Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Up, Up to the Land of the Inca

This morning we packed up and flew StarPeru to Cuzco, a city of 10,000 high in the Andes.  And I mean high enough to make all of us light-headed.  Altitude sickness is a real issue here, as we are over 10,000 feet in a mountaintop valley that has been inhabited for like, 2500 years!  The Museo Inka was fascinating today, with pottery and textiles from various cultures from this area, as well as the more kid-friendly jewerly, weapons, golden statues and of course mummified bodies. Even an example of a "midget Inka" (I think the better translation would have been "little people" but I didnt correct our guide... it was the only humerous thing he said all afternoon)  The city here is quite the tourist scene, and we were constantly approached to buy this and that, so we did buy this and that until even Katie was getting very firm in her "No GRACIAS" to make them go away. We did get some cute photos of a baby alpaca while we were eating in a restaurant.... they were also on the menu, which we did find ironic.   This is a very steep town.  The cars cruise down the hills without needing much fuel and the pedestrians scramble at the bottom to cross streets - brakes are not guaranteed, and though I think those red octogonal signs probably mean STOP here too, no one seems to pay any notice.  Between the honking and vendors and traffic and lights flashing and tourists, we are all looking forward to tomorrow, when we can leave the city behind.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you are having a great start into your journey! Love reading all of your blogs!

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