Altitude, Alpacas & Awe: Arriving in Cusco

After months of planning, we finally touched down in Cusco, the Incan Capital of Peru, to start our adventure through the Andes Mountains, while exploring the ancient sites of the Incan Empire!

Cusco is nestled at 11,152 feet (3,399 meters) above sea level, so we were happy to have spent our summer living and hiking in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Our high elevation training definitely benefitted us up in the thin air of the Andes Mountains! Many people have serious issues with the altitude, and all are encouraged to spend at least two days acclimating before any strenuous activity. “Strenuous activity” has a little different meaning here! Most people who visit Cusco and the Sacred Valley probably find just walking around the cities (which seem to have endless stairs and steep grades) somewhat strenuous in and of itself! From day one, you feel the elevation. We were fortunate to not have any ill effects on arrival.

This phase of our trip was coordinated by Explore Inca, a Peruvian travel agency. They handled the tour and hotel reservations and transportation details for our time in Peru. We touched down at 9am after spending a night in Lima (as we had a late arriving flight the night before). We were tired, and working off about 4 hours of sleep, but excited for a half-day tour in Cusco before traveling to our hotel in Urubamba (which is located a couple of hours northwest of Cusco in the Sacred Valley “Valle Sagrado”).

Our guide for the day, Ever, took us first to the site of the most important temple in the Incan Empire, Quri Kancha, the ‘golden temple'.

As we walked towards the Temple, Gayle was quickly enticed to take the quintessential tourist photo with a baby alpaca. Yes, they saw her coming…and yes, she knew she’d have to pay for the picture. She says it was totally worth it!

After a quick snuggle with the baby alpaca, we entered the Church that is built over the site of the ancient Golden Temple. The High Priest once resided in the temple, which was dedicated to the Sun God. Sadly, as were many Incan sites in Peru, most of the temple was destroyed after the 16th-century war with the Spanish conquistadors. Much of the stonework from the Incan Temple was used by the Spanish as the foundation for the seventeenth-century Church and Convent of Santo Domingo, which stands on the site today. While the Church is an impressive historic site in its own right, the loss of the Incan treasure that once sat here can’t be overlooked.

Some of the interior walls from the Incan Temple remain, including those shown in this photo, with windows that line up in perfect symmetry with each other. Note that no mortar is used in creating the Incan walls…they were all cut to fit tightly together.

Recognizing the superiority of the construction, the Spanish incorporated the Inca stone foundations into the structure of the Church and other colonial construction across the region, even as they destroyed and pillaged much of the Incan buildings and treasures. Major earthquakes severely damaged the church and other buildings through the centuries, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly interlocking blocks of stone, still stand due to their sophisticated stone masonry. In the photo below, you can see the curved wall of dark colored original Inca stones (bottom right) that still serve as the foundation for the Church and Convent.

After our tour of the Quri Kancha site, we walked through the narrow streets into the heart of Cusco, the Plaza de Armas del Cusco. In this particular street, you can see the original Incan walls that line the narrow passageway. The streets laid out by the Incans are still used today! Again, you can see superiority of their stonework.

Ever told us on the drive from the airport that Peruvians have festivals and celebrations for every occasion. True to his word, we walked into the middle of a celebration of the Feast of Saint Rose in the Plaza de Armas. There was a large police presence in the central square because Saint Rose is the Patron Saint of the police in Peru. We watched as participants danced, chanted and said prayers in the plaza.

After seeing some more of the area around the Plaza, our driver picked us up and we headed to Sacsaywaman (Scott pronounced it Sexy Woman). Located at an elevation of 12,142 feet (3,701 meters), this site was known as the fortress of the royal falcon. It is located on the northern outskirts of Cusco, and was built by the Incas in the 15th century. As you can see in the photo, the walls were constructed of huge stones, and were carefully cut to fit together tightly. It’s hard not to marvel at the incredible construction, and wonder how they possibly completed this in an era with no modern machinery.

In 1983, Cusco and Sacsaywaman were both designated as sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for international recognition and protection.

After the visit to Sacsaywaman, we made a couple of stops on the way to the Sacred Valley. First was at Manos de las Comunidad, where we learned how to tell alpacas and llamas apart, and watched artisans at work.

We also stopped for lunch at Pumachayoc Horno in Pisac for some brick-oven baked empanadas.

The drive from Cusco to Urubambo takes about two hours and is along a narrow, winding mountain road.

We got our first taste of driving in rural Peru…which is an adventure in itself! Scott couldn’t believe Gayle took a short nap, noting that he felt like he was in a video game with cars, buses, dogs and people popping out in front of our car around every curve! Gayle’s theory was that Scott is so used to driving himself that he hasn’t thoroughly learned to trust the driver!

Much to Scott’s dismay, we reached our destination, the Tierra Viva Hotel, safe and sound, but utterly wiped out from lack of sleep and a packed day of touring! (Elevation here is 9,366 feet or 2,854 meters.) After check-in, we laid down for a nap at 4pm, and didn’t wake up until 6:30 am the next day!

This is the view from our room, which overlooks the hotel grounds.

For our next post about this trip, go here.