cusco

Title: Boy and his dog
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 8 Jan 2009 - 8:12pm

After yesterday's post and my other very brief post on the trip, I thought it might be worthwhile to write something a little more in depth about our trip to Machu Picchu.

As I've mentioned previously, the primary way of getting into Machu Picchu takes you through Cusco and Aguas Calientes. Our flight from Buenos Aires had a short connection in Lima, Peru's capital. From the air Lima looked quite dirty and run down. Though it's a coastal city (bordering the pacific), it's also a desert city as the Sechura desert basically spans the entire coastline of Peru. We talked to a few other people who visited the city and it does sound like it has some nice areas that would be worth spending some time in.

A few weeks back Scott (MacRitchie) and I took a weekend trip to Machu Picchu in Peru. Scott came down to Buenos Aires for about 3 weeks to visit and do a little bit of traveling at the same time. It was great to spend some time with him.

Title: Machu Picchu
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 9 Jan 2009 - 6:50pm

If you've never heard of Machu Picchu before, or have heard of it but don't know what it is, it's basically these Incan ruins built high on a mountain top (and Wikipedia has a much better description). They weren't discovered until the early 1900's, and apparently the city was covered in gold and jewels when first discovered, however most of these were stolen by the first discoverers of the city. The city is so amazing partly due to it's very well protected location (the fact that it wasn't discovered until hundreds of years after the Spanish conquests of the Inca's).

Title: Night in Cusco
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 8 Jan 2009 - 9:48pm

Title: Knitting goods
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 8 Jan 2009 - 8:36pm

Scott and I successfully made it to Cusco today... had to get up at 6am for our flight out of Buenos Aires and have a similar day tomorrow for the train ride into Machu Picchu, but it's all in good fun :).

Cusco is amazing so far, a really beautiful city. I've posted a few of the couple hundred I've taken.