Arrival in Cuzco

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Hola!

A quick update from Cuzco, Peru. Just wanted to let everyone know we arrived safely. So far we have had a great time, despite long travel distances. After flying from Vancouver to Toronto to Lima, we arrived at the airport at 1:00am local time. After clearing customs, we were not surprised nor upset when our scheduled taxi driver from the hotel didn't show up -- after all, we hadn't paid a deposit over the internet despite a confirmation from the hotel. We decided instead to hang out in the airport for a few hours until the ticket windows opened at 3:45 and try to get tickets to Cuzco. We ended up with two tickets to Cuzco on the 6:00 flight without much trouble, then slept until time to go. The flight was beautiful, up over the mountains to Cuzco (over 10,300 feet elevation). We were exhausted upon arrival but easily found a hostel we had read about (located up a steep street) and fell asleep for 4 hours. We explored the city a bit and visited museums and churches, then to bed early. Today we caught a bus to Pisac and wandered through the market, then caught a cab up to the ruins (very sketchy 10km ride at top speed). We hiked through the ruins for several hours; they were beautiful and we enjoyed the solitude atop one of the highest sections. On the way back the bus was full so had to stand for 45 minutes of mountain driving before getting off at another ruin, Sachsaywaman (sounds like sexy woman) and then hiking back to our hostel. More to come soon; we are headed to Machu Picchu starting Tuesday.

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