Share Cusco, Peru
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The city where our Incan journey began. Filled with history at every corner you simply can’t get away from the cities charm and endless things to do. You could spend a month here and still have possible things to do in and around the city.
I won’t get into the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu here as that deserves a blog of its own.
Walking around town you get a real sense of what the Incas began while this was the capital of their empire. There are Incan walls everywhere which are now part of museums or 5* hotels. The city is totally run by tourism and this is by far the biggest density of tourists I have seen in one place anywhere in South America. Not only backpackers but people of all ages from all over the world flock here to get a taste of the history and wonders around the city.
Walking Tour
The one we picked was not great. The green t-shirt one was average at best but we heard good things about different free walking tours.
There were a couple of good things we did though and the first was a free salsa taster session where the whole group had to dance some basic steps which I obviously nailed. Did I say nailed, I mean failed.
Apart from another few snippets of information the tour was poor until we got to watch a chef make a Peruvian dish which we then got to taste.
Mercado San Pedro
The local market was full of food vendors selling locals dishes for pretty cheap. We made the most of it on a few occasions and while it was cheap the food was average. Not the best market food we have had in Peru by a long way but for the price you can’t moan.
There are also a few stalls with Llama products but nothing worth spending our money on. We found a smaller market more central to the Plaza de Armas selling better quality garments.
Inca Museum
The main attraction of this museum are the well preserved mummies about half way round. The quality of them and the state they are in is incredible given their age.
There is loads of homemade pottery and ceramics which, if I was flying home the next day, I would of brought a load home. Next time ay. Nice place to walk around and get some culture inside you, just you can’t take photos of anything.
The Fallen Angel Hotel
The joy of travelling allows you to drink cocktails in the afternoon without worrying about your drivers licence.
So thats exactly what we did. We sat in a hotel famed for having Mick Jagger stay there many moons ago.
The hotel is just a little short of mental with tables made from bath tubs filled with goldfish, cherubs and stars on the ceiling and some paintings with girls cutting themselves.
Then I asked if we could see a room, obviously pretending to have loads more money than I have. The room was, as you would probably expect, amazing! It was on 2 floors, the first of which being the dining room with a huge table fit for about 10 people to sit around. There was a private bathroom (!! oh it’s the little things you miss when on a budget!) just off the dining room and a huge chandelier coming down from the ceiling. Then on a mezzanine floor there was a king size bed overlooking the, what looked like, one bed apartment.
It was stunning, but also $200 a night. If we had the money we would of stayed, and stayed… and stayed.