La Paz - Part 2

Merry Christmas (as I'm writing this, it's Christmas here in Buenos Aires although the date on this entry is earlier because that's when I loaded the pictures). I'm back from the Uruguayan beaches and it's a hot and summery Christmas here in BsAs, plus the city is almost completely shut down... something I've never seen before. Anyway, back to the happenings in La Paz, Bolivia. The city sits in the shadow of a huge mountain and I was there for the rainy season so it was rare for it to peek through the clouds, which you can see on the left.

The population of Bolivia is mostly of indian descent, primarily two tribes (or groups or whatever the terminology is) -- the Aymara and Quechua indians, plus the white descendants from Spain. If you look at the detail on the church to the right (from the 1700s maybe?), it shows an interesting mix of the indigenous population integrated into traditional Catholic themes. At least I found it interesting... art appreciation class finally pays off. There's a lot of other stuff going on in the details as well, coca leaves (of course), llamas and local animals, and who knows what all else.

Now, on to the political happenings in Bolivia... and there's A LOT happening nowadays. Like I mentioned last time, Evo Morales is now the president. Last election, the two "main" candidates split the bulk of the votes but the remaining votes that went to Evo were enough to make him the first "indigenous president" (Aymara) ever elected to the office. The interesting thing that I learned -- and that the CNN's, BBC's, etc, of the news world fail to tell you -- is that all is not well amongst the Aymara and Quechua indians of Bolivia. The Quechuas think he's a racist... which is contrary to everything CNN tells me! I was led to believe that everyone was celebrating the first indigenous president of Bolivia while holding hands and singing Kumbaya around the camp fire. Not so much.

The photo on the right is Bolivia's version of the White House, in Plaza Murillo, where the president addresses the nation and historically where all the political protests happen. Although when I was there, all the action was 442 miles away in the city of Sucre. Here's the situation as explained to me by the locals...

Given the flukey way that Evo landed in office and since the opportunity may not come again, he and his political party MAS (which stands for Movement Towards Socialism and the acronym cleverly means "more") are attempting to move the nation's capitol from La Paz to Sucre and rewrite the country's constitution. Officially, the capitol ALREADY is Sucre but all the offices, infrastructure, etc, exist in La Paz and that's the way it's always been... Evo just has more political support in Sucre. Don't ask me how all this happened -- IT'S BOLIVIA!

Since MAS has a majority in the congress, the group went to Sucre to vote and approve a replacement of the old constitution with their new one... at midnight. And without the opposition present while in CLOSED session! Yes, all kinds of wonderful things happen when a government operates in "closed session". The funny thing is that I saw some interviews with the congress afterwards and none of them could tell the reporters what was actually in the bills that they approved! They also had to do it from a military bunker for personal protection from the local citizenery and university students who don't want the capitol moved or the new constitution. And this is when things got violent...

The protestors started out burning tires and throwing sticks of dynamite (there's a lot of mining in the area) and so the police and military, being nearby at the bunker, fired tear gas and bullets at the crowds... although the government claims the military only had rubber bullets "so it was the crowd using the live ammo." Since then, four of the wealthiest Bolivian provinces have refused to recognize the new constitution and approved autonomy from the capitol -- or half way to secesion from the country, but not all the way. Then later on, the mayor/governor of Sucre (a MAS member who coordinated all the midnight voting magic) had his house burned down and his family threatened, so they all went into hiding in Peru. And the same thing is happening to other MAS politicians living in Sucre.

Anyway, the short of it is that three people died in the protests and hundreds went to the hospital. And things have worsened in the past month since it's all dribbling back to La Paz. I'm glad to be back since the protests are spreading and it looks like things will be sketchy for a while.

But it wasn't as bad as the experience some people had (that I went to Uruguay with) when they were in Bolivia last July. They told me that as they were leaving for dinner, a bunch of protestors running from the police rushed into their hotel lobby and everyone got maced and tear gassed... including them! They had to wash out their eyes and hair to get rid of the sting. Good story tho.

