Let's not travel to tick things off lists or to collect half hearted semi treasures to be placed in dusty drawers in empty rooms. Rather, we'll travel to find grounds and rooftops and tiny hidden parks, where we'll sit and dismiss the passing time, spun in the city's web 'til we've surrendered, content to be spent and consumed. I need to feel a place while I am in it - Victoria Erickson.
thought I would open this blog post with this lovely quote that Natalie sent me on Pinterest. I felt that it went very well with our time in Cusco. Cusco wasn't a city that we were going to run around like tourists in, it was a city we were going to live in just for a while. Nathan signed up for Spanish school which was 9-1pm everyday for a week and I went about town taking photos, grocery shopping, going on a walking tour and getting a pedicure as I have been wearing flip-flops since April and my feet were a total mess, and who can argue for £5!
Cusco is a city in Peru that is 3399 metres above sea level, the city was the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO. It is a major tourist destination and probably the most touristic city or place we have visited since being in South America.
Cusco is covered in cobbled streets and beautiful buildings, especially churches, it has fantastic markets, people and as I mentioned in my last post it has some of the best food we have had in 5 months.
Some days when Nathan was at school I would just start walking and I would discover new streets, alleys and squares. Sometimes I would sit and read a book for a while and other days I would loose myself in San Pedro market for hours just buying groceries for dinner.
Cusco really is a fascinating city, something that made me smile was that you could almost set your clock to the daily rainfall happening between 4pm and 5pm. This gave me a brilliant opportunity to take some photos as the dark clouds made the city look even more vibrant.
On Saturday we went to the top of the city and visited the White Christ in an area called Saksaywaman (pronounced sexy woman). The area is beautiful and is also part of the UNESCO world heritage site
It has the best views of Cusco as well as giving you an insight into life in the Peruvian highlands.
We went into a shop selling Alpaca clothing and were given a demonstration on how they dye the Alpaca wool for jumpers, which was really interesting as the colours all come from natural flowers and plants and salt is added to adjust the brightness.
The area in Cusco we were staying in was called San Blas and it had a wonderful market where we ate lunch everyday but it also had some cool shops. We were able to visit a musician who played on some traditional Peruvian instruments.
Nathan got to have a go too.
A massive highlight in Cusco, for Nathan especially, was the chocolate museum, shop and cafe we have been to all 3. We made 4 visits in the space of a week. I have to admit that their 'make your own hot chocolate' is awesome.
They bring hot milk, melted milk chocolate, honey, cloves, cinnamon and chilli to the table and you put the amount in that you want. You can imagine Nathan literally looked like a kid in a chocolate shop.
The last few things to mention about Cusco is again very much like Bolivia there doesn't seem to be big supermarkets, you are expected to buy your food from the ladies is the market which I absolutely love. It has a very big lunch tradition so most of the Peruvians will be in the restaurants, markets and cafe at lunch time and the tourists are the ones that seem to be eating big meals out in the evenings.
The last thing worth noting is the driving. I spent a lot of time wandering around on my own and I just could not figure it out! If I was walking on a zebra crossing it didn't seem to matter the cars would still come flying at you, Nathan said that is seems as though as long as a Peruvian driver beeps his horn then he can do whatever he wishes!
Ultimately all I really want to share is that Cusco was amazing and such a friendly city it is the sort of place I would recommend coming on a family holiday.