Yesterday was an early  morning after only 5 hours of sleep in Lima.  We had to be back at the airport for our 820am flight to Cusco at 7am.  Luckily our hotel was right across the street, so we didn't have far to go.   The flight was only 1 hour to Cusco and we could see the amazing Andean mountains along the way.  Cusco is at 11,000 feet so we had to begin altitude sickness pills which helped alleviate any ill effects

We were met at the airport and transported to the Novatel, which is an old monestary and only 2 blocks from the main square.   The rooms are very nice and we were greeted with our welcome drink of coca tea (made from coca leaves....same as what cocaine is made from) which helps with the altitude sickness.   After a quick lunch and short nap, we enjoyed an afternoon tour of the area.  

The tour included the main cathedral,  parts of an Incan palace, then Incan ruins up in hills surrounding Cusco.   We had a small group on the tour and all were  very interesting.   A young couple from the US, a couple from Australia, a man from Germany and a woman from Australia (Shirley), who was living in Cambodia and working at an orphanage.   Our tour guide, Freddy gave us wonderful history of Cusco, which was the center of the Incan empire.   We saw lots of alpacas and llamas wandering at the ruins and locals in their colorful clothes and fedora type hats.  

At the end of the tour (around 6p) it was very chilly, especially for those of us from Texas!  Conveniently we stopped at an alpaca sweater shop and we bought sweaters and had more coca tea.   After relaxing at the hotel for an hour, we went back to the square and enjoyed dinner with Shirley at a Peruvian restaurant with singing, dancing and music.    It was  a nice end to a great day!



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