CUSCO




What a lovely city - high altitude though - 11,000 feet! The four of us spent the two days in Cusco doing light walking, heavy shopping and some sightseeing.

The city was bustling in anticipation for the Inti Raymi festival, which was less than a week away - school children were practicing all over the city. We visited the Cathedral, which was gorgeous as the tour books promised, but was so large it was almost daunting. I couldn’t believe how big it was. We also climbed half-way to the top of the La Campania de Jesus, which provided a great view of the Plaza de Armas.


School children dancing in front of the Cathedral in preparation for Inti Raymi.


Jared and Michelle at La Campania de Jesus.

View from La Campania de Jesus.

Anika and Jon with a local girl and lamb. We gave her a sol for taking the photo with them.

We all really enjoyed visiting Qoricancha, the Temple of the Sun, which shows both Incan and Spanish architecture. When the Spanish invaded, they stripped Qorikancha bare of its gold and then built a Dominican church on top of it. Today, visitors see both styles of stonework.

Courtyard inside Qoricancha.

Spanish and Incan stonework at Qoricancha - it's amazing to see how much better the Incas were!

View from outside of Cusco and the valley.

Anika, Jon and Jared checking out the view.

We ate a few times at this great café called Los Perros (at Teqsiqocha 436 at Tigre). Incredible, incredible food – a nice escape from the typical Peruvian fare. Amazing sandwiches, great appetizer dishes and they were playing the World Cup on TV. We all loved this place.

Our hotel, Los Niños, is adorable. It’s my sister Laura’s dream home. Spanish style, open court, so cute. The best part? All profits go to help orphans and needy children in Cusco. They also offer a cheap 24-hour laundry service, which is soooo nice. Like most hotels in Cusco, they are used to hikers leaving to go to Machu Picchu and were happy to store our bags for us. When we arrived, they offered us coca-leaf tea and yummy cookies. We all really loved this hotel - I highly recommend it.

On Saturday night, we went to Q'ente´s offices (our Inca Trail company) and met Miguel, our tour guide, who explained everything to us. This is also when we paid the remaining portion of our money. We immediately felt very lucky to have Miguel - he's probably the best guide at Q'ente and he chose our hike because it was small and we were arriving at Machu Picchu on a very important day: the date of the Winter Solstice. We had a few things still to buy (rain ponchos, warm hat and gloves) so we said good-night and hit the streets to do some last-minute shopping. We were nervous but excited for tomorrow.

Jon shopping for Trek gear.

Anika, Jon and Jared (hiding) walking down a street in Cusco. Amazing original stonework.