Cuzco Snapshot

16-03-25 Sunday

Finally we get to have a morning we don’t have to be up at 5 am, so sleep-in time. That doesn’t happen though and we are both awake early ready for a days exploring. (P:- We’ve been too busy for jet lag to kick in but I think it’s snuck up on us now!)

Breakfast and then off for a walk down to the plaza before our tour this afternoon. There is some celebration happening in the plaza, with many groups of people dressed in brightly coloured traditional clothes dancing and enjoying themselves. It makes quite the spectacle with music and colour swirling around the square.

We are picked up at 1pm for our city tour and are off to our first stop. A Cathedral on the main square. Very typical of cathedrals in this part of the world, lavish, gaudy, and over the top. Gold and silver everywhere with multiple statues and carvings dominating the inside.

(P:- Not my favourite tourist occupation viewing too many Cathedrals! One or two a trip is enough. This one was up there for “overdone tackiness” lots of local interpretation in the murals and art work that distracted from what I understood the story of Christ to be. The local person/s who funded the artwork had their portrait incorporated into the mural or artwork! ( nothing like an extra person at the last supper! ) It about did my head in when the large mural of the last supper was of them eating Guinea Pig! (A local delicacy). Not to our taste at all. (P:- Judith means the artwork not to out taste, eating Guinea Pig has yet to be tried). No pictures were allowed inside. Then onto another church where there are Incan Ruins still preserved inside, with the Spanish buildings built over the top. Again the Incan stone work is meticulous. No mortar or fixing is used between these stones and they are fitted to precision. From the outside the original stonework for an Incan temple can be seen with the Spanish influence above.

Next stop is the market where we walk through with our guide and get to taste some of the local fruits of the area, some local bread and see samples of the dehydrated potatoes, potato varieties, cheeses, vegetable and botanicals (herbal medicines), plus all the usual tourist paraphernalia. This was much more fun than the Cathedrals.

(P:-I do enjoy local markets where traditional trading is done, great to walk through, great to see the local produce, people and their dress styles. I found the meat section and then the secondary cut meat section where cows noses (complete with skin and hair) legs and feet, offal, wind pipes and to top it off a couple of ladies cleaning the cows stomachs to make tripe. I was busy taking a few photos to share (see below), I look around and Judith had bolted well ahead of me and looked quite pale! Evidently the smell wasn’t good, (I guess my zero sense of smell must have some advantages).

Next stop we are heading out of the city centre to Saqsawaman Park. This is a huge open park area with many more Incan Ruins. Our guide gives us some history of the area which was a ceremonial/ritual precinct. The remaining walls here used massive stones for some of the construction with the largest stone weighing in at 100 tonnes and many around the 70-80 tonnes. Again the stonework is meticulous with each stone fitting precisely into or onto the next. The preparation of each stone was so precise and fitted so exactly.

From here we visited a Lama and Alpaca farm to feed the animals and find some bargains in the adjoining store that sold some lovely garments. (P:- It wasn’t me who “invested” in a new baby Alpaca wool garment but there is some in Judith’s possession!)

Back to our Accommodation for a rest before walking down to the plaza to find somewhere for dinner. Found the restaurant our guide had suggested, “Mr. Cuy” and liked the look of the menu so found a seat and perused the menu some more. Philip has been keen to try Cuy (Guinea Pig) since we arrived so he asked the waiter for his recommendation and decided to go with his choice. Baked Cuy. Not for me although I did try some. (P:- When asked what it tasted like the waiter said duck. When the little beast arrived it was almost off putting as it was sitting up on the plate dressed in a colourful cap and cape showing his fine set of teeth. Once the photos were taken, off went the clothing and it was cut up ready to nervously try. The outcome- Duck like texture, mild but delicious taste and yes I would definitely have some Cuy again. That’s 2 protein firsts in a week, Alpaca and Guinea Pig! What’s next?)