The Old Inca Capital - Cuzco

It is easy to lose yourself if you take a step back in time in this area... In fact the stones themselves tell the stories of what has happened. Anybody heard of the Incas? Learning about them has been really neat. We`ve spent hours at ruins trying to imagine what life was like. But more on that to come.

Cuzco is the closest major city to Machu Picchu (the most famous Incan ruins) so there are tourists every where. We like that our hostal is a little out of the way because them we can get away from all the hub bub. Locals have realized that they have a captive audience so they`ve created some opportunities for themselves. Aside from the usual shops and agencies you are offered a massage on the main street corners, people sit on the sidewalks to sell their hand-made wool products or jewlery and artists cruise the main plaza selling their paintings from large folders. Others dress up in traditional clothes and wander around with a llama in hopes that you`ll tip them when you take a picture. It makes you stop and think twice about what you want to support. But despite how many people are out try to sell us various things, here we never feel the high pressure we-only-care-about-your-cash-gringo-so-hand-it-over attitude that was so often present in the jungle city of Iquitos.

There are the usual ammenities .... resturants that serve food just like home ( which we enjoyed when Jay was a little under the weather, there`s nothing like chicken soup) and luxury hotels that cost from $100 to $400 per night for a double. But once you walk beyond the tourist circuit you see life as it really is. And honestly that is what we appreciate alot more. To get into the ruins you need to buy a tourist ticket for $45. We`ve realized that though the ticket includes entry into 16 different sites ( including museums and cultural things) only about half of them are worth taking time to visit. We`ve seen a lot of museums that were disappointing. Last night we watched a dance performance that was awesome. We discovered the local market and bought strawberries and passionfruit to make into smoothies. We wandered the aisles littered with everything from dehydrated potatoes to llama fetuses ( they bring good luck when you bury it under your new house) to wheels of cheese and slabs of chocolate to bulk bags of spices. Plus there were all sort of vendors preparing fast food. All sorts of sights, sounds and smells!

With it's narrow winding streets, ancient Incan stones still supporting major buildings and friendly locals there is a lot that is attractive about Cuzco. We regularly walk past the smooth, gently rounded carved 12 sided stone that is one of the Inca`s famous works in the city. We have developed a knack for avoiding the most touristy and gringoized activites and areas of the places we visit - and it has taken every trick we know to stay clear of the hordes of busses and tour groups that zip around this ancient city. The most grumpy people we've met our whole trip have been tired middle-age gringo tourists struggling to navigate Cuzcos many steep streets. This has helped us appreciate the many friendly locals that we have met here. Cuzco well deserves it's reputation as one of the major attractions in Peru, though the parts that we find ourselves enjoying most about this city are not on the overpriced, overly restrictive 'Tourist Ticket'. Our thanks go out to the countless Cusqueñans who have offered us friendly conversation, laughter, advice and their beautiful smiles!!