Peru

Sunday, April 25. We were off on our bus ride from Puno to Cuzco. It technically was a 6 -7 hour ride, but the bus made several tourist stops, making it a 9 ½ hour ride. Fortunately the bus wasn't full and Keith and I were able to lounge across the whole back row. We stopped at Pukara, where we saw pre-Inca artifacts from hundreds of years before Christ, La Raya, the highest point on our journey at 4,335 meters, Sicuani, for lunch, Raqchi, where we saw the remains of a huge Inca church and Andahuaylillas, were we saw a beautiful church that was in the process of being restored. We arrived in Cuzco around 5 pm, checked into our hotel and wandered around town. Cuzco was charming and by far our favorite city so far. There were narrow winding cobblestone streets, a beautiful Plaza de Armas with two beautiful cathedrals and lots of stores and restaurants. After a delicious dinner and a seemingly endless pitcher of wine, we called it a night.

Monday, April 26. Keith and I had the morning free and actually got to sleep in - what a treat! After breakfast we wandered around town and went to Museo Historico Regional and the Museo Inka where we saw amazing pre-Inca and Inca artifacts. They can date the pre-Inca people of Peru back to 3,000 years before Christ – kind of makes you realize how young the United States really is. After lunch we off on a city tour of Cuzco. The first stop was the huge cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. It was truly impressive. The next stop was the Convento De Santo Domingo, an Inca temple. All but the Inca walls have been destroyed by earthquakes. It was interesting to see that despite many earthquakes, the Inca walls had hardly any cracks. The remainder of the day was spent visiting several Inca ruins around Cuzco including Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Tambomachay and Pukapukara. It was impressive to see all the precise stone building the Inca's had done in the short time that they had inhabited Peru.