The Incan slide at Sacsayhuamán, or Why your tour group and guidebook suck
Having poked around Sacsayhuamán, Todd and I head for a bouldery hill just across the site’s broad, grassy field. It looks like a sweet spot to relax and take in the whole of the extensive Incan ruins and the views…
Incan ruins and alpacas at Sacsayhuamán, Cusco
Some people visit the ruins of Sacsayhuamán in the hills just above Cusco, Peru to see the remarkable Incan walls, bricks carved so perfectly that the thinnest blade can’t fit into the seam between them. Others come to see the…
Cusco’s delightfully dinky museums
With all the Incan ruins to see and llamas to pose with, most people visiting Peru’s Sacred Valley probably wouldn’t stop in any of Cusco‘s museums if admission wasn’t included in the boleto turistico. Not us. Todd and I would…
Sacred and profane: Put a tout on it
We avoid making eye contact with most everyone in Cusco‘s Plaza de Armas. Being so shifty eyed makes chilling out on one of the main square’s park benches a little awkward. We want to people watch, because there are just…
Drawing of Cusco’s rooftops from the hills of San Blas
While wandering aimlessly through Cusco, Peru‘s hilly San Blas neighborhood, the choice is pretty much just up or down. We choose to wander up and up until we come across a small terrace. Seats at a table. Coca tea. And…
Sacred and profane: Put a cross on it
Neither Todd or I are religious. Ask us if we believe in god, and we’ll tell you stories instead. About how, when we first moved to San Francisco, we hosted a combined Passover Easter party and a Hindu guest knew…
Drawing of Cusco’s Iglesia la Compañía de Jesús
The Jesuits of the 1600s sure knew how use a church to get all up in the face of others. Built to outshine the nearby Catholic church, La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús, or Church of the Society of…
Ever in motion on bargained time
At the crossroads to Maras, it’s just us versus one understandably smug taxi driver named David. With no competition or civilization in sight, we abandon all hope of negotiating a lower fare. Instead, we do what we wish we could…
Aboot how scars are formed
People get weird on planes. Particularly on flights taken in developing countries, on unproven domestic airlines, on planes winging the windy, turbulent path into Peru’s lofty Sacred Valley. So when Jenn—one of the Canadian lesbians I’m seated between—rarely turns from…
