Back to Lima

We´re leaving Cusco this afternoon. This is a neat little city, which the guidebook calls "the cultural center of Peru". It´s very compact, like Guanajuato Mexico (where I went while studying in Morelia), and teeming with international visitors. It makes for a very odd mix of developing-country features like stray dogs and people constantly trying to sell you the most obscure services (a guy asked if he could shine my beaten-up sneakers), and very first-world hip restaurants and art galleries. The city is quite picturesque, and I´ve taken loads of pictures.

Machu Picchu was great. The train ride out there is cool in itself, and then of course you top it off with a visit to an ancient religious center on top of a friggin' mountain. It's one thing to see pictures of a place like that, and quite another to actually go there. Took lots of pictures there, too, and I'll post a bunch on Flickr when I get back.

We´re now heading back to Lima, and we will spend the rest of the time before we leave on Friday in Lima and at the beach, possibly with an excursion to Ica, which is south of Lima. If there's anything not too large and not too expensive you want me to bring you from Peru, send me an email.