Unveiling Cusco – A Unique Bus Journey Through the City

Unveiling Cusco – A Unique Bus Journey Through the City offers an immersive experience into the heart of Cusco, Peru. It is my first week in Cusco and I see the double-decker tour buses every day and decide to get a ticket to go on the city tour. There are several tour agencies near the Plaza de Armas, and I went inside one to see some of their tour offerings. They had a bus tour leaving in thirty minutes, so I signed up and paid for the tour. In a few minutes, our guide stopped at the tour agency and led me to the bus.

Cusco City Tour

There were around twenty of us on the bus tour with different people speaking Spanish, English, or other languages. Our tour guide gave the tour in both Spanish and English. He also spoke Quechua, the original language of the Incas. The bus was a double-decker bus with open seats on the top. It was a cold, cloudy day and some of the group sat below and the rest of us went to the top for better views of the city.

Our tour started in La Plaza de Armas with the Cusco Cathedral, churches, and museums around a central square. We continued from La Plaza de Armas and the bus traveled through the old, narrow, cobblestones streets of Cusco. Along the way we passed by several beautiful churches, university buildings, and government buildings that were hundreds of years old.

Next, we went by the huge San Pedro Market, and then went through the Santa Clara Arch. We stopped on the edge of town and picked up some additional tourists before the trip up the mountainside.

Sacsayhuaman

We slowly rode up the curvy, steep road to the Sacsayhuaman Inca Architecture Site. As we traversed up the mountain, there were beautiful views of the city of Cusco and the surrounding Andes Mountains in all directions. Alongside of the road were groves of Eucalyptus trees. These trees were imported from Australia years ago and took over sections of the countryside. The Eucalyptus thrive in the higher altitudes and do not need very much rain.

We stopped at the Sacsayhuaman for photos from the bus, but did not disembark from the bus. At this point, we were 1,000 feet higher in altitude of Cusco and it was quite a bit colder! The Sacsayhuaman site is large, and we continued to drive alongside different sections of the ruins for quite some time. We drove by another Inca Architecture Site, Puca Pucara, and made a stop for photos.

Shaman Blessing

Our next stop was to see a traditional Shaman blessing. The group was led to a sitting area on wooden benches. Our tour guide was the translator between the Shaman and our group. The Shaman would speak in Quechua and our guide would translate it in both English and Spanish.

In the first part of the ceremony, we were all given three cocoa leaves to hold onto. The Shaman sang and chanted and then came by each of us one by one and blew smoke over the leaves and blessed us. This same stop was a small farm with llamas grazing in the fields.

Cristo Blanco

The bus continued to the Cristo Blanco statue, where we stopped and could get off the bus for fifteen minutes. Furthermore, we were able to walk around the statue, take time for photos, and check out the handmade goods and souvenirs that the vendors were selling.

Alpaca Sweaters!

Our last stop of the tour was a local store to buy Alpaca sweaters and other Alpaca clothing. The prices here are lower than in the city, so many took advantage of that. The store also have a wide assortment of souvenirs for tourists to buy. After our tour group finished browsing and/or buying, we got on the bus and headed down the mountainside to La Plaza de Armas in central Cusco.

We departed the bus, and I found a local restaurant overlooking the plaza and had a fresh Andes trout dinner and a local craft IPA beer!