Cusco

I set out for Cusco, Peru from Quito, Ecuador on Friday night after saying farewell to my coworkers. I was surprised that they were not interested in spending the weekend in Latin America, so I was on my own for the long weekend. I hastily booked a Cusco/Machu Picchu travel package through the USAID mission but was a little unsure how it was all going to come together. After a long layover in Lima, I arrived in Cusco at 7am on Saturday morning. Julio met me at the airport and he was basically my personal travel coordinator for the rest of the weekend, responsible for making sure I got from place to place. After arriving at my hotel, Casa Andina, I took a quick rest, drank the famous cocoa tea to help with the elevation, and was off on an organized tour of the city.

I learned that I'm not really much of a 'tour person', but it was still really beneficial to learn about the Inca history and culture. It made me a little crazy spending so much time inside the churches when it was a gorgeous day outside. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic and opinionated about the the 'integration' of Spanish and Incan culture. He pointed out that initially the Incas were excited about the Spaniards and Christianity because they looked like the Incan gods they worshipped, but they later became skeptical of their practices. The Spaniards demolished the most religious Incan temple in Cusco to build this Cathedral in it's place Inside, there was an interesting depiction of The Last Supper that had the sacred guinea pig on the table as part of their meal!

(Rachel, I did tip these indigenous ladies for letting me take their picture ;)

We finally got to do some outdoor activities and the tour took us to Sacsayhuaman (sort of pronounced 'sexy woman'). These are Incan ruins right outside of Cusco used for religious ceremonies, but not nearly as intact as the ruins of Machu Pichhu. Every year during the solstice on June 24th, they have a celebration of the Incan Sun God in this area.





We stopped to see the Incan equivalent of the fountain of youth at Tambomachay. This site is believed to have been used for communication and defense purposes.

I met some interesting people during the tour: a gal that had quit her job at a winery in Sonoma to live in Peru for a couple months, a mother and daughter celebrating college graduation, and two buddies about to hike the Inca Trail. We all got together for dinner after the tour in Cusco and ate traditional meals of alpaca and guinea pig!