FIRST AND SECOND DAY  IN CUSCO

Yesterday we left Miraflores on a 2:40pm flight to Cusco!! Although it was sad saying goodbye to Aida and Maya I was excited for the next chapter of our program.

Because of the EXTREME change in altitude (300ft to 11,000ft), we took the first day relatively slow. To avoid getting altitude sickness, I had a huge bag of coco leaves to chew on. They may have helped ease the effects of, but the taste that accompanied them gave me an entirely different kind of sickness.

After a much needed nap, some of us ventured out to find pizza and pasta! It was a huge success. It was nice to get back to my italian roots and indulge in some non-potato carbs :)

After a full day's rest (some of us) were ready to explore the historic capital of Perú. We started the day at 9:00. We met up with two Cusqueñan tour guides named Abraham and Eloy. They are a silly pair that like to threaten us if we don't move fast enough. Fo example today, one girl was taking too long in the bathroom and our guides told the bus to start to drive away. Little did they know, she may have had food poisoning!

Abraham and Eloy took us to five different archeological cites. These included; an ancient Incan sun temple; a Spanish cathedral; a spiritual cave; an ancient administrative site called Saqsayhuamán (sexy woman); and an ancient water temple. We also attended a brief lesson about the different kinds of alpaca wools. I quickly learned that all of the alpaca sweaters I have bought are not actually made from alpaca...but they still feel and look very nice so está bien.

That night, a group of us went to a club called Mama Africa where we learned some Peruvian line dances.