Ruined in Cusco
Some of the streets in Cusco still have original Inca walls but most of the major ruins lie just outside of the city. After our hangovers had subsided, we set off to have a look at these!
You can buy a tourist ticket in the main tourist information office in Cusco which lets you in to most of the main museums and ruins for about 2 weeks. The tickets get clipped when you have visited each attraction.
We got an (expensive) taxi up to our first set of ruins at Tambo Machay. This still channels spring water from the hillside though intricate fountains designed by the Incas. It was probably one of the prettiest ruins we saw today. Slightly further up the road were the ruins of Puca Pucara which are slightly bigger and have good views around the valley towards Cusco. We continued to walk along the road which was dominated by smoky tourist buses and taxis. As we neared another little farming community (pigs, chickens, cows, rabbits everywhere!), a little girl ran up to us and started to sing as we walked along. Great initiative on her part for spotting the white Western suckers! We clapped as she sang along and on reaching her home, she held out her hand. We rewarded her with one of the rainbow biros we’d brought over to South America specifically for this sort of purpose. Well you’ve never seen such a happy, grubby and grateful face! We left her in her own little world, energetically drawing all over her hand. It was a nice feeling.
We broke away from the road shortly afterwards into the valley where the river trickled down. There was a track here and we came across plenty of tourists on horseback followed by a guide on foot, making their way up the valley. This was a lovely walk and reminded us very much of being at home in Derbyshire. And we were away from the fumes of the main road! Our next ruin was basically a big rock! There were caves, altars and tunnels underneath left by the Incas. This area seemed invisible to foreign tourists but there were plenty of Peruvians out with picnics and a good day out. One couple had even brought their pet racoon out for a walk – bizarre! Again we felt quite at home and accepted by those around us.
We danced across the stream and then through an area of grazing cows – mmm, my favourite – it made me walk a bit quicker if nothing else! We made it to another ruin – maybe Qenko, and had a good look round.
Then we were back on the main road to the Christo Blanco. This is a huge white staue of Christ that overlooks the whole of Cusco. Up close, the statue itself is quite scary as the eyes swirl in a really spooky way. From a distance, it looks very impressive. Not far from this huge statue is the main Inca site in Cusco called Sacsayhuaman, which used to be an Inca fort. This is quite a big site and the tourists were swarming. How the Inca’s carried and designed such huge stones was quite amazing. After the Spanish conquest, much of this site was destroyed and many of the stones from Sacsayhuaman were used to build parts of Cusco city. The site itself reminded us a little of Uxmal in Mexico, but on a much much less grand scale. And we were a little disappointed on the lack of descriptions for each area.
We walked back down the steep old streets into Cusco and were ushered into the Baghdad Cafe and onto the balcony overlooking the main plaza. After all that walking we rewarded ourselves with a beer and a pizza. This was our last day in Cusco before we headed into the Sacred Valley for the Inca trail, the whole purpose of this well-planned trip. Time to go and pack that rucksack!
Tags: Peruvian tales
mihai