Cusco is a vibrant city. Capital of the Incas and continuing to flourish under the Spanish, the city is filled with interesting sites and architecture. Every turn, every corner is picturesque. Plaza des Armas is the centre around which the historic city functions. We stayed a little uphill beyond the Plaza des Armas which meant quieter streets and quick access to facilities.

Jumo to :

• Tambo del Arriero
• Saqsaywaman
• San Cristobal viewpoint
• Calle Siete Borreguitos
• Lunch
• San Blas
• 12 angled stone
• Plaza des Armas
• San Pedro market
• Qorikancha
• Leaving Cusco for Lima

Tambo del Arriero

Looking at hotels on booking.com we realised that many of them were converted old buildings. Rooms based around a central courtyard. Shash thought it looked like the house from Disney’s Encanto. So we decided we wanted to pick a hotel that reminded us of Encanto and after sifting through numerous hotels we decided upon Tambo del Arriero. I emailed the hotel directly to get a quote for us and they gave us the best rates. Now, most of the hotels in Peru offer a small double bed per person. Not sure of the idea behind it but for a family of four most of the hotels made us pick 2 rooms with 2 double beds each. Tambo del Arriero gave us 3 double beds which usually would accommodate 6 people. I can’t talk enough about this hotel! It was beautiful! Lovely courtyards with wooden furniture placed around it, vibrant decor, fresh flowers and very friendly and courteous staff. 

There were also a lot of shops and laundries in the vicinity. Ollantaytambo’s laundries were either not open or their delivery times kept changing continuously so we had ended up washing some of our clothes in the bathroom sink. So our first stop after checking in at Cusco was to visit the laundry right next door and drop off the clothes we needed for our next few days. We then went to a shop to pick up water, Inca cola and some coca candies. I guess we were nearly acclimatised at this point that we were just out of breath walking up steep roads and did not feel much dizzy. After chilling in the room for a bit we decided to get some Indian food and walked to Gharwal. It was nice to chat with the chef in Hindi. We returned to the hotel walking past the San Pedro market that I made a mental note to visit in the morning. Shash was developing a fever and she wasn’t completely rid of her stomach bug so we didn’t venture out anywhere.

Saqsaywaman

After a delicious breakfast we dragged our battered bodies to the reception to request them for a taxi to Saqsaywaman. We were advised not to flag one off the street as we could be ripped off. We got a taxi with an English speaking driver and we rode to the top entrance of the site. Shash checked the UV index and it was very high so we slathered a lot of sunscreen before we left. 

Saqsaywaman has a phenomenal location at the top of the hill overlooking the entire city of Cusco. More than the history of the site it is the location that probably draws a lot of tourists. The entire city of Cusco is shaped like a puma with Saqsaywaman positioned at where the face of the puma would be. Hence it’s fort walls were built to represent puma’s teeth – zig zagged and sharp edged. The structure constructed in the Incan style with huge boulders but with no binding material stands perfect to this day. We declined offers of guiding from tourist guides outside the site. There were some llamas and alpacas grazing in its grounds. Though it was cloudy we could feel our exposed skin burning. We walked around the site and up the walls to view the entire city of Cusco below us. We then took the other exit through the steps to return to Cusco. These steps were steep and slippery and we had use caution not to lose our grip. 

San Cristobal viewpoint

As soon as we arrived at the bottom of the steps we encountered a lot of strange stray dogs that kept barking at everyone that passed! The stray dogs at  Ollantay were far more friendly! We crossed the road to avoid this menace but they continued to growl and bark and we walked as quickly as we could to the view point at San Cristobal. This is one of the best spots to take in the view of Plaza des Armas and the Cusco cathedral. It wasn’t very crowded and we sat ourselves for several minutes enjoying the views and watching the world go by. It started raining at this point and we could hear distant thunderstorms. Thankfully they didn’t reach us and it stopped raining. 

Calle Siete Borreguitos

We then walked through the Calle Siete Borreguitos admiring the lovely murals and the plants along the steps. At the bottom of the stairs, traditionally dressed women with their Llamas called out to us encouraging us to take pictures with them. I asked Sash if she wanted to and she obliged. Since nothing comes for free I paid her 5 soles but she said “buy poco”. So handed her 2 more soles and walked on. I reminded myself never to attempt something without checking on the price first. I had read it is usually 2 soles just to take a picture with them but this lady seemed unhappy with my 5!

