Day 2 (yesterday)

Here are three pictures from the central area of Cuzco, two from la Plaza de Armas and one from la Plaza Regocijo.

New planning is afoot. I think that I will leave Cuzco at the end of this week. The host family is nice and the school seems good, but there does not seem to be a ton of interesting things in the city itself to occupy two weeks of afternoons. There are plenty of cool things to do as full day trips, or overnights, but that is not compatible with language school. New thinking is as follows

Tuesday - take a bus to the furthest of the 4 ruins right outside the city, and hike back down stopping at each one along the way

Wednesday - see about going to the Cuzco planetarium, which apparently is quite interesting and has a lot of information about the Astronomy of the Incans.

Thursday -  walking tour of the city with the school

Friday - leave for Aguas Calientes in the afternoon, which is at the base of Machu Picchu, and stay the night

Saturday - visit Machu Picchu first thing in the morning, return to Cuzco in the evening

Sunday - all day trip of the Sacred Valley with the school, going to multiple of the small surrounding towns in the Andes

Monday - travel to Arequipa (or possibly overnight bus on Sunday)

Im thinking of going to Arequipa next week to do more language school, and on that following weekend trekking in the Colca Canyon, returning to Arequipa in time to catch an overnight bus to Lima. Will see how all this plays out.