Cusco (part 1)- with the fam

Trip Start Feb 23, 2008
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Trip End Jul 04, 2008


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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

We arrive back in Cusco to a new hotel.  We have 4 more nights here to chill and explore the city.  It is nice to finally sleep in, which we all do every morning!  We are in Cusco the week before Inti Rami celebration and the city is very festive.  There are parades everyday which seem to be younger kids at the beginning to adults at the end of the week.  It is so fun to see all the costumes from the tribe of surrounding areas and watch all the dancing.  Although the tribal music can be sort of repetitive at times.

Everyday we walk around the city, have a leisurely lunch, go back to the hotel for coca tea and pre dinner wine and then have a nice dinner.  We don't really have any late nights since everyone is still not feeling 100%.

Some of the highlights:
My mom taking a picture with the alpacas!  They were impeccably groomed and even smelled good.

Trying all the interesting food.  We ate alpaca steaks, coca chocolates, and guinea pig (cuy).  We ordered the guinea pig at a nice restaurant, Inka Grill on the Plaza de Armas, so it wasn't presented whole on a plate like we had expected, but it was still fun to try.  The meat was very gamy and greasy.  The coca shop is also a must visit.  It is a kitschy little candy shop owned by a hippish guy.  He gave us numerous samples and the chocolate is great.

The Museo Inka-this is a very deceiving museum, it is so much larger than we expected.  It was full of Inka tools and art and was very informative. 

Drinks with Chris and my dad over Plaza de Armas.  Unfortunately, Chris' grandma died during this trip and he was unable to find a flight home.  So we sat over the plaza watching the parades and had her favorite drink, strong vodka tonics, in her honor.  She will be missed.

Shopping!  Cusco is full of little craft shops and huge markets.  They have a huge variety of art, clothing, toys, jewelry to buy.  It is also very reasonably priced because of all the competition.

It was a great trip!  I can't imagine how tired everyone must have been after it was over!. Flags in the parade
Flags in the parade
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