We landed in Lima in plenty of time to change planes to Cusco. BUT, when Connie saw McDonald’s in the food court, and I saw Starbucks …we made the decision to eat in the food court and watch the departure board for our gate number. It never appeared…several Flights prior to ours were cancelled due to weather, so we continued to watch for ours to post. All of a sudden, it posted as LAST CALL! We ran for the gate but had to go thru extra security and when we arrived, there sat the plane but we were turned away as they had already locked the door and would not let us board. PISSED OFF, we headed back downstairs, and as our “angels” laughed at our anger, the nice agents but us on the next flight that left in less than 2 hours.

Arriving in Cusco, our guide Marianne and driver Juan Carlos, delivered us to Palacio del Inka, our amazing Hotel downtown…and we began a great 2 day adventure in Cusco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire.

Imagine if you can…5,000 years ago man came to this region of the earth. Now if you’re from Texas…stretch your imagination a little further… before man settled here, the ancestors to the armadillo clamored thru these mountains. Yelp, they were actually 3-4 times larger than our domesticated armadillos.

History lesson….The Inca Empire existed thru 14 Emperors and by the 1600s the population had grown to 12 million. The Spaniards invaded Cusco in 1632 and brought diseases, so by the 1700s, the population had fallen to only 2 million. The Spanish replaced the Inca’s practice of worshipping their nature Gods with the Catholic religion. They destroyed their temples and melted all the gold statues and emblems just for the money.

Day 2 in Cusco ….Today, we walked (carefully on narrow cobblestone alleys) to the main plaza and visited a breath-taking cathedral the Spaniards took 100 years to build. They allowed local artists to create extremely detailed alters and statues of wood and then gold and silver plated them. Sadly, no pictures are allowed of these magnificent works of art inside the church.

Marianne also took us to a private silversmith, where the silver is 95% silver 5% cobalt (almost pure silver which is highly unusual to find) and everything is handmade. Of course, we had no issue loading our luggage with gifts.

Lunch was alpaca for me, and although I encouraged Connie to try this light delicious meat, she decided it was best to stick with plain ole shrimp 😉

The evening was complete with a facial, pisco sour lesson and local dance show demonstrating how the Inca people rain danced….and of course, pizza!