Dia Uno

Hello Dear Readers,
Well, it's the end of day one in Cusco. I took a looong "nap," which really qualifies as a sleep. But I felt refreshed and much better acclimated to the altitude. Kevin, who also arrived early for the Inca Fortress project, and I both went looking for food after our naps. We ate at this little cafe right off the plaza, I can't remember the name, but the sandwiches and fresh mate de coca (coca tea) were awesome! Then we walked around for a bit, watched some young people practice their dances for the Festival of the Sun God that is coming up, they were pretty awesome as well. Then we continued wandering through the plaza de armas (government square) and we followed by some kids who wanted to sell up alpaca hats. we each got one for 5 sol...which is like $2 US. then we did some more walking, just trying to orient ourselves with the city, which can be confusing, as streets and just end and become a new street for no apparent reason. also, driving laws...peru doesn't seem to have any. haha. cars just go and pedestrians have to be aware of them, but everything seems to work. and you just cross the street anywhere. jay-walking? not a word in their lexicon. Then after all the walking we were hungry again. haha. and so we went to another little cafe. we both had pisco sour, which is the "signature" alchoholic drink here. it was $3US. and VERY delicious. (don't worry mom, it was one small drink). we also tried this soda called Inka Kola which was like a combo of bubblegum+sprite+splash of mountain dew. and was less than a $1US. Not everything is cheap, you have to barter, and be aware that they will overcharge if they can. but, they're all nice people. the kids that were trying to get us to buy stuff were hilarous. they were probably about 8 and a girl and boy were both trying to sell me the same hat, and calling each other their competition. haha. well, it's been a long day, so i'll end here.

** the picture top left is a picture of houses on the mountain next to cuzco..they look awesome at night with all the lights

SO, below are pictures I took from the taxi as we were driving to the villa.....actually, the internet connection is being slow, so I'll try tomorrow, or I'll post an album on facebook. it's time for bed.

over and out.