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City Information Cuzco

Our Hotel
Hostal Cusco Plaza I:
Plaza Nazarenas 181.
Cuzco
Ph: (+51) 84 246 161 Telefax: 84 263 842
Hotel Cusco Plaza II:
Calle Saphy 486.
Cuzco
Ph: (+51) 84 263 000 Telefax: 84 262 001
Services and Information
Money: The currency in Peru is the Peruvian sol (PEN).
There are many Casa de Cambios located on Plaza de Armas. Some will change travellers cheques. The rates are
generally very similar in all places. Do not change money with people on the street as many false notes do exist.
Many banks on Av. del Sol will allow you access to ATMs. For Visa card advances try Banco Santander on Av. El Sol or
BCP on the same street.
Tourist Office: The official tourist information office is at Av. Mantas 188 opposite La Merced Church. Open 8am-8pm.
Phone: Telefonica Peru Av. del Sol, 386 for international calls and fax. There is also another office on Av. Marquez
Mantas near La Merced Church.
Post Office: On Av. del Sol, fifth block. Open Monday-Saturday 7.30am-8pm and Sunday 8am-2pm. The post office sells
both stamps and post cards. Many shops on Plaza de Armas also sell postcards and stamps and have post boxes. This
post office is reasonably reliable to send packages home, although it relatively expensive.
Internet: There are scores of internet cafes on and around Plaza de Armas, all charging approximately US$1 per hour.
Several offer internet phone.
Laundry: There are several laundries located on Av. Plateros and Calle Saphi, about 2-3 blocks from the square. Most
offer a service wash but one has machines that are available. Laundry can also be organised through our hotel at
reasonable prices.

Eating and Drinking

Fallen Angel Plazoeta Nazarenas 221. This is a wonderfully funky place with some of the best food in Cuzco. It is a
little more expensive than other places but certainly worth it.

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Jacks Caf On the corner of the road, just beyond the 12-sided stone, heading away from the plaza. Serves one of the
best breakfasts in town as well as snacks and meals.
Ama Lur On the first block of Calle Plateros. They have an extensive and reasonably priced menu, as well as good
quick service.
Real Mccoy On Av Plateros. A great place for roasts, breakfast and snacks; a travellers favourite.
Macondo Av. Cuesta San Blas 571, (No. 17 on map). Good food and a great setting, with some very different and tasty
meals. Vegetarian friendly.
Kin Taro Av Heladeros 149 (No. 13 on map). Serving Japanese food if you fancied something different.
Chez Maggy Pizza Av Procadures (gringo alley) and also on Av Plateros. Great pizzas and lasagne, baked on site in
wood oven.
Indian restaurant Top end of Av del Sol. Indian owned and serves good Indian food. Also great value at PEN 15 for the
buffet.
Los Perros caf Av Corricalle (No.8 on Map) a pleasant couch type restaurant, a good place for a snack, meal or just
drinks.
Mandelas Av. Palacio (upstairs). Serving reasonable meals and snacks, with a great rooftop terrace. Good breakfasts,
coffees and balcony views.
Gringo Alley Av Procuradores has many staurants serving all manner of foods including kebabs, Mexican, local
cuisine, pizzas, and much more. There are plenty more good restaurants located in the central area of Cuzco offering
local and international dishes.
Bars
Paddy Flaherty's Av Triunfo 124, (No. 16 on map). This Irish pub has good music, a daily happy hour and is regularly
busy. It can be a good place to meet up before hitting the clubs later on.
Norton Rats Tavern Upstairs overlooking Plaza de Armas. Good for an afternoon relaxing with a drink and view. Its
spacious and has good music, happy hours, pool table and darts
Cross Keys Pub Upstairs on Triunfo, (No. 15 on map). This is the original Cuzco pub and very popular with travellers.
They have a dart board, happy hours from 6pm-7pm and 9pm-9:30pm (though this doesnt include beer). Does have poor
service.
All the above offer British draught ales.

