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Peru Rail – We rode a train for 7 hours from Puno to the south edge of the Sacred Valley to spend a few days in the city of Cusco, 3,400 meters elevation. The train ride was very pleasant with the attentive service, comfortable seating, and beautiful scenery in the Andean mountains. In Cusco, often spelled Cuzco, we enjoyed wandering the stone streets to see places we visited five years ago with our children plus learning about other interesting spots. 

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Plazaletta de San Blas – We did not stay in the same bed and breakfast as we did last time, but the two places are within a three minute walk of this wonderful little plaza with a large fountain, upper level overlook of the city, shops, restaurants, Saturday artisan craft market, and Iglesia San Blas.

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Cristo Blanco – We did the uphill walk (mostly stair climb) to the eight meter tall Cristo Blanco white stone statue on the north edge of the city and enjoyed the view of the valley. The popular statue is illuminated during the night time and was built by a group of Christian Palestinians that sought refuge in Cusco after World War II. It was a symbol of their gratitude toward the city and was their parting gift when they finally returned to their home country. For many Cusco residents the statue serves as a reminder that good deeds do not go unnoticed.

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Plaza de Armas – We spent quite a bit of time in this large plaza with many benches, manicured grass and flowerbeds, large fountain, surrounding shops with arched porticos, and two large churches: La Catedral and Iglesias Compania de Jesus.  Cusco served as the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th century until the Spanish conquest in the early 1500’s. The large Spanish cathedral was built on top of an Incan temple and palace. And the Spaniards also built the Andean Baroque style Iglesias Compania de Jesus. The stone plaza fountain, built in the 19th century, was topped with the gold-painted statue of Pachacuti in 2011. He was an Inca Emperor and expanded the Inca Empire from the Cusco valley to a large part of western South America. Some historians believe that the popular Manchu PIcchu was built as an estate for him. Adding the statue of the Inca ruler pointing towards the mountains to the top of the fountain was controversial for quite a few Cusco residents. Some folks are quite sensitive to the tense history between the Inca and Spanish empires and city government officials did not announce ahead of time that the statue would be added. The fountain was covered with plastic for a short while and when the covering was removed the added statue was visible.

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Mercado San Pedro – This is a somewhat smaller version of the San Camilo Mercado in Arequipa, Peru. We did notice a few different items for sale to tourists and the 435,000 plus city residents. The Cusco mercado included less meat/fish/poultry, more souvenirs for tourists, more flavors of chocolate bars, plus more dried fruits and nuts.  The shelled pecan halves were about 2.5 inches long!  Loaves of the large round Cusco bread, unique to the area as indicated by the name, were a popular item at the mercado. 

Shakin’ – One day we were awakened at 6 am by a 4.0 earthquake. It was centered in Pisac, which is about 28 km northeast of Cusco. Our host didn’t seem excited about it when we spoke to her at breakfast.

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Kusikancha Inca Ruins – Many Cusco buildings are a blend of architecture and construction of two cultures, with Inca laid stones on the lower portions of walls and Spanish construction used for the remainder of the walls and roofs. Archaeologists have uncovered several Inca ruins in the area, including Kusikancha, two blocks from the Plaza de Armas. This site shows a community of houses, surrounding walls and doorways, a water collection and distribution system, a few pieces of pottery, and a skeleton. The Inca stonecutters were highly skilled. Each stone was cut and then strategically pieced together using a technique called ashlar. The bricks were placed so close together that mortar was not needed.