We arrived here are being picked up at the airport by Carla, who bought us to the hotel and then took us on a walking tour of the city. It was only short and taken having some tea made with coca leaves which was meant to help overcome the effects of altitude sickness. I was feeling a little light headed and occasionally short of breath, but this soon passed.
The town is pretty (rather very) crappy on the outskirts, but the centre is rather nice, set around a few squares, it has a number of beautiful churches. the buildings are a mix of Incan foundations with Spanish colonial buildings on top. The cathedral, which is normally closed (or only open for a fee) was open for Good Friday mass at no charge. It was massive inside and had rooms down each side filled with statues and alters dedicated to a variety of saints as well as JC and his mum. One of the Christs was black, and the main statue of Mary looked distinctly like a South American Indian.
Touring the city, we were approached by locals of various ages trying to sell us everything from postcards to finger puppets. Unlike Lima, there were no currency touts and very few beggars. The city is cleaner, friendlier and seems safer than Lima. We also ran into Richard, the Irish guy we had met in Lima.
After the town walk, we stopped for late lunch/early dinner at a restaurant. The one that did all different types of dishes made from Guinea Pig didn’t open until 1730 so we went to the one across the road. I ordered the Alpaca dish, but then the waitress came back from the kitchen saying that because it was Good Friday, there were no meat dishes, only fish and chicken. After dinner we went back to the room and watched TV until our eyes couldn’t stay open any longer, (8pm, thus missing Jesuschristo Superstar on the tele.)
Tags: cusco, peru
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