Santa Catalina Square

Take a moment to pause in Santa Catalina Square, a peaceful little retreat just steps from the bustle of the Plaza de Armas. It’s hard to imagine that only a few decades ago, this pedestrian square was nothing more than a drab asphalt parking lot. When the city renovated the space, it installed two modern sculptures honoring the people of the Andes: La Hilandera, “The Spinner,” and La Honda, “The Sling.” La Hilandera recalls the traditional work of spinning wool to create some of the finest textiles in the empire.

Beside her stands her male counterpart, La Honda. In Andean Spanish, honda means a sling, known as warak'a in Quechua. Used for thousands of years both to guard livestock and to defend the land, this traditional tool and weapon symbolizes the strength and everyday life of mountain communities.

Together, the stone pair keeps watch over the square, symbolizing the balance between men and women in the Andean world. But don’t miss the family of stone pumas in the nearby fountain. The Incas revered this sacred animal so deeply that they designed the city of Cusco itself in the shape of a giant puma: the fortress of Sacsayhuamán formed its head, with its zigzag walls representing the animal’s fangs, while the Plaza de Armas lay around its belly.

So yes—you could quite literally say there’s a puma hidden inside the city.