“Give me your camera,” Hernan said as we approached the stone gate on Santa Clara. From there, the road continues up the hill away from the main plaze in Cuzco, toward the San Pedro Train Station.
I thought he wanted to take a photo of the gate, but he really wanted to tuck it into his backpack for safekeeping. The area around the market is rougher than the central plaza, where the police keep a vigilant eye on things.
The altitude hit me really hard Saturday night in Cuzco. There were several times that I awoke gasping for air. It was similar to the feeling I get during an asthma attack, but my inhalers offered no relief.
Apparently, Hotel Monasterio will pump extra oxygen into your room for about $30/night, but by Sunday morning I had acclimated and wasn’t having problems.
The stereotypical, colorful Andean garb really isn’t a relic of the Incan empire, according to Hernan. It was introduced by the Spanish after the conquest to identify various groups of people and regions for taxation purposes …