Peru Part 2 - Cusco, the old capital of the Inca Empire

To get to Machu Picchu from Lima, we had to fly to Cusco first as there are no direct flights, trains or buses to Machu Picchu. We flew to Cusco at 11 A.M and arrived at the airport approximately 1.5 hours later. Cusco airport is quite small. As we were waiting for our luggage at the belt, a guy called my name. I quickly turned around and he came over to greet us. I thought he was our driver since he called my name. He had a cart and helped us to place our luggage on the cart. We then followed him out of the baggage claim area. Once we were outside the building, I saw a guy holding a tag with my name on it. I then realized that was our driver that we pre-booked. Who was the guy that helped us with our luggage? Turned out he saw my name that our driver was holding and went in to the baggage claim area to pretend to be the driver. He turned to us and asked for “tip” since he helped us with our luggage. I ended up tipping him anyways, but I could not believe he scammed us.

The drive from the airport to our hotel took around 15-20 minutes. Taxis are inexpensive (S/.5 – S/.8 within the historic core) and are a good way to get around. We did not feel any difference being in high altitude. Probably the altitude sickness pill helped us. We started taking the altitude sickness pills the day before we flew into Cusco to prevent high altitude sickness in Cusco, which is located at an elevation of 11,152 feet above sea level. Altitude sickness general starts affecting people at 8,000 feet or higher. It is recommended to get prescription for high altitude sickness before your trip. We heard some guests got really sick and had to have extra oxygen in the room.

We booked a 2 night stay at JW Marriott El Convento Cusco. The hotel is conveniently located a couple minutes walk from Plaza de Armas. The hotel was built around the courtyard of a 16th century St. Augustine convent. Being a Marriott platinum member, we received a complimentary upgrade to a king luxury suite with a view of the charming Colonial courtyard. The hotel charged a mandatory elite destination fee which included 2 daily buffet breakfast, 2 pisco sours, daily high speed internet access, a USD $25 spa voucher, daily coca tea and hotel tour to learn the history of the hotel. In addition, there’s a daily meet and greet “Panchita” alpaca in the courtyard. It was the cutest alpaca I have ever seen.

Once we settled down in our room, we walked 5 minutes to Pachapapa restaurant to have lunch. I was having craving for lomo saltado dish (my favorite Peruvian dish) so the hotel staff recommended us to eat here. My husband ordered Alpaca skewer (marinated in yellow chili and spices with grilled potatoes) and I ordered lomo saltado don lucho (stir fried tenderloin strips with onions, chili and tomatoes with fried potatoes and rice). My kids ordered pizza since they wanted to see how pizza taste like in Peru.

alpaca skewer
lomo saltado
pizza

After lunch, we walked to Plaza de Armas, which marks the colonial center of the city. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and today the Plaza de Armas serves as one of the empire’s most important and beloved gathering spots. It was crowded at Plaza de Armas due to preparation of the Festival of the Sun which takes place each year in Cusco on June 24th. There were different groups practicing their dances for the festival. It was entertaining to get a glimpse of how the festival would be like.

The Plaza de Armas is anchored by two well known religious buildings. The first one is the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin (Cusco Cathedral). It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco.

The second one is the church La Compania de Jesus, which was built on an Inca palace. It is one of the best examples of Spanish Baroque architecture in Peru.

For dinner, we ate at Limo restaurant, which offers a combination of Japanese cuisine fused with traditional Peruvian. I made reservation in advance to ensure that we get to sit next to the window to enjoy the beautiful view of Plaza de Armas. The restaurant is on the second story of centuries old building. We ordered lomo saltado and shoyu ramen, which were both tasty.