We just so happened to stumble on the Corpus Christi celebrations in Cusco on Thursday. Someone at another hotel asked me if we were going to Cusco for the fiesta, but I thought she was referring to Inti Raymi, which is Cusco’s biggest festival and happens at the end of this month. She must have found it odd when I told her “no".
We’ve wondered why Cusco had such a huge capacity in our other visits. We were often the only customers in restaurants, for example. This visit explains it. The city is packed with tourists and Peruvians here for the festival. Although I have to note that it was still easy to find a hotel room without reservations on Wednesday night. Either way, it’s been fun to see Cusco in a festive frenzy.
We started Thursday with some yummy waffles and coffee at Cafe Punchay, and then headed to the Plaza de Armas to see the celebrations and use the free 
wi-fi at the Plaza Hotel. We had a pretty good vantage point from the hotel restaurant’s balcony.
In addition to the religious processions, we also saw a fairly small protest go through the plaza. The group was protesting the governments handling of the conflict happening in the Amazon with the natives. The natives are claiming that the government is violating the constitution by giving foreign companies rights to natural resources on their lands. The tensions and death toll in the conflict have been raising… last I heard it was around 50 people on either side.
After watching the celebrations for a while, Heather and I headed off to wander. We hit a few artisan markets (surprise!), saw Koricancha ruins, and the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco.
In the late afternoon we hailed a taxi to Sacsayhuaman, but decided not to go in when we found out the entrance ticket was $23! Granted it included 3 other sites, but we didn’t have time to see them all. Instead we headed over to the huge Jesus statue next door, where not only could you see the majority of Sacsayhuaman for free, but there was a great view of the city and the celebrations still going on in the Plaza de Armas.
Dinner was at a super fancy feeling, but not fancy expensive, restaurant called Granja Heidi. Then we returned to the hotel to get ready for our Machu Picchu excursion the next day!
