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Cusco: Markets & Ruins
Explore the Imperial City of the Incas, beginning at Cusco’s local market, where you’ll experience daily life and find a wide variety of fresh vegetables, breads, and fruits, including the traditional Oropeza bread. The market also offers medicinal herbs used for centuries and cocoa beans, the foundation of chocolate production. Next, visit Cusco’s Colonial Cathedral, home to over 400 paintings from the Cusqueña School and intricately designed altars. Continue to Koricancha, once the most important religious site in the Inca Empire, dedicated to the Sun God, Inti. The name comes from the Quechua words qori (goldwork) and kancha (enclosed space). Walk up to the San Blas artisan quarter, where local workshops showcase religious paintings and handcrafted art. Then, head to Cusco’s surrounding archaeological sites, starting with Sacsayhuaman, a monumental Incan stone fortress known as the Royal House of the Sun. Visit Qenqo Amphitheater, a temple believed to have played an important role in ceremonial rituals, followed by Tambomachay, an Incan sanctuary dedicated to water and reserved for royalty. The name comes from the Quechua words tampu (collective housing) and machay (resting place). On the way back, pass by Puka Pukara, or Reddish Fortress, named for the distinctive color of its surrounding soil.