Cuzco, Peru

YAAA!!! I finally made it! 14 hours wasn't that long...it actaully wasn't too bad. And it was well worth it too!

This is La Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, Peru

SO, I am in LOVE with this city. Its all cute and colonial. There are cobblestone streets and oooold buildings...dating back to the Inca empire, around 1200. The city is magical and filled with old inca walls and lots of hippies. Many tourists in Cuzco were from all around the world (I hardly met any Americans) and most people were vacationing for months at a time. Wish I could have stayed there that long. We stayed in San Blas, an artist neighborhood, north of the Plaza de Armas. We were lucky to get into a badass hostel, Marani Hostel. I highly recomend it. They are super nice (we lost our room key, in the room, they found it, and didn't make us feel like dumbasses).

The courtyard

Planning out the adventure in the breakfast lounge

On our first day we just chilled and got used to the altitude, its about 10,800 ft above sea level. Apparently coca tea relives the soroche (altitude sickness) that you get there. I think it worked...I drank tons of it, so it did something. Honestly, its just like drinking coffee or english tea, without the caffeine shakes, that you get. They need to make that shit legal in the states!

We took a tour of the Sacred Valley on day 2. We hit up Pisac, Ollantaytumbo, and ChineroVillage. There were many Inca ruins still there. Its amazing to see these old Inca temples! Especially to see how the trapazoidol granite rocks fit together so perfectly. Whats so crazy, is that these rocks are placed together in such a way, that there is no need for any material "glueing" them next to eachother (i.e. mud, clay, or whatever else sticky that comes from the earth). Literally, the stones just sit on top of eachother. Somehow it works, because after all these years, they're still standing.

Me and a Quechua Family

The famous "12 point" stone

A view of Pisac

A cute alpaca and a llama. Yes, there is a difference, look at the faces.

After a long day of hiking up these ruins, one needs a beer. And what better beer to drink in Cuzco, than Cusqueña Beer? This beer is wonderful! I've never had it before, but now I order it all the time. And it comes in 2 sizes, large and larger (I guess you're suppose to share the latter). Cuzco has tons of awesome clubs, bars, and lounges. We went out and met some strangers and partied all night long! My favorite bar was 7 angelitos; which was just around the corner from our Hostel, on the a street called siete angelitos, you can't miss it.

Here is a picture of a stone at the top of the street siete angelitos

You can walk everywhere in this city, just need to wear comfortable shoes, and get used to the steps. I think I lost weight because of Cuzco, and I love it even more because of that.


Chris is such a dork, but I love that guy. He made my brother and I laugh all night long. Mostly at him, but he's a good sport. He's actaully from Lima, but he was raised in the states, with us in our neighbrohood, Ricardo and Chris have been friends since they were 10 years old. This trip would not have been the same without little ol' Chris.




Here are some pictures of the food we ate in Cuzco. Honestly, the only bad thing I have to say about Cuzco was the food. The food sucked! Ricardo and I came up with the theory that since Cuzco was so much geared towards tourists, that they forgot about the authenic food, and made pizza and italian places everywhere instead. The "typical cusqueñen" cuisine that was advertised in restaurant windows did not live up to their promises. I do have one story about Chris eating a chicken sandwhich and after finishing it, we all saw a worm crawling on his empty plate. But we are all trying to forget that image, so I won't divulge too much more. Hopefully the anti-parasitic meds he took the next day worked. (Please Lima, don't disappoint us).

Cuy (roasted guinea pig)

Anticuchos (roasted alpaca hearts)

Sopa Criolla


Ricardo getting his hair braided and me chillin with a new friend and calle the dog

In conclusion, Cuzco is a remarkable city. I really want to go back and stay much longer. Any takers? I will go in a heartbeat and show you around. No need to fall for any expensive tour packages, I can be your private tour giude, just buy my plane ticket, and I'll show you a good time.