Adventures in Peru: Qorikancha, Saqsayhuaman, Tambomachay & Q’enqo

As a budget-conscious millennial, I knew that an international trip to Peru was going to cost me a good chunk of my precious pocket change. So my goal was to immediately figure out how I could save money here and there and actually afford a solid vacay.

With this commitment in mind, I headed to Airbnb.com.

Airbnb, the $10 Billion Dollar Giant

“The online service that lets people rent their homes to travelers is in advanced talks to raise capital that would value it at about $10 billion,” according to an article in Wall Street Journal. Yep, that’s Airbnb. Valuing itself at $10 Billion.

So why should you care? Because it will save you a small fortune as it did for us.

Once we figured out that Peru was our next adventure, we logged into our Airbnb account and started reserving places to stay. We found some authentic homes that cost us between $18-50USD a night. It was that affordable. And if you’re traveling on a budget, Airbnb is the only way to go. Although technically if you’re not on a budget and have stacks of money flowin’ you can also find some pretty amazing luxury options as well.

As for us, we booked one night in Lima for our layover and ended up changing the rest of our nights to Carlos’ place in Cusco, which you can find here. We ended up using Airbnb for every place we stayed.

This was our Airbnb Lima apartment:

And Cusco Airbnb:

Spirit Airlines Flight to Lima, Peru

Our flight was a different story altogether and not a pleasant one. It was completely devoid of convenience and hassle-free living.

I disregarded everyone’s warnings when it came to flying with Spirit Airlines. I’m a stubborn, New York Italian and I can’t hide it. (You can find out what I thought about the well-loved airline right here)

It’s recommended that you take it easy on your first few days as you get adjusted to the altitude difference, but not everyone listens to these wise instructions.

Instead of taking it easy with the change in altitude, my boyfriend signed us up for a ziplining tour at 9AM and a city tour in the afternoon.

The thought of ziplining at such a high altitude (we’re talking 11,000+ feet) was absolutely terrifying.

CuscoZipline.com

But since I didn’t have a choice in the matter, we climbed another 700 feet and ziplined through the gorgeous mountains of Moras y Moray which was about a forty five minute drive from Cusco. Did I mention that this would be my first time ziplining? Yep…

Of course it’s one of those things where the anticipation is always the worst part and by the end you have that I’m-so-glad-we-did-that rush.

To say the view was gorgeous would be a disservice. Breathtaking. Unreal. As high as the clouds. Colorful. Unimaginable. Those are all just a fraction of descriptions that come to mind in an attempt to paint a picture of how amazing the views and surrounding areas were.

We flew down four mountains where each one was higher and longer than the last and hiked only a few short minutes between each one. Although the distance to each line was fairly close, we were so out of breath from being so high up there. Our guides were used to it though and let us rest and catch our breath for a few minutes before attempting our next free bird glides.

The tour ended up being that cliche “experience of a lifetime” and if you’re ever in the Cusco area, you have to check out CuscoZipline.com.

Our ziplining tour ended around noon and our next tour didn’t start until 2PM so we had just enough time to grab some food and a quick nap.

We took a nap almost daily due to the altitude change and would get tired so easily. We were lucky that it never ended up knocking us out much more than that though.

Before taking our nap, we found a nice, local place to eat. It was six soles or $2USD and came with:

A large bowl of hearty, Peruvian soup
A breaded and flattened piece of chicken over
A salad and rice
A huge piece of corn
A purple gelatin dessert, and
A pear flavored, homemade drink

There was way too much food and the flavors were unlike any I’ve had before. It was truly Peruvian.

After that, we managed to take a quick, twenty-minute nap before heading to our afternoon tour.

Qorikancha & Museo Historico Regional

We met our tour guide Freddy who was full of energy and bursting at the seams with knowledge and headed to Qorikancha and the Museo Historico Regional around 2:15 in the afternoon.

Once in the Incan Temple, Freddy showed us how the walls were stacked together like Legos and set at an angle to make them hurricane-proof and educated us on how impressive the Incan people were.

We even had the opportunity to see a replica of what it would have looked like at its peak.

Additional photos:

The outside of Qorikancha:

Saqsayhuaman

After we made our way around Qorikancha, we headed further up the mountain to Saqsayhuaman.

When you first get there you’re greeted with a huge, bright green area of land that covers miles upon miles until you get close to the edge.

As you glanced down, you could see the steep incline and the beautiful city below.

Due to its sheer size, the tourists scattered about, including me, all looked like little ants in the distance compared to the gigantic walls that surrounded us.

Tambomachay

Our next stop would be Tambomachay, which was also further up the mountain and higher in elevation than the main square of Cusco, Plaza de Armas.

Freddy showed us the guard towers here that were perfectly positioned to keep an eye out for intruders. Once again, I stayed on the ground while Eric trekked his way up to the top.

On the left side of this path, there was a waterfall which was was clear and calming. As we all caught our breath, Freddy explained a bit more about how the water was different on each side of the path due to the heavy rains the night before.