The Belly Button of the Inca Empire

Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Cusco is a beautiful gateway to the ancient Inca Empire that at its height spanned from Ecuador to central Chile and had an estimated 12 million inhabitants.  Although the Spanish tried to wipe out Inca heritage during the 16^th Century the native language remains in the mountains and the Quechua name for Cusco, Qosqo, translates as ‘belly-button’ to symbolise its central position in the Inca world.  As the longest continually inhabited city on the continent the city is filled with Inca culture from food and buildings to women in traditional dress selling bright textiles and an assortment of junk (generally fridge magnets and lama toys).  The downside to Cusco is that due to its huge influx of tourists the city is a watered down version of the rest of Peru and it is impossible to walk through the central streets without somebody trying to sell you something from one of the hundreds of tour or gift shops.  Despite this the centre of the town is a collection of cobbled alleys, small plazas and restored colonial buildings that are great to stroll around but often require nimble feet to avoid the herds of geriatric tourists who cause mayhem in their mass numbers on package tours. Accommodation was more expensive here and having had painful experiences in 3$ and 18$ a night hovels we upgraded to an extravagant 30$ a night where we were treated to a large roof terrace outside of our room offering fantastic views across the tiled roofs of the city to the mountains beyond.

The back streets of Cusco

First developing in the early 12^th Century the Incas based themselves in Cusco and limited themselves to a small domain with its most important region in the nearby Sacred Valley.  Under their 9^th King, Pachacuti, the Incas rapidly expanded their empire in the15th Century using his military and political talents and he has a huge statue in the Plaza de Armas (the centre of Cusco) in recognition of his great achievements.  This plaza also highlights the Spanish destruction of the Incas however and two huge Catholic Churches loom over the magnificent plaza built upon Inca ruins, as with most of the old temples in the region.  Next to the plaza we went to see one of apparently only 7 surviving true Inca decedents playing instruments he had made and dressed in traditional clothes pandering to the tourists that dominate this once great city.  Hannah at this point became more interested in the lamas and alpacas that are around the city attached to brightly dressed women who ask for money to be photographed with them. 

Meat at the market including roasted Guinea Pig

Similar to the other regional towns the Spanish sought to destroy all Inca customs but many of the colonial buildings are built directly on top of some of the Incas amazing stone walls. The most famous example of these walls in Cusco on Hatunrumiyoc where huge stone weighing as much as 40 tonnes have been cut and fitted like a giant Jenga puzzle so precisely that not even a knife can fit between them.  On top of these original walls colonial buildings have been built but at least some of the Incas incredible masonry skills still remain on show.  The city always seems to have a market or festival on and I was treated to a parade of traditional costumes, dancing and music (whilst I was in immigration having lost my immigration paper), we even managed to see fireworks that night. I managed to persuade Hannah to eat Guinea Pig at a food festival which didn’t go down very well.  San Pedro Market also had wired and wonderful fruit such as cherimoya which Hannah loved but I thought tasted of an overripe banana. 

The ruins at Pisac

Cusco is only the entrance into the amazing Inca world that surrounds it and we took a day tour around three of the famous ruins that survived the empires downfall in 1572.  Our first stop was at the amazing ruins of Pisac, set on a hillside above the Sacred Valley with huge agricultural terraces stretching down the hillside.  Above the terraces are a few remains of buildings and a strange cliff face where human skulls can be seen when the sun hits it as it was used as a burial site for the Incas.  Learning lessons from Chinese tours we made the obligatory stops at some traditional crafts shops receiving a short lecture about how the various tat was made and an overpriced buffet lunch (we hid and ate across the road at the local’s cafe) before we reached Ollantaytambo where we had caught the train a few days previously. 

The ruins are one of the few places where the Spanish lost a major battle and again contain the famous stepped terraces and a military area.  The site was not completed as the Spanish arrived first but huge rocks weighing 50 tonnes were mined high from the cliff face on the opposite side of the valley 6 km away.  There is also an Inca ‘fridge’ built on the opposite hill in the shade and built with vents to allow the cold wind to ventilate the inside!  Setting off back towards Cusco we stopped in the dark at quite a unique church covered in murals that was built on top of an Inca temple at the village of Chinchero, believed to be the birth place of rainbow by the Incas.  As we stood on the former Inca ceremonial platform with the silhouettes of the mountains behind the setting sun it had a spectacular setting!  Cusco had been a great place to stay for our trip and but we eventually had to catch an overnight bus to Lake Titicaca and continue our journey towards Bolivia.