Like Venice, but hilly

May 10th, 2025: Cusco, Peru

Greetings from the city of Cusco, located in the Peruvian highlands at 11,500 ft elevation. After our train delay last night, we pulled into our hotel around 8pm and immediately headed out to dinner. The restaurant featured wings and burgers (alpaca burger anyone?) so everyone was quite content!

Profs being profs, Bryan and I found a local cafe for some early energy:

After a fun night seeing live music, the students straggled in for an 8am breakfast. The hotel is lovely with a lush and sunny courtyard:

We toasted Ben, our very own Indiana Jones, for his birthday:

We spent the day exploring around Cusco (also spelled Cuzco), a city that dates back to Incan times in the 1400s. Evidence of this history is visible everywhere, with modern building built atop Incan foundations:

The dark stones along the bottom are the original Inca structures. The street are narrow, made of brick or stone, with channels for water   to flow through. The city has a very old world feel, with narrow twisting streets and alleyways that reminded me of Venice. Some streets (like the one above) are so steep that the sidewalks have stairs, which reminded me of San Francisco.

Our first stop was an Incan royal palace with working fountains called Tambomachay:

Notice that the students are getting sassier in their posing? I told them that tolerating group photos was a price they had to pay for going on the trip! I take their goofiness as a positive sign that the group is coming together. 

Our next activity was a mountain bike ride through some beautiful countryside:

Even our spokesbunny Wallacen got in on the fun! The ride was a bit tougher than we had anticipated, with some muddy parts, a few streams to cross, lots of rocks, and hills that required us to walk the bikes. But everyone made it with spirits intact. And we rode through some beautiful country in which we saw indigenous people harvesting potatoes and herding lambs, a hilltop shaman ritual, and many beautiful mountain views of the surrounding area:

Drinks and snacks were our well-earned reward at the end. 

We continued to another Incan site known for its massive stone work. It's amazing to consider how people in the 1400s were able to quarry these stones, transport them 3 miles, carve them into shape, and place them so precisely that no mortar was required:

We returned to the city for a traditional Peruvian lunch (lots of potatoes, chicken, trout, lemonade, fruit):

In the afternoon we had a few hours off. The students wandered through Cusco, shopped, etc. Around 530pm, we headed out for our evening activities. 

A local historian of traditional Incan music gave us a wonderful tour of his instrument collection:

He was also a singer and played several traditional songs for us:

Several of us considered this activity a highlight of the trip. 

We next walked through the Central square of Cusco and posed in front of the fountain of the Incan king:

Our farewell dinner was at a lovely restaurant the featured local music and dancing and a birthday cake for Ben:

All in all a great day of cultural immersion!

Upon leaving dinner, we all knew that this had been our last full day in Peru. It was a sad realization. We will have activities tomorrow morning, then lunch, and then we will begin the long journey home. Expect an update from the airport.

Best wishes,

Prof. Eric Simon