While reading the local Bolivian newspapers, I noticed that a lot of the local writers think that the situation with Morales as president plus all the racial tension along with the autonomy attempts of the various provinces make the country look a lot like Honduras and El Salvador did in the 1980s. In other words, civil war is imminent. I don't know if that's solid analysis or just lots of hype to sell newspapers, but it was a fairly common view. Anyway, I don't want to scare anyone off from going there, but that's the situation at the end of 2007. So I guess I'll end this cheery little summary with a photo of the rare but fascinating Bolivian Mountain Crocodile that I saw feeding in the hills surrounding the city. Enjoy.

And that pretty much sums up the trek through Peru and Bolivia. I also was able to fly down the Pacific coast to make a connection in Santiago, Chile over to Buenos Aires (mostly because LAN sent me there and I had no choice). But it was a nice tour of the coastline... no pictures, alas. So, that's pretty much it in South America for me in 2007. I fly back to the USA tomorrow night so maybe I'll post some photos of the Punta del Este beach happenings once I've been back awhile. Adios!

La Paz - Part 1

Originally this was going to be one post but I think there are too many photos of Bolivia & La Paz so I'm gonna break them up into two different posts. Getting across Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side is an adventure in itself. They lack bridges so everyone basically has to get out of the bus and take a motorboat across the lake while the bus itself goes over in a ferry. Normally you would think that it's a safety related issue (in case the ferry sinks with a busload of people) but remember, this is Bolivia.


So it's more likely that it's too heavy of a load for the ferry to cross the lake with a fully occupied bus. At least it's a nice break to stretch your legs for an hour or so. Plus you can look around at the nice monuments and what not, like this one down below on the lower left. It commemorates the War of the Pacific, back in the 1880s or so. Chile won and took away the Bolvivian land that connected the country to the Pacific ocean, thereby condemning Bolivia to being the poorest country in the western hemisphere, next to Haiti of course.


There appears to be some latent hostility in the monument so I don't think Bolivia has quite managed to move on beyond it yet. Sort of like all the "the south will rise again" types in the USA that are still fixated on the US Civil War nearly 150 years after the fact. Anyway, I wish we had some stylish monuments like this in the USA, it would really liven up the standard stock of war heroes riding horses and pointing-onward-with-their-swords. Or, if you live in Dallas-Fort Worth, endless sculptures of cows and horses.


Anyhoo, once you arrive in Bolivia it's sheer urban mayhem to the exponential latin american degree, which is saying something. It's a sprawling city of two to four million people (I never found anything exact about that number) all over a bunch of mountains down into a valley with the most confusing road system you've ever seen. And I thought the hills and stairs in Cusco Peru were bad... ha! They were nothing compared to La Paz. In fact, in retrospect, I now LAUGH at Cusco stairs after being in La Paz.


On the left is one of the main tourist streets of La Paz but you could be pretty much anywhere in the city since it's a fairly typical view. I don't think the concepts of zoning and code regulation have quite reached the country yet, as you'll note a pretty heavy-duty combo of power, telephone, and coax cable lines hanging right above the street... very typical.

There's quite a bit to see and do in this part of town and, since I was in Bolivia, what better way to kick off my tour than with a visit to the coca leaf museum? While I was there, I learned all about this magical plant. Plus I got to see an actual (non-functioning) cocaine lab that demonstrates how the leaf is processed into cocaine. However, the most interesting thing I learned is that although Coca-Cola may not use COCAINE in their soft drink, they DO use the coca leaf for part of the secret flavor recipe. At least according to the Bolivian propaganda, anyway. So who knows.

I also learned how back in the 1960s, some comments from the U.N. turned the coca plant into "the most demonized and misunderstood plant in the world". They single handedly made the livelihood of countless coca farmers more difficult, including the current president of Bolivia (Evo Morales), a former coca farmer himself. More about him on the next blog, but due to what he and his political party MAS are attempting to ram-rod through the congress, I was fortunate to be in Bolivia for some massive protests (more so than the usual in Bolivia) and riots that resulted in three deaths and hundreds of injuries. Basically Hugo Chavez is sending the Venezuelan army in "at Evo's request" to help instill some order. Left unsaid is to also continue the Bolivian country's march to socialism/communism, now that things have hit a roadblock in Venezuela since Hugo's dictatorship referedum failed last Dec 2.

