Next up — Cusco. With the plane approaching Cusco airport, we see mountains and cliffs out of the window going way higher than the plane is at the moment. It does feel strange. We land at 3,500 km / 11,152 ft altitude where you get approximately 70% of oxygen in the air. Locals and people who visited Cusco previously recommend not doing anything the first day, just rest and drink coca tea — which is basically just dried coca leaves in hot water.
Cusco was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th into the 16th century until the Spanish conquest. The foremost city of the Inca Empire is now the undisputed archaeological capital of the Americas, as well as the continent’s oldest continuously inhabited city.
Nowadays, Cuzco is known for its indigenous population—often seen on the streets in traditional clothing. You can walk down any street in Cusco and find examples of bold, colorful costumes and textiles. A lot of local women actually still wear less colorful types of traditional clothing as a part of their daily life. Some wear just for tourist to make money by taking photos with tourists.. Often they even have llamas walking next to them, or a small baby goat that they try to sell as baby llama.
Most Indian women in Cusco carry their little kids in slings on their backs as they walk down the streets of Cuzco.
Nowadays, Cuzco is known for its indigenous population—often seen on the streets in traditional clothing. Sometimes they even walk their llamas to make money by taking photos with tourists.
When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Cuzco in the 16th century, they decided to take down all the Inca temples and built their own Christian cathedrals in the most prominent sites. Wherever you walk through the streets of Cuzco, you see the different layers of history. Spanish colonial buildings sit directly on top of the original Inca walls. What you see on the photo below is original Inca-built foundation and then colonial building erected right on top of that.