On Sunday morning we flew from Lima to Cusco, arriving around 10am. We checked in at our hostel - Los Portales - which is more hotel-like, with cable TV and a nice room.
After talking to the person who'd be arranging our trip to Machu Piccu in a few days, we went to see the city. We started in Plaza de Armas, or Plaza Royal. We toured the Cathedral, which is very cool and has some interesting art. The art was funded by the Spanish, but done by local artists, shortly after the conquest. There is a painting of the Last Supper done by local artists a couple centuries ago - it's at a round table and the main dish is cuy (guinea pig) and there are peppers and other Peruvian foods. Also, they say Judas' face is modeled after Pizarro - the Spaniard who conquered Peru. Also, in a painting of Jesus being taken away, the soldiers are Spanish instead of Roman, supposedly because the local people said that's the only kind of soldiers they've ever seen.
After seeing the cathedral, we had lunch on the plaza - soup, tomale, chicken and rice for 12 soles ($4)!
When lunch was done, we went to the San Blas neighborhood and toured the church there. It had an amazingly ornate pulpit and some interesting art work. We went in the artisan shops, and I bought some earrings. I also ended up buying a llama-wool knit hat.
We decided to have dinner on the plaza - there are a bunch of restaurants with balconies overlooking the square. We took our time over dinner and shared a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. We had a fruit pizza - normal pizza, but with no tomato sauce covered with banana slices, mango, and apple pieces. It had a very unique taste, but we both really liked it - maybe we'll try to put banana on our own pizza sometime. ;)
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