Nightclubs
Mama Africas This place is very popular, has good music and is a nice place just upstairs off the main square. It is one
of the most popular dance places with for both locals and travellers. There is a small entry fee, but you can generally get a
free pass.

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Ukukus Upstairs off Plateros 316. This is one of the oldest clubs, and is popular with both gringos and locals. Has
varied music and opens till late.
Mythology Upstairs on the corner of Plaza de Armas, near Gringo Alley. Lively and popular, it draws big crowds.
Garabatos On Av. Espaderas, just near main Plaza. This is a very local place, with lots of salsa and mostly Creole type
music.
Many other bars and discos have opened up in the last few years and there are many to choose from. Many have touts on
the street giving out free passes. Collect them as these will let you know of the best happy hours. You can work your way
around the town just following the happy hours. Beware of free drink offers as many use very low quality alcohol.
Beware: Cuzco has become the biggest tourist centre in South America, so naturally crime has followed. Pick-pockets
and thieves are common in and around the local food market and in Gringo Alley. Never take out more than you can
afford to lose. Drugs are very common in Cuzco and you may be offered them. Many of these offers are set-ups and
prison sentences are steep with minimal comfort.
City in Brief
Cuzco is the archaeological capital of the Americas and the continents oldest continually inhabited city. Massive Inca-built
stone walls line most of Cuzcos central streets, alongside the foundations of both colonial and modern buildings. The
streets are often sloped and narrow and thronged with Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas. Cuzco is the capital
of its department and population is 400,000 aprox. The city is 3,326 metres above sea level which can take some
adjustment but gives if a lovely daytime climate with cool evenings.
History Cuzco is steeped in history, tradition and legend. Indeed it is often difficult to know where fact ends and the
myth begins. When Columbus arrived in the Americas, Cuzco was the thriving, powerful capital of the Inca Empire.
According to legend, the first Inca ruler, Manco Capac, founded the city in the 12th century. During his travels Manco
Capac plunged a golden rod into the ground until it disappeared. This point was named Cuzco or the Earths navel in the
Quechua language, and it was here that he founded the city that was to become the centre of the western hemispheres
greatest empire.
Part of this legend is undoubtedly based on fact; the Inca Empire did have its origins around the 12th Century. Cuzco did
become its capital and Manco Capac was one of its earliest leaders, but the archaeological record shows that the area
was occupied by other cultures for several centuries before the rise of the Incas. Very little is known about these pre-Incas
except that some of them were involved in the Wari expansion of the 8th and 9th centuries.
The Incas had no written language and their history was entirely oral, passed down through the generations. The empires
main expansion occurred in the hundred years or so prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, as the oral records
of that important period are relatively accurate. Our knowledge of Cuzco dates back to about the middle of the 15th
century. Led by Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish reached Cuzco in 1533, at which time people chronicled the Inca history
as orally dictated to them.
It was the leader Pachacutec who began the empires great expansion. Until his reign the Incas had dominated only a
small area close to Cuzco, frequently skirmishing but not conquering various other highland tribes. One such tribe, the
expansionist Charchas who occupied a region about 150 kilometres east of Cuzco, by 1438 was on the verge of
conquering Cuzco. Then leader, Viracocha Inca and his eldest son, Urion, believed that their small empire was lost, but
Viracocha Incas third son refused to give up the fight. With the help of some of the older generals, he rallied the Inca
army and in a desperate final battle managed to rout the Charchas. According to legend, the unexpected victory was won
because the boulders on the battlefield turned into warriors and fought on the side of the Inca.

