After sending out some Laundry to be done (the B&B specifically requested that we not do it in the sinks, and at 5 Soles/kg, the price was right), we started the Walking Tour described in our Tour Book.


We started with a walk around and through the Plaza de Armas, where we were accosted by just as many merchants selling alpaca scarves, hats and mittens, massages and other goods.

We walked along the Calle de Medio, a pedestrian only street where there are plenty of small shops, to the Plaza Regocijo. The colonial arches surrounding the plaza encompassed this area in ancient times.

Then it was along Calle Carcilaso to the Plaza San Francisco, where there were these beautiful blue Juliette balconies! Neither the Church nor Museum of San Francisco were opened, and although we planned to come back to visit, we never made it.




 This led to the colonial archway of Santa Clara, and past that the church and convent of Santa Clara, which was not open to the public. That led us to the Mercado San Pedro, where I went in, and T stayed outside. Shopping in the market was overwhelming with all of the things that were available. Along the outsides were the typical clothes and other textiles, spells, incense and other random products.  On the inside there was all kinds of produce, including pig heads and frogs, as well as many, many species of potato! Finally there as a ginormous fruit juice selection, but I avoided it, as much as I didn't want to, for fear of my stomach disagreeing with my mouth! Instead, I got myself a typical bag to carry all my junk in, which you will no doubt see in most of the pictures following this post, and some gifts.

Outside the market, we got roasted sweet potatoes, and T got a roasted banana. They were delicious!


Just in case the market wasn't enough, the walking tour took us onto Calle Nueva, where we saw merchants selling hardware, guitars, dvds, and tea (which T bought).

We ended up onto Avenida El Sol, where we were last night while at Peru Treks, and found the Palacio de Justica, a big white building that looks kind of like a wedding cake!

Behind the Palacio del Justica, we walked along Loreto, a pedestrian only cobbled walkway with Inca walls on both sides.


The wall on the left of the photo belongs to Amaruqancha, the wall on the right belonged to Acllahuassi and is one of the oldest and best Inca walls in Cuzco.

Loreto took us back to the Plaza de Armas, where we turned down Triunfo and to Hatunrumiyoc, another walled-in pedestrian alley, and home of the famous 12 sided stone.



Here, we went to the Museo de Arte Religioso.  I desperately needed to use the washroom, and T was very interested in visiting the Museum.  A win-win situation if I ever saw one!


At the museum we took an audio tour.  The paintings were mostly by the Andean people, but were cathlolic in nature, and the audio tour explained to us how the artists combined the Inka style with the Catholic faith. It also talked about how the catholic church was able to integrate with the indigenous people. There were also a collection of paintings depicting the signs of the zodiac and their Christian equivalents, which T and I thought was really cool. (Sorry, no photos were allowed in the museum! I took from in the courtyard, where it was allowed, though)


After the museum, we ended up on the same street as our B&B, where we stopped for some lunch and coffee.  I had the most delicious hot chocolate I've ever had, it was spiced chocolate with espresso, and I wish I could have it every day! While we were there T fell asleep, and I did some reading about the next portion of our walking tour!

Once T woke up, we started on our way along Cuesta San Blas, a very steep cobbled street which leads to to the Plaza San Blas.


 The Plaza is supposed to be a 'Bohemian Headquarters,' and while there was a guy juggling, it wasn't as bustling with 'fire twirlers, jugglers and itinerant artisans' as our tour book said it would be.


Here's a close-up of the juggler. He's not that visible above!


From the Plaza San Blas, we walked through the San Blas area of Cuzco along Tandapata. The road was really cool, and I took lots of photos!












 After a bit of debate when we came to a crossroads, we ended up on the path to Sacsaywaman, or as T renamed it, Scandalous Woman. Before climbing to the ruins, we got some freshly squeezed OJ (very yummy!) and T got a corn with cheese, which she enjoyed immensely.


 On the way up, we saw a llama, which I took lots of pictures of, because it was the first one I saw...





When we arrived at the ruins, they yelled at us because apparently there is a fee of 130 Soles to get in. We decided it was probably not worth the money, since we were going to see all kinds of Inka ruins on the Inka Trail to Macchu Pichu, so we went in and dropped off our garbage, took photos of ourselves, and then climbed the other side of the mountain to see if we could get a better view.  And the view ended up being pretty spectacular.



Sacsaywaman is supposed to be the most impressive one in the immediate area around Cuzco, although apparently what we could see was only about 20% of the original structure.  The Spaniards tore down much of the structure to build their own houses, which makes me very, very angry! 



When we arrived at the summit of the other hill, we found this!!


Later that night, we met up with C at the McDonalds in the Plaza. I could smell it before I saw it, and I was glad we weren't eating there. If it wasn't such an easy marker to meet at, I would have been upset that we were meeting there.  We walked around for quite a while looking for a place to eat, and ended up just down the road from our hotel at the Blue Alpaca! We ordered chica, a juice made from a corn, and I ordered alpaca! It was delicious, and I guess the most exotic food I ate while I was away.  The cui (guinea pig) was twice as much as everything else on any menu we saw, which is why I didn't order it.
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Alpaca!

Chica!