Coca leaves, Inca ruins and hairless dogs in Cusco

They say when you first arrive at a new destination that sits at a high altitude – anything over about 2500 metres – you should rest immediately; lay down and do as little as possible. But when we arrive at Cusco, by plane, at an altitude of about 3390 metres, our guide Leo has other ideas.

“We’ll drop our stuff at the hotel and then go for a walk,” he says.

“I’ll give you about half an hour, meet in the lobby then.”

And so we’re off to explore the city centre. Leo believes this is the best way to ward off any potential altitude sickness. He’s been here a few times before, so we follow his lead. Though, secretly I suspect a few of us may have been looking forward to an excuse to relax for a while.

Cusco, in the Andean mountains in Peru, was once the capital of the Incan Empire and was the first Spanish capital of Peru. As such, it plays an important role in the country’s history. Today the influence of both the Incan and Spanish cultures can be seen throughout the city. It’s interesting, and a little disconcerting, to see Spanish buildings built on the foundations of Incan sites.

Our walk takes us through the beautiful Plaza de Armas – the main square – past the Cusco Cathedral and the Church la Campania de Jesus and up some rather steep local streets. We followed the Inca built wall along the Callejon de Loretto and stopped in a couple of tourist shops to check out the Alpaca knits and traditional local dress.

We stopped at the Coca museum – this is Peru afterall – and learnt about uses of the leaf beyond cocaine. And in particular how it can be used to offset the effects of altitude sickness.

Cusco is a charming city to walk around, but it is very hilly and the following day it was with some relief, or so we thought, that we all loaded into a van to take us to explore a series of Inca ruins on the outskirts of town.

We actually moved higher into the heavens, up to almost 4000 metres to explore the remains of this remarkable civilisation. The air was thin and we all struggled a little with any physical activity but we made our way through the ruins slowly.

When we first clambered out of the bus at Qenqo it was difficult to see that what we were looking at could have held any significance whatsoever. To the untrained eye it looked like a pile of rocks. But walk behind the pile and it was clear that this was no naturally formed construction. Cuts in the rock and a tunnel underneath leading down cut steps to an altar clearly revealed its true origin.

From Qenqo we went to Pucapucara, a series of rooms set out between walls made of rock sitting high on a hill and overlooking the amazing Andes mountain range.

The following day we were up early and on our way again. Our first stop, Sacsayhuaman, was a remarkable display of the sheer strength of the Inca people. The size of the rocks carved straight and smooth and pushed into position to build walls is remarkable. I shudder to think how this site would have been built and how many people must have lost their lives in the process.

Today, the grounds are very tranquil; we even get to see a few llamas strolling around the site, but it’s difficult not to think about the massive effort and the number of people that would have been needed to get those rocks into place.

If you’re feeling a little ‘ruin-ed’ out you can visit the Awana Kancha llama and alpaca reserve and the Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary. At both sites you can get up close to the wildlife (look out for the Peruvian hairless dog). 

Cusco is well-known as the jumping off place for Machu Picchu. It’s where most people arrive and acclimatise before heading to the famous Inca ruins. But Cusco is also a beautiful town in its own right.

Fast Facts

We travelled in 2018.

We stayed at the San Austin Plaza Hotel

We were here a total of four nights.

Was it long enough? There is a lot to see in and around Cusco and it’s a lovely city to chill out in. Four days was long enough, but there was definitely more we could have seen if we wanted to stay longer.

Highlights: The llamas and alpacas both in the Awana Kancha and at the ruins, anywhere really. Sacsayhuaman for the sheer size and scale of the site and the rocks used to make up the walls.

I travelled to Peru as a tour host with the Australian solo travel company Two’s A Crowd.

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