What a whirlwind the last few days have been. We flew from Lima to Cusco Saturday afternoon. The flight was around one hour. We had to take a bus from our terminal to our plane and then climb up a staircase to board the plane. A new airport experience for us. We took an uber to our hostel that was located right by the Plaza de Armas. After getting situated we headed over to the plaza to check it out. It was a short walk but we were winded and our hearts were racing. Cusco sits at an elevation of 11,100 feet which we are definitely not accustomed to. The Plaza de Armas is a beautiful town square surrounded by shops, restaurants and both a beautiful cathedral and church. It also has a very cool fountain in the middle of the square.

Next we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up finding a great place called Nuna Raymi. They had a giant play area for the kids right next to our table. The kids were in heaven finally getting to play with some new toys. They spent most of the dinner there allowing us to have a quasi date. Dinner was very nice. We even tried some Alpaca which was quite good. It tasted a lot like beef.

The next day we headed out to begin our tour of Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was Saqsaywaman. There our guide Brian explained that geographically Cusco is layed out in the shape of a Puma and Saqsaywaman is the head. Cusco was the capital of the entire Incan empire. As we were touring we saw a large entourage of people in dark suites surrounding a woman. From reading the headlines we knew that the woman was princess Mako of Akishino Japan. It was amazing how big some of the rocks were and how precisely they fit together. There was even a slide carved into the rocks that we all got to try.

We headed out for a quick stop at Awana Kancha llama farm after Saqsaywaman. They had Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuna. Our guide Brian said that of the Llama family the Vicuna has the softest wool. The boys had a great time feeding the animals and going through the small museum learning more about them.

Afterwards we had a quick lunch in the Sacred Valley and headed off to the Pisac ruins. The Pisac ruins were built at the top of a mountain that helped guard the Urubamba river below. One of the more distinct features of this site are the agricultural terraces. The Incans would grow all kinds of crops on the terraces. Each terrace wall was built out of rocks and exceeded 10 feet in height. It was a truly spectacular sight to behold. The location was absolutely beautiful with the mountains surrounding it and the river down below.

At the end of the trek, we continued onward to Urubamba where we were going to spend the night on a farm of a long-time friend of Papa Harvey and Grandma Cathy’s, but the road was closed. We had to follow a winding path along an aqueduct between properties not knowing if we were even at the right place. We looked at each other like, “What did we get ourselves into?” Trudging down the path with backpacks and all, we finally arrived!