Short Summary: We arrived by bus from Puno at 5 am. After a nap in our hotel we went out and explored Cusco including the Corpus Christi procession.
The day started on the bus from Puno to Cusco. Of course we were about 45 min late arriving into Cusco (seems to be a thing here that buses run 30-120 min late). A taxi was waiting for us at the airport and wisked us up the hill to our hotel. It seemed nice, but Zach and I were so tired we just went straight to bed once we got in our room.
We woke back up at 8:30 not so warm. Even though it is cold at night here it seems nobody has actual heating we just have a space heater in our room. Actually we woke up a little earlier because it sounded like somebody was bombing the place, but we later found it they just set off fireworks at all hours of the day and night this month. Breakfast was nice although again very egg based but with the added twist of pepperoni and avocados. After a brief meeting with the tour lady for tomorrow, the hotel owner was showing us around when we heard a marching band close. We rushed outside to see what was up and a saint was going by along with a marching band. Tomorrow is corpus christi so today there are 15 saints parading in from around the area into the main cathedral. It looks like quite the ordeal. A troup of teenagers carry the pedestal. Then a group of older men carry the saint. they look like they are all really struggling under the weight. Finally a marching band and some signs round out the group. Sometimes there were also dancers.
After watching the saint go by we got our laundry ready and dropped it off. Only 10.5 kg this time, but the lady was still impressed. Then it was on to the main square. We spent some time looking for an outfitter before realizing they were all small and expensive places. After some searching we finally found the place to pay for our Inti Raymi tickets. They are now paid for and ready to be picked up next week.
Next stop was Peru Trek to finishing paying for the Inca Trail trip and get a briefing. It all sounds great except the second day will be brutal. 15k and a lot of up hills. Also wake up ranges from 3:30-5:30 am each day. Good thing bedtime is around 9 pm.
While in the trek office we looked for things to do. We settled on a nearby museum and then church. The first stop was Museo del Sitio de Qorikancha. The place was small but somewhat interesting. The english translations were all pretty terrible though. The museum had some pottery and other artifacts. Plus mummies and deformed heads from the Incas.
The final stop before lunch was Qorikancha which is connected to Santo Domingo church. This site was the richest temple in the Inca empire until the Spanish came. Then they covered up a lot of the Inca architecture and built Dominican church over it. The stonework was incredible and it was interesting to see the juxtaposition of Spanish and Inca styles.
After an interesting search for the ATM (turns out they aren't actually in the banks here), it was time for lunch. We stopped at a cute bakery La Valeriana. We had good sandwiches, lattes and cheesecake there, all for around $15.
During lunch we decided to do a walking tour of historic Cusco. We didn't even make it to the first stop though before we ran into the parade of saints coming into the cathedral. The whole spectical reminded me of mardi gras in a strange way. We saw about 8 of the saints go in plus finally Jesus. There were all sorts of instruments and costumes from each different church. There are tons of pictures you can see on googleplus along with video to hear some of the interesting music.
We watching things for nearly 2 hours and then went into the La Compania de Jesus church on the main square. The church has the largest alter in Peru. Unfortunately we weren't supposed to take pictures but I sneaked a few. We climbed up the bell tower and saw part of the crypts.
Finally we raced up to Sacsaywaman ruins. This was about a 30 min uphill hike from town. The views were wonderful and there was lots of nice Inca stonework. Also there was a statue of Jesus that nobody seems to mention in any guidebook.
After a brief stop at our hotel plus Starbucks (better then in Lima but quite expensive), we went to Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo to listen to native music and dancers. The dancers were great and it was super interesting to see all the custumes.
Final stop of the night was dinner at Green Point. This is a great little vegan place in San Blas. The food was incredible and as a bonus they had actual good Peruvian beer. We even got 2 free beers because the food was so slow. The walk back to our hotel was about 1 km up and down. As of now they are still playing band music and partying hard near the plaza someplace. Hopefully it will stop soon though because we have a realively early tour to the Sacred Valley tomorrow. (Pictures coming later, our internet isn't very good here).
