The title is not referring to the trip, it is referring to the blog! The days have been busier, or at least longer than expected much of that can be blamed on the traffic! Today we caught a double whammy as it is both Ash Wednesday and Valentines day, so there were parades to contend with as well. If thi pace continues there will be very little time fort the blog, and even less for pictures! Sorry about that, but L learnt on the Danube cruise that is wasn’t worth (at least for me) devoting time for the blog rather than enjoying the trip,
To briefly finish off yesterday, we saw a few more bits of city life (and traffic jams) nothing spectacular, we finished at the Pacific Ocen and then back to the hotel . After a quick dessert from room service we hit the sack very early for about 10 hours solid sleep.
This morning we left our bags outside the room for collection and went for breakfast. After breakfast all our bags were in the lobby, airline baggage tags applied and we picked up our boarding passes! Very impressed with that level of service. At the airport all we had to do was go to a kiosk, scan the baggage tag and head off to security.
We were surprised to find that liquids are allowed in carry-on, not the piddly 100mls you’re allowed in N. America, but a litre or two of water or booze, just like the good old days!
We flew from Lima to Cusco in the Andes. For I think, only the second time in nearly 900,000 miles of flying we aborted the approach and went around for another go, no reason given, but we made it on the second attempt!
At the airport we didn’t have to do anything with the luggage, the tour guides picked it all up and put it in our room at the hotel, I like this!
We were given a typical Peruvian lunch at a restaurant in town, then off we headed to the local Cathedral of Cusco in minibuses. For our walking we were told to take it slow as we were 11,000ft above sea level!
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos inside the Cathedral. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much gold in one place before. Evidently in centuries gone by there was such a surplus of gold that everything that didn’t move in a church became covered in it! As it was Love Day (aka Valentines) in Peru today there was a large parade in the city square.
Following this we headed off to the site of the Koricancha, an ancient Inca Temple ruins.. The stonework here was beyond amazing, these ruins were constructed around 1200, there is no mortar securing the blocks together, they just sit one atop the other. They have survived two 8.5 earthquakes!
The Incas preferred trapezoid stones foor their structures.
We the returned to the buses for a 90 minute (make that 2 hours with traffic) down into the Sacred Valley of The Inca here we arrived at a fabulous hotel for dinner and a two night stay.
We the returned to the buses for a 90 minute (make that 2 hours with traffic) down into the Sacred Valley of The Inca here we arrived at a fabulous hotel for dinner and a two night stay. We were greeted by these two cute guys, very friendly and “pettable”
