Centenario Cusco

... get the group to do the conga, oh well at least it kept us warm. We followed this path for a couple of hours before reaching the bottom of the valley.... Thank god we all thought we must nearly be there, we had now been on our feet for over 10 hours, we had been through all four seasons in one day and we had completely exhausted our energy reserves. The group asked the leaders how much further and we were told less than 20 minutes.... This was like hearing the ...

... awe inspiring as everyone said it would be and although I have seen the famous Inca city many times in photos, actually being there was quite the experience. I could have done with about 100 less tourists but I guess you can´t have everything. I took the train back to Cusco as I didn´t want to repeat my night excursion and high tailed it to Tacna, the southern most city in Peru. So despite cheating death at least twice and not seeing nearly enough llamas Peru has been an amazing experience.<br>

... government, its diplomatic missions and consulates, must spend at least 50% of their budget for the purchase of spirits on pisco. A ministerial resolution brought in on 22nd April 2004 decreed that the first Saturday of February of each year was to be celebrated as Pisco Sour day across the nation. In 2007 the National Institute of Peruvian culture declared pisco sour an official part of the cultural heritage of the nation.<br><br>Author - Gary Sargent

... The hotel was pretty nice overall, especially for Aguas Calientes standards, but they didn't tell us that we have to walk up about 75 steps to get to it on the side of a hill! Other than that it was pretty nice. They call it an "ecolodge" which for them means they recycle everything and try to use what is already naturally there instead of tearing it down and building up. A side note - the nicer hotels in town are very very expensive. Ridiculously overpriced, especially for Peru. I guess ...

... sight seeing. We walked up the hill to Iglesia de Santo Domingo (in quechua called Qorikancha). When the Spaniards arrived, this building was covered with 700 solid gold sheets, each weighing about 2kg. There was so much gold and silver but within months of the arrival of the conquistadors, this incredible wealth had been looted or melted down. To top that off, they built the church on top of this Inca building.<br ...

Cuzco is nicer than Ayacucho, and much smaller than Lima, but no different in terms of 'girlie action.' "No quiero que te vayas" (&#8216;I don&#8217;t want you to leave&#8217;) some girl says to me, that I&#8217;d just barely met while waiting for a streetlight to change. This is too much, and not attractive, and hardly necessary when you&#8217;re twenty-three and its 1978 and you&#8217;re surrounded by European lovelies ...