Cusco, or Qosqo, represented for the ancient Incas the “navel of the world” or the origin of life. With the Andes peaks towering overhead, it is a beautiful area that was established long before the Spaniards arrived. At its peak, Cusco was in the 14th Century a city of sophisticated water systems, paved streets and no poverty for the 15,000 Incas who lived here. Less than a century after the Incas reached their greatest influence the Spaniards did arrive and the rest, as they say, is history……..
Under Spanish rule, the Incas really got shafted big time. It was a Spanish military tactic to capture the king, torture him until they had all the information they could get, and then publicly execute him. When his heir took over he met the same fate—probably cut down on in-house intrigue within the royal Inca family. But as long as the Spaniards held the king the Incas wouldn’t revolt.
With the rediscovery of Machu Picchu in 1911, Cusco has again become an important Peruvian city and much of its ancient charm still exists. The public plazas are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Today it’s considered a jewel of Inca and colonial architecture and I stayed back today and explored it on foot. Most of the group took the day trip to Pisac, another village nearby with an alpaca farm, but I visited it last year so I spent the day walking I don’t know how many miles up and down the cobblestoned streets and sidewalks.
The Peruvian government, to its credit, it trying to protect the cultural heritage of the city and the area but the reality is that it is now a city full of European and American backpackers with the assorted issues they bring. I would conservatively guess I was offered marijuana or cocaine at least a dozen times today by streetvendors.
I walked quite a ways down to the artists market looking for gifts, not drugs, and found a few items but for the most part it wasn’t particularly good quality stuff but still interesting to wander around and look. On the way back I stopped at a textile weaving center and bought myself a nice Peruvian rug that I intend to use as a wall decoration.
For lunch I stopped at a restaurant on the main plaza, or Plaza de Armas, and got a table outdoors on the second floor looking out over the plaza. I had an alpaca steak and a local soup and it was really peaceful and restful. I shot a video of the plaza which is embedded here and you can see the beautiful flowers (spring is starting here) and
ancient architecture of the two churches. You can also see it’s raining in the background and was slowly coming toward the city. As I was eating, they were playing a Peruvian Andes pan flute music—you know, the kind Zamphir used to hawk on cable television in the 1980s—but here in this setting it sounded really neat. It’s a relaxing music and I had one of those rare moments—they don’t happen often—but everything seems so perfect I really don’t want to come home.
But as usual the moment doesn’t last and the rain arrived alo
ng with heavy sleet so I moved back just inside the open doors and sat there drinking coca tea till the rain let up. The plaza had been full of people but when it started raining they all headed for the buildings except for one old man who just sat in the rain talking to himself. When it started sleeting he still sat there as it built up on his shoulders and hair until a policeman went over with an umbrella and brought him in.
After the rain stopped I returned to the hotel for a short nap then walked around a couple more hours. There are four very old Catholic churches here but they charge tourists to visit and that annoys me so I just wandered around the outside and appreciated the architecture.
At night the group—only ten of us continued on to Cusco—had supper together at one of the Plaza de Armas restaurants that featured good food and traditional (pan flute) Peruvian music.
Tomorrow around noon we’ll fly back to Lima and spend Tuesday as free time in Lima and fly out around midnight Tuesday night—arriving in Houston around 6:30 am.
Under Spanish rule, the Incas really got shafted big time. It was a Spanish military tactic to capture the king, torture him until they had all the information they could get, and then publicly execute him. When his heir took over he met the same fate—probably cut down on in-house intrigue within the royal Inca family. But as long as the Spaniards held the king the Incas wouldn’t revolt.
With the rediscovery of Machu Picchu in 1911, Cusco has again become an important Peruvian city and much of its ancient charm still exists. The public plazas are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Today it’s considered a jewel of Inca and colonial architecture and I stayed back today and explored it on foot. Most of the group took the day trip to Pisac, another village nearby with an alpaca farm, but I visited it last year so I spent the day walking I don’t know how many miles up and down the cobblestoned streets and sidewalks.
The Peruvian government, to its credit, it trying to protect the cultural heritage of the city and the area but the reality is that it is now a city full of European and American backpackers with the assorted issues they bring. I would conservatively guess I was offered marijuana or cocaine at least a dozen times today by streetvendors.
I walked quite a ways down to the artists market looking for gifts, not drugs, and found a few items but for the most part it wasn’t particularly good quality stuff but still interesting to wander around and look. On the way back I stopped at a textile weaving center and bought myself a nice Peruvian rug that I intend to use as a wall decoration.
For lunch I stopped at a restaurant on the main plaza, or Plaza de Armas, and got a table outdoors on the second floor looking out over the plaza. I had an alpaca steak and a local soup and it was really peaceful and restful. I shot a video of the plaza which is embedded here and you can see the beautiful flowers (spring is starting here) and
ancient architecture of the two churches. You can also see it’s raining in the background and was slowly coming toward the city. As I was eating, they were playing a Peruvian Andes pan flute music—you know, the kind Zamphir used to hawk on cable television in the 1980s—but here in this setting it sounded really neat. It’s a relaxing music and I had one of those rare moments—they don’t happen often—but everything seems so perfect I really don’t want to come home.
But as usual the moment doesn’t last and the rain arrived alo
ng with heavy sleet so I moved back just inside the open doors and sat there drinking coca tea till the rain let up. The plaza had been full of people but when it started raining they all headed for the buildings except for one old man who just sat in the rain talking to himself. When it started sleeting he still sat there as it built up on his shoulders and hair until a policeman went over with an umbrella and brought him in.After the rain stopped I returned to the hotel for a short nap then walked around a couple more hours. There are four very old Catholic churches here but they charge tourists to visit and that annoys me so I just wandered around the outside and appreciated the architecture.
At night the group—only ten of us continued on to Cusco—had supper together at one of the Plaza de Armas restaurants that featured good food and traditional (pan flute) Peruvian music.
Tomorrow around noon we’ll fly back to Lima and spend Tuesday as free time in Lima and fly out around midnight Tuesday night—arriving in Houston around 6:30 am.
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