WHS#27

Cuzco is like the most quintessentially South American city, and yet, there's no other quite like it. It's truly an amalgamation and conglomeration of indigenous and colonial cultures; amalgamation because all these aspects have formed a single fused culture of today's Cuzco, but also a conglomeration in that each specific origin is distinguishable and provides interesting contrasts to the experience of visiting here. It's got this historic core made up of several neighborhoods of colonial architecture with some traces of the precolonial Inca city, surrounded by the modern city of Cuzco. This historic core is off limits to big tour buses and modern concrete buildings, but not from fun things to do even for those less interested in the rich history of the city; it's a great culinary destination with everything from excellent contemporary Peruvian cuisine and chocolate museums to traditional Andean delicacies and street popcorn. The hotels all seemed to lack elevators, but there was a nice laundry shop and a grocery a few steps away from my hotel. It's a living, modern city just as much as it's one of the most important historic centers of Native American culture, and I'm so glad I was able to visit in April 2016.

I arrived and left by Peru Hop, which I highly recommend. This is how I found out that tourist buses weren't allowed into the historic centre, since we had to transfer into smaller vehicles at the office in the modern city. They have an office within the historic centre as well, and they assisted with the Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley tour, and hotel and restaurant recommendations, of which I must recommend Uchu which is just behind the Cathedral and serves amazing modern Peruvian cuisine. A side note, much like many other South American cities, I unfortunately didn't enter that many churches, which I chalk up to both the unreliable opening times of churches throughout the continent and my ignorance of the beauty of colonial churches at the time. I did enter the Jesuit church on the Plaza de Armas, which has a stunning Baroque facade that rivals the much wider, stouter Cathedral on the same square, but the interior wasn't anything particularly memorable. Coricancha was also a bit disappointing since it was probably the most ruined attraction in the city. Obviously, the 12-sided stone is quite a novelty, but it takes less than a minute for a visit to be over. But when in Cuzco, you rarely enjoy single attractions more than the city as a whole. And no matter how underwhelmed you ever get with a certain attraction, there's always more than meets the eye to it. Korikancha is probably the best example of Spanish buildings built directly over Incan ones. The 12-sided stone was probably a part of an Inca palace. And yes, Cuzco isn't as refined as Lima or Arequipa, but it certainly has its charm. It's more like other high-altitude Andean cities like La Paz and Puno in terms of the atmosphere (literally and figuratively), but Cuzco beats them all in terms of authenticity and distinct character.

Looking beyond the not-so-stunning attractions, the unpolished quality, and all other faults one may find about Cuzco, it's an undeniably important WHS. It's not just any other well-preserved Spanish colonial city in the Americas, but also the center of the Inca civilization, and either of those on their own make for clear OUV. Cuzco falls under the same niche as Mexico City in being a precolonial capital turned colonial city, but while Mexico has gone on to becoming a colonial and later national capital and one of the largest cities on the continent, Cuzco has stayed a smaller, more intimate city with its inhabitants roaming the street in their indigenous garb along with llamas and alpacas. That's what puts Cuzco in a league all on its own.