So, after the cocaine museum, I then went over to the tourist zone and stumbled upon the witch's market. Here you can buy such rarified goods as eye of newt, dried toads, or a mummified llama fetus, as displayed on the left. And with Christmas on it's way next week, don't despair... this year I'm getting mummified llama fetuses (feti?) for EVERYONE on my Christmas shopping list! I don't want any fights over the feti, so everyone gets one. I also like to be the most original Christmas gift giver.


That's it for "La Paz, part one". Next time I'll pick up with part two, where I can continue the tour of La Paz plus review the political situation that unfolded while I was there. Riots, death, mayhem, midnight-closed-door votes on a new constitution, senators and governors escaping in helicopters, and (as revealed this week) going into hiding over in Peru. But before that I'm headed to the fine beaches in Uruguay -- Punta del Este -- tomorrow, so I'm not sure when part two will be posted. Meanwhile, live in the moment and enjoy this one, ha.

Lake Titicaca

Picking up the story where we last left off, I took PeruRail down from Cusco to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. You basically have two primary choices of towns to visit, either Puno (Peru) or Copacabana (Bolivia), although there are tons of small villages all along the shores. Puno, where I stayed, is a sprawling, mostly dumpy town of 80,000 people or so. Copacabana is a lot smaller but much more "quaint" and juts out on a peninsula.

But crossing borders between the two towns takes the better part of a day and I was pressed for time, so I chose Puno by default. Plus I wanted to see a nearby area called "the floating islands of Uros". Wayyyyyyy back in the day, back when the Incas were conquering the other tribes, one group found a solution to the problem by creating their own islands from reeds and straw and going out in the middle of the lake where it was hard to get to them. Flash forward many hundreds of years later and it's now a wonderful tourist attraction and means to otherwise earn a living.

There are over 40 of the islands scattered around the area, although only about 6 or 7 families actually live on each one. And I say "live on" them in the sense that they boat out early each morning from Puno to get set up before the tourists arrive. At first I thought they actually lived out there, which amazed me since even in the summertime it gets really cold at night... I couldn't imagine being on the lake with some wind blowing at night. But later I overheard someone asking about it and learned the way things really work. Spanish class paid off, yee-haw.

The (president? mayor? governor? head-guy in charge of the island) demonstrated how they construct the islands. The reeds are matted so that they're about five to six feet thick with new layers constantly being added to the top of them every month. The decaying straw and reeds felt like spongey peat moss or something. Walking on it was a bit of a weird experience, I kept thinking about any potential weak patches in the ground and about how cold the water would be underneath. Luckily just some baseless paranoia on my part.

The mode of transportation was another interesting thing you get to see or experience (for 10 bolivianos, or about $1.25 USD). As they've done for hundreds-to-thousands of years of tradition, they construct some very Viking-looking boats out of the same materials that they use for the floating islands. It was interesting to hear an ancient story about the blonde-haired, blue-eyed strangers that visited the lake almost a thousand years ago and taught them how to make these boats. You guessed it -- the theory is that the Norse/Vikings were here several hundred years before Columbus and crew made it to the New World.

A while back, a bunch of college professors and "boat professionals" tried to build boats in this style for a trans-oceanic voyage to test that theory. They couldn't do it so they got some of the Uros island locals to build the boat and then sail it across the Pacific, which they succeeded in doing. I can't imagine that it was terribly comfortable (especially during a rain storm?!) since I spent about an hour on one of them going across the lake to some other islands and that was enough for me. Anyway, it was an interesting Viking story... no one knows what the truth is though.