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The victorious younger son changed his name to Pachacutec, and proclaimed himself the new Inca over his father and
older brother. During the next 25 years he conquered most of the central Andes between the two great lakes of Titicaca
and Junin.
As a mighty military figure, historians have frequently compared Pachacutec to the likes of Alexander the Great or
Genghis Khan. He was also a great urban developer; Pachacutec devised the citys famous Puma shape and diverted the
Sapphi and Tullumayo Rivers into channels which crossed the city, keeping it clean and providing it with water. He built
agricultural terraces and many buildings including the famous Coricancha Temple and his palace on what is now the
western corner of the Plaza de Armas. Parts of the walls are still visible today.
Huayna Capac, the 11th Inca, was the last to rule over a united empire when he assumed power after the death of his
father. The empire was by far the greatest ever known in the western hemisphere and there was little left to conquer.
Nevertheless, Huayna Capac marched to the northern most limits of his empire in the region today marked by the
Ecuadorian/Columbian border. Here, using Quito as his base of operations, the Inca fought a long series of inconclusive
campaigns against the tribes of Pasto and Popayan.
By this time Europeans had discovered the new world, and various epidemics including small pox and the common cold
had swept down from Central America. Huayna Capac died in such an epidemic around 1525. Shortly before his death he
divided his empire, giving the northern part around Quito to Atahualpa and the southern Cuzco part to another son,
Huascar.
Both sons were well suited to the responsible position of ruling an empire. So well suited that neither wished to share
power and a civil war erupted. Huascar was the more popular contender, because having lived in Cuzco for most of his
life he had the peoples support. Atahualpa on the other hand had lived in outposts of the empire and had few followers
around Cuzco. He did however have the backing of the army, which had been fighting in the northern campaigns. In 1532
after several years of warfare, Atahualpas battle-hardened troops won the major battle of the civil war and captured
Huascar outside Cuzco. Atahualpa, the new Inca leader, retired to Cajamarca to rest.
Meanwhile, Francisco Pizzarro after landing in northern Ecuador, marched south in the wake of Atahualpas conquest.
Although Atahualpa was undoubtedly aware of the Spanish presence he was too busy fighting to worry about a small
band of foreigners. By the autumn of 1532 however, Pizarro was in northern Peru and a fateful meeting was arranged
between the Inca and Pizarro.
The meeting, which took place in Cajamarca on 16 November 1532, was to change the course of South American history.
The Inca were ambushed by a dozen armed conquistadors who succeeded in capturing Atahualpa, killing thousands of
unarmed people and routing tens of thousands more. The conquest of the Incas had begun.
The conquest was aided by Pizarros ability to exploit local rivalries and superior weaponry on the part of the Spanish.
In 1536 Manco Inca realised that the Spaniards were there to stay and decided to try and drive them from his empire by
force. He fled the Spanish and raised a huge army estimated at well over 100,000. He laid siege to the Spaniards in
Cuzco and almost succeeded in defeating them. Only a desperate last ditch effort from Cuzco and a violent battle at
Sacsayhuaman saved the Spanish from complete annihilation. Manco Inca retreated to Ollantaytambo and then into the
jungle at Vilcabamba.
The Inca Empire was Andean so placing its capital in the heart of the Andes at Cuzco made a lot of sense. The Spaniards
however were a seafaring people and needed to maintain links with Spain, therefore in 1535 Pizarro founded his capital in
Lima on the coast. By the end of the 16th century, Cuzco was little more than a quiet colonial town, with all the gold and
silver long gone and many of the Inca buildings pulled down to make room for churches and colonial houses. Despite this,
enough Inca foundations remain to make a walk around the heart of Cuzco a veritable journey back in time.
Few events of historical significance have occurred in Cuzco since the Spanish conquest, apart from two major
earthquakes and one important indigenous uprising. The earthquakes in 1650 and 1850 brought colonial and modern
buildings tumbling down, yet most of the Inca walls were completely unaffected. The only indigenous revolt which came at

