Day 11: Out and About in Cusco

We spent our last day in Cusco having free time. We saw lots of depictions of the God of the Sky (condor), earth (puma, and underworld (serpent). We found a local mall and Home Depot when we were looking for alpaca jerky.  Finally, we found Andy an Inca Kola shirt so he could remember his "love." What an awesome trip it was. The pic of Andy asleep on our way home in the airport, he is using our hand woven blanket we bought from the women's weaving coop in the Sacred Valley.

The main plaza in Cusco

Day 10: Rainbow Mountain

Our last hike of the trip was also our highest. It was over 16000 feet. It was the first time in the trip that the altitude affected me. For about the first 30 minutes or so, I felt like I was gasping for air if I took any more than tiny steps and  had to keep myself calm because I thought I might hyperventilate. I acclimated though after the first half hour or so. It took us about two hours to talk up to Rainbow Mountain and about 35 to get down. The colors are from the minerals in the dirt and vary based on the seasons and rain.