We had stopped in Cusco on our way to Puno from Lima and let me tell you, this flight is considered one of the most dangerous in Peru and it certainly was a bit nerve racking since the plane has to go between high "cerros" (mountains) and it has very little room for mistakes. But the flight from Puno to Cusco thankfully wasn't as bad. Puno is a city full of tourists. It was the capital of the inca empire but the conquistadors pretty much demolished all their sites and built churches on top of them. There are like 20 sthg churches in Cusco alone.
Everyone that goes to Machu Picchu stops here first. We took a day tour to visit the temple of Qoricancha, very important for the Incas, as well as some ruins in the outskirt of Cusco like: Sacsaywaman. The tour was very interesting and we learned a lot about the Inca culture like put 100% of you in everything you do, they worship the Pumas and they were great engineers. We came back to Cusco after our trips to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We walked some more around the city, visited a local market where we found all kinds of weird stuff like cattle faces and meats hanging. We also had lunch at a Cuban restaurant: La bodeguita del Medio. Not quite like the actual Bodeguita del Medio or even the one we found in Prague, but we got to write some anti communist messages in the wall since they had pictures of Fidel and Che. One of the nights we went to dinner and Hunter decided to order a very typical peruvian plate: Cuy, which means Guinea Pig (o curiel en espanol). They cook it in the oven and bring it to you with the entire body (see pic) you can later tell them to chop off the head and cut it up for you to make it easier to eat. I tried a bite of the meat and found it very tender but the spices they used to cook it a bit salty. On another ocassion we also tried Alpaca. It was OK, with an after taste a bit similar to higado (liver). Also something I wanted to mention about Cusco (& other turisty areas) is full of people selling you stuff! I don't know how many times we had to say "No Gracias". You had children & women with lamas or alpacas dressed in traditional customs offering to take their picture for 1 sol. 1 peruvian sol was about US $3.
The last day in Cusco there was a strike and even though our flight was at 11 AM we had to leave at 7:30 am or we had to walk to the airport since all traffic stops. As we rode to the airport the driver had to be communicating via a walkie talkie so they tell them what street to take and which ones to avoid since the strikers were blocking streets. The girls were kinda scared that our taxi was going to get attacked or a stone thrown at us. Thankfully we all got to the airport in one piece..
Everyone that goes to Machu Picchu stops here first. We took a day tour to visit the temple of Qoricancha, very important for the Incas, as well as some ruins in the outskirt of Cusco like: Sacsaywaman. The tour was very interesting and we learned a lot about the Inca culture like put 100% of you in everything you do, they worship the Pumas and they were great engineers. We came back to Cusco after our trips to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We walked some more around the city, visited a local market where we found all kinds of weird stuff like cattle faces and meats hanging. We also had lunch at a Cuban restaurant: La bodeguita del Medio. Not quite like the actual Bodeguita del Medio or even the one we found in Prague, but we got to write some anti communist messages in the wall since they had pictures of Fidel and Che. One of the nights we went to dinner and Hunter decided to order a very typical peruvian plate: Cuy, which means Guinea Pig (o curiel en espanol). They cook it in the oven and bring it to you with the entire body (see pic) you can later tell them to chop off the head and cut it up for you to make it easier to eat. I tried a bite of the meat and found it very tender but the spices they used to cook it a bit salty. On another ocassion we also tried Alpaca. It was OK, with an after taste a bit similar to higado (liver). Also something I wanted to mention about Cusco (& other turisty areas) is full of people selling you stuff! I don't know how many times we had to say "No Gracias". You had children & women with lamas or alpacas dressed in traditional customs offering to take their picture for 1 sol. 1 peruvian sol was about US $3.
The last day in Cusco there was a strike and even though our flight was at 11 AM we had to leave at 7:30 am or we had to walk to the airport since all traffic stops. As we rode to the airport the driver had to be communicating via a walkie talkie so they tell them what street to take and which ones to avoid since the strikers were blocking streets. The girls were kinda scared that our taxi was going to get attacked or a stone thrown at us. Thankfully we all got to the airport in one piece..
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