Cusco

Cusco is an interesting city. On the one hand, it's an old city and full of beautiful churches and many plazas. On the other, it's the base for exploring Machu Picchu. I don't know the numbers, but I'm going to throw out a pretty safe guess and say that Machu Picchu is the most visited tourist attraction in all of Peru. This makes Cusco a tourist town as well, full of shops and restaurants and the most aggressive hawkers we have encountered thus far in South America. Some will follow you into a building trying to sell you a hat, a painting, or a seat at their restaurant. Yikes.

The architecture of Arequipa was all about the white "sillar" stone. In Cusco they've got red stone for the churches and wooden balconies ringing the plazas. It's very pretty and much warmer than the stark white of Arequipa, however we find ourselves liking Arequipa better anyway. Arequipa also had the advantage of being less expensive and more laid back, despite being a larger city. Blame the Incas, I guess.

Not much to report for activities in Cusco itself. The rainy season is underway in this part of the country, so we've spent some time indoors. We did find the tastiest Indian food we've encountered in months, which was a pleasant change. Other fun food encounters included 3 versions of Cusquena: the normal lager, a red lager, and their dark "malta". Not bad. We also finally got a plate of Aji de Gallina, a typical Peruvian dish of chicken with yellow pepper (aji) sauce. Very good. We were able to resist the cuy in Cusco, despite the larger variety of preparations available here. [you can even get it on pizza.]

Tomorrow we retrace some of our trip into Cusco and head to Puno, the largest town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Let's hope this time that no car accidents occur.