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all close to succeeding was led by Tupac Amaru II in 1760, but he too was defeated by the Spaniards. The battles of
Peruvian independence in the 1820s achieved what the Inca armies had failed to do, but it was the Hispanic descendants
of the conquistadors who wrested power from Spain and life in Cuzco after independence continued much as before.
Things to See and Do
Plaza de Armas In Inca times the plaza called Huacaypata was twice as large as it is today. It was the heart of Inca
Cusco and remains the centre of the modern city. Two flags often fly here, the red and white Peruvian flag and the
rainbow coloured flag of Tahuantinsuyo, representing the four quarters of the Inca Empire. Colonial arches surround the
plaza and on the north eastern side is the cathedral fronted by a large flight of stairs and flanked by the churches of Jesus
Maria and El Triunfo. On the south eastern side is the very ornate church of La Compania. Some Inca walls remain,
notably those of the palace of Pachacutec, which were found in the Roma restaurant on the plazas western corner. The
quiet pedestrian alley of Loreto, both sides of which have Inca walls, is a pleasant means of access to the plaza.
Cuscos numerous colonial churches are better preserved and much more ornate than those in other cities. Their
maintenance is due to the importance of the tourism industry in Cusco. There are scores of churches in Cuzco and only
the more important are described below. Opening hours can be very frustrating, so patience is a virtue, but normally
churches tend to be open in the mornings rather than in the evenings and afternoons. But then again there is always an
exception to the rule.
The Cathedral Beginning in 1559 and taking almost 100 years to build, the Cathedral is Cuzcos main church and one
of the cities greatest repositories of colonial art. Many of the hundreds of canvases are from the Cuzco school of painting.
This style combines the art of 16th- and 17th-century Europe with the imagination of the Andean indigenous artists who
had only a few Spanish canvases as a guide to what was considered artistically acceptable. The Cathedral has been
combined with two other churches, to your left as you face it is the church of Jesus Maria dating from 1733. The Church of
El Triunfo to the right is normally used as the entrance to three church complexes. El Triunfo is the oldest church in Cuzco
and dates from 1536.
Inside the Cathedral you may sometimes see restoration being carried out on some of the fine wood, silver and stone
work. In the corner of the Cathedral there is a huge painting of the Last Supper by Marcos Zapata. This fine example of
the Cuzco school depicts a supper of the Inca delicacy cuy or roast guinea pig.
La Compania This church is situated in Plaza de Armas and its foundations contain stones from the palace of Huayna
Capac, the last Inca to rule an undivided, unconquered Empire. The church was built by the Jesuits, hence its name, the
Church of the Company of Jesus. Work commenced in 1571 before the church was destroyed by the 1650 earthquake,
but reconstruction began again almost immediately.
The Jesuits planned to make this the most magnificent church in Cuzco; however the Bishop of Cuzco complained that its
splendour should not rival that of the Cathedral and finally Pope Paul III was called upon to arbitrate. His decision was
cast in favour of the Cathedral but by the time the final word reached Cuzco, La Compania was almost complete. It has an
incredible Baroque faade and is one of the most ornate churches in Cuzco. The interior has the usual array of fine
paintings and richly carved alters. Two large canvases near the main door show early marriages in Cuzco and are
noteworthy for their wealth of period detail.
La Merced This is considered to be Cuscos third most important colonial church. It was destroyed in the 1650
earthquake before it was rebuilt. The present structure consisting of two sections dates from 1654. The order of La
Merced was founded in Barcelona in 1218 by San Pedro Nolasco. Paintings based on his life hang around the walls of the
beautiful colonial cloister.
The church on the far side of the cloister contains the tombs of the most famous conquistadors, Diego de Almagro and
Gonzalo Pizarro. Also on the far side of the cloister is a small religious museum which houses vestments said to have
belonged to the conquistador/friar, Vincente de Valverde. The museums most famous exhibit is a priceless solid gold
monstrance about one metre in height and covered with hundreds of jewels.

