Saturday September 18
Today we had the city tour that started at 11:30am from the main plaza. We took the bus in but got off too early. We hopped back on another one and got to the plaza with lots of time to spare. We went to get coffee because we had an hour to spend. We received a message while we were waiting for our drinks that we needed to get to the fountain in 5 minutes. We lost our hour and had to scramble to get our coffee and go. At the fountain, in the center of the plaza, we walked with our guide and 2 other women that I believe were Peruvian. They spoke in English. Our guide spoke English and was very knowledgeable about the sites we visited. We went to Sacsayhuaman, Qengo-zig zag, Pukapukara, and Tambomachay in about 3 hours. It was a great tour- no food was included but we were good with that. We saw the world’s largest hummingbird, Giant Patagonia. Larry even got a few shots with his camera.
After our tour, we were dropped off at the main plaza. We went to Paddy’s Irish Pub for an early dinner. They had great IPA beers for me! I had 2. The food was traditional pub food and so yummy. It’s on the second floor and you get a good view of the square and the cathedral. Another great day in Cusco!
September 19
We had another tour today. This tour started at 7:30am. We drove outside the city to the sacred valley to Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero again. We had a fabulous buffet lunch that was included. We ate at Tunupa. It was a huge restaurant with live music and a huge buffet. They had absolutely the best food and so much! This was a very good tour. It was a little too long because of the shopping stops. I didn’t need to shop much. It got cold in the evening, but we had sweatshirts to keep warm. We were dropped off at the house. Bonus. We thought our host would be home, but he came an hour later. We ‘tried’ to do some laundry, but the water stopped…….at the last rinse cycle. We are drying them outside, after we squeezed them out as best we could. Funny thing in Cusco, maybe just this neighborhood, but the water gets turned off at a certain point in the evening. We talked with Heradio about the jungle trip. We will be leaving tomorrow morning at 10am. I’m super excited about the Jungle!
Cusco, a city in the Peruvian Andes, was once capital of the Inca Empire, and is now known for its archaeological remains and Spanish colonial architecture. Plaza de Armas is the central square in the old city, with arcades, carved wooden balconies and Incan wall ruins. The baroque Santo Domingo Convent was built on top of the Incan Temple of the Sun (Qoricancha), and has archaeological remains of Inca stonework. ― Google
Elevation: 11,152′ or 3,400 meters.
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco[a] ([ˈkusko]; Quechua: Qusqu ([ˈqɔsqɔ])), is a city in southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru and, in 2017, had a population of 428,450.
The city was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th century until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983, Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO with the title "City of Cuzco". It has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Peru (1993) designates it as the Historical Capital of Peru. (Wikipedia)
Comments