After sticking out a few days of miserable weather, the sun returned to Cusco and I was able to enjoy the city for what it is - a small yet charming place that at times feels almost like a time warp, such is the abundance of history evident within the city.

Cusco was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th into the 16th century until the Spanish conquest in 1536. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and it has since become a major tourist destination, receiving nearly 2 million visitors a year.

Arriving early on Monday evening, Tyler and I went out for dinner at the Shaman Raw Vegan restaurant. Being a staunch carnivore myself, I was a bit skeptical about eating just quinoa and vegetables for dinner. But I must say it was absolutely delicious and while I’m nowhere near giving up meat, it’s definitely opened my appetite to an entire new selection of food. It was so good that during my stay in Cusco I ended up hunting down a few other vegan and organic restaurants (it wasn’t hard, there are loads).

On Monday night I went out for dinner at Cafe Morena and just happened to bump into Rich and Christina (we were at the homestay in Puno together), so we shared dinner and talked for a couple of hours, ending with talk of a possible meeting in their hometown of Philadelphia someday.

Wednesday I did the free walking city tour, which was kind of disappointing, but they did take us to a nice lunch spot for Ceviche. In the afternoon I joined up with another city tour, this time much better and led by a knowledgable Cusqueña who took us to the stunning Santo Domingo Cathedral, and many ancient Inca archaelogical ruins - Sacsayhuamán (when the locals pronounce it, it literally sounds like they are saying “sexy woman”), Qenko, Puka, Qorikancha and Tambomachay.

Thursday I ended up spending the morning at Starbucks talking to the security guard - finding out about his life and what it’s like to live and work in Cusco. In the afternoon I visited the Arte Museum, which was kind of disappointing, but I wanted to get the most out of my Tourist Ticket, which costs 130 soles and lasts for 10 days, and includes entry to a range of tourist sites.

In the afternoon I took a walk through the San Pedro. Whilst sipping on my fresh juice, I noticed a sign marked “innards” in the back corner of the market. Kind of knowing what I was in for, I took a walk down the Innards aisle, but was a bit shocked to see them selling this (warning: innards!):

On Friday, after a gym session I went for an “Inca Massage”. In Cusco, you learn quickly that anything that tourists may be interested in gets instantly enhanced by prefixing it with the word “Inca”. When in reality it makes no difference. Anyhow, I enjoyed my Inca Massage which was strangely similar to every other massage I’ve had, then headed to Paddy’s Pub to watch the Manchester United game.

In the evening I met up with some friends from Couchsurfing and we ate dinner at, surprise, a vegan restaurant - called Green Point.

The weekend was filled with more tours using my tourist ticket. On Saturday it was to Maras/Moray and Sunday I finished off the ruins by taking the Sacred Valley tour. During which I met some girls from Texas, and we spent my last night in Cusco sampling the city's street meat offerings and then hitting a couple of bars and clubs.

I’ll be back here in about 2 weeks to begin one of the biggest milestones of my trip, the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu. My 6 month anniversary will incidentally fall during this time, and while I had no intention of planning it that way, it will be quite a fitting moment to celebrate the date.