Today we flew from La Paz, Bolivia to Cusco, Peru. Again, it was a short, smooth flight.
The initial activities, or lack thereof, can be captured in two words: traveler’s diarrhea. I had come down with a nasty case and didn’t want to leave the hotel room. We had to make some schedule changes because I was out of commission for two days. The hotel manager in Cusco was sure I ate some undercooked eggs in Boliva and had salmonella. Whenever someone from Peru heard I was not feeling well and found out where we had arrived from, they nodded knowingly and talked a little trash about Bolivia. Good times. Tracy took advantage of the downtime to catch up on some travel business. She also exchanged some money, picked up a “chip” (a phone SIM), and did a little shopping for us.
As we were winding our way through Cusco to get to the hotel, we drove through part of the town market. We were able to capture a few pictures as we drove by.
While Tracy was out running errands she grabbed dinner at a downtown restaurant and brought some food back to me at the hotel. She also took a few pictures of the plaza after dark. The drink pictured below is a pisco sour, which is popular in Peru and Chile. Pisco is basically distilled, fermented grape juice and was originally created by Spanish settlers who were looking for a way to avoid importing all of their spirits. I read somewhere if you order a pisco sour in Peru, it will have Peruvian pisco. Order one in Chile, it will have Chilean pisco. Another point of national pride.
Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire. The statue in Plaza de Armas is Pachacuti, who was the ninth ruler of the Inca state and is recognized as the leader who expanded the Incas from a small centralized state to the expansive empire documented by the Spanish.
Pisco Sour 
Pachacuti 
Plaza de Armas 
Cusco Cathedral
We were a bit behind schedule at this point, so it was time for a good night’s sleep and a reasonably early start in the morning.
Will