Getting around Cusco – Sacsayhuaman, San Blas and the Historic Center

When we arrived in Cusco at our hotel – Casa de Mama 2 – we parked our rental car and relied on buses, taxis, and walking to get around. Cusco is a great city for walking around, and you can get most anywhere you’d want to go on your own. During our three days in Cusco, we were able to make our way to several places with minimal effort. Well, I got lost a couple of times, but it was easy to find my way again.

Raymi near Sacsayhuaman

We stayed at Casa de Mama 2 – run by a lovely, energetic woman named Mercedes. The hotel is a good 20-minute walk (or 3 sol cab ride) to the Plaza. The rooms are clean and comfortable; the showers are hot; and the price includes a breakfast of coffee, eggs, bread, butter, and jam. The hotel also has free wireless Internet. I had trouble getting a signal in my room, but there is a comfortable place in the small café where I could sit and get connected. While sitting there, Mercedes often chatted with me. As I am doing research on humor, I found it interesting when she told me that the Quechua people are also “bromistas” – people who like to make jokes. She said she and her siblings often joke in Quechua, even though they primarily speak Spanish to one another. She told me this story while talking about her brother who lives in Hungary. Her story made me wonder how joking varies culturally within Peru.

After chatting with Mercedes, we began to make our way around Cusco. One of my favorite places to visit in Cusco is Sacsayhuaman. It is fascinating both to admire the boulders and to ponder how and why the Incas carved these huge rocks and placed one on top of another. It remains a mystery how the Incas were able to move these extremely heavy rocks, especially without the use of wheels.

Ancient ruins at Sacsayhuaman

Relaxing at Sacsayhuaman

To get to Sacsayhuaman, you can take a taxi from the center of Cusco. The taxi we took cost 10 soles, and the driver took us up to the highest entrance. It is fairly easy to walk back down to the plaza, but the walk up can be strenuous. We walked around the ruins and then walked up to the Cristo Blanco, which affords a fantastic view of Cusco.

Tatiana at el Cristo Blanco

Afterwards, we walked down to the Plaza, where we chilled out and people-watched for a while. I was craving pollo a la brasa – Peruvian roasted chicken – for dinner, so I asked around for the best place to eat pollo a la brasa. Our taxi driver recommended El Tablon on Avenida del Sol, so we went there. The chicken was tasty, and they had a decent salad bar. I had a Cuzquena beer to go along with my chicken and my daughters had chicha morada – a drink made from purple corn and sweetened with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and lime juice. The restaurant was just a block and a half from our hotel, so we walked home afterwards and relaxed before going to sleep.

Soraya and Tatiana in the Plaza de Armas, Cusco

My other favorite thing to do in Cusco is a horseback tour of the nearby ruins. While we were up at Sacsayhuaman, we found a young man – Raul – who agreed to rent us horses for 20 soles ($8) a person. We called him the next morning and met him at the Plaza and rode in the taxi up to his small ranch with him. He saddled up four horses for myself and my three daughters and we set out on our tour. Our horseback tour include Zona X which has several caves; the Temple of the Sun and the Moon; and Qenqo.

Raymi, Tanya, Tatiana, and Soraya on horseback 

Tatiana is a lot happier than she looks to be on horseback

Raymi at the Temple of the Moon

The girls were much more interested in riding horses than seeing the ruins, but we still got off at each stop and checked things out. At Zona X we looked at some of the caves; at the Temples of the Sun and the Moon, we sat in the ancient stone seats; and we looked around Quenqo.

We dismounted our horses in Qenqo. From there, you can either take a bus back to Cusco for one sol, or to the remaining nearby ruins for the same price. We inadvertently took the bus towards Puca Pucara – another ruins site. When we realized we weren’t on the bus back to Cusco, we decided to enjoy the ruins at Puca Pucara and then take the bus back to Cusco.

The bus takes you straight back to the Plaza, but, again, I missed our stop, and we went all the way to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Cusco called La Molina. Since we were there, we decided to get off the bus and enjoy a cheap lunch. We found a place that had lunch for S/3.50 – about US$2 and had soup and aji de gallina for lunch. It was reasonably tasty and definitely well-priced.

After lunch, we took a taxi to San Blas, a historic neighborhood close to the center. There are several artisans in the plaza at San Blas and Raymi began to chat with a woman who was weaving knit belts. She talked us into buying one, as Raymi’s jeans were falling down. Afterwards, Raymi took a picture with her and her daughter. The woman told me she was from Lares, but prefers to live in Cusco.

The Plazuela at San Blas

Raymi posing with the artisan woman from Lares

From there, we decided to have a treat at Pantastico – a bakery just next to the Plaza. We had a brownie and a passion fruit bread that had the texture of a muffin and was quite tasty. Pantastico also has a great view of the city.

From San Blas, it is easy to walk back down to the Plaza. There are lots of cool sights and shops along the way. We stopped in a couple of stores and looked around at all the colorful handicrafts. Before going back to our hotel, we decided to check out the new Artisan Market on Avenida del Sol. I pondered a number of items, but only purchased a colorful scarf and a set of place mats.

A unique fountain across from the Artisan Market on Avenida del Sol

After all that riding and walking around, we were tired and headed back to our hotel to relax.