Bolger Family Travels: Cusco and the Sacred Valley

It's not easy to get to Machu Picchu, although it is a LOT easier now than when Hiram Bingham III did it in 1911. I will write more about him and his "discovery" of Machu Picchu in a later post.

So we started the morning by meeting the guides and group in a conference room in the hotel. We had to test yet again for COVID, which was a pretty simple process. On a scale from US (not invasive) to Portugal (uncomfortably invasive), the Peru COVID test was somewhere in between. Thankfully no one tested positive.

We had breakfast, got briefed, and met some of our fellow travelers. (Editor's Note: "You do know what 'fellow travelers' means?" Blogger: "Of course, and it amuses me every time I use it.")

After that, we walked across the street to the airport, checked luggage, cleared security for the one hour flight to Cusco. An amusing anecdote is that our guides kept telling us that we were "gate 8, for now." Well, we sat down at Gate 8, when someone told us we had switched to Gate 13. I guess gate-switching happens a lot in Peru.

As the flight neared Cusco, the views of the mountains in between the clouds were amazing. The mountains are quite green and lush, reminiscent of Napali Coast on Kauai.

We were taken to lunch at a nice restaurant (the food was meh, but they were feeding nearly 40 people) situated right on the main square of Cusco (Plaza de Armas). The balcony afforded wonderful views of the square, the Cathedral, the Church, and the nearby mountains.

La Cathedral across Plaza de Armas

Just one of the many mountains

encircling Cusco.

It's very convenient to have the two

Catholic churches right next to each other.

This plaza existed long before the Spaniards came to Cusco. The Incans celebrated major battle victories here, and Tupac Amaru was put to death here in 1781 after his attempt overthrow of the Spanish failed. It is also part of the UNESCO's Cultural Heritage of Humanity listing.

After lunch, the six of us, plus our guide, Alvin (we are his Chipmunks for Peru) walked through the Plaza, admiring the state of Pachacuti, the greatest Incan king of them all.

The middle of the statue

The great Pachacuti.

The six of us are Neil and Mary Newhouse (we've been good friends since 1985, and yet this is our first trip together), Bruce and Nancy Pasfield (good friends of Neil and Mary who we have met once before), and Carol and I (we've taken lots of trips together!)

We then headed in to the Cathedral for Alvin's tour of it. Famous for the painting of the Last Supper that features a guinea pig (a Peruvian food fav), the Cathedral alas did not allow any photos, despite the fact that we paid admission to it. Seems a bit of a bad policy if you ask me. Heck, even if you don't ask me.

Built on top of an Incan temple, the cathedral was built between 1560-1654. It is a UNSECO World Heritage site, despite the fact that people are not allowed to take pictures even though photos are allowed in older Cathedrals in Europe, for instance. Regardless of what you might think, I'm not bitter about the policy, it only seems that way. There is a lot of colonial art in the church, and some of it is even mildly interesting.

The other church on the plaza.

Police and some pups.

Let's face it, the statue

of Pachacuti never

gets old.

The cathedral. I'm surprised I'm

even allowed to take a photo of

the outside of it.

Wall mural in the restaurant where

we had lunch in Cusco.

After that, we walked back across the square, up a street, and into our waiting vans. The Nat Geo tour group for the Peru leg of the trip were divided into four vans. As the smallest group (the six of us), we had plenty of room to spread out in the van.

We had a long way to ride in the vans before our hotel, so we relaxed and had a bumpy two hour plus drive ahead of us. The first half of the drive was pretty spectacular, with views of mountains and valleys, farms and rural area.

Just before dark we reached an overlook of the Sacred Valley, got out, stretched our legs and took some photos.