As Wes and I walked the crowded streets of Cusco on the first day of our trip to Peru I found myself breathing heavily trying to take in the thin air of a city. A city that sits high in the Andes at over 11,000 feet. I knew that I would feel tired -- not only for the elevation, but because of the 4 hours of sleep we got in Lima the night before. Our hotel room was a sweltering box with NO air conditioning and a window that looked out on another hotel room across a tiny air shaft. Yes, jet lag and lack of sleep were contributing to my over all tiredness... I should be taking a nap but my stomach was leading the way through Cusco and sleep is not an option until my tummy was happy. 
We followed our group of dazed travelers (about 8 of us in total) down a narrow street to see Incan-built walls which are now the foundations for other buildings. Why was I not eating yet? Well our trip leader has promised to point out some restaurants "safe for foreigners" after our brief walking tour. I gave Wes a small frown as an indication that if we do not eat soon I will be forced to start chewing on his arm. I could tell he was tried too. Finally our tour ends at Plaza de Armas, we headed to a restaurant to eat a late lunch at 3:00 p.m. With food in my stomach I was able to concentrate on the views and take in my surroundings. Cusco is beautiful, the churches are all colonial style, Plaza de Armas is clean with a well-manicured square in which dozens of tourists were sitting around... the only slight annoyance was the millions of hawkers selling gourds, hats and paintings, but this was a normal part of traveling to a touristy destination. I noticed two women sitting next to us in the restaurant that seem perturbed at everything, the food, the service, each other...
I wonder if they are possibly annoyed that they will not be going to Macchu Pichhu, the big reason people travel to Cusco. Wes and I knew it was not going to happen after reading the news about the rain and mudslides that had taken out roads and the railroad.
This was also evident when we took our first bus out into the countryside, mini landslides were apparent in several places by the roads. Our guide said the heavy rains had ruined crops and especially in the high country, farmers would not be able to grow more crops this year making food scarce. Only in places like the Sacred Valley would it be possible to grow crops during the dry-winter season.
Our guide pointed out the ruins of storage bins high on the mountains that were used to store potatoes and other goods -- some for many years. Different villages would work together and use the storage bins communally. They actually dried out the potatoes by squeezing the water out and basically shrinking the potato to about 25 percent of it's original size. Using this technique the potatoes could be stored and used for many years. In cases of drought the villages would have food and everyone shared. Apparently though this is no longer a practice and many villagers would suffer this year.
This was also evident when we took our first bus out into the countryside, mini landslides were apparent in several places by the roads. Our guide said the heavy rains had ruined crops and especially in the high country, farmers would not be able to grow more crops this year making food scarce. Only in places like the Sacred Valley would it be possible to grow crops during the dry-winter season.
Our guide pointed out the ruins of storage bins high on the mountains that were used to store potatoes and other goods -- some for many years. Different villages would work together and use the storage bins communally. They actually dried out the potatoes by squeezing the water out and basically shrinking the potato to about 25 percent of it's original size. Using this technique the potatoes could be stored and used for many years. In cases of drought the villages would have food and everyone shared. Apparently though this is no longer a practice and many villagers would suffer this year.
We made our way over a 14,000 ft pass that led down into a the Lares Valley where we would start our three day trek which included two nights of camping. More on this later!
