Arrival in Peru

Denise starting her Headstand project on Plaza de Armas

After 2 short nights, one before flying out of SF and one in Lima, we are now in Cuzco, starting point for trips to the Inca Trail and the Macchu Picchu.
We spent a total of 10 hours in Lima between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, in the industrial district next to the airport. Needless to say it didn't impress us with its prettiness yet.
Cuzco in comparison is very pretty with many parks and plazas, and many hills. Everybody seems very relaxed and the city gives out a good vibe overall.
Even though we don't see as many tourists as we expected in the streets (maybe we're a little off season) you can tell the city strives from tourism because of the many solicitations for various typical hats, sweaters or manicures (?). It's not as bad as walking the strip in Vegas and the goods involved are a little more... normal.
The city is also in continuous expansion, with a lot of public work being done all over the city.

Double ice cream! But what does it... ??

Since it's at more than 3300m of altitude, there is always the risk of altitude sickness which seems to be impacting Denise a little as the day draws to its end. Hopefully a good night of sleep will help. Thankfully we have 4 days before our 4-day hike to Macchu Picchu and have time to adapt, which is one of the common recommendations for tourists, so no big surprise there.
We're also exhausted and looking forward to a good night. The vacation really starts tomorrow!