Cusco

If you decide to be adventurous and try the hiking trip to Machu Picchu, Cusco is your base camp. Click here if you wish to learn more about Machu Picchu. Most outfits will highly recommend spending a day in Cusco (3,400m) to become acclimated to the altitude. Here is why this is a smart for reasons outside of health.

Cusco is BEAUTIFUL. Grab a seat on the left side of the plane coming in from Peru and you will immediately understand. Bright blue skies are a back drop to lush green mountians.

Cusco offers historical significance of culture, warfare strategy, and cuisine. Our flight from Lima was a bit delayed, so we missed at tour of one of the grand cathedrals. We did tour the plaza to Qurikancha. Here we learned of the Inca's dedication to the sun and moon. The Inca developed an interesting twist on architecture with a “zig-zag” type buttress. Seems effective.

The Inca in Cusco had constant threats of attack, therefore they built a “fortress” on a location that overlooked the city. This fortress was not only strategically located, but boasts great views. After admiring the ruins, a rest is needed to take it all in (oxygen included). Saqsaywaman was great, but our time was cut short due to a sporadic rain storm that apparently occurs often during our time of visit. If you are visiting these ruins with your significant other and take a hike to Tambomachay (over 3700m up!)… do not let her drink the water. It is superstition that in doing so it will increase her fertility and she will give birth to twins… The Inca have other fertility superstitions I will touch on later.

I love food. Plain and simple. If I am visiting a city, place, or country, I try to either eat something local or exotic. In Cusco, I tried grilled Alpaca. My wife being the conservative eater she is, did not partake. The Alpaca was surprisingly tough, but tasted "oh so good" with some Chilean red wine. For dessert we stopped by a food cart to try a picaron. It is a deep-fried sweet potato shaped like a donut. Put some honey on it, and words cannot describe this gift from the Inca Gods.