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San Francisco This church and monastery dating from the 16th century is more austere than many of Cuzcos other
churches, but does have a large collection of colonial religious paintings and a well carved cedar choir stalls. One of the
paintings measures nine by 12 metres, and is supposedly the largest painting in South America. Many of the paintings
inside are of San Francis of Assisi, the founder of the order. Also of interest are the two crypts which are not totally
underground. Inside are plenty of human bones, some of which have been carefully arranged into phases designed to
remind visitors of the transitory nature of life.
Santa Clara This 16th century church is part of a strict convent and is difficult to visit, but you can usually get in for
mass if you go around six or seven in the morning. It is worth making the effort because this is one of the most bizarre
churches in Cuzco Indeed in all Peru.
Mirrors cover almost all the entire interior; apparently it was used to entice the local indigenous people into church for
worship. The nuns provide the choir during the mass sitting at the very back of the church and separated from the priest
and the rest of the congregation by an ominous looking grill from floor to ceiling.
San Blas This simple abode church is comparatively small but its exquisitely carved pulpit has been called the finest
example of colonial wood carving in the Americas. Legend claims that its creator was a local who miraculously recovered
from a deadly disease and dedicated his life to carving this pulpit for the church. Supposedly his skull is nestled in the top
most part of the carving. In reality no one is certain of the identity of either the skull or the wood carver.
Santa Domingo This is the famous as the site of Coricancha, Cuzcos major temple. The church has twice been
destroyed by earthquakes, first in 1650 and again in 1950. It was also damaged in the 1986 earthquake. Photos in the
entrance show the extent of the damage from the 1950 earthquake. Compare the state of the colonial building with that of
the Inca walls which sustained minimal damage in these earthquakes. Also in the entrance is a doorway carved in the
Arab style a reminder of the centuries of the Moorish domination in southern Spain. Remains of the Inca temple are
inside the cloister. Colonial paintings around the outside of the courtyard depict the life of Saint Dominic. The paintings
contain several representations of dogs holding torches in their jaws. These are Gods dogs or Dominicans in Latin, hence
the name of the religious order.
Museums
Museo de Arqueologia The museum building rests on Inca foundations and is also known as the Admirals house after
the first owner, Admiral Francisco Maldonado. It was badly damaged in the1650 earthquake and rebuilt by Pedro Peralta
de los Rios (The Count of Laguna) whose crest is above the porch. Further damage which occurred during the 1950
earthquake has now been fully restored, once more returning it to its position among Cuscos finest colonial houses. The
architecture has several interesting features, including a massive stairway guarded by sculptures of mythical creatures
and a corner window column which looks like a bearded man but from the outside appears to be a naked woman, the
faade is picturesque in an elaborately decorated 16th-century Spanish style. The buildings restored interior is filled with
colonial furniture and paintings, metal, gold work and jewellery, pottery, textiles and mummies.
Religious Art Museum This building, originally the palace of the Inca Rica and then used as the foundation for the
residence of the Marquis de Buena vista, later became the archbishops palace and is still referred to by that name. The
church donated the mansion to house a religious art collection. Many of the paintings are notable for the accuracy of their
period detail, particularly a series showing Cuscos 17th-century Corpus Christi processions. The interior is also known for
its colonial tile work and fine stained glass windows.
Museo Historia Regional In the Casa Garcilaso de la Vega. Here there is a small chronologically arranged but poorly
labelled archaeological collection.
Shopping
Supermarkets There are many small and basic ones on Calle Saphi. A slightly larger one is located down the hill from
the hotel on the first right, 200 metres or so on.

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Local craft markets there are many street stalls located on Plaza Regoajo and the surrounding streets. There are
sometimes markets on Av. del Sol and Plaza de Armas. The best souvenir shops are also located in the same region.
There are also many photo and film shops on Av. del Sol.
Bookshops Several are located on Plaza de Armas and the surrounding streets. Good for souvenir coffee table books
and also sell postcards and stamps.
Other
Your tour Leader can organise one-day rafting trips on the Rio Urabamba, including transport, lunch and equipment, for
approximately US$40. Massages s/75.00, city tours and horse ridding can also be arranged by your tour leader using
reputable operators. These usually cost in the vicinity of US$35