Costa Rica and Peru .::. Summer 2005

In cusco we bought a tourist pass to visit the nearby Incan ruins. On Sunday we took a bus up into the mountains and were dropped off about 8 kilometers from Cuzco. We walked through 3 sets of ruins on our hike back to the city. The ruins were amazing and the views were breathtaking. The great thing about tourist attractions in Peru is that you can really walk anywhere you want and do not have to worry about guards keeping you back away from the site. We walked freely on the rock walls that the Incans built and spent as long as we wanted exploring. We have come to realize that Peru is a country full of rock walls, rock buildings and rock fences. It is mind boggling to think about how much work has gone into building all of these structures.

The most amazing ruin we visited is called sacsayhuaman.

Click here for history and photographs of sacsayhuaman

During our hike we were sometimes in the middle of beautiful eucalyptus forests with no other people around. At one point in our hike we came upon 4 llamas grazing under some trees. We watched them pick at the grassy ground and we got close enough to take some great pictures. We also helped an old lady get her baby pigs across the road safely. Rich waved his arms and pushed the little guys across just before a bus screamed by.

The end of our hike was a descent down into the city of Cuzco. Altogether we hiked about 10 miles that day and after a dinner of crepes we fell fast asleep.