Arriving back in the city around noon on Sunday Juan Carlos saw that the church he wanted us to see was still in service and the adjacent historical site was not to open for another two hours. We told him to leave us the passes for the tour and he could go home to his family rather than wait around.
The Convent of Santo Domingo - Qorikancha was the site built upon an Incan holy site and still had much of the original walls intact. It was also across the street from our hotel Palacio del Inca.
As we entered we were asked if we wanted to hire a guide through the structure, but we had been saturated with history and facts for the last several days and opted to just stroll, observe, and eavesdrop on the occasional guide passing through.
The Incan walls looked as if they had just been made. The stone chips were crisp and clean. The angles and curves were remarkable. The way that huge stones fit together was near laser precise. Over that was the Catholic artwork in the form of paintings and sculptures done by unnamed artists from the “Cusco School of Art”. Many of them being of native decent saw Christianity through the eyes of ancient Peruvian society. Native clothing, jewelry, and foods found their way into images of Christ on the cross, the Virgin Mary, and other biblical scenes.
Honestly we could have gotten more out of it with a guide, but it was still both impressive and informative.
We wrapped it up and decided we would find a place on our own from some recommendations by our guide. He had several ideas, but the one that sounded both familiar and adventurous was to try Peruvian pizza. Cooked in a wood fired oven using eucalyptus gave it a special flavor.
I checked online and his favorite was closed on Sunday, but another just a few doors down looked to be open. It was barely two blocks from the hotel, so off we went.
Unfortunately that one was closed too. Knowing there were several in the area we asked one of the hotel staff where she would recommend. She said to go down a block and to the right we would find it a few blocks up. After going up several blocks we were walking next to a small tour group and their guide said to go a little further and to the right, but not to that one (pointing to a pizza sign down an adjacent street).
Another miss and being pointed toward the one that was a no go and a guy selling home painted pieces of art gave us directions and the name of the place La Bodega 138. After several offers for massages and starting to feel lost Dusty made it clear she was not happy with me. We decided to work our way back to the hotel when our artist was coming the other way and greeted us with smiles saying he hoped we would have a nice pizza as we both looked up at the sign saying Bodega 138. I smiled back and tipped him a few Peruvian Soles for the advice if not the coincidence.
Inside to the left was a huge oven that looked like an eight foot diameter still made of clay. To the right there were about six tables and we took a table for two.
We ordered a medium ham mushroom and onion pizza and a beer from Cusco. The waitress brought garlic bread, cured olives, and two bowls of sauce. One a white garlic sauce and the other a mildly spicy sauce. On the table we’re two shakers. One with paprika and the other seems to have been ground eucalyptus or sage. The pizza came very quickly and was one of the best we have eaten out in years. New York style. A little ragged around the edges. Foldable and consumed in pretty short order. Beer was good and all together about $15.00.
I asked the waitress for directions to make sure we got back to the hotel without incident. We made it back well fed and all was peaceful once again.
Early the next morning we would leave for Ecuador.
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