Peru Guide
Cusco
The Plaza de Armas
Cusco's modern and ancient centre, the Plaza de Armas – whose location corresponds roughly to that of the ceremonial Huacapata, the Incas' ancient central plaza – is the most obvious place to get your bearings. With the unmistakable ruins of Sacsayhuaman towering above, you can always find your way back to the plaza simply by locating the fortress or, at night, the illuminated white figure of Christ that stands beside it on the horizon. The plaza is always busy, its northern and western sides filled with shops and restaurants. Circling the plaza, the Portal de Panes is a covered cloister pavement, like those frequently found around Spanish colonial squares, where the buildings tend to have an upper-storey overhang, supported by stone pillars or arches, creating rain-free and sun-shaded walking space virtually all the way around. Usually the portales host processions of boys trying their best to sell postcards, and waiters and waitresses attempting to drag passing tourists into their particular dive. Recent restrictions have relegated stalls and shoeshine boys to the hinterland of backstreets emanating from the plaza, particularly the zone facing onto the Plaza Regocijo, behind the Plaza de Armas.