A: Mi y Jando arrive in Cusco

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Hello all!
First and foremost my day long travles to my final destination of Cusco, Peru were safe and relatively uneventful. My first "friend" was met on the plane from Lima to Cusco, and of course we hit it off because he was wearing a sling and chest wrap for his shoulder- dead giveaway for a dislocation. He lives in a small town called Urubamba, about half way up the Sacred valley, for which I will be traveling in 4-5 days.
Cusco is a bustling city of 1.2 million, much larger than I expected. It sits at roughly 11,000 ft. and you can definitely feel it. Yesterday basically included walking around the part of town where my hostal is, which was plenty to kick my butt. After a good meal of carmelized bananas on pancakes and a beer, I returned to the hostal for a little "reading" through my eye-lids. Today started early with the sun and I straped my camera and pack on for a hike to some Inca ruins called Sacsayhuaman, about 30 min hike above town. What a great site early in the morning before all the "tourists" get there. Later that morning I was befriended by a funny/crazy Peruvian man who helped me work on my spanish, albeit still pityful. As much as Im trying to dive into the native culture, when you dont speak the language sufficiently, it becomes tough. None-the-less, Ive got plenty of time to work on it. Tomorrow I hope to travel to another ruin town called Chinchero, further into the Andes where there is few people and big rocks. Until later, hope all are well and I hope to stir up the excitement soon.

Ciao, Matt

PS: Jando is my backpack and he has already started to be a bigger load than he originally agreed to be.

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