Peru: Part 1 - Cusco

It has been my M.O. for my last few trips to do a day-by-day summary of my trip, but I am quite frankly too lazy to do that this time.  :)  Here's the consolidated version:

Lima - meh.  Don't go to Peru for Lima.

Cusco: Charming colonial town.  Mostly a Spanish flair but it does have some Incan flavor to it.  The main part of town that we were in was pretty touristy.
 

Cathedral in Cusco

Aerial view of Cusco

Pisac/Ollentaytambo: Today we actually went to a series of ruins.  However, the day started off with visiting a community of farmers' wives who approached our tour company asking them to give them some employable skills.  So they hooked them up - taught them how to harvest wool from alpacas, clean it, dye it, weave it - and now pimp out their skills to tourists who want to buy their handmade crafts.  So I guess it's a win-win - they have a job that still allows them to primarily be moms while still bringing in some extra cash, and we get handmade crafts.

You can see their little shops in the background and of course the women in action in the foreground

Close-up action shot

Here are some ruins:

Pisac ruins

More Pisac ruins

Ollentaytambo mountain

I forget who that supposedly is, but of course our tour guide mentioned that Mormons think it might be Jesus.  He may have said it in a mocking tone, but since I am Mormon, I thought I'd mention it.  :)

Part of the temple

Come to find out that today was a test day to see if we would survive the trek, especially with the altitude.  There were tons of stairs - and I mean stairs.  I don't know how tiny Incans climbed these stairs.