As for Lake Titicaca itself, for those that slept through their world geography class, it's the biggest and highest (elevation) navegable lake in the world, at around 12,500 feet of altitude. It sits on the border of Peru and Bolivia measures about 3,300 square miles and the deepest point is 920 feet.

On a personal note, it's also a great place to get an amazing sunburn in just a couple of hours if you forget your sunscreen. Although I now understand why a lot of the locals look like they're 80 years old when they're just barely kicking 40. Years in the harsh sun and wind is extremely unkind to the skin... so, my tip: don't forget your sunscreen when visiting Lake Titicaca.

One other thing to mention -- due to the altitude and thinness of the air -- the colors! When the clouds go away, the blue sky reflected in the lake is incredible! The artist types will really appreciate the complementary colors out here, especially with all the ochres and oranges contrasted against the cobalt blue sky and water. On the days without wind the entire place is like a mirror so... don't forget your sunglasses as long as you're also not forgetting your sunscreen.

After visiting the Peruvian side of the lake, I didn't have time to tour the Bolivian side as well. The popular place to visit is called the Island of the Sun, which is where Incan legend claims the sun and moon, not to mention the Incan empire, were born. To get there, you need to stay in Copacabana which is where I wish I had stayed. Alas... with time issues abounding, I had to keep pressing on towards La Paz, Bolivia. Which is what I'll talk about next time.

La Presidenta

And now for an unplanned break in the middle of my Peruvian/Bolivian travelogue. As you may be completely unaware, Argentina now has a woman president. On purpose. Uh, I mean Argentina elected a woman president for the first time ever. The only other time a woman was in power was immediately after Perón died and his widow took over... which was right before the 70s military dictatorship seized power, kidnapped various political opponents, took them up in helicopters, and subsequently shoved them out over the ocean... but that's a whole other story.

Since school is out, one of my little extracurricular activities was going to the presidential inauguration yesterday. It was the biggest news story of the day and I figured this will be good for the next time someone asks me if I've ever been to a presidential inauguration and I can then give them one of those smarmy Barney Fife snorts plus a smug "in which country?" retort. Ha.

OK, yesterday (Dec 10) was "inauguration Monday," although officially, la presidenta Cristina took office the previous Sunday. But the only thing going on at that time was a state dinner with the presidents of nearly every Latin American country in attendance. Watching the news coverage of it was a lot like watching a high school cafeteria popularity contest or something, at least from my amateur gringo perspective. However, the very nutty Hugo Chavez was in attendance, so it was amusing. "Hugo, por qué no te callas?" as the king of Spain would say.

Anyway, the outgoing president of Argentina is Cristina's husband, Nestor Kirchner. Unlike the obvious correlations that will likely be attempted in next year's U.S. election, half of this country doesn't hate Cristina. The worst her political opposition feels about her is a semi-bored ambivalence about her candidacy. But I digress... in most of these pics you'll see a bunch of signs and flags and banners and stuff. Every one of them is related to a union of some sort. The unions in this country are out of hand, actually. But they're still run by the mafia, just like in the good old US of A.

It was a semi-holiday (no school and the city was basically at a standstill) while the main streets downtown were shut down for the inauguration parade route. This is a view of the (allegedly) widest street in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio. Normally it has at least 12 or 13 lanes of traffic going in each direction, of which 7 of those lanes are actually painted/striped on the street. But it was entertaining to stand around on the busiest streets in the city while they were abandoned.

Also as you can see, there were cops galore all over the city. It was a fairly hot day (almost 90 degrees) with little-to-no wind, so they were quite the little troopers standing there waiting for the presidential motorcade to finally get underway.

Which was supposedly going to happen around 3pm but actually took until 5pm. There were news choppers and television crews all over the place, secret service agents running amok, ambulances and paddy wagons, and just a lot of very "official looking" people that were most likely plain old bureaucrats reveling in their day in the sun. Literally. But it all felt very presidential inauguration-ish.

