Cusco - Old capital of the Inca empire

The flight from Lima to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire was quite colorful. From the window you observe how the mountains rise from underneath the clouds, reminding you that Cusco is located high in the mountains at 3.6km above sea level.

I was quite worried about altitude sickness, given that I've mostly lived at sea level for my entire life. After arriving in Cusco thankfully I only felt a mild weakness which lasted about a day. Although i did take it very easy the first day and drank lots of coca tea, which is what the Incas used as energy potion, sort of an ancient Red Bull :) The streets of this old city are paved with stones and very narrow, with the main plaza being inhabited mostly by backpackers and locals selling them anything they could. That's one of the sides I hate about backpacking, everyone is trying to sell you stuff, but you quickly become immune to it. 

 My first encounter with hostels was very welcoming. I stayed at Parhiwana hostel in Cusco. Immediately I met a Swedish doctor much older than the majority of backpackers at 50+ proving that it never gets old :) He was traveling alone this time, but told me that in the summer they always go somewhere with his wife. The backpacker community is extremely friendly and interesting, you can find mates in everything pretty much, and shortly I found my Lonely Planet Peru guide not very useful as everyone I spoke to had some suggestions of what to see and where to go in each city (i might loose that book somewhere along the way, it weighs me down :) My Swedish mate told me to climb the statue of Cristo Blanco (forgive me for the misspelling) on top of one of the mountains of Cusco, a tribute to Rio. You can see the statue being lit up at night on the top pic.

Next day I proceeded with another newly met buddy, Andrew from Switzerland, to climb to the Christ statue. 

 As you get to the top you get to marvel at the sheer magnitude of all the mountains around you. Within the city you can only see a small part of it, but once at higher level you realize that it extends to all the surrounding mountains slowly engulfing them with red roof houses of a village type population. I gotta say though, once you get of the city, the poor side of Peruvian life emerges, lots of stray dogs, trash lying in the mud waiting to be picked up at some point. People living in houses without basic needs like hot water and proper drainage systems, stuff that we've become accustomed to. It's a whole different life from the center of the city which has been prettied up for the tourists. But nevertheless, people are very friendly and nice, cracking jokes, signaling at local pretty women (in a nice way :), children playing in the unpaved dusty streets.

 The statue of Cristo Blanco up close.

 My newly met buddy Andrew descending from the mountain in the greenness of the Peruvian rainy season.

 And of course myself, thoughtful as usual :)