Strolling into the Sacred Valley

We left Nasca at 8:30pm, taking an overnight bus to Cusco. From the moment we hit the winding road outside of Nasca, I was motionsick. The road wound its way up switchbacks, climbing higher and higher into the mountains. As we rose in altitude, it became harder and harder for me to maintain composure, and I slept rockily, waking every half hour or so, as Timb slept calmly next to me. We arrived in Cusco at 10:00am the next morning, and it was a relief to disembark from the bus.

We headed to our hostel, and then out into the city to find a restaraunt for lunch. We ate at a place called Victor Victoria, which has amazingly large portions. Timb had an alpaca steak, and I had a Peruvian dish called aji de gallena. Both were quite good, and we left stuffed and ready to explore.

Cusco is rather touristy, and as we ventured into the center at Plaza de Armas, we were accosted by many vendors on the street, selling paintings, postcards, and trying to convince us to eat at their restaraunts. We took some photos around the plaza of the amazing churches built atop Incan foundations, and explored some of the pedestrian-only side streets, surrounded by 2 meter high Incan walls.

The Cathedral in Plaza de Armas, Cusco

We went to go view the famous 12-sided stone, however it was surrouned by a large tourist group, who were also being hassled by locals for tips because they had pointed out the easily locatable stone. We were able to see it much more clearly the next morning, and it really isn´t anything that special. We set off back to the hostel to clean up and wait for the Peru Treks office to open, so that we could pay the balance of our Macchu Piccu trip.


After finishing up the formalities at the Peru Treks office Timb and I headed for our first Cusco museum. We purchased a Boleto Turistico using our student ID´s and were determined to see most of the sights that these tickets gave us entrance to. The first museum we went to was housed in the former home of an Incan activist, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. It held some interesting Incan and pre-Incan artifacts, but nothing too special. It also displayed furnishings and art from when the house was originally possised by Vega. These were interesting most particularly due to their ornate decoration. I especailly liked the intricately carved wooden trunks. The museum was closing and we were rushed out of it after 45 minutes of looking around.


We headed to a cafe on the plaza for dinner, which had an amazing view of the cathedral and the fountain, elegantly lit up. The cafe was especially good because of its coffee. Timb was delighted to discover that they had bodems of coffee, and thoroughly enjoyed his with his meal. It was a relaxing way to end a rather tiring day.

Timb dunking a biscuit, enjoying his bodem of coffee.

The next morning I awoke to find that Timb had arisen hours earlier and had already formulated a complete itinerary of events for the day. We started by packing up the buns that our hostel supplied as continental breakfast for lunch, and then headed to a cafe in San Blas to get some real food. We had some amazing eggs and waffles, and then grabbed a taxi to take us up the hill outside of Cusco to see our first Incan ruins. We had read in the guide book that we could walk back into town from the farthest of four ruins in about 4 hours, so we started at Tambomachay and worked our way back into town passing through Puca Pucara, Quenco, and Sachsaywaman. The ruins themselves were quite amazing, expecially the still functioning fountains at Tambomachay, and the large scale of the walls and fortifications at Sachsaywaman. We enjoyed our walk down from the hills, and it made for a good warm up to the Inca Trail.

The working fountains at Tambomachay

Timb and I on our Incan ruin dayhike, with Cusco in the background.

Timb on some Inca stairs at the ruins of Sachsaywaman.

On the way back to Cusco from Sachsaywaman we took a detour up to the Cristo Blanco, a huge white statue of Jesus that I had to have a picture with.

Blanco Cristo

We returned to Cusco down some rocky Inca stairs, and found a cafe in which to have a snack before heading back to our hostel to pack and prepare to leave for the Inca Trail the next day.


Sidenote: When we returned to Cusco following the Inca Trail and Macchu Piccu, Timb decided that he had to try cuy (roasted guinea pig). We went to this great restauraunt recommended in Lonley Planet; I had cheese and brocoli soup, and Timb had cuy. I tasted a bit, and it wasn´t that great to be honest, but Timb seemed to enjoy it. It was more bones than anything else, and the spicy sauce was key.

Timb digging into his cuy, if you look closely you can see the legs.