Cuzco

Cuzco was the capitol of the Incan Empire (and, I believe, the biggest city in the Americas at the time of European arrival), and today it is still a beautiful, proud, culture-drenched hodge-podge of indigenous and colonial sights, food, and people. The lovely main square:

The most iconic combo of this indigenous-colonial mix is Santo Domingo monastery, which is built within the foundations of the most important Incan place of worship in the most important Incan city, Koricancha.

We also drove to the edge of the city, where the Incan ruins of Suqsayhuaman feature these mind-blowingly large boulders fit perfectly together by those engineering geniuses of yore.

Note: kids in Peru are just as darn cute as they are everywhere.

P.S. So are the llamas.

Finally, there was a bit of travel serendipity magic going on, as our first night in Cuzco was a huge event for all of Peru: they played New Zealand in a World Cup qualifying game and won, which means Peru will be going to the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. This picture doesn't even begin to capture the scene in the main square of Cuzco that night, where 10,000 people, at least, were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder and back-to-chest to watch the match on a jumbo-tron-like TV set up on one side of the square. We only watched the first half, but it was an unforgettable culture experience to see so many people so rapt, smell the guinea pigs cooking on grills along the sides of the plaza, and hear the absolute roar of the crowd when Peru scored a goal.

Wow.