The route to Cuzco is replete with bridges over rivers, farms and haciendas, and the occasional small village, where low walls contain political messages of the past-mostly in symbols so that they can be understood by the largely illiterate inhabitants.
But what I remember mostly are the mountains-some with ancient fissures and some that appear to have been caused by more recent landslides. Magnificent all. In any event, we don’t roll into Cuzco until after dark.
In the morning, we mosey down to Cuzco’s main square-the Plaza de Armas. It’s pretty much as I remembered it from the first time I visited-except the cars are newer.
Straight in front of us is Cuzco Cathedral (The Basilica of the Virgin of the Assumption); to its left is the Temple of the Sacred Family, and, to its right is the Church of the Triumph. In Cuzco, you get three for one!
If that isn’t enough, just cata-corner to the Cathedral lies the Church of the Society of Jesus.
When the Incas arrived in Cuzco, this place that would become the main square was nothing but swamp. They brought in sand from the coast or mountains and “drained the swamp”, making the Plaza and the city the epicenter of the Incan Empire. Incan palaces, instead of churches, once lined this Plaza. In fact, a statue of one of the Incan emperors, Pachacuti, stands proudly at the center of the Plaza. It looks like he is pointing at the Cathedral. I wonder what he would have thought about that.
Unlike Pachacuti, whose controversial statue was added to the square in 2011, the “Cristo Blanco” overlooking the city from the hills has been there for a long time. The white statue of Christ is a little bit of a rip-off of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue; but Rio’s version reaches almost 100 feet, while Cuzco’s is a paltry 26 feet high.
While we’re at the Plaza de Armas, we decide to join a walking tour of the city that begins at the statue of Pachacuti. Our first stop is just across the street and facing the Church of the Society of Jesus (Iglesia de la Compania). It’s an Incan wall. Of course, there are many of these, not only in Cuzco, but throughout Peru. The striking thing about Incan stonework is that they put together stones without any mortar or cement. That required a labor intensive fitting of stones (chiseling with primitive tools or other manipulations) so that they would fit tightly and evenly together with no or few gaps…like a jigsaw puzzle. As a result, the Incan stonework is much more resistant to earthquakes (quite common in Peru) than are standard, modern walls. The locally famous “Stone of Twelve Angels” is part of this wall fragment.
We now move uphill into the San Blas barrio of the city. No matter which direction we go, it always seems uphill from the Plaza de Armas. No wonder it used to be a swamp.
San Blas is the artisan section of the city. Artisan usually implies a worker in a skilled trade, such as textiles, ceramics, or leather goods. In other words, they ain’t rich. Apparently, things haven’t changed much since San Blas is said to have also been the artisan section during Incan times.
We stop at a wall in San Blas where our guide points out various hidden Incan cosmological symbols: a snake, a condor, and a puma. Even after he traces them with his fingers, I can barely see any. Can you? Maybe it’s just his imagination.
A stop at a musical instrument maker was to be included in the walking tour; but the shop isn’t open. Not to be outwitted, our guide gives us an impromptu concert with his flute. It isn’t bad. It isn’t good, either. We politely applaud.
A maze of streets follow: streets that used to be planted terraces, streets that used to be rivers from the mountains, streets that form a French or Dutch quarter. I can’t keep them all straight.
Finally, we arrive at the highest point of our walk. We get a clear view of the Cathedral and the Plaza de Armas from here, as well as signs and symbols in the surrounding mountains.
The best part is the unexpected rainbow that appears while we stand at this overlook.
On our way back down to the Plaza de Armas, we notice that more than a few houses we see have “Toritos de Pucara” affixed to their roofs. This Peruvian highland tradition posits that the bulls bring protection, balance, and harmony to homes. I guess it’s the equivalent of gnome statues out in the garden in front of a house.
Back in the Plaza de Armas, we slip into the Cathedral, which gives us access to all three holy places. No photos are allowed (even without flash); but we sneak in a few anyway. I don’t know why these churches aren’t as impressive as the ones I saw in Mexico or Spain. Maybe the conquistadors ran out of gold, silver, and relics. The churches are nice; but not particularly memorable.
San Pedro Market is more interesting and colorful. Opposite one of Cuzco’s train stations, this particular facility dates from 1925 and is another one of Gustave Eiffel’s designs. Like Arequipa’s Camilo Market, you can get just about anything here: a meal, souvenirs, household goods and foods, even coca leaves.
We are especially searching for blue potatoes. These potatoes, which are sometimes purple, are natural and are supposed to be even healthier than normal potatoes. They have all kinds of colored potatoes at San Pedro Market. There are yellow potatoes, red potatoes, tan potatoes, regular white potatoes…everything but blue potatoes. So, the search goes on.
Nearby San Francisco Plaza becomes one of our favorite hangouts in Cuzco. Originally part of the Plaza de Armas, the Spanish kept building and building in the area (including the Church of San Francisco, erected in 1572) up to the point where the plazas became separate. That’s not such as bad thing, as there is less hustle and bustle at the Plaza San Francisco. It’s a pleasant place to sit while enjoying an ice cream or an impromptu musical procession or two.
Way up in the northern hills overlooking Cuzco is the royal Incan fortress of Sacsayhuaman. I had visited it before when I had come to Cuzco. At that time, our guide told us simply to think about “sexy woman” to remember it. That works pretty well; but the name really means the “fortress of the royal falcon”. One day, we order a cab and travel up to Sacsayhuaman. Although entrance is included in the Cuzco Visitor Ticket, a guide is optional. So, we decline a guided tour and walk right in.
The fortress features three structures with zig-zag walls separated by large fields. Sacsayhuaman was built by the Incas sometime in the 15th century and, according to lore, it represents the “head” of Cuzco. This is a particularly good place to see samples of Incan stonework-where massive stones are fitted together without benefit of cement or mortar.
Sacsayhuaman is also a good site to see Incan doors. They widen at the bottom; but don’t lead to anywhere except steps.
Remnants of a rainbow are also visible over the skies of Sacsayhuaman.
There are many “miradors” or overlooks at Sacsayhuaman offering views of the city far below. We can see what’s going on in the Plaza de Armas, the stadium, and many houses-both in the valley and along the hillsides.
As we head towards the isolated rear exit from Sacsayhuaman, we notice individual and herds of llamas either grazing or being marched about. Apparently, they are employed for grass control at Sacsayhuaman. The llamas (and hordes or tourists) don’t do a bad job of it.
There is a zig-zag path which leads us first over a hill in the direction of the Cristo Blanco. More terraces appear as we traverse this.
Then, suddenly, there it is: the Cristo Blanco. As noted, it is much smaller that the Christ the Redeemer statue perched upon Corcovado Mountain in Rio. In fact, it’s about the same size as the pedestal of the Rio statue. Still, this late 1940’s statue is lit up at night and lends some splendid ambiance to the city of Cuzco below.
We manage to grab a bus back to the city (even though we aren’t at an official bus stop). Near the Plaza de Armas, sitting on the steps in front of one of the churches, are three old ladies dressed in native garb. I guess they got tired of tourists taking their photos unbidden; so they grouped together to monetize the process. Unfortunately, a good zoom lens can circumvent that; and I get a decent photo of them anyway.
Overall, Cuzco hadn’t changed much since my last visit. Different itinerary and activities; but essentially the same place. I just hope that I can make it through to the end of the trip. I am feeling even crappier, and it’s clear that altitude sickness is not the cause, since Cuzco is lower than Puno and Lake Titicaca. We’ll see.
Musical Interlude: “Cusco”-Raul Romero