Cusco - A mixed bag

A few days ago in another post I claimed how travelers have different opinions about the things they see and do. Case in point, the city of Cusco in Peru.

From friends who had visited Peru before to other travelers we met during this trip, Cusco was supposed to be THE city to see in the Andes. Well we’ve been to Cusco and what is our opinion? It’s nice as long as you don’t venture outside of the city centre.

Plaza de Armas (main square) is definitely the highlight of this otherwise unremarkable town. The Cathedral of Cusco and the Church La Compañía de Jesús are fine examples of colonial architecture. I wish I could comment on the interior of the buildings. I’ll have more on this subject in a minute.

The main square is a very pleasant place to hang out. There are countless cafes, bars, restaurants that can satisfy the needs of every traveler. Cusco gets a lot of money from tourism and the best place to see this money at work is around the main square.

That being said, if the traveler ventures outside the main square the picture changes – radically: houses are in pitiful condition with roofs rotting and plaster coming off the walls. The interior of houses reveal obvious poverty. Cusco is suddenly poor. Very poor.

This realization amazed us quite a bit, considering how much money Peru is getting these days from tourism. We couldn’t help but compare with Sucre, a Bolivian town with little tourism dollars but whose radiance extends kilometers outside of the main square.

So Cusco is nice. It’s also expensive.

I think that I found a new champion this year. If I should grant awards to the different countries we visited, then Peru would definitely get the award called “Milk the Tourist”.

There are a lot of things to see in and around Cusco. From museums containing Inca artifacts to the Sacred Valley, there are many things that Ania and I wanted to see. Not so fast, says the Cusco authorities. To see the main attractions (and many, many minor ones), the traveler has to open his wallet.

I was fine with opening my wallet until I saw how wide it needed to be open: 28 USD to be able to see four average colonial churches (and the ticket does NOT include the main cathedral, which costs a whopping 20 USD alone). Another 28 USD to see a few museums. Another 28 USD to see the Sacred Valley, and another 28 USD to see a few set of minor ruins just outside Cusco (including “sexywoman” as it is called locally). And we were also told that many museums and churches are not included in these tickets, so one has to buy entrance separately.

Wow. Peru sure thinks we are all suckers. Now looking at my guide from 2010, the price for each ticket says 13 USD. Yes, that’s right, Peru has declared prices increases of more than 100%.

Milk, milk, and milk the tourist dry.

After careful research – and consultations with those who had bought the overpriced tickets – Ania and I decided to buy the ticket for the Sacred Valley only because the things that interested us the most were, fortunately for us, not part of the ticket system.

We saw the Inca Museum, Koricancha, and the Church of Santa Catalina. At 4 USD we found the entrance fee to be very reasonable. The Inca Museum and Koricancha were particularly impressive. The Inca Museum is located within the former palace of Admiral Francisco Aldrete Maldonado, hence its common designation as the Palacio del Almirante (Admiral's Palace). The main piece of the museum is the fine collection of Inca mummies, ceramics, textiles, jewelry that come from Pre-Columbian times. The collection was the most impressive we had seen so far.

For its part, Koricancha is special because it was the most impressive temple of the sun in the entire Inca Empire. The Spaniards, after plundering much of the wealth in the temple, decided to build the Church of Santo Domingo directly on top of the Inca structures. The result is impressive: some of the walls of the Church are actual stone walls from the old temple. The four original chambers of the temple are contained within the walls of the Church, which makes the Church a very interesting construction. The mortarless masonry, earthquake-proof trapezoidal doorways, curved retaining wall, and exquisite carving are touted as fine examples of Inca artistic and engineering skills (or is it? Ania will have more on the subject of Inca artistic and engineering skills shortly.) All in all we were extremely pleased with the attractions we saw in Cusco. There were more things to see but the price was not right. Peru is playing a game with which it can easily get burnt.

Peru, be careful. Your ruins are nice, no doubt, but don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Ania and I have seen many nice Inca ruins in Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. In many cases we’ve paid next to nothing to see them. Of course tourists will pay whatever price Peru throws at them for sites such as Machu Pichu and Koricancha because they are unique.

However, the world economy is headed for another recession and tourists are becoming more and more budget-conscious. If you push your luck too far, Peru, you may wake up one day and find that tourists choose to spend more time in Bolivia than in Peru. After all, Bolivia is every bit as nice as Peru – we actually preferred it over Peru! – for half the money.

It’s okay to make money off tourists. It’s a risky affair to rip them off. Peru, be warned.