sacsayhuaman

there are various inca sites above cuzco, the closest of which is about a 30 minute hike up out of cuzco´s valley. the closest one is called sacsayhuaman (sounds a little like sexy woman) and is the one we visited today. the stonework was absolutely amazing! i couldn´t quite wrap my head around what i was seeing. i don´t know how many times i said, "how in the world could the inca have done this?" the stonework is seriously unreal. these stones are often times enormous (the largest there is 300 tons) and are placed and cut so acurately that there is no space between them. there were so many walls and only 20% of the original structure survived the spanish conquistadores. and this is only one of many such sites! truly amazing. to top it off, the site was like a big playground. it was so much fun to run around, hike here and there, climb through tunnels, and climb big rocks. i took lots of pictures today, but i forgot my cable to download them. i´ll try to post some pictures tomorrow. after tomorrow i will be off on my first trek. i´ll be gone about a week, give or take, on the backdoor trek to machu pichu. this trek takes longer than the inca trail to machu pichu, has higher passes, not nearly as many tourists, and doesn´t require a guide. the drawback is that it´s not on the inca road, which will be sad to miss. i think it will be a really fun, but challenging, trek. i´m really excited about it. i will write all about it when i get back.

safely arrived in cuzco

yesterday was a long, but eventful day. we had a little layover in costa rica and i was hoping for some ceviche at the airport, but was disappointed to find only burger king and the like. so disappointing, but costa rica has a plethora of american tourists and i suppose they need to accomodate in and around the airport. from my prior visit to costa rica i know that it´s not the same throughout the country (thank goodness).
once in lima, we bought tickets to cuzco for the next morning bright and early. i wanted to stay at a hostel in downtown lima, but the taxi driver couldn´t get there because there was a police barricade. there have been recent protests in lima against the current administration. our taxi driver insisted repeatedly that we stay in mirasflores instead of downtown lima... we finally agreed even though we were loth to stay in the heavily touristed area. once there, we regretted going. it´s very close to the pacific ocean and has beautiful views from the cliffside, but these views are best seen from tony roma´s, hooters, and some high end restaurants. downtown lima wouldn´t have had venues like this, especially in such a ¨santa monica promenade¨ sort of setting. we didn´t want to spend money in lima that would go right back to the u.s., so we found a local seafood restaurant and ate an excellent (and inexpensive) meal there. i thought a lot more about globalism and it´s effects on developing countries. after dinner i slept like a rock until 3am when we had to catch a taxi to the airport to head for cuzco.
once in cuzco, we decided to walk to the hostel instead of take a taxi. we thought it would be about a mile, but it ended up being 2 or 3 miles, the last part up a steep hill. it was good exercise, got us ready to start trekking, and we got a good view of the local culture outside the town center where we´re staying. cuzco is an amazing town and the people are amazingly friendly. i´ve only been here for a few hours, so i´ll write about my impressions before i leave (a couple days from now). i can´t wait to start trekking, but it´s absolutely necessary to acclimatize before starting any treks. my lungs are not yet used to the high altitude here in cuzco... it´s a bit of a strain to take a deep breath, especially with my backpack strapped tight to my back.
anyway, thanks for checking up on me. i´ll write again soon.
questions or comments are welcome either here or to my email address.