is so much stuff being sold here, at every turn. And it was mostly the women doing all the selling. The walk away from the centre felt quite different, so simple, so not fancy, a bit poorer than the other parts. Also, this was the first time when I saw everyone going about their daily lives (as everything in the historic centre had felt more oriented towards tourists).

Convent of Santo Domingo

After the local walk, I went to the Qorikancha or the Convent of Santo Domingo, a Spanish monastery built on top of the original Inca sun temple. The Qorikancha was the most important temple for the Incas. It was plated with gold and housed the mummies of all the deceased Incas. Its walls were built of solid stones, again in the same Inca masonry style where perfect boulders were interlocked without using any mortar.

Inside the Convent

The Spanish found it tough to completely destroy the old sun temple, so they chose to build the church and convent on top of it. It remained so for centuries but in the earthquake of 1950, the Inca walls became exposed and can now be seen by visitors. The tour of the Qorikancha is very informative, talking about what the original temple would have looked like, based on what remains.

View from Qorikancha

One can also explore the new monastery which is still there and quite pretty. The flowers and paintings all around made it look extremely inviting. I loved this tour, including the view of the city from the temple.

Children's festival

When leaving Qoricancha, I again saw people celebrating, this time it was children! There were 100s of children all dressed up in traditional clothes, walking by their parents. They were in groups, and each group had a different attire, maybe based on the parish they were from? Apparently today was the children’s festival day. It was so cute 😄. That afternoon, the Plaza de Armas had been even more decorated. There was a statue of the Inca in the centre, and many children were dancing and showcasing their skills that day.


Cristo Blanco

Ruins of Sacsayhuaman

The second day, I hiked up the Pukamuqu mountain to get to the Christ statue, the Cristo Blanco. I walked past the Sacsayhuaman fort and finally saw the huge boulders of the fort that had been described in the book. They were huge, some of them were even taller than me. And they stood just liked they would have centuries ago. Solid and immovable.

 

Walls of Sacsayhuaman

I still wonder how a civilisation living in such inhospitable high altitude conditions with no horses or access to cement was able to transport such huge boulders from one place to another and construct a fort. Which has survived till today, even after all the Spanish invasions and destruction. Hats off! 

Cusco from high above

After the fort, I hiked up to the Cristo and was mesmerised with the view from the top. You can see the whole of Cusco from there, the valley and all the hillsides covered with houses almost all the way up. I stayed there till sunset, as parts of the city slowly started to move into the shade. It wasn't a very picturesque sunset though as the sun set at an angle, but seeing the city slowly move toward night was memorable.

While I sat there watching the sun go down, I observed many people coming and leaving the statue. There was a Quechua woman there, dressed in the traditional Andean clothing, with an alpaca baby. She was selling some stuff to tourists. And I saw her approach so many of the people there, offering what she had. She was so so so softspoken, it was like her voice had humility. She spoke some English words, and said them so sweetly and softly, I couldn't help but notice her.

And I remembered excerpts from the book I was reading which talked about how the common Quechua people had always been very simple, believing in the goodness of the world around them. They were so simple, they easily became more vulnerable to exploitation by the Spanish than some other cultures. I don't know if it's a stereotype but I felt it at that moment, how simple and soft spoken the woman was. And I felt very sad for all this country and culture had lost over the centuries. And how the simplicity of the population made them easy prey to all the atrocities that were committed on them.

Cristo Blanco

On the positive side, it was also nice to see how Christianity in Cusco had merged with everything Incan, including the festivals they celebrated and how the Christ statue was looking over this Incan town. I realised while reading up for the blog though, that the statue was a gift given by the Palestinian community in Cusco to the city in 1945, in gratitude for their acceptance and refuge during a time of conflict. Given all the conflict going on around the world, actions like this show a positive future - Muslims from Palestine gifting a statue of Christ to Cusco, which follows its own Inca religion too.

Walking down

After spending some time gazing at the beauty of this city, I started walking back into town. But I chose to take a different path than the one I had come by. I just followed Google Maps in the opposite direction, walking on the road and then taking stairs down, which looked like it would take me to the Plaza. (I could identify it from the loud music coming from that side😁). 

