Cusco

After an epic 18 hour bus ride in arctic air conditioning, we arrived in Cusco. There was some amazing scenery on the way, snow-capped mountains, wildflowers, and cute rustic mud brick homes with crops of corn, amaranth etc.

Dodgy photo from bus - still gorgeous tho :-)

Cusco itself is a strange mix of colonial architecture mixed with some remnants of the Inca infrastructure. Basically the Spanish tore much of it down to build cathedrals (of which there are many).

I spent a couple of days wandering around Cusco, bought a couple of alpaca jumpers (as it's bloody freezing here), and visited the Coco Museum. Check out this weird replica crackhouse they have inside...

Later on we were greeted by a friend from Canada, and met our Shaman who is leading us through the sacred sites for the next couple of weeks.

Altitude sickness here is a major concern (for anyone thinking of visiting). I've faired ok aside from lack of stamina and insomnia. Our friend who flew into Cusco has been out for a day or so. I've been majorly hitting some adaptogenic herbs in preparation but there is no real way to know how your body will react.

Good news is the local herbal relief (coca leaf) is readily available and often mixed into various chocolate products - yay! :-)

Dazzling array of coca product :-)