Cusco

Nasca (Check). Puno (Check). At this point in our journey we just wanted to get to Cusco, acclimate ourselves for a couple days (even though Cusco is 1,000 or so meters lower than Puno) and tackle the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu. Peru had different plans. Hello strike. Hello there are no buses going from Puno to Cusco. Oh boy. Luckily, we went to the bus station anyway and found that our bus - our brilliant Inka Express bus - was the ONLY bus going to Cusco that day. But instead of taking the fun little six hour trip with four stops to visit different archaeological sites, cathedrals, etc. we would be partaking in a 12 hour minimum ride by way of Arequipa with absolutely no stops. Yikes! But what can you do, we happily obliged and jumped on our bus for our twelve hour trip.

And what a ride it was! While Amy and Rachel slept sweetly in their seats Michelle and I bounced along with the boulders we were riding over and under. We did all we could to not vomit from the motion sickness (and in my case altitude sickness). The ride took us to well over 4,500 meters above sea level. Michelle´s head and eyes swelled (seriously, just ask her) and my stomach churned. Gotta love it.

A video from our time on the bus. Sorry, the windows are encrusted with dust but really there´s not much to look at anyway. (Btw, Michelle interrupts in the middle of my soliloquy saying ¨dokeys!¨ disappointingly not ¨monkeys!¨like I thougt she said.)

During our ride we also encountered a little traffic jam. Great time to get out, stretch our legs and take a few pictures.

Finally, we arrived in Cusco about 12 and a half hours after our early morning departure. I´m pretty sure we didn´t do much more than just go to bed that night. The next two days in Cusco were spent shopping (yeah we´re super cultured like that) and looking at a few historical items. Here are some photos.

Amy, Rachel and Michelle with Michelle presenting Plaza de Armas.

More Plaza de Armas.

Michelle and baby llama.

Bell Tower.

Random dog at door.... yeah, I´m pretty sure there are more things to see in Cusco but this is what I got.

Finally some culture - A wall perfectly constructed by the Inkas. I´m pretty sure you´re not supposed to be touching the wall. Oops!

Another random door. I think it´s my architectural training that has made me obsessed with passage ways. Who knows.

Amy and Michelle found a local woman to make them custom made boots. Thanks to the translations of Rachel and myself, this ordeal maybe took up 75% of our time in Cusco, but hey, what else are you suppose to do? Amy and Michelle ended up (after some trial and error) with two beautiful pairs of boots to take home with them to the frigid land of Chicago.

And that was our time in Cusco. Two and a half days after our arrival we were off to begin our adventure of a lifetime doing battle with the Inka Trail and Machu Picchu.