Humorously, most of the union reps were on the sidelines beating drums and blowing off fire crackers (not wimpy Blackcats and lady fingers but some serious M-80 powered stuff that sounded like gunshots) which, at a US presidential election, would be HIGHLY frowned upon by the secret service. Also, a lot of the unions are at odds with each other so there was the occasional fight in front of the Casa Rosada (Argentina's version of the White House)... another activity that would also most likely end up on someone's "permanent record" with the US government. But not here!

Eventually I made it down to the Plaza de Mayo, which is in front of the Casa Rosada (in the background of the picture above) where things were set up for a "democracy concert" later in the evening, featuring legendary Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa among others. If you want to hear some traditional argentine folkloric music, her greatest hits CD "30 Años" is a pretty good overview. Plus people will think you're quite sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

After the plaza I needed to keep working on my sunburn (I didn't plan on being out and about all afternoon and it's summer down here, you know) so I went and staked out some real estate to watch the parade. I had a pretty good spot at the main crossroads of Ave 9 de Julio and Ave de Mayo, with the obelisco in the background. It's a knock-off of the Washington monument, about a quarter size of it, I think. And there was quite a procession, with the Argentine military in traditional regalia, riding their horses, plus the military band playing the anthem and other songs.

But it was worth going down there because I did see both the outgoing and incoming presidents plus, as a bonus, took this photo on the right. That's Nestor Kirchner, the ex-president, waving from the car. The extremely shadowy figure that you can vaguely kinda sorta make out beside him is the new president, Cristina. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, she's looking directly towards the camera. What amazing photographic skills! And don't ask me why the president of a country putts around in an Audi sedan, but that's what they had.

So, that was Election Fever 2007 in Argentina... next time I'll get back to my story about Lake Titicaca and Bolivia and whatever else still remains to be told about that trek.

Peru Rail

After seeing Cusco, Machu Picchu, and all the surroundings, I wanted to visit the place that gave us endless chuckles in 8th grade world geography class: Lake Titicaca. Even though I was in Peru, I learned my lesson from the last Bolivian chicken-n-goat bus back in 2004 ($8usd to go a few hundred kilometers for 12 hours on non-paved roads in EXTREMELY overcrowded conditions), so I opted to go in style this time... first class on PeruRail from Cusco to Puno. It was well worth it!

Especially after meeting some Canadians on a lake tour that took the 7 hour bus ride and told me that it was an incredibly hideous experience. Anyway, as you can see the interior of the train was quite luxurious... maybe not "Orient Express" luxurious, but pretty nice nonetheless.

The price tag also included lunch and various snacks, cocaine tea (OK, technically COCA LEAF tea), miscellaneous entertainment, music, and other assorted and amusing things that a chicken-n-goat bus does not offer. Plus the views throughout the trip were incredible!

Who knew that Peru was such a pretty place? I always envisioned Peru as mostly being jungle... as seen in the Indiana Jones movies or something. Plus maybe just the dusty, polluted, crime-infested city of Lima on the coast. But the 230-some-odd mile journey southeast from Cusco to Lake Titicaca was not at all like any of that. Mountains galore, llamas and alpacas plus sheep and their shepherds (like to the left), and the occasional river or stream that the train crossed over.

One really nice thing about the train was that the very last car was the "observation car". Over to the right is what the observation car looked like... I should have been holding a glass of 20 year old scotch for a stylish look, but it wasn't included in the price of the train ticket and I wasn't shelling out $5 bucks for it. Oh yes, everything on the train was priced in US dollars so I can only imagine what a spectacular profit margin PeruRail is operating with.

Anyway, this was also where the entertainment provided by PeruRail was. It was all very canned but probably based on SOMETHING authentic. Vaugely. Sorta. I'm still not quite sure what the rooster-joker dancing with the female-devil was supposed to mean, but I think I was more amused to watch them in the middle of all the tourists and their cameras. There was also a fashion show of some sort, I'm not quite sure what the purpose of it was... probably to sell the clothes to the tourists or something.

Then there was some kind of ancient, sacred, Incan/Quechuan indian ceremony on display... right in the middle of all the tourists. The leaves being used are coca leaves -- also known as the source of cocaine! When you're in Peru and Bolivia, the coca leaves are everywhere.

