In the capital of the Inca Empire week 1
Ruins, parties, guinea pigs and massages
27.05.2011 - 03.06.2011
20 °C
View
Latin America
on sarahm_lux's travel map.
I got to Cusco a week before my mum came because I wanted to be in this city for my birthday. I had heard it is a good place to party, and it was. Staying in a party hostel helped of course. The usual programme was going to the hostel bar for drinks, and then heading out to one of the clubs; Mythology and Mama Africa were the places I spent most nights at. I had a fun time during my first week there, though the days ended up being quite lazy.
Party time in Cusco

Party time in Cusco
Of course I did some sightseeing too. I walked around the beautiful colonial city centre a lot, saw a demonstration of traditional dances, went to the impressive cathedral, visited a couple of interesting museums and took a tour of the Sacred Valley. The tour was really interesting. We saw Inca ruins and local handicrafts markets and visited a place where the local textiles are made. We got good explanations on how the Inca built their temples and other monuments and information about their beliefs and culture.
Traditional dances in Cusco

Traditional dances in Cusco
Sacred Valley Tour

Sacred Valley Tour

Sacred Valley Tour

Sacred Valley Tour
I also had another exciting new food experience. I ate guinea pig! It comes whole with skin, head, everything. It doesn't taste like any other meat, but is a bit like something in between pork and chicken. Not the best food I have eaten, but definitely an interesting experience.
Guinea pig!
Another thing everybody tells you to do when in Cusco is get a massage. So I did. They're incredibly cheap (2.5 Euro for 1 hour of full body massage including hot stones!) and good as well. A nice way to relax.
Cusco

Cusco

Cusco
Posted by sarahm_lux 10:48 Archived in Peru Comments (0)