Mirador de Sán Cristobal

This guide to the Mirador de San Cristóbal in Cusco starts at a jagged Inca wall behind the altar, once part of a palace on Qolqampata, the hill said to be home to Manco Cápac, Cusco's legendary first Inca. Centuries later Paullu Inca held it, and in 1536 he made a choice that still divides historians: as his brother, the rebel emperor Manco Inca, laid a ten-month siege to Spanish Cusco, Paullu stayed loyal to the Spanish rather than join the revolt. You'll hear how Spanish officials rewarded him, and how he later took the Christian name Cristóbal and built the church that gives this viewpoint its name. Was it survival, or betrayal of his own people? The guide leaves you to weigh both.