Recharging in Cusco

The Plaza de Armas at dusk

We´ve been in Cusco for almost two weeks and it´s been a great experience.

For one, it´s a really beautiful city with a lot of interesting history and architecture.  It´s very touristy, with lots of foreigners and businesses that cater to them.  There are so many hotels and tour agencies (ranging from high-end to backpacker) that there must be thousands of tourists here at any given time.  That said, it´s not so touristy that it doesn´t feel very Peruvian.  We´re staying in a house just five minutes from the Plaza de Armas, right near the largest market in town, and it doesn´t feel touristy at all.  And yes, like a lot of Peru, you can see a lot of signs of poverty - beggars, packs of semi-wild dogs, piles of garbage on the streets, half constructed buildings everywhere, and the like.  I even saw a guy drop his pants to take a dump on the median of one of the town´s biggest streets yesterday during rush hour.

The whole thing is a great contrast from the only other time I was here, in 1995.  Back then, the country was coming through the end of the Shining Path era, and there weren´t that many tourists in Peru at all.  Sure there were some, but Cusco looked much different, and much less upscale.  It also felt more dangerous back then, which is something I don´t miss.

Being in Cusco for two weeks has been a great break for us at this point on our trip.  Having a big house, and being able to fully unpack, cook, etc., have created an opportunity for us to recharge a bit.  I wish we were staying here a bit longer for that reason, but Argentina, and Yo´s violin training, await.