Peru was unlike any of our other trips to date. It was South of the equator, almost a week long and for the first time somewhere where you truly couldn't get by on just English. It started off rather early, 4:17am to be exact, when we landed in Lima. A short hop later and we were looking around at the mountains surrounding Cusco.

Now Cusco sits at 11,500 feet above sea level. That's a whole lot less air than these two native Illinoisans are used to. After resting the first morning at the hotel with a couple of mates de coca in our system, we were ready to see the sights. Cusco was the center of the Incan empire. When Francisco Pizarro officially conquered it in 1534, they literally rebuilt a new city over Incan foundations. The result is a rather large city with streets so narrow that people on the sidewalks had to duck to avoid the mirrors on the van we were in. In the mountains surrounding the city, we ran into our first Incan ruins. There was a stone used here that weighs 361-tons. Dotting the landscape are all kinds of carvings and structures.

The next morning, we embarked on our 4-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, the town just below Machu Picchu. 20-minutes and a guard-railless ride up the mountain later, we arrived at the "Lost City of the Incas." The pictures really don't do it justice. The picturesque surroundings, the magnificent stonework, it really is a lot to take in because it is so unlike anything we are used to. As our guide said, "they don't really know how they did it, just that it would require a lot of patience and muscle." Maggie and I both decided that we would have made bad emporers/emporeresses. I for one wouldn't have gotten past mud huts at sea-level. In all seriousness though, Machu Picchu was amazing. Walking amongst the ruins and watching the sun rise over the mountains was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (takes too long to get there to do it twice).

After our return to Cusco, we took a tour of the sacred valley that held the Urubamba River (Vilcanota in the Quechua language, meaning "Sacred River"). We stopped at the Pisac market where the locals gather every week to sell their wares and produce to the tourist and each other. Plenty of food to go around but Maggie didn't have her appetite for some reason.

One of the more interesting stops on our tour was a stop at a family run llama farm and textile factory. Maggie got to feed some rather greedy Alpacas and we got to see the old school ways to dye and weave the fabrics. Another one of the sacred animals in Peru is the Guinea pig. It doesn't quite hold the status that other sacred animals do in some countries though. Guinea pigs are sacred enough to make the menu in most restaurants. They do seem like they grow them a little bigger there though.

We took another short hop back to Lima to finish up our vacation. Lima was...well, Lima was where we had to be to catch a flight back to Miami. There were some interesting places in Lima, like these catacombs under Iglesia de la San Francisco. It also had the worst (best in some sense) taxi drivers in the entire world. On the way from the airport, we were literally 5 cars wide on a 3-lane road (no lines so it was hard to tell). NASCAR has nothing on these guys.

All in all, another great trip. I never would have thought I would have taken my own picture of Machu Picchu before I started this job. Peru had lots to offer, unbelievable ruins, postcard scenery and a wealth of local flavor.