Day 446 – Cusco
Exploring more of Cusco
Today we woke up late at our accommodation, Carlos Guest House Cusco. After preparing for the day we walked up the road to the nearby San Blas Market (Mercardo San Blas). The short uphill walk was still brutal thanks to Cusco’s high altitude. Yesterday’s Uber driver mentioned that the market has good juices. We can confirm that the juices are cheap and tasty.
This delicious juice jug cost 6 PEN (~$3 AUD)
Viewpoint Cristo Blanco
Afterwards, we walked to the Viewpoint Cristo Blanco. The Cristo Blanco statue is 150m above our guest house and requires walking up heaps of stairs, which is once again horrible thanks to the altitude. We were also surprised to see that the sun was out today, making our walk even harder. The assent took us 35 minutes.
Ever so slightly uphill… …definitely uphill… …and some more. Peruvian hairless dog
The views from the statue are incredible. We could see all the main buildings around town. This is because most of the the buildings are relatively short, besides the towering churches.
We also had some nice views of the distant Incan ruins of Saqsaywaman. They looked really cool, but we decided not to visit them today.
Free Walking Tour
Later in the day we headed towards the Plaza de Armas del Cusco (Main Square) to take out some cash and find a 3:45pm free walking tour.
An ATM tip; near the plaza is a BCP bank that apparently doesn’t charge any withdrawal fees. It might be handy for people without an ING Card. We also found a street with laundry for 3 PEN (~$1.50 AUD) / kg and a turnaround of only 2 hours! Unfortunately we had already dropped ours off, across the street from the guest house, which cost 5 PEN (~$2.50 AUD) / kg and would only be ready at midday tomorrow!
In front of the KFC we saw a guy wearing a red Free Walking Tour T-Shirt. We asked if we could join his tour. We waited a few minutes for a different guide to come along and begin the tour.
It was really interesting and informative. The guide explained about the Cathedral, the Plaza de Armas, we saw Alpacas and Llamas, a few churches, amazing Inca stone workmanship and finally the tour included a van ride to the Viewpoint Cristo Blanco. We had no idea that the tour would end up here.
Artisan stores down Calle Loreto Church of Santo Domingo built on top of the Qorikancha Inca Ruins Amazing Stone work Incan ruins of Kusicancha Twelve Angled Stone
You can really appreciate the views along the drive more than when you are struggling to breathe on foot, climbing here. We were able to find out that the statue is 8m tall and was built in 1945.
Afterwards, we were dropped off close to the main plaza.By the end of the tour, the sun was setting and as the temperature dropped we were glad to have layers of clothing with us!
Plaza de Armas People dancing in the plaza
Back in Guest House Carlos
We walked back to the guest house, to meet a tour guide the hostel had arranged. The guide was informative and cheap. We got his contact details as we are still undecided on what we will do in Cusco.
We cooked dinner with some ingredients we got from the San Blas Market before heading off to bed.
Travelled November 2019