Cusco

Days 124 (October 30, 2018) and 141 (November 16, 2018) – Cusco, Peru

We were in Cusco twice. The first time was essentially a whirlwind shopping spree, taking us to the far-flung corners of the city in search of camping equipment. The second time in the city was after we had returned from our Choquequirao/Machu Picchu trek. It wasn’t until our second trip to the city that we could relax and take in some of the sites like a normal tourist should. 

Cusco's enormous Plaza de Armas is constantly full of activity. We walked through the plaza every day and there was always something going on.

Plaza de Armas is also a great place in the evenings. 

We arrived in Cusco knowing that we wanted to do some serious hiking, but we didn’t have much of a plan. It took us four full days to come up with a plan and get ourselves organized. We spent half a day talking to all the trekking operators in town and deciding they were all too expensive, another half day to find out how much it was going to cost to rent camping equipment and then deciding that we were better off buying it outright, another full day to buy a tent, and two more days to run around the city buying our remaining camping equipment, like sleeping bags and mats, water purification pills, long underwear, cooking equipment, etc.

The street our hotel was on. Cars will drive up these streets, but the only way out is to put the car in reverse and roll back the way you came. 

We decided that we were going to attempt the nine-day hike from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu. We didn’t decide this lightly. In fact, we were quite unsure of our decision, not knowing if we would be able to make it that far. Hiking in the Peruvian Andes was supposed to be quite strenuous, but it was always in our minds when we were on our other hikes in Colombia and Ecuador. We always thought of our other hikes as training for Peru, so now that we were here, we might as well give it a try.

Classic Spanish Colonial architecture in the Plaza de Armas. 

View of the city from the Incan ruins of Qorikancha.

The only reason why we even knew of this hike was because we had both read an excellent book called Turn Right at Machu Picchu, in which the author goes on the same trek that we were going to attempt. Most trekking companies didn’t even offer this hike, but a couple companies were willing to pull together a private tour for thousands of dollars a person. Having no desire to spend that much money we decided we were going to try it on our own. There were guides online from others who have done it before us, but we still had to try and piece together what information we had and ask around for the rest.  

Shopping for sandals.

We did manage to finally find all the camping equipment we needed. We ended up buying a brand new bright yellow North Face tent, used sleeping bags, and a numerous other odd and ends. To be honest, it was a stressful four days and we were so busy looking for all this equipment we hardly noticed the city around us. We also realized how difficult life is without Amazon (a sad realization, but true). At home we would have found all these things online and had them arriving on our doorstep in a couple days. In Cusco, we hiked to every corner of the city to find the best deal on everything. In some respects, it was a great experience because we saw parts of Cusco we never would have seen. And now we can tell you exactly where to go (and where the locals would go) to buy everything from tin cups, plastic tarps, long underwear, tent stakes, and cheap sandals.

Incan stonework in the city... 

... and in Qorikancha...

... and at Sacsayhuamán. Incan stonework never stopped being impressive, no matter how many times we encountered it.

Our return trip to Cusco after the hike was a lot more enjoyable. Cusco is really a spectacular city that is dripping with history. Cusco was the capitol of the Inca empire and subsequently became the center of the Spanish colonization in the region. Walking around the city, it is not uncommon to see buildings with foundations laid by either Inca, Spanish, or a combination of both. The city is full of narrow alleys and buildings with hidden inner courtyards to explore. There are also lots of stairs. Many of the pedestrian streets, particularly around the San Blas neighborhood where we stayed, were so steep they made staircases rather than roads.

One of the many Spanish Colonial courtyards. 

You could spend days just getting lost in the streets, findings new coffee shops, and trying out the many different restaurants. As you might expect with such a great city, it has not gone unnoticed. Cusco is extremely touristed, but even still, it was a fun city to spend time in. We spent the better part of a day visiting the numerous museums around the city, which explain a lot of the history of the region. We also visited Sacsayhuamán, an Incan fortification just a 20-minute walk from our hotel. This fairly substantial set of Incan buildings sits on top of one of the mountains that surround the city and provided some great panoramas of the area. It was one of our last stops during our time in Cusco and a fitting end to our visit.

Some of the ruins at Sacsayhuamán. This is only just outside of town, a 20-minute walk uphill from our hotel.

The view of Cusco from the Sacsayhuamán ruins.