Cusco

Located in southern Peru at an altitude of 11151 feet, near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes mountain range, Cusco, also known as Cuzco or Qosqo (meaning navel or bellybutton in Quechua) is considered the oldest living city on the American continent with a continuous habitation of over 3000 years.  Cusco is the tourist center of Peru and is a jumping off point for the Inca Trail, Macchu Picchu, the Sacred valley of the Incas, and rainforest tours.  It will be my base for the next 7 days or so as I explore all of these areas except Macchu Picchu which is closed because a flood washed out the train tracks.

According to myth and legend Cusco was founded by Manco Capac, son of the Sun, and Mama Ocllo, daughter of the Moon.  At their parents' command they rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca and set off on their quest.  They would found their city at the first spot where Manco Capac's golden staff could be plunged into the earth up to its very head. That place became Cusco, 'the Navel of the Earth', and Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo's children became the Incas.  


Most of Peru was developed the by the great culture of the Incas which arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century.  The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America; it's size rivaled that of the Roman Empire.  From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia.

The city was ravaged following the arrival of Francisco Pizarro and the Conquistadors on November 15th 1533. Francisco Pizarro refounded it for the Spanish King on March 23rd 1534. The loot hauled from this, the capital of the Inca Empire, can only be imagined. It is said that it took three months to melt down all the gold and silver in just one building, the Temple of the Sun.

In 1536 Manko Inka began a long and bloody war against the Spanish invaders with a siege, lasting over 8 months, on the city. Finally in 1572, after a war that lasted 36 years, Tupaq Amaru I, the last emperor of the Inca dynasty was defeated, captured and executed in the city’s main square. The Spanish subsequently destroyed many of the structures in the city or used them as foundations for many of their own churches and buildings.

It was pouring rain when I arrived in Cusco about 7:30 am after my all night bus ride.  I slept pretty much the whole way, so it wasn´t too bad.  I took a taxi to my hostel, Hospedaje Turistico Recoleta, which was nice and looked clean.  I checked in, stowed my bags, and went out to see the plaza and find a good breakfast. The rain had slowed a bit and I had been wearing my rain poncho since the airport anyway. 

I found a nice place with a second floor balcony accross from the Cathedral overlooking the plaza.  It was called Yaku Mama´s Grill and the breakfast was terrific!  I ordered the Israeli breakfast which included two eggs over easy topped with tomato chile sauce, wheat bread with great blueberry jam, coffee, a salad of fresh cucumber, tomato and avocado, and a small pitcher of freshly squeezed banana-orange-mango juice. 

As it was still lightly raining and I had some time to kill before I went back to get my room at the hostel. I found an internet cafe and did some blog posting to catch up from the Colca Canyon trip. When the time came, I checked into my room at the hostal,  had a nice hot shower and then went out to explore a little, get my bearings and get to know the city.  It was pretty cloudy so I didn't get many good pictures.  This one is looking up towards the San Blas neighborhood.  My hostel is on the edge of San Blas to the right of here.

After trekking around and getting a feel for where everything is, I went back to my hostel to relax a little and read up a bit more on what I should see and do in Cusco.  I went out to get some food at Jack.s which was not too far from my hostel and a reccomended place for good food.  I had a grilled beef tenderloin sandwich with fries and a Cusquena beer.  It was good after eating a lot of rice, soup, and vegetables on the Colca trip.

Cusco was the Incan capital, the center of their religious, political and administrative life. It is supposedly shaped like a puma with its head at Sacsayhuaman.  Cusco still maintains its Incan core.  The town is built on the Incan stonewalls and many buildings maintain their Incan foundations. These stonewalls, typified by the smooth grey stones that fit together so perfectly that they have no need for mortar, have withstood more than 500 years of wrenching earthquakes.