Some views around Cusco

Our apologies for the gap in posting--we've been waiting several days for the internet in our new house to be properly installed. In the meantime we've developed a very pleasant daily routine, but more on that later. By popular demand we'll post a few of our Cusco photos.

This is the main courtyard of the hostel we spent our first 3 days at (paying 30 soles, or about $10 a night for a room). It's located about 2 blocks from the Plaza de Armas, the main tourist center of Cusco.



This view of the street the hostel is located on is typical of the smaller streets around the Plaza de Armas. The cobbled streets are narrow (this one is wider than usual) with numerous raised or lowered doorways opening onto very narrow sidewalks.

The combination of adobe above stone walls and brown shingled roofs are also ubiquitous.

This next shot is one of the streets heading uphill from the Plaza de Armas, leading eventually to a long stairway and short trail to a vista over the entire city of Cusco. The spot, known as the Cristo Blanco (or White Christ) has a large statue of Jesus that overlooks the city. Part of Jen and my daily routine is to hike from our new house, past the Plaza de Armas, up the narrow winding streets on the hill, to the Cristo Blanco (which takes around 40 minutes).

This picture was taken on a Sunday afternoon, so there's no one in the street, but at other times the percarious sidewalks are shared by tourists en route, Peruvian crafts people sitting on patterned woven cloth selling all mannor of crafts, a wide variety of local dogs that constantly roam the city, as well as locals and children going about their daily business.

This is a view of the Plaza de Armas from the vista at the Cristo Blanco. It's actually a small piece of a 7-photo-wide panarama I made which will hopefully be available for download later in some form. To the right is a shot from the Plaza de Armas looking up at the Cristo Blanco which is faintly visible atop the hill.















To the left: A shot in the other direction from the Plaza de Armas. Above right: The yard of an elementary school midway up the hill to the Christo Blanco.















Finally, on the left is Jen about to head up one of the many alleys that connect the streets above the Plaza de Armas. To the right is a shot up the hill from our favorite cafe, in which I am currently sitting!

More on our daily goings-on here, as well as more pictures to come!