Cusco, Peru

Our last stop on this most recent #onlyinsouthamerica journey was Cusco.

We set up shop at another incredible Inkaterra property, La Casona, nestled right in the middle of town. The hotel is an old colonial manor thats been converted into an 11 suite luxury boutique hotel with some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had at a hotel! (Peru inspired recipes coming your way starting in just a few short hours!) Each room has a giant fire place and stand alone bath tub, and should you need either, you can call down to the front desk and they’ll whip you up a fire and draw you a bath with scents of your choosing. Hotel dreams do come true!

While I could have easily stayed at the Inkaterra all day, every day, I was excited to get out and explore Cusco! It’s another incredible Peruvian city but very different from Lima. Of all the cities we visited in Peru, this was the highest in elevation which I believe it why life is Cusco seems to just saunter on by. No one seems to be in a hurry and wandering the streets while enjoying all the layers of history surrounding the city seems to be a favorite pastime.

One of the major highlights from our time in Cusco include the San Pedro Market! (we all know I love a market!) It’s HUGE and its comprised of stall after stall of local produce, flowers, meats, cheeses and every potato you could ever imagine! There’s an entire aisle dedicated to fruit smoothies - some of which are made with beer! Thomas would have been in heaven! You can find just about every color textile under the sun, and somewhere in the market these is pink quinoa. I didn’t have any luck but everyone swears its there. Pink quinoa!! Can you even imagine Jackpot!

If you’re looking to take in a little more history, wander up to sacsayhuaman (which is basically pronounced like sexy woman!) at the top of the city to explore another ruin site, get the best view of the entire cityscape and hang out with some baby goats and llamas.

Like I mentioned earlier, the food at Inkaterra was second to none. While we only had a few nights at this magical place, I was endlessly inspired by their food and just you wait until the recipes start rolling in. Tomato Confit pasta is up first and it’s life changing. Right outside of our hotel was another restaurant called MAP Café attached to a local museum. It’s the perfect place to take a leisurely lunch and sip on some rosé or a pisco sour - but remember - 1 pisco is basically equivalent to 3 at the altitude!!

A HUGE/GIANT thank you LAN Airlines for putting together another unforgettable journey and for Gray Line Tours for taking us around!! To the Inkaterra Hotels for being some of the best hotels I've ever visited. I CANNOT WAIT until I get to go back to Peru!! Now get ready for some majorly delish recipes...

Photos by none other than the famously talented Matt Armendariz