First there is the Historical Centre with its well preserved colonial architecture and cobblestoned streets. Simply by wandering aimlessly through the numerous narrow, hilly roads you get a great feel for the history of Cusco. It is a place of immense beauty with the main square, the Plaza de Armas being a particular highlight. Here you will find the spectacular main Cathedral along with Spanish colonial buildings erected directly atop Inca walls. It is easy to understand why UNESCO deemed this place worthy of being declared a World Heritage Site, an honour it received in 1983. The only negative is that unlike Paraty, Colonia and to a lesser extent the old sector of Valparaiso, the Historical Centre of Cusco has an overwhelming amount of continuous traffic. At times it can be hard to capture the history of the city on camera when there are numerous BMV's and Ford's whizzing by.
Another highlight of Cusco is the Qosqo Centre of Native Art where I caught a live show demonstrating traditional Peruvian music and dance. Wearing an array of old colourful costumes and performing some bizarre dances, this show was organised chaos, and made for very enjoyable viewing from the front row of the auditorium. However my choice of seat was something that would come back to bite me on the rear end. For the last dance of the night one of the female Peruvian dancers came down to the crowd and pulled me up on stage. Before this could register with me I was up on a stage ten foot in height with a couple of hundred pairs of eyes staring at me in amusement. I had no choice but to give it socks, despite not having a clue what I was supposed to do and terrified of accidentally tripping up the young woman and causing an embarrassing scene. Thankfully this didn't happen as the experience was mortifying enough as it was, but good fun nonetheless.
And then there are the numerous Inca ruins located outside the city. First I visited Saqsaywaman (which every tourist incorrectly pronounces as "Sexy Woman"), the remains and foundations of a colossal structure which took 77 years to build. After that I took a short walk to Q'Enqo, a sacred sanctuary of worship to fertility. Next was Tambomachay, a place where the Inca lodged regularly containing an old house, a ritual fountain and three farming terraces. Close by was the impressive Puka Pukara, an area which used to be a road control and administrative centre, a military headquarter and food warehouse. The next day I journeyed even further away from the city to take in the breathtaking spectacle that is Tipon, a wonderful complex of hillside farming terraces, long staircases, and water channels carved in bare stone, one of the royal gardens built under Inca Wiracocha. Unable to find a taxi back from here and faced with a painful ninety minute walk, a nice Peruvian lady and her South African husband, along with his mother adopted me for the journey onwards to Pikillaqta, a pre-Incan city built with stone slabs and mud mortar. The size of this town is enormous with ruins stretching well into the distance providing a picturesque sight. Before heading back to Cusco the generous family brought me to a tiny village called Lucre where we sampled many delicious homemade deserts.
On my last blog entry I touched briefly about the locals of Arequipa trying to sell tourists their homemade goods. However after my experience in Cusco I feel that I have to explain further. The amount of people on the streets hassling you to buy absolute rubbish is astonishing. You cannot walk through the Historical Centre for more than 30 seconds without being approached by a local to buy sock puppets, sunglasses, paintings, jewelery and countless other things that I have zero interest in. There are also a staggering amount of people offering massages. At times it is rather funny, and on other occasions very irritating, all depending on what mood you are in. On one occasion during my first day in the city when catching up for a beer with a fellow backpacker who I met earlier in my trip we were hassled no end. Sitting on the outdoor seating of a nice bar establishment our conversation was interrupted every 1-2 minutes by these annoying people. I must have said the words "No gracias" on about thirty occasions in the space of one hour. What makes this worse is that some of these "entrepreneurs" were nine year old children, one of whom wasn't impressed with my standard response and demanded an explanation as to why I didn't want to buy anything.
Tomorrow I begin a five day tour with Gap Adventures, starting with the Sacred Valley where I will take in more amazing Inca ruins before undertaking the four day Inca trail hike to Machu Picchu.
Bye for now
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