Hotel Monasterio, Cuzco and the faces of Peru

Cuzco is the South American version of Florence, Italy with its magnificent cathedrals in the beautiful square, with its red tiled roofs, narrow coblestone streets, markets, markets and more markets and street merchants, art, and delicious food. We ate in the hotel´s courtyard the first day and enjoyed meals in the square on our other two evenings here. The hotel is phenomenal, built in 1595 as a monestary. We were greeted with coco tea upon arrival to help with the adjustment to the 11.4K altitude. Sacred music plays lowly in the background all day and night. You expect to see monks and nuns wandering the hallways! The only habit we have gotten into here is the Peruvian beer, Cusqueña!

The Peruvians are a beautiful, friendly, sweet, industrious people. They are mastering the art of hospitality. We have never been treated in a more friendly first class way anywhere. We feel like royalty. When we retunred to the hotel for the third time, we were given a two story room with a magnificent view of the square, complete with a floral arrangement, bottle of red wine and a tray of sweets! The peasants in the countryside on our train ride to Machu Picchu were a sight to behold. We´ll never forget seeing the family of eight washing their clothes on the Urabamba River as the sun was setting and they all stopped their work to give big waves to us as the train passed. The Peruvian ladies in their short skirts and hats are quite a sight as are the young mothers who are hauling their human and alpaca babies around on their backs in colorful ponchos. The litle girls are all selling finger puppets in the square and have been to the Amway school of sales - they simply follow you across the square in an effort to make the sale until you buy a few or shout NO! The children love trying their English with tourists. One guy told us he was Bill Gates! Dogs are everywhere, but we can tell you they don´t have the life of riley that Casey Dog has at our house!

While I have been typing this entry, Clark has been trying to download photos with no success, so we will give it another try from our hotel in Santiago.

Adios from Peru!