Travel courteously: Consideration for your fellow travelers and your hosts will smooth the way through the most difficult days.
October 4 - 6, 2013
Cusco, or Qosqo as it's called in Quechua, a city of nearly 400,000 people in southeastern Peru. The Inca called it "the navel of the world," and it was the center of their empire. Now it is a cultural center in Peru, and the usual starting point for trips to Machu Picchu. It was also the place I was to meet my group from Adventures in Good Company for the start of our journey together.
As part of my scheme to ensure I had enough time to acclimate to the Andean altitude before I started climbing even higher, I planned to spend three days in Cusco before meeting my group. It would also give me an opportunity to indulge in one of my favorite activities: wandering aimlessly seeing what there was to see.
I was scheduled to stay in the same hotel as the group , El Mercado Tunqui, handily located about six blocks from Cusco's Plaza de Armas. It was decidedly nicer than I'd have chosen on my own - the nightly turn-down service included tucking a hot water bottle into the foot of my bed. Heaven. The only thing I didn't like was their habit of laying out my pajamas (which they'd folded in the morning). I just found it creepy to see my jammies spread out on the bed like the body had been mysteriously removed.
Honestly, I don't have much to tell you about Cusco from my first few days there. I wandered around, went to a few museums, and took lots of photos. I saw fewer people in traditional dress than in Puno; those I did see were usually trying to get tourists to pay to take their pictures.
To my dismay, what I saw more of in Cusco than Puno was people trying to sell kitsch to tourists, particularly around the Plaza de Armas. You couldn't walk across the square without being approached by a woman selling knitted sweaters, a man hawking paintings, or a girl selling pens and other doodads. Weavings, carved gourds, hats - you name it, they were selling it. The worst part was that everyone was selling the same thing. Every young man selling "his work" had the same portfolio of paintings as every other young man, and they were all amazingly capable artists who could render Peru in a wide variety of styles and media. My response to every "Lady..." became automatic: an upraised hand and "no, gracias" while I kept walking. A couple of times I would have liked to have sat on a bench in the plaza and read in the sun, but it was impossible to have peace for more than a few minutes. The only good part was that as soon as I left the central square, hawkers were almost nonexistent.
The first place I wandered to was, of course, the Plaza de Armas. Like other plazas, this one also had a cathedral on one side, but in this case it wasn't just a cathedral, it was a basilica, the main cathedral of the region. It was called the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. We toured the cathedral a couple of days later, but it was unfortunately forbidden to take photos inside. Designed in the fashion of European cathedrals, it was built in the early 1560s, and is resplendent. Most of the details are European, but the Inca had their influence in small ways. For instance, on each of the many crucifixes, Christ wears a gaudy skirt like the Incan rulers wore.
Cusco, like many large (at least larger than Valdez) cities, is made up of many neighborhoods or barrios. After Santa Clara, I found myself in San Pedro and its neighborhood market.
It reminded me quite a lot of Pike's Market in Seattle, if Pike's carried llama noses.
If you can't find what you're looking for at the local market, perhaps they'll deliver the goods to you.
Cusco, having originally been an Inca city, is built on the remains of the Incan buildings. In all likelihood, if the Spanish conquistadors hadn't destroyed much of what existed originally, the Incan buildings would still be standing. They were built uber-stout. Walking around Cusco, you can still see the huge stones of the Inca foundations holding up the more modern structures above.
I also found the structure of most streets and alleys interesting, although I suspect these cobblestone surfaces date from colonial times rather than Inca. I saw a number of young women walking around town in spike heels. I can't image how they managed it on these street surfaces. My right foot hurt for a week after I stepped off of a narrow sidewalk and just slightly turned my ankle on a tall cobble. Heels? No way! I assume the smoother tracks of rocks in the streets were designed for horse-drawn carts. Now, small cars barely fit in the width of the streets, but that doesn't stop busses from forcing their way through. Pedestrians had better beware.
If you plan to visit the barrio of San Blas, a favorite area for tourists near the Plaza de Armas, you'd better be prepared to climb stairs. They replace alleys in many places.
In the Plaza de Armas, we had to step quickly across the streets to avoid being caught up in a parade. My first thought was that it was another workers' demonstration, but groups of school children and nurses with banners quickly dispelled that notion. I asked our local guide a few days later what would have been going on. He said that every Sunday in every town in Puno there is a parade after mass. Each week different community groups take a turn being featured in the parade. Apparently, the parade we saw was dedicated to schools of all sorts - primary, secondary, nursing, secretarial, business, etc. Soldiers carried flags, several school bands played and marched, and children goose-stepped. School officials gave speeches and raised the Peru and Inca flags. I'm not sure who the costumed participants represented, but they added a colorful touch. Modest crowds lined the streets to watch, and official photographers identified by gold vests captured it all. Quite a spectacle.
And over it all, the sun shone.
