Cusco, Peru - Jan 26 - 27, 2008

Days 7 - 8 - Jan 26 - 27, 2008

Well rested after a difficult jungle section and all the rest we got when we first arrived had us hopping by 8am. Our city tour took us to many different inca ruins around Cusco. In Cusco there are lots of buildings which the Spanish built on top of the Incan structures and used them as a foundation. You could see that they built cathedrals and churches on top of the most important Incan sturctures. This was a way that the Spaniards attempted to destroy the Incan culture and thurst upon them Spanish cultures. About 80% of the population is now Catholic.

The Spanish arrived in Peru 1532 and started to impose their own cultures during that time. The local language at the time was Ketchwa and there are still about 7 million people here who can speak the Ketchwa language.

We spent the first day visiting many ruins around the upper part of Cusco. Then the afternoon we went to the cathedral in the main square to see all the artwork and different alters. There´s actually 3 churches inside and many alters along the sides. Unfortunately pictures or video are prohibited inside. Much of the scultures and paintings date back to 16th century. There´s even a painting of the last supper, but in this version they were eating Cuy which is Guinea Pig which is a local dish.

In the evening we went to a nice restaurant where where I had alpaca minion and Candice tried the alpaca casserole. Definitely a different and unique flavour. I´d say it tastes quite gamey maybe like deer meat. We don´t think we will be trying the guinea pig because they serve it as a whole body... sort of like a pig on a spit.

The second day in Cusco we had a free day so we hung around the Plaza de Armas hoping there would be a military parade, but that only happens on the first sunday of the month. But it was nice to just sit in the square. We then went to the Pre-Columbian Museum and shopped the rest of the day in the local markets. Early night for us since we started our journey into the Sacred Valley the next day.