Plaza de Armas is the main square in Cusco. It’s got everything your typical Latin American Plaza has: Churches, monuments, eateries, and street vendors.
In Cusco, the plaza’s surrounding shops and eateries are ALL geared towards tourists. There are plenty of vegetarian or vegan options. With all the granola-heads and trekkers to Machu Picchu this isn’t too surprising. A particularly delicious dinner we had in the Plaza consisted of my first foray into alpaca meat and tacu tacu (the Peruvian version of casamiento/rice and beans).
I also had some trout ceviche made with passionfruit rather than lime!
Tourist excursion offices are only a sneeze-distance away. There are also a surprising number of massage parlors and they advertise hour-long massages for as little as 30 soles (less than 10 USD)!
This past weekend we stumbled upon a festival of some sort, complete with parade and emcee. It seemed to celebrate public works projects and local organizations.
Check out this video of dancing/festivities.
It’s worth visiting in the day and night for two different looks, and being the center of town, it’s where all the action is. Most of our days consist of at least one visit to the plaza.
What did alpaca meat taste like? Thank you so much for taking us along with you, experiencing all the highlights of your journeying!
Glad you’re enjoying reading! The alpaca meat was sort of like a cross between pork and beef. Texture was softer, sorta like a nice piece of pork steak, but flavor was pork/beef-ish. Not gamey and no grain texture that carne asada has.