Christmas Holidays in Cusco

asiaquentin
15 févr. 2018
5 min de lecture

From Lima, we headed to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. Initially we hesitated whether this is a good choice, because it turned out that in this part of Peru it’s the rainy season ... Quite a strange idea for us Europeans, that there are countries with few different climate zones... Peru can be divided into 3 zones: Costa (desert coast), Sierra (mountains) and Selva (Amazonian jungle), of which on the coast in December there is a summer ... and the rest of the area is "winter", or rainy season, during which heavy precipitations discourages you from going outside.

However, considering the fact, that the boy’s mother came for a very limited time, and that she really wanted to visit this part of the country (the Inca ruins it’s a “must see”, isn’t it?). So we decided to take a chance and go to Cusco after all.

The hills of Cusco seen from a mirador at Lucrepata

For Asia, the trip started really poorly. To save some money, we traveled by bus (the plane option is much more expensive). Unfortunately, it so happened that we were traveling just before Christmas, so the bus was filled to the brim with families returning home for the holidays.

What’s more, the air conditioning on the bus was out of order and treated us with sessions of penetrating cold and sultry heat ... which got her a good sinusitis ...

More or less in the middle of the night (the route lasted almost 24 hours, cause of a 3-hour delay) she discovered that, additionally, she belongs to those "lucky ones" who are susceptible to altitude sickness ... Nonetheless, she still managed to keep the dinner served a few hours earlier on the bus, which was not the case for most of our neighbors. An interesting little experience for Quentin who, in the middle of the night, received on his face a few drops of neighbor's vomit, that didn’t managed to find its way to the plastic bag.

The Christmas Parade on 25th December

Anyway, a long journey and lack of oxygen (the city lies at 3,500m above sea level and acclimatization time is about 3 days) caused that the rest of the gang were pretty exhausted as well. So our Christmas Eve was a very quick one, 11pm everybody was in bed

The "dressed" cross, there was plenty of them in the city

... just until midnight, cause we were woken up by firework’s explosions so loud and intense, that it could lead to apoplexy of many war veterans... it turns out that Peruvians take really seriously all the types of improvised firework shows.

It was just magical: fireworks flying everywhere, the dog barking, the car alarms were all going crazy. Housed in the neighborhood of Lucrepata we had a great view of the city and this amateur (but with pro gear) pyrotechnic show. It seemed that all the barrios were competing seriously to be named the most badass one.

The parade of January 2nd in honor of Santa Ana

The New Years Eve in Cusco

…Or to live an experience resembling of the bombings during the Second World War. We couldn’t believe our eyes (no, we weren’t stoned) when we’ve saw the Christmas fireworks. Little did we knew what was ahead of us ... We’ve came at Plaza de Armas around 23hr and we’ve found the nice sitting spot on the stairs. What’s even better, there was some free space with a great view of the square ....

As it turned out, that’s where the kids shoot fireworks from. But not the “normal” ones, this fireworks would be forbidden even in Russia, that’s how powerful they were. And just from time to time, you get those little moments of internal discomfort, when you see a 10-year-old boy trying to light professional rockets. Or when one of these professional fireworks is put in an empty beer bottle... which falls... and starts to roll slowly aiming directly at you ... and then explodes a few meters from you in the crowd ... causing some shock waves on your clothes.

Sorry for the quality, but thet's the only photo from the evening we have

And what do you do that moment? And you laugh in a kind of suicidal euphoria! And when you think it's over ... well, there's even more.

In the midst of this artillery-like fire, the crowd suddenly began to run around the square in a sort of collective elation while shouting ... Some of them wearing nothing but a pair of yellow g-string (this color will bring you luck in the new year). The best New Year’s Eve celebrations! It was absolutely incredible and it took about 2 hours to calm this frenzy down ...

In general, Cusco is a good place for party. During the week between Christmas and New Year, there was a festival in an old colonial house in the city center ... a little bit of cumbia, pachanga, reggaeton... and the minimal techno at the end for the most motivated. It seems, that even out of the Christmas period it’s difficult to go to sleep just after the evening news.

The streets of Cusco (the majority ascends)

Cusco is a very tourist city, you can’t walk 3 meters into the city center without being offered souvenirs, massages, tattoos or tours. But that’s something that you can live with, especially when you get into the cultural, historical and architectural richness of the city.

Plaza de Armas and the old town

The other advantage of this city is also security. First of all, Peru has a special police force dedicated to the tourists, and they are much present in the most touristic part of Cusco. What’s more, in here you don’t have to have eyes in the back of your head. In the central part of the city you can walk even at night, which is not the case of the vast majority of other South American cities. You can also easily access many archaeological sites and hikes in the nearby mountains.

The cathedral

In our opinion, it’s one of few Peruvian cities, that managed to promote kind of “intelligent tourism”, namely a cultural tourism. Of course some tourism offers are not "authentic" and are designed to meet a demand but, it is better to see pseudo-local craft markets that gives employment to the people from here, than the markets of textiles "craft" and a horse-back tours, than international clothing chains and freaking buggies (yes, we were traumatized in the southern part of the country).

Another church in the city center; as you can see, most of the stones

(and foundations) first were used by the Incas. The Spanish during the

Conquistahave"recycled"everything to break the spirit of the conquered people

As a UNESCO listed city, the center is well protected: even at Plaza de Armas, where you can find all international brands like McDonald’s and stuff, the storefronts must respect the color and aesthetic codes of the city and they can’t just put an enormous signboards all over the place.