A full day in Cusco: sightseeing, strolling, and painting my own Torito de Pucará

Sandwiched between a full day of seeing a lot of Incan sites and a long day visiting Rainbow Mountain (next post, most likely), I had a day focused entirely in the city of Cusco itself. It started with a quick bite and coffee in the nice breakfast room of my hotel (Quinta San Blas by Ananay). No pic of the food. Not sure why. Was pretty basic as I recall, but fine.

My guide met me at the hotel, which as the name implies, was in the San Blas neighborhood, and we ventured off to start a counter-clockwise circuit around some of the city's highlights. Covered a good amount of ground, as illustrated by my google maps activity.

For what it's worth, Apple tells me we did 18,818 steps that day.

Snapped a couple of scenery shots heading out of San Blas.

At the Sapantiana Aqueduct we stopped for a little ritual involving coca leaves, rinsing my hands in the waters, inhaling some kind of aromatic (nice for the sinuses), and expressing a little gratitude for being alive. No pics or video of that, but did document the visit with a shot of the aqueduct.

From there we continued through the neighborhood of San Cristobal, which is very photogenic.

Next scheduled stop was the Mirador de San Cristobal, which overlooks the city center. Also features a life-size Torito de Pucará, which unbeknownst to me at the time was foreshadowing for my afternoon crafty session.

After the Mirador we made our way around the city, with a stop at La Vicuñita Factory (I wasn't in the market for any luxury textiles, but if you are, they do a nice job explaining everything and have what looks to be a nice selection) before passing along a few stretches that offered some historical nuggets and general orientation. My next shots of any interest or import were at the Arco de Santa Clara.

I perked up when we approached Mercado Central de San Pedro.

This is where I'd spend an hour plus on my own and walk out with a bag full of random things to try. But I just had time for pictures, so I snapped a few and kept it moving.

After my tour I met my colleague for a spin through Qorikancha. Nice scenery.

Did not have a lot of time there as I needed to get to an afternoon painting activity. So we grabbed a quick lunch at Jack's, where they served up a nice lemonade and American-style quesadilla. Solid.

Refueled, I went to meet my activity leader in Plaza de Armas. She then led me uphill to her studio, which is a bit west of San Cristobal and north of Santa Ana. Not sure what part of town it is considered, but it's Alma - Arte y Cultura. Will need to catch your breath on the way up. She was huffing and puffing a bit, too, which made me feel better.

Studio is friendly, inviting, and well equipped.

Wine was offered, but given the altitude and the rest of my schedule I had to refrain. Lástima, as I am curious about how that Peruvian Malbec tasted. Would have been a nice complement to the lesson I was getting in traditional and popular Peruvian music. When I mentioned that I don't mind me some cumbia now and then she popped on Grupo 5.

If you know me, you know I'm not particularly artistic. At least not when it comes to painting, drawing, etc. So while I painted maybe 75% of my Torito, the instructor was kind enough to gently smooth out my mistakes and take over the detailed brush work that was beyond me.

He is now proudly displayed here at home. And one nice touch of the experience is you get to name your Torito, then she translates that name into Quechua. I suggested El Viajero. She told me there was not really a direct translation, but offered two options. One was 'Chaski', which refers more to an official role of Incan relay runner or messenger. The other she came up with was 'Purinkichu', which she said translated more as happy wanderer. We went with that one.

After my session ended I meandered through the city center before dropping going back to the hotel. It was a glorious afternoon. Beautiful temperature, some nice sunlight. Good day exploring & experiencing Cusco.

Quick Review: Restaurant La Clave del Sabor 2 (Cusco, Peru)

After my early afternoon spin through Cusco's primary archeological sites, I dropped my gear at the hotel and headed out to meet with a potential partner. But I was semi-starving and had some time, so I ducked into the Centro Artesanal Cusco Paccha to check it out and see what I could rustle up.

It doesn't look particularly charming from the outside.

But inside it's full of colorful stalls selling all the various Peruvian souvenirs you could imagine. Plus some cool murals.

Reminded me of La Ciudadela here in la CDMX.

I wasn't here to shop, though. Was just aiming to find maybe a couple of empanadas para llevar, as that had been a fairly trustworthy grab-and-go staple so far in Peru. However as I was approaching this place and scanning the menu, the señora in charge spotted me and gave me her pitch.

No empanadas, but I tell you that simple ham, cheese, and aguacate sandwich plus some fried plantains with that spicy Peruvian answer to pico de gallo HIT THE SPOT. It was comfortable and delicious.

Felt good to sit for 5 minutes, watch the kids of the mercado run around playing, and enjoy a modest, tasty, and filling late lunch. Simple pleasures in life.

