Cusco - Capital of the Incas - and an educational update

Cusco is lovely.  High enough to be a good climate but not so high at 3400 meters that you can't run. Everywhere there are traces of the ancient civilisations that the Spanish destroyed although they sensibly used the massive foundations to rebuild their own cathedrals and colonial houses.  The Inca stonework is mind-boggling with huge stones carved to fit precisely against each other with no need for mortar.  So when the earth quakes came the foundations held firm and the Spanish bits all fell down. Ha Ha.

We looked round Qoriqancha (above) which has a Spanish cathedral rebuilt on top of the foundations of a temple originally sheathed in gold. You need imagination to picture what it might have been like but the remains are still pretty impressive. 

From the centre you can see green hills and woods rather than sprawling favelas but it might not be long before the countryside goes the same way as the other cities we have seen. It  was here we saw a french family with pannier laden bikes - Mum and Dad and three kids - the youngest on a tag-along. Respect. 

We  were there for the celebrations of All saints and had delicious food from stalls in the plazas. Guinea pig has never tasted so good.  

Verity was keen to buy some jewellery and it was fascinating to see this workshop - I'm sure it was a lot better quality than the stuff on the street but it needed to be to justify the price!

Peru is definitely richer than Bolivia so the people in costume may be there mainly for the tourists but they are still picturesque.

My self appointed tasks while taking a sabbatical have been coming along:

Learning Spanish - definitely been worth it but it's easy not to work on it when you're in a group of English speakers. I did manage to introduce myself in Spanish and struggle along at the homestay.

Keeping fit.  We have both been running and doing anything strenuous that presented itself and plans laid for Half Marathon and Marathon when we get back to grey and cold winter in England.

Learning poems by heart.  I've managed 8 so far - and one of them - the road less travelled - helped one of our group who was contemplating a big life change.  So who says poetry is useless.

Blogging.  At least I know how to write and add pictures and post - trouble is you need something useful to say............