After 2 weeks in Lima, we headed to Cusco, the fourth largest city in Peru. This city of 500,000 is perched in the Andes mountains at an altitude of 11,200 ft. The Cusco name comes from the indigenous Quechua language meaning “navel” or “center.” Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13^th century until the Spanish conquest in 1533.

More than 2 million people come to Cusco annually and stay a few days before hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu or visiting other Inca sites that surround the city. But we decided to stay longer to explore the city and the Sacred Valley before we head to Machu Picchu.

We find Cusco to be a lovely but frustrating city. By far, it is the most tourist-filled city that we have visited in South America and Mexico. Packed in among the pre-colonial buildings and historic plazas are masses of tourist stores, hotels, restaurants, and tour operators. Indigenous women in their traditional clothes carrying baby alpacas offer themselves for tourist photos (for a fee).

The architecture is gorgeous, and the intense color of the local tapestries is beautiful, but it is frustrating to walk the streets due to the relentless vendors asking us to buy trinkets, wool sweaters, massages, tours and to eat in the tourist restaurants.

The people who badger us the most are the ones selling tours, which makes sense as this is where most of the money is made in Cusco. Anything from the Inca Trail to train tickets, walking tours, other Inca sites and any form of transport that goes to Machu Picchu. Every day it is like walking through a gauntlet of people trying to sell us stuff we don’t want or need.

We recognize that this is a city whose residents primary way of making a living is tourism – not only in the direct sale of tours and treks but also restaurants and accommodations for thousands of fresh visitors each day and an endless lineup of souvenirs and services being constantly offered on the streets. The main square, Plaza de Armas, is ground zero for these street merchants and each time we cross the Plaza we constantly say “no gracias,” but we can’t go five feet without someone approaching us. Thankfully, they leave us alone when we say “no”, but the constant hawking is frustrating.

Architecture

Without question Cusco, a UNESCO World Heritage city is beautiful. Most of the buildings in the city center are from colonial times with the Plaza de Armas (Haukáypaya Inca Plaza) and the cathedral taking center stage. The imposing Cusco Cathedral was completed in 1654 and was built upon an Incan palace with the aim of eradicating Incan religious beliefs. The neighborhood of San Blas is also gorgeous, and it is filled with cafes and cute shops.

The Inca influences are evident as we wander through the cobblestone streets and soak in the history and atmosphere of the Inca empire with the numerous monuments. One day we climbed up to a viewpoint and admired the landscape of this historic city. Every day we wander among the plazas, churches, and palaces.

Inca walls

These have to be seen to be believed. The walls were part of an Inca palace and were cut to the exact shape and size to fit perfectly with each other. The walls which are still completely intact are over 500 years old and many buildings use the walls from Inca palaces as the part of the foundation of colonial buildings used today. The Spaniards destroyed most of the palaces and re-purposed the stone to build churches, government buildings, and their own private palaces.

Everyone visits the 12-sided stone. Why? The revered stone is on a very narrow street (once an Inca trail) which is usually crowded and has a guy in a Incan fancy dress permanently positioned next to it.

We weren’t sure why Incan stones are so special, but we were told nobody knows to this day how they cut such laser-sharp lines in rock and slotted the rocks seamlessly together in complex geometric patterns to the extent that a piece of paper cannot slide between then. All these years later we still don’t know and can’t replicate how the Incans cut their stones so methodically, precisely, and artistically. It is a masonry mystery.

Market

We have also visited The San Pedro market to experience authentic Cusco and to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. It is such a contrast to U.S. grocery stores where everything is sanitized. This market was an experience for all our senses as we marveled at the fresh produce and braved the smell of the butcher aisle.

Traffic

One of the most surprising (and terrifying) things about Cusco is the way people drive. Looking both ways before crossing the street has a whole new meaning here because that can determine the difference between life and death. The streets are busy day and night with buses, cars, taxis, and trucks. We walk five blocks on a busy road from our apartment to the historic district and cross several busy intersections. Even when we have a green light and look in all directions before stepping off the curb, a bus often roars within a few inches of us forcing us to jump back on the curb. On some of the busiest intersections, there are police who ensure cars keep moving but they don’t even try to assist pedestrians who are trying to cross. We, as pedestrians, are basically on our own. Drivers gesture at us that they have the right of way and pedestrians have no opportunity to cross the intersection at all. We’ve learned the best time to cross an intersection is in the few seconds when we have the red light and we are able to cross before the opposing traffic picks up speed to enter the intersection.

Walking

The historical center of the city was not built with modern transportation in mind. Many streets off the main center are extremely narrow with nearly non-existent sidewalks. They were built centuries ago without pedestrian traffic in mind as their designers had no concept of present-day vehicles. It can be quite stressful trying to keep your balance while walking on a few inches of stone sidewalk while vehicles zoom past with the seeming disregard for pedestrians.

Also, old streets and sidewalks have been worn down by centuries of traffic resulting in very smooth pavement. When it rains, these stones become treacherous. We have to be very careful when the roads and sidewalks are wet as they become slick as ice. Slipping and sliding can be dangerous, especially on steeper climbs.

Weather

It is cold here when the sun goes down or if the day is cloudy because we are so high in the mountains. I (Kathy) wear my winter coat every day, but at least the sun shines most days, unlike the clouds we experienced in Lima and Ecuador.

Accommodations

In comparison to the other places we have visited in South America, Cusco is expensive! The cost of accommodations, eating out, tours and everything else cost considerably more in Cusco. We found the standard of Airbnb apartments in Cusco to be ‘not that great’ or ‘really overpriced’ in comparison to Colombia and Ecuador. Our apartment is in the ‘not that great’ category.

Taxis

Cusco is a loud city with most of the noise coming from the annoying taxi drivers. There is no shortage of taxis offering to pick us up as we walk around the city (their ceaseless honking to get our attention started to irritate us quite quickly). However, because taxis don’t use meters and are not regulated (and we had a bad experience in Quito with a taxi who overcharged us) we use Uber.

Keeping a Positive Attitude….

However, we are trying to overlook the fact that Cusco is super-duper touristy, and we are enjoying it as a city with spectacular Inca sites, beautiful old buildings, and real character.