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They’re Not Sins!…Well, not called sins anyway… - Cuzco Tourism and Fare!

By Dan Wallace - 2009-11-30

It’s 8pm, and the streets lined with rocks that fit together like jigsaw pieces, are also filled with tourists from every nation around the world. The soft orange glow from the street lamps illuminates each hostel and restaurant archway, as well as the person underneath calling out menu descriptions and beckoning your entrance. Artisans haggle over the prices of their many creations neatly laid out on sidewalk display. And highly mobile foot vendors try to convince you that smoking is good, as they shove a pack of cigarettes in your face. The army of young shoe shining boys run around the romantic plaza, playing more than they are working. You could be in any Latin American city really, until you here the one word chorus echoing around every corner, “Massage?!” Its now confirmed, you can only be in one place – Cuzco.

As far as tourism goes, Cuzco is the Mecca. There are adventure tours, art tours, museum tours and more ruin tours than you can fathom. Obviously, ruins like Saxi Waman, Pisac and the famous Machu Pichu are what people really come to see. But Cuzco has much more to offer than just old rocks and history lessons. Hang gliding, river rafting and many other action adventure sports are popular. The town itself is made up of many neighborhoods that have lots of ongoing social projects. Tourists and hostel hoppers are encouraged to get involved through volunteering and many young travelers find these kinds of experiences the most rewarding and memorable.

Just walking around the city’s streets is an adventure in itself. Around the central plaza lies a labyrinth of small streets and cobblestone alleyways waiting to be explored. If walking the streets is the plan for the day, it’s a good idea to bring along an appetite. No matter what path you take you are sure to find an endless selection of good eats. Most places that serve lunch will undoubtedly have fried Trucha as a selection, which any fried fish enthusiast would love. Daytime street food varies a lot, but one great recommendation, a Chris Thompson favorite, are Tameles. Tameles look like little hot pockets wrapped in corn husks. Corn meal stuffed with chicken or other meat and veggies, steamed to perfection.

If you heading to the markets, get ready for the onslaught of offers from the juice ladies. These ladies seriously know juice. From a huge fresh fruit selection, you pick out your fruits, and decide if you want milk/no milk, sugar/no sugar, and then into the blender it goes. Two full glasses and you feel like you’ve had a meal! As night falls, the doors open to the tasty world of Picarones. These hot tasty treats are a cross between funnel cake and doughnuts. A Picarone is a ring of fried dough, the size of a small dinner plate, covered in syrupy honey – the ultimate in post dinner, or pre-dinner munchies. We’re not going to try to estimate the calorie or fat content of these golden beauties; but it is interesting to note that the Spanish word for “sins” is “pecados.” Pecados is somewhat similar to the Spanish word, “Picarones”, which we on the team use for “Heaven”. Coincidence?