Day 9: dancing over cusco

Cusco is easily my favorite city in Peru. Its winding cobble stone streets, terra cotta roofs and surrounding mountains make this city incredibly charming.  We stayed in a really cute hotel called Rumi Wasi right off the Plaza de Armas. The building is from the late 16th century and is comprised of 4 levels overlooking a courtyard. Our room had a rooftop terrace with a spectacular view of the city! This is where we ate breakfast. 

Our private terrace in Cusco, overlooking the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas.

Our room at the Rumi Wasi - the building is originally from the late 16th century.

Rumi Wasi Hotel

The other great thing about this hotel is that they bring you alpaca covered hot water bottles for your bed because it gets chilly at night. 

The night we arrived we went to a great restauarant called Cicciolina. It was located a few blocks off the Plaza de Armas on the second floor of an old colonial building. We sat at the bar and had a few tapas including shrimp encrusted in quinoa and a yummy cheese platter. The ambiance was great and the food very good!

Cicciolina - very charming!

In the morning we had to arrange our travel to Machu Picchu which is slightly complicated. First, you must buy your ticket to Machu Picchu from an official cultural center which was about a 15 min walk from our hotel.  It was a little difficult to find, but after asking about 5 people where it was we finally found it! On our way back, we often volunteered directions to other tourists likely looking fo the place (there would be no other reason for tourists to be in this neighborhood).  After we finally got our tickets, we were able to book our train ticket to Aguas Calientes. 

Happy to be done with travel arrangements, we spent the rest of the day walking around the city. First we hiked up to the Saqsayhuaman ruins and over to see the Cristo Blanco that overlooks the city.  It was a clear day and the view was stunning! 

View from the Cristo Blanco

View from the other side. Those terraces are part of the Incan ruins called Saqsayhuaman.

Chris over Cusco

Cristo Blanco watches over the city

While we were at the Cristo Blanco a bride and groom arrived to take pictures.  The light was gorgeous and the couple was elated.  There was a local musician playing for tourists at the Cristo. He played a song for the couple and they danced over Cusco. It was a very special moment and I'm so happy I caught it on video. Check it out:

Felicidades!!

The bride & groom's car:)

After congratulating the couple we hiked back down the hill toward the city. We then went to  San Blas to see the different markets, church and plaza. They were having a typical festival when we arrived so we sat in the plaza with a couple delicious baked goods and watched the local women dance while the band played (there was a lot of pan flute!!).  

Afterwards we walked throughout the city stopping at many old churches, ruins and shops. We went back to our hotel to watch the sunset from our terrace.  It was such a nice and relaxing day that was much needed, especially because our long journey to Machu Picchu began the very next day. 


Here are few more pictures from Cusco:

Chris taking a break in front of the Cathedral.

Plaza de Armas

Typical side street in Cusco. Lots of hills!

Enjoying the view as the sun begins to set.