As quite possibly the most popular tourist destination in South America, the once capital of the Incan Empire resembles nothing of the sort from centuries ago, and instead has been replaced by a city that thrives upon the needy, wanty, oh-so-photo-happy, tourist. With Incan ruins and ancient cathedrals sharing lucrative space with a McDonald´s, KFC and endless massage parlors for the weary hiker, this once beautiful city, although still incredibly beautiful, can most easily be summarized by the following two words: ¨No Gracias.¨
With constant offers for tours to Machu Picchu, massages, special restaurant promotions, massages, any llama-ordained item thought possible, and of course, more massages, it is almost impossible to navigate the busy streets of Cusco without street hawkers bombarding their way into whatever semblance of serenity you would hope to have. A casual stroll down the road involves at a minimum, 85 ¨no gracias´s,¨ and thus, despite the overwhelming amount of amazing touristy sites within the realm of Cusco, I spent the majority of my pre-Inca-Trail time avoiding anything related to tourism. The usuallly avid ¨sight-seer¨ in me instead found more comfort watching English-subtitled movies in the hostel, as well as frequenting the same 10 sole ($3.50) 4-course restaurant day-in and day-out. Nevertheless, I still leave you with what highlights comprised my four days of ¨waiting¨ in what, somehow turned out to be, one of my favorite cities in South America:
- Stone Walls - With the Incan Empire priding itself on architectural structures that have lasted almost a millenium, one thing that is unavoidable in Cusco are shapely stones that seem to dominate the sides of every building in this city. Stones that fit perfectly with one another, stones that fit somewhat perfectly together, and even stones that don´t fit perfectly at all. All are found throughout the city. Supposedly there is even a stone that has 12 sides, although I could only count 9. I love lamp.
- Cuy - With only several days left in Peru, I decided to depart from my 10 sole ¨go-to-meal,¨ and dedicate my 2nd to last night in Cusco tracking down and consuming one of the most infamous local dishes in this gastronomically-friendly country: Cuy. More commonly referred to as a Guinea Pig everywhere else but South America, Cuy can be consumed in many different ways, but only one way is the ¨true¨ proper culinary style: Whole. Thus, as I sat alone in a quiet restaurant, as nobody shared my enthusiasm to devour their 3rd favorite pet as a child, I stared in confusion as an entire Guinea Pig lay before me (head, arms, legs, even claws). Unknowing how to begin, the friendly owner of the establishment provided me with the encouraging words of ¨Come todo¨ (eat everything). Thus I began to slowly devour away at what suprisingly was a very delicious meal, until of course, my fork no longer found meat, and instead found several squishy organ-esque objects located within the Guinea Pig´s now-half-devoured corpse. Several deep breaths later, a heart and 1/2 a liver were uncomfortably settling in my stomach (I did not find any other organs, and thus assume they made a similar path as the aforementioned bits). With the only remaining aspect of the Cuy left to eat, the head, I avoiding partaking in prying this poor critter´s jaws apart to sample´s it´s bite size brain, and instead left the restaurant officially removing ¨ furry childhood pet´s¨ from my future to-eat list.
- Honorable Mentions: Reunion City (encountered almost 15+ friends from every country traveled to thus far all randomly in Cusco at the same time), Llama Girl´s (see photo below).
That´s about it. I leave you with an onslaught of pics:
Next week: The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu
 | Cusco - Beautifully touristic (I was offered 3 massages, 8 meal promotions, and 5 taxi rides during the taking of this photo) |
 | What´s a beautiful plaza square without the world´s favorite restaurant? (Minus the yellow arches to preserve ¨tradition¨ of course) |
 | One of the many plazas scattered around the city of Cusco |
 | Love me some night/fountain shots |
 | Giant stones at the nearby Incan Ruin Sacsayhuamán (or more commonly known in Gringolandia as ¨Sexy Woman¨) |
 | Those are some damn well-fitting stones! |
 | The Llama-welcoming crew anxiously awaiting tourists for a $0.30 classic ¨llama and native woman¨ photo |
 | The greatest part of tourism = Hilarious t-shirts |
 | More hilarious t-shirts |
 | Couldn´t resist the temptation to earn U of M a new fan |
 | The National Incan Flag (apparently the reason for their demise in population wasn´t due to the Spanish invasion...) |
 | Quite possibly the most protected manikin ever |
 | ¨Free Hugs¨ |
 | Cuy - Your favorite childhood pet served just as you remember... kinda... |
 | It´s OK to play with your food if it once was a pet (I think I might be going to hell for this one) |
 | Poor delicious delicious guy |
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