James:

After waking up early in the hostel in Lima, the rush to get to the plane was intense. Not only did we have a hungry boy and boy in need of a bathroom, we arrived with only 5 minutes to spare for our flight to Cusco. After a brief deli in the airplane of an hour and a half, the take off was smooth and the flight was nice. After a brief nap on the pane and my first coffee in days, I was overcome with excitment that we were arriving in Cisco. The mountains seemed to be just touching the bottom of the plane. With a very smooth landing (our best landing so far), we arrived in Cusco and saw mountains and city sourround the airport. IN the airport we got our train tickets (four our upcoming train ride to Macchu Picchu) before we got our luggage. There we were coerced into using a luggage looter...and old guy who had a "friend" with a taxi. The price doubled for the taxi for us. In the taxi van, the ride to the hostel was quick and bumpy due to the cobble stone roads. We were dropped off at the beginning of an alley...adn made our way on foot to the hostel. I wasn't happy with that at that point. 

However, the lady mange of the hostel was very nice adn spoke clear English. The porter took us through the winding hostel to our room on the third floor. Where I was pleasantly surprised how much space there was for four people, and we had our own bathroom. The other travelers (janice) seemed to die on me. The boys went straight to their iPads. I unpacked us hastily top get settled in. Then we all had a nap due to our exhaustion from the day and a half travel. 

By 2 in the afternoon, we were all hungry, some more than others, so we headed for the PLaza de Armasa, which was only 3 blocks away. We were bombarded by street vendors. We choose a pizza/Italian place for lunch where I had the tortelini with Alfredo sauce and freshly squeezed pineapple juice and my first Pisco Sour. The Pisco Sour was STRONG. 

The we toured the square, which was filled with people and beautiful (mostly) Spanish architectural sites. Thought the square there were many vendors of textiles and other goods. We left the square and found a mini market down a corridor, where we found very cheap clothing and items,

I was excited but didn't want to buy anything, becasue I was trying to figure out proces (not like others). We decided to slowly trek back to the hostel and a wave of feeling ill came upon me, I believe it was the altitude sickness. By the time I got back to the room, I was ready for medication and then I went to sleep until 8 PM at night. Jan and the boys went for more food while I was out. 

Overall, I am very excited to see just a touch of Cusco had to offer adn I had a great sleep. 

June 28