Saqsaywaman Archaeological Complex Cusco

Wednesday, May 8
I seem to be falling behind on the blog posts already after only three days in Cusco with 24/7 access to free internet. Mind you, the internet here is prehistoric and canīt even keep up with my 25 wpm typing speed.
After a twelve hour nearly uninterrupted sleep, I woke at 6:30 with Gui and Laurie and we had our warm …

It has been a whirlwind couple of days ... it feels like Iīve been in Peru for a week already. Where to start?

Tuesday, May 7
Meeting face-to-face for the first time at the Toronto Airport, Laurie (Winnipeg) Tina (Newfoundland) and Gui (Toronto) joined up with me to board our overnight Air Canada flight from Toronto to Lima. Scattered …

Meer dan tien dagen zijn Joyce, Melissa (uit Ierland die we nog kennen uit Samaipata) en ik in Cusco en het is hier geweldig! De stad zelf is erg prettig. Mooie pleinen, kerken, koloniale huizen, schoon (voor Zuid-Amerikaanse begrippen) een actief nachtleven, prettig klimaat (warm en zonnig overdag en koud 's nachts), een hoop toeristen …

As Stacey is only in Peru for a week we decided to head over to Cusco and see some inca ruins with her. To make the most of our time there we caught a flight at 8am which meant we had to be up at 5am to get to the airport! We arrived at our lodging around 10.20am and as we are here for a while spent some time sorting out our bags. With the laundry …

Last Stop: Cuzco

Both before and after our Inca Trail experience Jon and I spent time exploring Cuzco, the Imperial City of the Incas. Cuzco is a relatively small city nestled in a valley. The city's red- rown roofs offer a nice contrast to the greenery of the surrounding mountains. Our very cute hotel was located in the neighborhood of …

Mike here - Today we went to the head of the Puma, Saqsaywaman (pronounced Sexy woman), so naturally Mich was in her element. I should tell you that Saqsaywaman is not the original Quechua name it was called this after the Spanish left so many dead here that the falcons were satisfied with the amount of food. Saqsaywaman means satisfied falcon in …

Woke up determined to have a good day, get some exercise and see some things. So I hired a taxi to take me further up the mountains above Cusco where there are several archaeological sites. I visited Tambomachay first " (the highest elevation of the day at 12,267 feet), which may have fulfilled an important religious function linked to water and …

After leaving Lima we arrived in the early morning to the city of Cusco. Leaving our last hostel was actually a bit of a disaster because they ended up charging us more than they had advertised on their website. (Suddenly the receptionist didn't speak very good English at all!)

We were both immediately affected by the altitude in Cusco, …

September 19, 2011 – September 22, 2011: Cusco, Peru

As the airplane descended into Cusco, Peru, it looked very…, well, different. Of course that was not a surprise, but the thousands and thousands of red-mud brick houses and tile roofs, forming an uninterrupted mass of dry, red clay, all pushed together into a valley …

Our hostel was really nice and we had a good sleep. They gave us a continental breakfast which was not bad. Across the road was a big supermarket so we got some cereal so we could eat well before the Inca Trail. Today was a bit of a rest and catch up day. Elisha caught up on some emails this morning while I went to the shops and back to the …