Lunch

I had looked up places serving vegetarian food and found several in this part of Cusco. We decided to eat in the first spot we came to and it was called The Vegan Temple. The food was good but the ambience wasn’t impressive. We realised later Chia in San Blas had a much better ambience and served vegan food too.

San Blas

The narrow streets with interesting shops and houses along the way made for a good post lunch walk. There were a lot of boutique shops, interesting cafes and restaurants along the way. By this time Sam was beginning to get sick and she wasn’t happy with the walking and wanted to return to the hotel. So all we managed was a quick walk down one of the streets to return to the Plaza des armas.

12 angled stone

This was one of the most popular touristy spots just a little away from the main square. So we stopped for a quick picture and moved on. A lot of shops in the area selling tourist stuff. One vendor said he would sell the ponchos we were wearing for 75 soles. We had paid 90 for them in Pisac. I wasn’t sure if he was telling us the truth or if it was real Alpaca wool that the lady in Pisac told us it was. With Sam whining I didn’t even have time to take a peek inside the store so walked straight on.

Plaza des Armas

As we emerged onto the Plaza des Armas I realised why it was called the “main square” of Cusco. It was busy with traffic and people and flagged by the Cusco cathedral and the Jesuit church on adjacent sides. A few pictures later we continued to walk towards our hotel on the other side of the square. The BCP ATM located in the square offered the best cash withdrawal in all of Peru. They did not charge any additional fees and the rates were good. We had paid £5 just to withdraw cash in Ollantaytambo. We picked up some soles and walked on through Plaza Regocijo where a peaceful crowd was gathered to protest against the imprisonment of the former President. It was an uphill climb to our hotel from this point and we reached the hotel a few minutes later to crash into our beds. 

Sam started developing a fever and all she wanted to was rest. We still had some food left over from our take away the previous night and we decided to stay in for the rest of the evening.

San Pedro market

On our last day in Cusco and Sam was still sick. She went straight to bed after breakfast and refused to bulge. So leaving Sash behind SC and I made a short walk across to the San Pedro market. The market was bustling with activity and tourists. Loads of shops selling spices and other culinary delights from this part of the world. There were also juice stalls and stalls selling fresh produce. Picked up some apples and more of the terracotta bulls before walking across to the Orion supermarket to pick some snacks. We then climbed back up the hill to Tambo del Arriero where we found Sam sound asleep!

With our flight only in the evening we had a lot of time to kill and both the kids refused to bulge from the room. So we spoke with the reception and requested for a late check out and they kindly obliged. SC decided to walk to Qorikancha and he left on his own while I stayed behind with the kids. 

Qorikancha

Qorikancha was an ancient Incan temple to their Sun God. The walls were supposedly covered in sheets of gold and there was a large statue of corn made of solid gold in it’s central courtyard. However when their king was taken prisoner by the Spaniards they asked for gold as ransom for his release. The Incas stripped the walls of their gold and delivered all the gold to the Spanish in the hope that their king would be released. Sadly, the Spanish did not keep up their word and killed the king despite looting all the gold in the country. The gold was then melted and nuggets were shipped to their king in Spain.

Today Qorikancha stands testament to the history of the incas.

Leaving Cusco for Lima

This was going to be our final night in Peru and I decided to finish packing the large suitcases with what we didn’t need. With our new shopping there wasn’t much room in the suitcase and we threw away some of the things that weren’t very expensive. The hotel offered complimentary pick up and drop offs to the airport and we left at 2 pm to reach the airport. I wish we had spent more time in Cusco as the city was beautiful. I guess it was perhaps better that we fell sick towards the end of our trip rather than at the start or in-between. Due to the protests and riots Cusco airport was off limits to non-passengers. We rolled our suitcases through from the entrance to the terminal and checked-in for our flight to Lima.

Some airlines had cancelled their flights to Lima but Latam was operating two consecutive flights. We hardly had time for lunch in the city and there didn’t appear to be any restaurants in the airport. So we ate the apples we had bought in the morning while we waited to board our flight to Lima