Cuzco and Out

Cuzco seems to be the hub for those headed to Macchu Picchu, definitely the biggest city around. Aside from having enough flat land for an airport, it is not much different from any other Peruvian city. There are adobe-red neigborhoods on the outskirts, streets choked with traffic, and San Blas, the old town where so many tourists stay. San Blas has its own little square and too many streets one can only access by climbing seemingly endless stone steps.  Cuzco's Plaza del Armes is nearby and has not one, but two, large cathedrals and a monastery or two closeby. Inca stonework adorns one block, large close-fitting stone, where a man dressed in full regalia charged a feee for photographs.

A neighborhood to the outside of Cuzco.

Plaza San Blas

Plaza del Armes



I wandered out one day, walked a distance and found the indoor market where I purchased a 'frutos combinados con leche liquado' before moving on. A few blocks further I came across neighborhoods that were not so flashy and desirable. I took a turn under ta bridge and found the street market that spread out over railroad tracks. There are storefronts, of course, open, with their wares hung out for display. Grossly fascinating were the tables with whole gutted hogs stacked, quarters hung and displays of plucked chickens neatly arranged with their legs pointing upward. This is where people come from the outskirts and villages to sell anything that might bring in a sole or two. I bought oranges, shortbread cookies and little plastic bags of condiments and gave all but the cookie to a beggar on my way back to San Blas.

I took a tourist bus from Cuzco to Puno that came with the usual chatty guide. It stopped in several small towns with old Spanish churches, roadside shopping stops and a buffet lunch. The scenery we passed through consisted of golden grasslands and sharp, rugged, snow capped peaks. Ten hours is too long to spend on a bus, in my opinion.