We spent two days in the beautiful city of Cuzco, which sits at 11,200 feet and is surrounded by even taller mountains. "Cuzco is the Archeological capital of the Americas and the continent's oldest continuously inhabited city." (thanks Kristen:) It's full of old churches, steep steps (tiring with the altitude) and endless solicitors looking to sell touristos (us) everything from paintings to massages and incencently attepting to heard you into their restaurant. While we spent most of the days saying "no gracias" repeatedly to these folks we did sucumb to one hour long "Inca hot stone" massage for Graham, one pedicure for Sue and a nice painting, but don't worry we bargained, spending a grand total of about $21 US dollars for all three.
We filled our days walking all over town, including outside the tourist zone (thank god) checking out historical churches, open air markets and unique retaurants with cheap eats.
View from our hostel, which was a great spot, but was unfortuanatleysuffering from some water trouble due to a landslide (fairly common) damaging the water pipe for that part of town. The water was only turned on from 4:30AM-9:00AM daily making things a bit more "rustic".
Main church in Plaza de Armas (touristo ground zero)
A llama that was tied up outside one of the open air markets up on the hill side.
The first course of our all you can eat breakfast spot. Coffee, juice, bread, jelly, fruit/yogurt and eggs for about $3 US each.
A church and monastery with lush grounds.
The fountain in the middle of Plaza de Armas at night.
Some of the typical, lung busting steps that climb the hills out of the center of town.
A hillside on the outskirts of town. The trend seemed to be the farther up the hills you got, the more impoverished the area became-opposite of what you often see in the US with those seeking the best views and less congestion.
More to come from Aguas Calientes and Macchu Pichu!
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