The Best Bus Ride Ever

Took an all day bus ride from Puno to Cusco.  The bus was better than first class in an plane.  Huge leather seats, huge very clean windows, a full time escort and free lunch and drinks (non alcolholic) the whole way.  We made 4stops along the way to view historic areas.

The ride to Cusco was rising in altitude for the first half.  we reached nearly 15,000ft and were surrounded by snow covered mountains.  After that there was a long gradual decent into Cusco.  The valley was surrounded by huge mountains the whole way.  The air warmed up noticeably and the terrain was very green. It was nice to see this after two weeks of barren landscape.  All over the hills and mountains were terraced from the Inca times.

Our first stop was at an ancient archeological site.  These pre-Incans cut off peoples heads and they ate babies.  saw ancient statues showing this.  When the Incans took over they ended this practice.

Another stop was at a temple that honored the most important god for the Incas (the sun).  there still stands an Incan wall that is at least 30ft high.  around the temple were the remains of many, many stone houses.  the ancient city was also surrounded by a great wall.  My guess is that the city was as big as one mile in each direction.  Never saw so many stones.

Our final stop before Cusco was at a small town that has a church they call the Sistine Chapel of the Americas.  Uninspiring from the outside but beautiful on the inside with many colorful oil paintings and gold leaf. It is because of the color they call it Sistine.  Other than this, no comparison....I vote for the original.
 It was build over an Incan temple so we could see the ancient stone foundation.

 Made it to the hotel at night and found out I came in three days early when I thought i was only one day early.  That is ok because this is a lovely city.  and expensive and pushy compared to what I experiences in Bolivia.  The weather is bright and clear but chilly in the shade and cold at night.

My hotel is a 17century Spanish villa with a gorgeous courtyard.  More interesting, however, are the outside walls which are original Inca construction.  the blocks of stone have very straight lines and no morter.  Facinating to see this.  It will be an easy place to camp out for a few days.

At night watched a couple of Seinfeld episodes and the World Series.  It is a small world!