Supposedly you chew them to alleviate the effects of altitude sickness... or maybe the buzz just makes you forget about it? The coca tea is the most popular way to consume it... next to rolled up $100 dollar bills off a mirror in Los Angeles, of course. You can also buy Lipton-tea-like coca tea bags to take home, but it would probably land you a latex-gloved cavity search in the back room of customs when you arrived in the USA.

So the ten hours to the town of Puno on Lake Titicaca flew by incredibly fast. Throughout the trip I think the train maxed out at about 13,500 - 14,000 feet of altitude through one of the passes in the Andes before arriving in Puno which was at 12,600 or so. I'm glad I was already acclimated to the air by then... there were some people not looking "real good" on the trip. Next time I'll post some pictures of Lake Titicaca, the floating (straw) islands of Uros, and whatever else I can find of interest.

Machu Picchu

Two entries, two days in a row... a world record. But I have some time now that classes are over for 2007 and, although it's not OFFICIALLY summer yet, it sure feels like it around here. Anyway, this was the Machu Picchu, Peru experience... and what an (expensive) marathon it was to get out there.

There is no direct road out to Macchu Pichu -- you have to take a train out there that takes 4 hours each direction. A train that PeruRail has a monopoly on, so you can imagine how "reasonably priced" the tickets are. Also, there's an equally reasonably priced town called Aguas Calientes for accommodation, at the base of the mountain, that has no reason for being other than tourism. I opted to stay in Cusco and commute.

Oh yes, and you better have your train tickets reserved several days in advance because this is a destination that A LOT of people want to see. And now that Machu Picchu was officially voted in as one of the "new 7 wonders of the world" by the internet public (take a look at http://www.new7wonders.com/), the crowds will likely only get worse in the years to come.

Machu Pichhu is one of the "best preserved" Incan cities, mostly because the Spaniards didn't know it existed and therefore couldn't sack, pillage, and tear it down. It was rediscovered around 1910 or so, then restored, and has been Peruvian-tourism-ground-zero ever since. But it's also a place that feels VERY Indiana Jones-esque... I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the first movie was based on the guy that found this place since his day job was as a university professor.

The site itself is really spectacular; you have to take a 40 minute bus ride up a winding, snaking road on the side of a mountain to get to the entrance... with EXTREMELY "interesting" views down the ravine if you are on the right side of the bus. Although there are some masochists that walk it (3 1/2 hrs each way) too. Once on top, you can stair-master your way around the different mountains and see the site from on high, plus the twisting Urubamba river wayyyyyyyyy down below at the base.

It's also fascinating because you're way up in the clouds, assuming you're there during the rainy season... and I was, trust me. The rainy season basically means smaller crowds but lots more rain. In fact, I think we had about half an hour at the beginning of the day and half an hour at the end of the day without the rain coming down.

The rest of the time the clouds moved in and it rained fairly steadily. The last train to Cusco left at 5p so you had to pay attention to closing hours... otherwise you could get stuck in a $200 usd per night hotel, without your luggage, waiting for the next days' PeruRail train back to Cusco.

The rain and clouds created some fun atmospheric photos but also really made it hard to walk around anywhere, due to the slick rocks/steps, the complete white-out conditions at times (you couldn't see two steps down the hill below you), and a complete lack of navigation since without seeing where a given set of steps went, you would have no idea where on the mountain you might end up. Also, there was a massive invasion of French and Japonese tour groups for some annoying reason and it echoed all over the place. Mon dieu.

Although the llamas didn't seem to have much problem with the weather conditions. They looked quite at home in it, as if they were bred for these conditions in the Andes mountains or something. Anyhoo by the end of the day, after climbing endless stairs and walking through every imaginable building ruin while simultaneously dodging huge pools of collected rain water, I made one last charge to the top of the mountain to get a picture ("proof" that I've been to Machu Picchu!) before heading out of the park.

