Cuzco, Peru - Day 4

I think the only one more excited to be in South America than me, is Maria. She never flinched when I told her our travel time was about 19 hours. We managed to get a flight from San Francisco to Miami and then to Lima. We switched carriers to LAN and made it into Cuzco late in the morning of Sept. 2, 2011. What can I say? Only thing worse than long distance air travel is altitude, which is a real pain in the ass. I've reviewed a bunch of sites and I've gotten conflicting data as to exactly how high Cuzco is. Roughly, its about 10.5k up. The air is dry, the O2 is low and walking short distances the first day was enough to get my heart to 140 bpm. However, what a city to fly into! Maria and I have loved everything about this place since we have gotten here - the food, the sites, the people.
The first day was a haze of short trips from the hotel to get water, find our directions, and figure out where to get some food. Like most colonial cities, everything radiates out from the central square - La Plaza De Armas. Wear shoes that have good traction, the stones of the streets are slick and worn smooth after centuries of urban foot traffic. We took it easy the first two days and let our bodies slowly acclimatize. Despite the constraints of low oxygen, we were able to find a bunch of nice restaurants including Incanto, Greens, and Sara - which we will talk about more in a later post.

Be careful with the money exchangers - they come up with all sorts of fees and having someone that speaks Spanish really helps here. What I would recommend is use up your dollars / euros etc if possible and then take out Soles at an ATM. There is a Scotia Bank Atm where the Ave. Del Sol meets the Plaza De Armas which didn't charge me a fee. (Thanks to Susie back home for that tip)

Also keep yourself really well hydrated and don't simply just drink water by itself - you will deplete your electrolytes. Get an electrolyte drink mix to add to your water. Some may taste awful, but you'll absorb more water in the end. Once your body gets used to the situation the city really opens up. I highly recommend just taking in the vibe from the central square and picking a new direction daily to just check out what's there. The city is packed with cute spots.
We met our guide - Juan on the third day who took us on a tour of the city and the surrounding area. The cathedral in the center of town is a must. If you can, get a guide! There are so many interesting aspects of the art that one would otherwise overlook - especially how local artists would secretly add symbolism to the art to preserve local beliefs in otherwise contemporary european religious paintings and sculpture.
We took a short drive from the city to the Blanco Cristo - a statue resembeling the one in Rio De Janerio. At night, it is lit up and shines ghostly white overlooking the city below. Honestly it looked a little creepy up close as it does at night from a distance, but it was on the way to our first Incan site out side of the city of Cuzco.

Sacsayhuaman

I am beginning to get a true appreciation for Incan Architecture. The clean lines between megalithic masses that fit together with no mortar is still standing well today as it did over 500 years ago. There is an elegant simplicity to the complex creation. The site itself looks at first like a fortress - and indeed in the wars between in the Inca and the Spanish it was the site of a battle in 1536. However, it was a religious center in its time and the walls that one can see are just a small portion of the entire complex. From above one can see a complex foundation with three large towers that have since been taken down. A lot of the blocks used in the construction of the Churches of Cuzco. Wandering around this site, one begins to see how impressive Imperial Inca was.
The views of the valley and the city below are fantastic and worth the trip out there. Unfortunately, I'm running low on internet time and need to get to sleep - we head out to the Sacred Valley in the morning. So I'm going to cut this short. Bottom line - Visit Peru people - the vibe out here seems to attract a young at heart spiritual groove.