Just a Quick Update

We left La Paz early Tuesday morning by bus, crossed the Peru border and headed into Cusco. Cusco so far seems like an intriguing city full of beautiful buildings and lots of history. We unfortunately have not really explored much of Cusco yet. Both Jack and I contracted some sort of stomach infection (we guess from the Amazon) so we have been a little lazy to take on hours of walking. We have gotten some antibiotics from the local pharmacy and since then we’ve been feeling much better.

We spent a lot of time sitting in the main square, which is the perfect place to people-watch and take in the wonderful cathedrals and building outlining the massive square. The only thing that you have to get used to is being approached every 2 seconds to buy pictures, paintings, massages, tours, drugs, shoe shines and many random knick-knacks. Jack and I had about 100 massage offers in one day.

We leave for a 4-day tour to Machu Picchu on Monday morning. The usual route via the official Inca Trail is sold out so we’ve opted for the “Inca Jungle” tour which includes some mountain biking and trekking through other sections of the Inca Trail for a few days and then spending the last day (Thursday) exploring Machu Picchu itself. We will describe everything in detail when we return.

We return late on Thursday night and stay in Cusco until Monday morning. We plan to jump on a plane to Lima, then a couple hours later jump on a plane to Tumbes. From Tumbes we will take a short bus ride to Mancora. Mancora is a little beach town in the north of Peru where the sun is always shining and there is a great beach where we can hopefully learn how to surf. We would like to rent an apartment there for a month where we can finally enjoy some warm weather for longer than 5 or 6 days.