Cusco - Centre of the Incan Empire

Cusco (also Cuzco or Qosqo) was the centre of the universe according to the Quechuan (Incan) people and served as their capital for hundreds of years. We’ve spent the last eight days in and around Cusco, including a visit to the famous lost city of the Incas’: Machu Picchu.

Cusco is situated high in the Andes, at 3400m above sea level, almost as high as the summit of Mt Cook! We flew straight into Cusco from sea level but didn’t suffer from the altitude, although walking up hills felt unusually hard. The worst effect of the altitude was the cold – Cusco is freezing at night. But during the day it’s nice and warm in the sun.

Despite being very touristy (“Hola amigo! Massage?”… “Watercolour Senor?”… “Special Tour Machu Picchu?”) Cusco has a really nice feel to it. Most of the streets in the historic centre are small - barely wide enough for a single car lane. This keeps the vehicle traffic slow and made it easy for walking around and exploring. Spanish colonial architecture sits on top of original Incan foundations.

Peru is the first place we’ve visited that’s been significantly cheaper than New Zealand. We’ve enjoyed being able to go out for a three course lunch for NZ$3.50. A taxi around the city cost about NZ$3. Craig also risked getting a haircut for NZ$3 from a barber who didn’t speak English! A good result, thankfully. The food was especially cheap at the local market, though we couldn’t bring ourselves to try this local specialty – Cuy, or guinea pig:

The market would not have been appealing for vegetarians – there were whole beasts lying out in questionable sanitary conditions. There was even a whole aisle for ‘innards’. Mmm, yummy…

By chance we arrived in Cusco for Inti Raymi, an annual festival that lasts for nine days. We were there for the culmination of the festival – a day long parade and re-enactment of the ancient Incan ceremony for the sun god.

Cusco has been our favourite small city and it’s been nice having a decent amount of time here. The day after Inti Raymi we set off for a trek to Machu Picchu. We’ll talk about this trip in our next post.

Comments from WordPress

• Machu Picchu – Lost city of the Incas | Craig and Sal Go Global 2012-07-04T23:05:01Z

  […] read about our time in Cusco, click here. […]

• Alice 2012-07-04T23:23:14Z

  Cuzco does look really cool - unlike any place I’ve seen before. Random question: Is the flag of Cuzco the same as the Gay Pride flag? I saw that rainbow flag hanging out in a few of the pics. Good to know about the festival - I’ll have to try and make it there at the same time. So enthused to go to South America after you guys! Take care ragazzi! xxx

• Craig and Sal 2012-07-08T15:46:42Z

  Hey Alice,

  The rainbow flag represents the Incas - it was all over Cusco for the Inti Raymi festival. When we returned from Machu Picchu, workers were replacing them with the Peruvian flag.

  xx

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson