Cuzco, Peru

Cuzco slideshow

The Lonely Planet travel guide may be wrong about many things but I think it describes Cuzco well. “Once the foremost city of the Inca Empire, now the undisputed archaeological capital of the Americas as well as the continents oldest continuously inhabited city, but there is no question of who rules the roost now: the city's economy is almost totally at the whim of international tourists, and every second building surrounding the Plaza de Armas is a restaurant, shop and hotel.:

The weather was very nice when I got to Cuzco: sunny and hot during the day and a little chilly at night and early morning. My hostel was in a constant party it seemed. It played cool music until late hours of the night, had a full bar and a restaurant, plenty of movies and day activities, hammocks in the yard...lots of people to do things with and a travel desk that organized day trips and longer trekking. It was a good place to hang out for a while and forget that I was a tourist.

So I walked around town, saw many churches from the outside, like Iglesia de Santo Domingo, a huge complex off Avenida del Sol. On my way to the market where I often had fresh squeezed juices and ceviche, I passed in front of Iglesia San Francisco, Arco de Santa Clara, Iglesia de San Pedro. But I didn't fell inspired to go inside any of them. Instead, I just walked around the streets feeling the strong sun while walking on narrow cobblestone streets, built between massive Inca walls. Despite all the commercialization, I could feel Cuzco's rich past entering my veins. I just wanted to walk and walk during the day and at night join the party at Loki's, get a nice meal, surf the Internet and prepare physiologically for the four days Jungle Trail Trekking to Machupicchu I booked through the travel desk. Thus I spent three days in Cuzco, just about doing nothing but hanging out.