Peru. Cusco. The Sacred Valley. The Andean highlands. The mountains. The colours! I don’t know where to even begin. Not only did my friend and I get to stay in the prettiest (and most touristy) area of the city, a mere fives minutes away from the Plaza de Armas, but we were there during the week the city was celebrating Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun). Despite my best efforts to try to squeeze in some history, I must admit that I spent that one day and half we got to stay in the city mostly shopping and asking for agua caliente. My friend, however, did go to see the Sacsahuaman ruins from afar though. I, not feeling so well (I had a stomach ache before leaving Toronto and it never settled throughout the trip), waited for her at the bottom of the steps and chatted with the guards and a guide who was pretty close to getting me to go horseback ridding along the site. Next time, eh?
Cusco was the capital city of the Incan Empire. Despite having more than 90% of its original buildings destroyed or built over, there are still remnants of Incan stones here and there. I absolutely loved it, but I also loved everything on the trip. The colonial architecture and the cobbled stones were especially nice, as were the hundreds of shops selling the most colourful goods. Though I can’t speak much about the food (I will do a little post about that later though), I did notice that there were lots of canteen stands catering to kids looking for some after school snacks.
I’m going back. Someday.