So if you find yourself in the mercado scanning the souvenirs, don't hesitate to stop for a quick bite at Restaurant Clave del Sabor 2. You won't regret it.

Scenes from the Sacred Valley and first sightings in Cusco

After a mediocre night's sleep at Mountain View Experience (more context in my previous post), we hit the road headed to Cusco. But of course there were some stops to check out along the way. First was Salineras de Maras (aka, Maras Salt Mines).

If you have an interest in engineering ingenuity you could spend some time learning about the site and marveling at how it has existed and evolved for centuries, pre-dating the Incas. There is a handy set of signs illustrating the process, history, and even the origin story legend of the site (en español), which you can snap pics of to help you remember.

What is pretty amazing about it is the process is still traditional, apparently not too different than what they were doing 400-500 years ago. I snapped a couple of pics, bought a couple packets of salt (which we haven't tried yet, so I can't report on the flavor), and then we headed out.

If you want to learn more about the salt mines there are plenty of articles and videos online. I found this one, for what it's worth. It's on the 'tentative list' of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Our next stop was Moray. Snapped a couple of scenery shots en route. As a city boy I always like a good animals-crossing-the-street pic.

When you reach Moray, the first thing you notice is that it is a visually stunning location, like most of the Inca sites you'll visit in the valley.

Of course there is more to it. I learned that its location and design enabled the Incas to experiment with agricultural techniques that were then applied throughout the valley. The site apparently has numerous microclimates with varying altitudes, temperatures, degrees of exposure to sunlight, etc. Clever. But a bit beyond my intellect, so I won't try to explain it. I'll just share a couple more pics.

From there we headed to Cusco. (Original plan was to also stop through Chinchero, but my colleague was feeling ill effects of the altitude, so we decided it was best to get her to the hotel where she could rest and adjust.)

I snapped a few more scenery shots on the way. From my first visit to Peru in 2006 I rememembered seeing some modest situations out the train window on the way to Machu Picchu. But I did not remember the outskirts of Cusco looking and feeling quite as grim as they appeared during this drive.

I probably should have expected it, though. In the last 20 years I have traveled quite a bit more through LatAm and of course Mexico since then, so these scenes were very similar to what I've become familiar with. But my memories from that Peru trip were all beautiful scenes from Machu Picchu and the coastal views in Lima. Funny how memory works sometimes.

Anyway, after we dropped my colleague off at the hotel the driver and I did a loop of the most significant sites around Cusco: Saqsaywayman, Q'enco, Tambomachay, and Puka Pukara.

Saqsaywaman is the largest and most significant, so if you're thinking of prioritizing your time and can only see one of the four, then this is the easy and right choice. I got a nice overview from my driver / guide before heading in to explore the site. I am also sure it would be worthwhile to have a licensed guide escort you through the site to pick up more detail and context. I spent 30-40 minutes walking around, taking pictures of the site and of the views it provides of the city itself. But I can easily see spending an hour to 90 minutes there if you want to fully take it in.

Next stop was Q'enco

Q'uenco was noteworthy as a location where sacrifices (including humans) to the gods were made. It doesn't take much time to walk through the site, and you're not encouraged to linger. I suppose during high season there can be more people working their way through a small place. And probably some jokers trying to enact some inappropriate scenes on the sacrificial altar. I grabbed a quick pic moving through the cave and then turned my focus to more views of the city.

Tambomachay was next.

To me, this was the least interesting stop of the four. I get that again it is evidence of some amazing engineering and I appreciate the value and symbolism of water in Incan culture. But if you're prioritizing finite time in the area, not sure you need to stop and pass through here. It's a few minutes walking up a slight incline, past some informal souvenir vendors, then wait to take a pic of the fountain. I only had to wait for one dude (and to be fair, it's one of my low key favorite pictures from Cusco), but during high season I imagine there is a line of people wanting to get their shot with the fountain.

Finally, we made our way to Puka Pukara, which served as a security checkpoint between Cusco and the rest of the valley.

To me this was the second most interesting of the 4 stops we made. But again, if you have limited time or just other things you wish to see and do around Cusco, I think you can focus on seeing Saqsaywaman more completely and then save yourself the time of seeing the other three. I did them quite quickly, in about an hour. Most tours would probably allocate even more time, maybe 1.5 - 2 hours to seeing those three. If I were planning my own vacation, given my level of interest in all the Inca sites, I'd spend 60-90 minutes at Saqsaywaman and feel okay skipping the rest. Conversely, if you have the time and interest, it certainly makes sense to visit the group of four, as they all offer something distinct. And your ticket to see Saqsaywaman also includes entrance to the other three.