We arrived at the Lima airport the evening of May 16, 2012. I found it interesting that we were able to walk directly to our hotel from the baggage claim area. In the US, when someone says they are staying in an airport hotel, it means they will have to go by taxi or limo or bus to the hotel. This Ramada Inn is an almost-attachment to the airport. It was very convenient to spend our first night there and walk over to our flight to Cuzco the next morning.
When we arrived in the city of Cuzco, the ancient Incan capital, we signed in at the Hotel Ruinas and then hit the streets to check it out. The photo above shows an indigenous woman setting up her wares near the Plaza de Armas in the hope she will be able to sell them to tourists.
On the left is the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. Along the outer edges of the plaza one can see vendors of all stripes. There are even shoe-shine men who zero in on leather shoes like a moth to flame. I have a very old pair of leather loafers, black and extraordinarily comfortable, whose dusty surfaces kept calling their attention. I turned them away and vowed to my friends to wear sandals the rest of the time there. And that’s what I did.
Legend has it that the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco was designed by Manco Capac. Click here to read more about him. Was he legend? Was he real? You decide. It was in this plaza that Francisco Pizarro proclaimed that he had conquered Cuzco. On the right, note the fountain in the plaza.
Here’s another view of the fountain; following are more views of or from the plaza.
This post feels rather disjointed to me because my computer is not behaving. It’s very, very slow and I’m think I may have to take it to Apple Spa for a massage and maybe a mani and a pedi. Not very good timing, Mac. I spent all my money in Peru. I hope you readers can make sense of it.
More about Cuzco later.
Back On My Own 