The day started on the bus from Puno to Cusco. Of course we were about 45 min late arriving into Cusco (seems to be a thing here that buses run 30-120 min late). A taxi was waiting for us at the airport and wisked us up the hill to our hotel. It seemed nice, but Zach and I were so tired we just went straight to bed once we got in our room.
We woke back up at 8:30 not so warm. Even though it is cold at night here it seems nobody has actual heating we just have a space heater in our room. Actually we woke up a little earlier because it sounded like somebody was bombing the place, but we later found it they just set off fireworks at all hours of the day and night this month. Breakfast was nice although again very egg based but with the added twist of pepperoni and avocados. After a brief meeting with the tour lady for tomorrow, the hotel owner was showing us around when we heard a marching band close. We rushed outside to see what was up and a saint was going by along with a marching band. Tomorrow is corpus christi so today there are 15 saints parading in from around the area into the main cathedral. It looks like quite the ordeal. A troup of teenagers carry the pedestal. Then a group of older men carry the saint. they look like they are all really struggling under the weight. Finally a marching band and some signs round out the group. Sometimes there were also dancers.
After watching the saint go by we got our laundry ready and dropped it off. Only 10.5 kg this time, but the lady was still impressed. Then it was on to the main square. We spent some time looking for an outfitter before realizing they were all small and expensive places. After some searching we finally found the place to pay for our Inti Raymi tickets. They are now paid for and ready to be picked up next week.
Next stop was Peru Trek to finishing paying for the Inca Trail trip and get a briefing. It all sounds great except the second day will be brutal. 15k and a lot of up hills. Also wake up ranges from 3:30-5:30 am each day. Good thing bedtime is around 9 pm.
While in the trek office we looked for things to do. We settled on a nearby museum and then church. The first stop was Museo del Sitio de Qorikancha. The place was small but somewhat interesting. The english translations were all pretty terrible though. The museum had some pottery and other artifacts. Plus mummies and deformed heads from the Incas.
The final stop before lunch was Qorikancha which is connected to Santo Domingo church. This site was the richest temple in the Inca empire until the Spanish came. Then they covered up a lot of the Inca architecture and built Dominican church over it. The stonework was incredible and it was interesting to see the juxtaposition of Spanish and Inca styles.
After an interesting search for the ATM (turns out they aren't actually in the banks here), it was time for lunch. We stopped at a cute bakery La Valeriana. We had good sandwiches, lattes and cheesecake there, all for around $15.
During lunch we decided to do a walking tour of historic Cusco. We didn't even make it to the first stop though before we ran into the parade of saints coming into the cathedral. The whole spectical reminded me of mardi gras in a strange way. We saw about 8 of the saints go in plus finally Jesus. There were all sorts of instruments and costumes from each different church. There are tons of pictures you can see on googleplus along with video to hear some of the interesting music.
We watching things for nearly 2 hours and then went into the La Compania de Jesus church on the main square. The church has the largest alter in Peru. Unfortunately we weren't supposed to take pictures but I sneaked a few. We climbed up the bell tower and saw part of the crypts.
Finally we raced up to Sacsaywaman ruins. This was about a 30 min uphill hike from town. The views were wonderful and there was lots of nice Inca stonework. Also there was a statue of Jesus that nobody seems to mention in any guidebook.
After a brief stop at our hotel plus Starbucks (better then in Lima but quite expensive), we went to Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo to listen to native music and dancers. The dancers were great and it was super interesting to see all the custumes.
Final stop of the night was dinner at Green Point. This is a great little vegan place in San Blas. The food was incredible and as a bonus they had actual good Peruvian beer. We even got 2 free beers because the food was so slow. The walk back to our hotel was about 1 km up and down. As of now they are still playing band music and partying hard near the plaza someplace. Hopefully it will stop soon though because we have a realively early tour to the Sacred Valley tomorrow. (Pictures coming later, our internet isn't very good here).
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