The city of Cusco is an exhilarating place. It’s full of tourists and people who are ready for an adventure. After checking in and having a few hours to rest, we met for lunch at a nice restaurant with delicious food. During our meal a band performed traditional Adean music for us. I love the sound of the pan flute so when they asked if I wanted to purchase their CD, I was thrilled. Next, our tour guide, Nacho, led us through tours of a couple of the huge Catholic churches surrounding La Plaza de Armas such as Basílica Catedral and Qorikancha. The churches were magnificently decorated with gold, silver, statues, and intricately designed wooden architecture. Later that day we visited our first site of Incan ruins called Sacsayhuaman which sounds a lot like “sexy woman”. Nacho loved saying it on his microphone on the bus. The next day we woke early to visit the ruins of the Temple of Pacha mama, Tambomachay, and Ollantaytambo. We were allotted some time to shop in the markets where I found some jewelry take as souvenirs for family. The following day we had to be up with the sun to head to Machu Picchu. We took a bus to get on the train for an hour and a half. The train followed a beautiful river through huge, green mountains. From the train we boarded another bus that drove on a zigzag path up to our final destination. Machu Picchu was absolutely breathtaking. Again, no photo I took could possible do it justice but I got a few good ones. Nacho took us around showed us the Espejos de Agua where we could speak to Pacha mama along with El Templo del Cóndor. We returned to our hotel to get ready for a night out in Cusco. We ate dinner at Nortons, an Irish Pub near the plaza and then headed out to find a good discoteca. We ended up at El Templo where we danced for hours and stayed up all too late. I definitely hope to return to Cusco and Machu Picchu when I’m able to discover and explore more on my own time. |