Blogs from Cusco, Cusco, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 57

Ian here after 2 days and nights in Cusco. Wonderful surprise since the city is steeped in history, and at the same time it is a delightful and safe city where we have been happy to walk around late in the night. Built around a number of town squares in a valley at 3600 metres, it houses around 400,000 people. While modern in the centre of the city, the suburbs seem quite old, run down, and relatively poor. A lot of the streets are built with hard rock ''çobblestones', and many are narrow apparently dating back to Inca times in some areas. There remains great inca influence here, although the Spanish knocked over many of the buildings when they took over. Ironically, they built many new buildings in thir place - but left the Inca foundations ... read more

Hola Gringo´s Well after the wooo and aaaah of La Paz, followed by the aaaaarrgh, and sheeeeeeeiiiittt of the World´s Most Dangerous Road, and finally the woooooow of Lake Titicaca and Copacabana, we hit Peru. First night was in Puno, just a journey breaker really, but we quite enjoyed it. Puno is not a fair reflection on what a region like Lake Titicaca can offer. It is a dirty little place, which contrasts totally with Copa on the Bolivian side, which was chilled out, boho and everything you could want from a lakeside town, high in the Andes. We bused into Puno and checked into our lovely hotel, which was a favourite for people either heading to Cusco, or coming from Cusco, Puno to a T really. We had booked into the posh "Inka Express" bus ... read more

After breakfast this morning our guide took us to Piquillacta, located about 20 miles outside of Cusco (toward Puno). Piquillacta is the most important of the pre-Inca construction here in Cusco. Built by the Huari culture between A.D. 700 and 900, it is made up more than 700 adobe structures that may have housed as many as 10,000 people. After Piquillacta we headed to the small town of Andahuaylillas to visit the Peruvian Sixtine Chapel. The chapel was quite small but very beautiful inside. This was also my first ´scary restroom´ experience in Peru. The restroom had no toilet paper, no paper towels, and even better, no toilet SEATS!!!! But hey, when you gotta go... After visiting the church we headed back to Cusco and stopped at a local marketplace that is only open on Saturdays. ... read more

I am in cuzco! checked into my hostel. ate dinner. met some people... my hostel is a very social place. took some pics today with my Peruvian family. they are so wonderful! sad to go, but ready to move up north towards ecuador! love and adventure xoxox meg p.s. pics tomorrow... read more

Some might say it is a pointless gesture writing a travel blog...what with the whole point of my trip being to stay (relatively) in one place.....but I am both lazy and busy and until I get the chance to write everybody an highly individual, deeply personal and searingly witty email of their very own this will have to do...... So...today I celebrate my two-week Peru anniversary. Woo! Break open the cerveza (again). Only just arrived really...yet it feels like I´ve been here forever. Not in a bad way, of course, (I have many months ahead of me until I can legitimately be cynical about my time here)...but in a really good way. I´ve been reminded of why I loved being here so much and what pushed me to come back throughout the last year - and ... read more