Cusco

In my travels I passed briefly through Cusco when I first arrived in Peru. A taxi was caught at the airport and transported myself and my travel companion to Ollaytaytambo. I was not greatly impressed as we drove out of the city and into the surrounding landscape. There is much poverty in this city of 350,000. There are stray dogs everywhere!

On the return trip we arranged to stay a night in the city. The journey toward the city was somewhat more pleasant as it was a normal work day and the indiginous people were about their normal daily activities. In contrast, on the journey out I later discovered it was a holiday, so no work was being done. Farm families were in the fields with their oxen teams, plowing in preparation for seed planting. Women shepherds tended flocks of sheep, their distinctive hats shielding them from the sun. Pigs and calves and goats were tied out anywhere there was a patch of grass.

The overnight stay in Cusco was not far from the center of the city. I was able to get pictures of the central square. We visited two of the enormous churches that face each other on the square. It is forbidden to take pictures inside the church, which is too bad for they are very elaborately decorated with paintings and sculptures, and in the larger, a solid silver central altar that stands four stories high. It's all very over the top! I was mildly ill on the night we stayed here. I went to bed early and sweated off a touch of cold. I was feeling better in the morning to catch the plane that took us to the rainforest.