What a day!

Leaving Lima this morning for the flight to Cusco in the Andes, but just getting onto the flight has been unbelievable. First I made the mistake of taking the free shuttle bus (instead of a 10 minute walk!) and 35 minutes later, thanks to the traffic, I got to the airport, and it was heaving. Thousands of passengers lined up. Even the premium passengers had a long wait. Then came security and another chaotic scene. Eventually I made it onto the plane. The arrival in Cusco was like a step back in time. A short walk to the car hire place only to find the car had a ding or scratch on pretty much every panel. After taking "hundreds" of photos of the damage I began the crazy drive to my hotel. Not quite as bad as Lima but it was pretty exciting....

Finally I got to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire and gateway to Machu Picchu. It is known for its Spanish convents sitting atop Inca foundations. It seemed that when the Spanish wiped out the Incas they used them as slaves to build catholic structures on top of their old temples. (In addition to melting down all their gold and taking it back to Spain). The amazing historic centre around the Plaza de Armas was very photogenic with the Cathederal on one side and the Jesuit church on the other. It was pretty touristy but in a nice kind of way, and very colourful. At the centre of the square, there is a statue of Pachacuti, builder of Machu Picchu. There were a lot of pesky vendor's including a couple of ladies wearing traditional costume dragging along a llama and asking 14soy (peruvian currency) to take their photo - I declined!

The altitude here is 3,400m about 11,200ft, pretty much twice as high as Mt Perisher Village, so you do tend to puff a little going up the hills. But it is definitely worth it.