Cusco Bar: La Chupiteria (The Shot Bar)

During my stay in Cusco, Peru I got to meet some really neat college students from Wagner University who were working as archeologists on an site near the city. Each time that we went out to experience the night life of Cusco, it was tradition that we started the night at La Chupiteria (The Shot Bar). The bar is about a block and a half from the Plaza De Armas on Tecsecocha 400 which you can get to by taking Procuradores or Tigre.

The drink options here are just about endless with great deals on Tequila, Rum, Vodka and Whiskey. Drinks run from $1.50 to $7.50 which include flaming shots. If you go with a group be sure to ask about the shotski which is a ski with four holes to place the shots in and a group does a shot together.

I highly recommend getting a Teapot if you are going with a group because first of all they are delicious and second, its a great deal. The four options of the teapot range at $18.00 - $20.00 and split between four people its at four and a half shots per person. Each teapot comes with two different liquors and flavorings. Its the best bang for your buck and its fun to pour the shots from a teapot.

The Shot Bar is a great place for a small group to start out your nights, spend a night or even finish your nights at. Great atmosphere, fun bartenders and of course...SHOTS!

Cusco Restaurant: Two Nations

Cusco is a town filled with an amazing life style with a great night life and food. I recommend eating around the Plaza de Armas to get a good balcony seating, but for some good unique food I recommend this interesting restaurant called Two Nations located near the stairs that lead up to San Blas.

The environment of Two Nations is really neat with writings all over the walls from visitors and tourists leaving their mark about what they thought of their trip, Two Nations and where they are from. The ambient is great and the food is amazing! Highly recommend just about anything on the menu, but its a great spot to eat some Cusco pizza! The owner of the restaurant only offers what he believe is the best he has ever tried, if the plate is not the best he has tried then he won't put it on the menu.

The reason the restaurant is called Two Nations is because the owner is Australian and is married to a Peruvian. So the theme throughout the restaurant is two nations united with a combination of two cultures of food. So also come to this restaurant if you are craving a burger or want a salad but a little paranoid from other restaurants, Two Nations makes sure that they disinfect salads and cook at high temperatures to kill germs.
Overall it is a great spot with an awesome environment, highly recommend this stop as one of your lunch or dinner meals.

Qenqo

Qenqo is a under appreciated ruin because it is surrounded by other ones that are much larger, but its architecture makes the site a very impressive creation. Qenqo is all together one rock that was built into the cave it is now. So a hole was actually digged through this massive stone by the Incas to make it a place where shamans performed sacrifices to the Gods.

Qenqo is a very small religious spot of the Incas where shamans of Cusco spent most of their time. It was not often that the Inca Empire made sacrifices near Cusco, but during the droughts llamas were sacrificed in Qenqo. The site really is a great spot to walk around and also observe the massive rocks the Incas worked with.

The best time of the day to visit Qenqo depends during the season because you want to go at the hour where the sun is hitting the statue of the puma. The statue does not look like a puma, but when the sun hits the rock at a certain angle, the shadow will take form of a puma which made Qenqo a place of worship for the puma.

Saqsaywaman

About five minutes away from Cristo Blanco is the more popular tourist attraction called Saqsaywaman. These Inca ruins are known for its pattern of massive rocks on each corner. The Inca empire worshiped several animals just as the civilizations before the actual empire. The Puma is one of the most sacred animals and it is believed that the architecture of Saqsaywaman was in the shape of one. The ruins have been researched and reported as a fortress to protect the capital of the Inca Empire, Cusco.

The Incan architects were some of the best ones this world has had in the sense on how they found a way to place rocks on top of another perfectly with no paste. Each structure is strong and you can't place your finger in between any rocks. The first lesson in Incan architecture that every tourist must know that whenever you find ruins that have very smooth rocks and placed in balanced or even perfect symmetry, then that means the place was very special and most probably a religious temple. So the symmetry in these ruins places a clue that there was a religious presence in Saqsaywaman. There has been indications that Saqsaywaman was a place where the Incas would sacrifice a llama to the Gods during the dry season to please them and receive rain. It is a practice and now tradition still carried on by locals of Cusco that once a year during their holiday of Corpus Cristi a llama is sacrificed in front of a crowd.

In the end, Saqsaywaman is a very nice way to start out your first visit to Cusco. It is not too far from the city and its close to two more tourist attractions (Cristo Blanco and Qenqo). When you buy your tourist ticket, it will allow you to get into several tourist locations during a nine day span. Prices vary for adults, Peruvians, visitors and students. In a separate post I will explain all the details on how to go about getting your Tourist Ticket for Cusco.