Lets See Cusco from a Double Decker Bus

Today we did a double decker bus ride to see the sites of Cusco. We met out guide in one the most historical sites in the city. The Plaza De Armas. It was the heart of the city when the Incans ruled and it still is today. Our guide speaks to the rest of the group in Spanish and is supposed to translate to English but he seems to forget that part a lot. Lucky for me I’ve read the guide book a couple of times.. lol…He tells us that the buses aren’t allowed in the Plaza so we need to walk to the bus station. What he failed to mention is the bus station was about 3/4 of a mile up hill… the air is thin in Cusco so walking up hill can be rather taxing. I had to stop several times but finally we made it and climbed aboard the big yellow bus. We find seats on the top level of the bus. Its completely full and I hear the two elderly ladies behind chat in Spanish. They’re so excited to be on the top of the bus..lol. I break out my camera. I don’t want to miss a thing. We head down the busy streets of Cusco while our guide explains the history of the city. He is now speaking exclusively in Spanish so I understand very little of it but the view is great. The buildings in Cusco are primarily white but the doors and windows are painted bright colors. Our first stop was the Plaza De San Francisco. A beautiful park like area that’s dominated by the Church and monastery of San Francisco. Its a busy place with a lot of bars and restaurants. Its just off the Plaza de Armas so the foot traffic is pretty heavy. But even with a lot of people its a nice place to visit. We leave there and head down one of the main drags, The Avenue El Sol. We pass the Sun Temple and the Justice building. We leave the bustling city streets behind and ascend higher up the hills surrounding the city. Our next sight is the Church of San Cristobal. This Church was built by the Quechua people not long after the Spanish conquest to show their devotion to them. It while not extremely ornate from the outside the alter is a exactly the opposite. Its made of beautifully carved wood covered in gold. Its definitely worth the time to take a look. We continue our ascent and find ourselves at one of the most significant of the Incan ruins of the area. A place called Sacsayhuman. It sounds like sexy woman when our tour bus driver says it , but Im pretty sure thats not what he means. The stones that make up Sacsayhuman are huge and to think that they were brought from a quarry twenty miles away is mind boggling. Its said that it took 20,000 men to build this fortress. The craftsmanship of this fortress is unbelievable. The stones are put together so perfectly without mortar. The joints are so tight you couldnt put a piece of paper through. Sadly most of the fort was lost during the Spanish invasion, but even today you can get a feel for how amazing this place must have been. We continue on our journey and arrive at a beautiful lake. There’s a little food stand and a corral of llamas. Our guide leads us to a tiny old man in brightly colored native attire. He hands us 3 coca leaves and explains that we are going to part of a traditional Quechua ceremony. The little  man chants in Quechua, first to the earth, then to the sky, then to the mountains. Our guide brings out a small metal container with a smoldering piece of wood in it. The small man turns to the group and begins chanting again. He picks up a cluster of strong smelling greenery and walks from person to person whacking them on the chest with it. He then returns and chants some more. He pulls out a bottle of green liquid. He carries it to each person and places a few drops in their hands. They begin to rub it on their arms in legs. He gets to me and I do the same…. when in rome, right? He then goes back to face the mountains and chants some more. Our guide then instructs us to put our coca leaves in the burning container. Our Quechua Shaman makes one more round to collect tips and then gathers everyone together for a picture. A picture that later on the trip they try and sell to you for 30 Soles..lol.. I’ll pass thank you. Further up the hill we find ourselves at a beautiful white statue of Christ. Its aptly names Blanco Cristo. He stands over the city with arms wide looking down to bless this beautiful city. He has a spectacular view. As we stand on the hill overlooking the city it began to hail. We all quickly take our pictures and once again load onto the bus. As we retrace our route back down the hill to the city I sit back and enjoy the view from the bottom of the bus. Music blares but everyone is smiling. We may have gotten rained out at the end but it was a fun filled day till then. Cusco is a wonderful, historic city and any chance you get to see it I highly recommend you do.