This is one of the few minutes that you could see a blue sky! But that's what you get when you go during the rainy season. Finally, I made the bus ride down the mountain followed by the 4 hour train trip back to Cusco, arriving just before 10pm, in time for dinner and to pack my bags... for a TEN hour train ride southeast from Cusco to Lake Titicaca the following day! But this time around I ponied up for first class tickets (well worth it) which I'll write about the next time.

Cusco Peru

Hola, I'm back from Peru and Bolivia... my stomach is still feeling the ill effects of extended time in the third world, but that's the way it goes. I took an 8 hour flight on LAN from Buenos Aires to Cusco (with a stopover in Lima), where we landed at about 11,500 feet of altitude. You could definitely feel the thin air while walking around the airport! Alas, Cusco was the "lowest" elevation place of the entire trip... more on that later.

I'll also have to say that Cusco is "the most South American looking" city that I've seen yet. The city gets annual payoffs from UNESCO to keep the roofs all spanish-tiled-up and otherwise appear traditional, so it's a nice looking place from up high. And the stairs... oh, the stairs. And the hills! Everywhere... what a pain after a day or two. You're somewhere in the Andes mountains so the hills, mountains, and valleys are unavoidable and flat land is nearly non-existent.

But besides looking the most South American, the place is also the most touristy that I've vistited as well... and shockingly expensive! In theory, the Peruvian sol is 3:1 to the US dollar, but things were definitely not priced to "local" expenses.

But it's definitely a highly recommended place to visit nonetheless. And if you're planning to go to Macchu Pichu, it's unavoidable. Cusco was founded back around 1200-1400 AD by the Incas (some say other indians before them but this is just general info and I don't care to debate it!).

It's also a VERY earthquake-prone place. The really interesting thing about the city is up close -- the Incan walls. These things were built to last. As you can see to the left, it was an EXTREMELY custom job when they built them... the block in the center has 12 angles cut into it. You couldn't wedge a knife blade in between them if you wanted to. Also, the women with the llamas below are standing in front of a building with the original Incan wall base and a Spanish building constructed on top of it.

When the Spanish arrived in Cusco in the mid 1500s, they tried to knock down a lot of it but eventually gave up and just kept the base and foundations and built their buildings and cathedrals on top of the remainder. And when they didn't follow that plan, their buildings were knocked down by earthquakes. So Cusco is fairly unique because it basically maintains an original Incan city layout overlayed by a Spanish city.

Anyway, I spent five days there, including several tours outside the town in the surrounding area. There are a ton of Incan ruins all over the area, the most interesting being what you can see all throughout "the sacred valley". Since most everything in Inca-land is at 11,000 - 13,000 feet of altitude, getting down to the 7500 ft elevation valley was nice. I don't usually get altitude sickness, but the 3rd day in Cusco I could feel a slight headache and nausea... all classic signs. Luckily it went away during the tour of the valley and never returned.

The sacred valley is also where the Inca Trail (aka "the Gringo Trail", due to the mob of tourists all over it) begins. The hike is available in 2-day and 4-day flavors -- pick your torture if you like steep climbs and camping with lotso rain throughout the day and night. But if you're going to tour the ruins, you'll also be doing a lot of stair-mastering as well, so at least you can splurge on desert when you get back to town.

There are also plenty of markets to sample, with most of them (in my cynical and correct opinion) being tourist trap driven... but some are fairly authentic. This is one in the town of Pisac, along the sacred valley. There were a lot of your standard "Inca Cola", "Cusqueña Beer", and "The coca leaf is not a drug" T-shirts in the market stalls. Howeverrrrr, it was also a large food market where people were wheeling and dealing for vegetables, grains, and as you can see down below on the right, MEAT!

Mmmmmm, mmmmm.... unfortunately my camera was not able to capture all the flies swarming about, but you can just imagine what a nightmarish infraction of every FDA regulation in the book that the market was! Fun to watch though.

So that was Cusco... next time I'll throw together some pictures of one of the main goals of this trip -- a visit to Macchu Pichu!