Plaza de Armas
Sunday, February 18
We left the city of Huaraz and took a 10-hour night bus and drove back south, back to Lima. There, we left the bus terminal and drove to the airport, then flew for one and a half hours to the south of Peru, to the city of Cusco. The same route (Lima-Cusco) by bus would have taken us about 25 hours, so a bus ride wasn’t an option for us. Cusco is located in the southern Andes, and the approach over the mountains was beautiful.
After arriving in Cusco, we first drove to our Airbnb, which we had rented for three weeks. Cusco is a beautiful city, picturesquely situated between mountain peaks and home to approximately 100,000 residents. What's special about Cusco is that the city is located at an altitude of 3,400 meters, even higher than our previous base in the Andes, Huaraz (3,000 meters). The city was also the capital of the Inca Empire, and even today, traces of the Incas can be admired in Cusco and the surrounding area in form of museums and buildings. Despite Spanish colonization in the 16th century and the destruction of many buildings, many foundations and streets in Cusco built by the Incas remain largely intact. Today, Cusco's cityscape is characterized by a mix of Inca buildings and stone structures, as well as „newly“ built houses in the Spanish colonial style (dating from the 16th century), as well as several churches dating from the same period. Cusco is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Peru, and the city center boasts numerous magnificent buildings that are well preserved and well maintained.
In 1911, the Incan city of Machu Picchu was discovered in the Cusco area — a city hidden in the Andes mountains that the Incas had built in the 15th century. The 15th-century Inca citadel is located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain ridge. Over the years, the extremely well-preserved ruins have become quite popular and became the main tourist attraction in Peru and one of the most popular tourist attractions worldwide. Over 200 stone structures have been preserved in the Machu Picchu area, connected by complex staircases, all of which can be visited. Surrounded by green, mist-shrouded mountain peaks, the abandoned city still appears mysterious and hidden. Although Machu Picchu is not easy to reach even from Cusco, Cusco nevertheless remains the closest city and has become a tourist hotspot and the starting point for all tourists who want to visit Machu Picchu. Whether you visit Cusco or Machu Picchu, you will immediately notice that there are a lot of tourists around. However, both Cusco and Machu Picchu are two such impressive places that the international interest in them is justified. So, under no circumstances should you let other tourists deter you from visiting these two places. This was my third time in Cusco, and despite other tourists, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The only reason we didn't also visit Machu Picchu was that we had already visited this place twice before (a few years back).
My sketchbook drawing shows the central market square of the city of Cusco, also called the “Plaza de Armas,” which is now used for a variety of occasions, events, and celebrations in the city and is the central meeting point for every tour.
