Cuzco

AKA Tourist Trap Central. Everything here is expensive (particularly after Bolivia where you struggle spending $30 a day). People everywhere are hounding you to buy something, want you to pay to take a picture, sell you some sort of artistic thing, or eat at their place. Its a bit exhausting.

Historically, this is the longest continually inhabited city. It was the capital for the Incas from the 1200s until the Spanish conquistidors conqured the Incas in 1532. The Spanish built right ontop of it and you see stone walls everywhere that have been in place for centuries.

We awoke this morning, took quick showers, and packed our bags to leave the crap place we were staying. We found a really nice place and decided to splurge. We have cable TV, toliet paper (a rarity in Bolivia and Peru), our own bathroom, got a breakfast buffet, towels, etc.

We then decided to go to Pisca for this big sunday market. We opted for a taxi because the lady at the desk recommended it. We negoiated a price of 20 sol (Perus currency) or roughly $6 USD for both of us. Willie was very nice on the drive there and tried to be chatty with his basic English and we tried the best with our basic Spanish. When we arrived, the price suddenly changed and he told us he would wait for us. Instead, he took our 50 sol and disappeared. We expected it, but were put into a sour mood. We attempted to try and report him to the tourist police (Mike snapped a picture of his plate), to no avail. Deflated, we took the local bus. It was very inexpensive and we were annoyed we didnt take it initially. Oh well.

Mike has been to Peru before and all the places we are visiting, so hes handy for knowing where to go and what to do. On our way back from the market are some Incan ruins. I managed to buy a student ticket to the ruins with my ISIC for 70 sol. We started out at Tambomachay. It was a special spirital bath for the Incas. (Probably along the lines of a baptism?). It still has running water coming down the path. It was sort of interesting, but onward. We crossed the street and saw Pukapukara. It has a really nice lookout for the valley and they are not exactly sure what it was used for. They think it was either a hunting camp and/or a place for pilgrams passing through. We then walked 4 KM to Qènqo. It was a hilly but enjoyable walk. This was a place where the Incas made ritual sacrafices. Then a short walk from there is Saqsayhuaman. This was the highlight of the day. Its a massive walled complex. The stones are intercrately put together and they say they cant even fit a piece of paper throught the cracks. The Incans used this area to launch an attack on the conquistadors. Much of the stones were looted by the Spanish to build new strucutres, but what remains is still great to see. From here, you can take a staircase back down into Cuzco which ended our afternoon walk.

TOMORROW: Machu Picchu!!!