Cuzco, once the capital of the Inca´s Empire, is located some 3,400 meters above the sea level, in the Eastern Andes of Peru. Its 70 thousands square kilometers area covers a fertile valley.

The Cusco weather is usually warm and dry, with an average temperature of 12°C. The dry station lasts from April to October and the rain station lasts from November to March.

Within the last years Cusco has become a cosmopolitan city, with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Its cultural past and present was enough to be declared a Mankind´s Cultural Heritage in 1983 by UNESCO, just like the Machu Picchu citadel.

Cusco city is surrounded by mountains and sheltered by a deep blue sky. It´s divided in two urban zones: the Historic Center and the popular districts. The strong influence of the colonial period is reflected in its red tiling roofs and in the great amount of churches rising from almost every block of Cusco. Their streets are made of polished rocks and flagstones, as old as the walls; they are the silent witnesses of Cusco´s dramatic history.

The Historic Center of Cuzco is full of amazing sites to visit, like the San Blas neighborhood. San Blas is a place full of art shops located near the Main Square. You could find the most beautiful paintings and crafts on their streets. Beauties made of ceramic, white stone, and clothes accessories made of the softer cotton and wool of the world.

The Main Square is one of the widest places of Cusco. It´s located at the very center of the city. Spanish built it over the inca terrain.  It was on the Main Square that many of the most important moments of Cusco history took place, like its re-foundation by Pizarro or the torture and murder of the rebel cacique Tupac Amaru II. Now it’s a beautiful location, where people of every nation gathers to enjoy moments of relax and entertainment, surrounded by nature.

The Cathedral is a baroque construction that represents the Cusco´s colonial splendor. Located at the Main Square, it was build with pieces of rocks brought from the surrounding areas out of Cusco. Its construction was directed and planned by many architects and it continued for almost a century. It is a two-bell towers building with a huge wooden gate and a dome at the center of the place. The interior saves a real treasure in Escuela Cuzqueña´s paintings, wooden carved altars, gold leafed frameworks, and exquisite shining jewelry.

The Company Church is also located in the Main Square. Built by the Jesuit Order on the 16^th century, its baroque style is known as one of the best samples of this art on Latin America. It shelters one of the greatest collections of paintings from Escuela Cusqueña, the finest art movement of the colonial period of Cusco.

At the Kusipata Square, La Merced was conceived both as a convent and a church. Rebuilt after a great earthquake in 1650, it guards one of the most delicate goldsmithing master pieces of the period: the Monstrance of Gold, a wonderful piece of pure gold and jewels, preserved to be used only in the most important masses of the year. The fine carved chorus chairs and more samples of the Escuela Cusqueña complete this wonderful collection.

The Temple of Koricancha is located just a few blocks away from the Main Square zone. It´s a mixed construction; a symbol of the two worlds encounter. This place is part of the Santo Domingo Church and their walls weave each other, forming a rare and beautiful compound, unique and majestic. The Koricancha walls are made on dark, polished huge pieces of granite. They were fully covered by pure gold plates in times of the Empire; there´s where its name came from: “Golden temple”.

Walking down the Hatum Rumiyoc streets, the high walls made on perfects stone bricks open. Some of those bricks were a true puzzle for archaeologist and architects for many years. One of them is the Twelve Angle Stone. Its discovery was powerful enough to reconsider many of the theories about the techniques that incas used for cutting and shaping those stones.

But there is the other side of Cusco. Due to its world fame gained through the years, Cusco has become a modern city for tourists. Located all around the Main Square, a diversity of restaurants, hotels, discotheques, bars and casinos are opened 24 hours a day. Colorful music and dance events combine perfectly with them, creating a city that never sleeps. There are also some public services available, like banks and all kinds of transportations, including the international airport, located outside Cusco.

Cusco is also surrounded by a ring of mystic energy. A series of important inca sites are located on it, hidden by hills and eucalyptus forests.

The ruins of Qenqo are located just twenty minutes from the center of Cusco. It was a ceremonial place with a hand-made cave and a huge piece of rock in the middle of a rocky square. The cave is particularly amazing, because it was not only successfully drilled, but perfectly polished and shaped as a big inca throne inside. Then, the fortress of Puca Pucara appears with a great chain of terraces, the so called “andenes”.

Finally, the greatest and colossal site of Sacsayhuaman appears. A huge construction made of giant rocks, Sacsayhuaman is located over a beautiful prairie, up from the Cusco City. It was an inca fortress and even today the mystery of its construction remains. There are a lot of great rocks bound perfectly. How they transported them? Were those megalithic pieces of granite already there, waiting for a wise civilization to give them shape and meaning? The experience of being in that place is really intense. You can also feel the static and the telluric forces of the site.

Those are just a small sample of the many other wonders that wait for you in Cusco. If you´re looking for a place full of mysteries, energy and history, Cusco must be your choice.

Take a trip to Cusco; you´ll get the journey of your life.
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