We spent four days in Cusco, a lovely stone-paved, cathedral laden city, full of good food and home to our favorite hotel, Ninos, where the world seems to have been writ shabby chic, the breakfast is cheap and copious, the coffee is so good even Nick drank it, and the foundation runs programs for Cusco's children.
And, what's more, there is a fireplace.
We loved walking around Cusco, especially at night, when the city seems to glow and the Andean stars look ready to pop out of the sky.
We mustered up the courage on Day 2 to hike up to Sacsayhuanan, the fort above the city that's survived serious earthquakes and that nearly supported an Inca comeback against the Spanish conquistadors.
The stones that remain are so big that the Spanish couldn't cart them down to Cusco for Cathedral purposes. They fit together without any mortar, meaning that they're seismically brilliant - instead of tumbling or cracking, people say that they dance during earthquakes, and come right back together.
Or at least, almost....
Skipping back to Cusco...we loved its stones, above and below, and visited the main Cathedral for Mass (you can see Christ holding forth over a guinea pig in their Last Supper depiction) and Qoricamba for sun worship.
Nick fell in love with the llamas (a fine time to find this out...)
but his advances were rebuffed.
We visited the Pisac ruins after some tribulations in finding the bus, and were rewarded with a stroll through their market, a dose of raw chocolate, and a massive hike up the edge of the world.
Nick found an Inca cave, I discovered an unknown fear of heights, and we were passed by a small Peruvian boy RUNNING up the mountain. Much humbling was done in Peru.
And so began our trek.
We hiked up an Inca canal on our first day towards Salkantay Mountain, which is roughly 20K feet. It was the most forbidding and beautiful mountain I've ever seen. Here is the view from our lodge.
We took a day off and hiked up to a gorgeous mountain lake.
And then continued hiking towards Salkantay....
...all the way up to Salkantay Pass at 14K feet.
And STILL we felt no nearer to the glacier!
As we descended through mist and fog, we wound up in the cloud forest. We were strictly forbidden from calling this the jungle, but it felt like a jungle to me. There were huge crazy ferns.
Orchids and bromelias everywhere.
Even orchids that looked like shoe strings.
Forests of begonias.
Funny plants the locals use for dye.
Passionfruit, squash, and COFFEE beans overhead and underfoot!
And potatoes....which Nick ate!
We saw a lot of guinea pigs in local houses, though we had trouble making friends. They labor under the strange delusion that we'd like to eat them. Which we (admittedly) did.
And as we descended through the cloud forest, we saw Machu Picchu - our first time seeing it!
We continued to see it, over fresh trout and potatoes cooked by a local. She may own the simplest and most beautiful restaurant in the world.
And finally, we wound up at Machu Picchu. There's no need to show too many of our Machu Picchu photos. They say that there's no way to take a bad photo there, which means that there are plenty of other people's photos on the web.
Here is our guide, Hairo, with the original Nat Geo spread for Hiram Bingam's discoveries.
And these are the lovely windows that frame the surrounding mountains so perfectly.
And here is the most insane Inca creation of all, in my opinion - the Inca trail, running through sheer cliff face. Not impossible enough? Add a drawbridge.
And here is Nick, nearly falling off Huayna Picchu in his fervor for his yoga poses. I hope his mother isn't reading this.
