Higher Heights

We were up before the ass crack of dawn yesterday....seriously, we left the hotel by 4am to catch our flight to Cusco. While I was not a happy camper at the time, I think they do this in order to get you acclimated to the altitude for a longer period. So by 8am we were all sitting in our Cusco hotel, tired as hell and spinning from the high altitude. The magical cure for this, of course, is coca tea. A three hour nap and many cups of the coca tea really hit the spot. (By the way, does anyone know if coca leaves -either chewed or taken in tea- will show up on my 3M drug test that I take the day I get back? Its probably fine but I´m just curious)

Cusco is a major improvement over Lima. The polution is limited to very heavy auto exhaust and the views are spectacular. I explored the city for the afternoon and met a few of the local characters. One of these characters is apparently very popular. Shes a sweet old Andino woman who was sitting in the plaza. I stopped to talk with her and after a while asked if I could take her photo. She was very pleasant and interesting to talk to as she was working a spool of wool as we chatted. As we walked away, Kelly said to me "she looks just like the woman from my (guide) book". Of course many of the traditionally dressed woman from rural areas look similar here. However, over lunch we took a gander at Kelly´s book and sure enough, my new friend Anecita was featured in one of the color photos!

Later in the day, we met Josa. She was kind enough to take us through the local market and explain all of the local delicacies such as cow head and intestines, frogs, and other nasty animal parts. There were also herbs for the local shamen and mummified puppies...just for fun (not really, from what I gather, the Incan descendants burry them with their dead to guide them to their newly reincarnated position in life)

The food has contiued to be excellent. I guess after traveling in Central America my expectations were pretty low. The altitude sickness also wore off pretty quickly which was a big bonus.