I just started walking down the stairs, walking past residential areas, and choosing whichever way looked like it would take me in the right direction. It was a bit scary as there were very few people around and some of the stairs were blocked. I walked past gardens and small houses and so on. It was an adventurous detour thought I am not sure if it was such a wise idea 😁.

San Blas

Though it all went well. When I reached town, I walked through the San Blas area which felt quite artistic. I stopped to check out some paintings and handicrafts being sold there. Finally, I reached the Plaza (we ended up there every evening somehow), and there were festivities going on (again!). Today all the saints were going back to their own cathedrals. I got a place to stand on a wooden platform right in front of the cathedral door. So I got a front seat view of all the saints being taken out of the cathedral and the procession taking them back to their own parish churches. And when I walked back to my hotel, I passed by many of these processions, still on their way back. And as usual, there was music and dancing all evening, everywhere.


Shopping in Cusco

Cusco is a shopping paradise. The streets were all lined with shops, with all kinds of things being sold - art, souvenirs, spices and sauces, warm clothes, sweaters, pillow cases, blankets, bedcovers - the list was endless. And it was all very reasonably priced. We spent a lot of time shopping here. Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of bargaining going on, just a little bit.

There were lots of vendors selling handicrafts in the streets, not just the shops. Most of the women selling stuff would be wearing their traditional dress, and there was just so much colour on them - I loved them. A lot of them also had small baby alpaca with them. They charged for taking photos with them and their alpacas, which felt a bit too commercial for me.

Textiles were the biggest sellers - warm clothes made of alpaca wool being the most common product. The local weaves and designs are quite intricate, and they look gorgeous. The colours of the clothes were so bright, red being the most popular in the stuff being sold. Also the alpaca wool is really really soft. It was tough to see those things and not buy them! We all shopped so much - I bought a red poncho with Inca weaving, two red alpaca sweaters with traditional designs, two alpaca shawls (which turned out to be Made in China!), and an alpaca throw. There was a clear domination of warm alpaca products in our buying preferences 😆. I generally don’t shop. But in Peru I did, and this was after already buying flip-flops, a headband, a tshirt, a hydra bag and a backpack already.


Eating

We had dinner at the Plaza most often. Restaurants there were our favourites, as they all were on the first floor, with balconies overlooking the Plaza and cathedral. The first day we ate at Morena. The food was good. I had a bout of mountain sickness though and had to lie down on the seat for a while for the nausea to go away. The waiter put some alcohol on my hand to smell, as apparently that helps with the mountain sickness.

One day we had lunch at a local eating place, called the 3 crosses (quite cute) near our hotel, one Indian dinner at Taste of India (we were really craving spice that day), and dinners near the Plaza in Ceviche and Don Pancho. It was always great to have a view of the Plaza festivities. Dinner for me was always the same for me I think - ceviche, I loved it. The food generally was good, though for vegetarians the options were quite limited.


Weather

The weather in Cusco was interesting. It was 20+ degrees C and sunny during the day, and would drop to single-digit temperatures at night. And it was the same every day, with very little variation. We enjoyed the warmth during the days, but always had to carry our jackets along for the cold evenings. The weather was perfect for enjoying though and was welcome after the freezing days in the Amazon.


It is very difficult to capture all that we saw in Cusco. A city so old, so steeped in a mixture of the old Incan culture and newer Spanish influences. A city that has existed for more than a thousand years at such a height, stood the ravages of Spanish rule, and managed to still hold its own identity, its unique charm. It felt like we had landed in a very different Peru than the last one week.

I fell in love with the city within the first few hours, and the love lasted. It was so tough to say goodbye as I felt I had barely touched its history, its deep culture, its deep mountain ethos. It was like I had only begun to uncover a deep reservoir of culture, history and life, but left without truly doing it justice.

I loved staying in Cusco and hope to be back there some time. To explore more, but also to explore the Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo, the Pisac, Maras and Moray terraces, Chinchero, and so many other places, which I couldn't visit because of lack of time. I will be back, Cusco!