We had two full free days in Cusco and spent our time relaxing, wandering through the city, shopping, drinking and, of course, eating. It was a nice way to wind down our trip, since our itinerary had been so jam packed up until this point. We basically slept in, had breakfast, walked around, did a little shopping, grabbed lunch, walked around some more, then went back to our hotel for a little rest. Afterward, we’d head out to a pub for a drink, then go for dinner. Not a bad way to spend our time!
Scenery around Cusco:
One of the areas we walked around was called San Blas, which is the artists’ district. It’s uphill from the center of Cusco, which made it a pretty tiring walk because we had to climb up a lot of steep steps. Once we got there, however, we saw lots of funky little shops selling all kinds of art, as well as larger workshops where they do the actual handiwork. We looked around for a while but most of the items we liked were pretty expensive.
Artist workshop
Courtyard behind the church of San Blas
Church bells
Fortunately the artisan market was a more reasonable place to shop. There were lots of stalls to browse through, and choices between mass produced items and handmade crafts. We did a little bargaining while we were there, though prices weren’t too bad to begin with. The key to bargaining is to get larger quantities of items, rather than trying to negotiate for a single piece.
Fountain near the artisan market
Another fountain
We also shopped at some smaller markets, which we would stumble upon randomly while we walked through the streets. There was a pretty good one near the famous 12 sided Inca stone. The stone is sort of hidden in an alleyway among many other Inca stones, so just look for a crowd gathered around a particular spot.
12-sided Inca stone - count 'em!
As for the pubs we visited, we mostly stayed around the main square. There was one in particular, the Cross Keys, that we liked. It had a British theme and it seemed like a hang out for English speaking foreigners. They were showing soccer on TVs and we just hung out for a while. I stuck with Cusquenos but Josh was craving something darker and tried out a few of the English beers they had on hand. A lot of the bars around the main square have 2-for-1 happy hours, but just for mixed drinks, not beers. I didn’t mind, as I found pisco sours to be tasty, refreshing, and intoxicating.
All in all, Cusco was a great place to finish up our trip. It’s a low key city that’s nice to walk around. There was lots to see in terms of beautiful buildings and intricate Inca stonework, but we didn’t feel any pressure to constantly be in tourist mode. Our favorite parts were just hanging out, eating/drinking on balconies overlooking the square. We had some good meals and a not so great restaurant experience, but more on that later. I promise, we’re almost done!