Cuzco!

After riding a bus back to Lima on Monday night, we arrived in the morning and went to the airport to catch our plane to Cuzco. It was only an hour´s flight to this city which is the ancient capital of the Inca empire. Rich in both Inca and Spanish colonial history and culture, it is also high above sea level - approx. 11,000 ft above sea level, and we all quickly felt the effects of being at such a high altitude. The air was thin and the sun was very bright. Some of us felt light-headed and even nauseous at times, but all in all, we survived well. A bus took us to our hostel as soon as we arrived and we spent the day getting ourselves acclimatized to the city, and to the elevation.
On Wednesday, our hosts arranged for us to visit a local school that was quite remarkable. It was set on the side of a small valley, with modern buildings and a working farm which the students had to tend. Our group put on an excellent cultural performance for about an hour, and then we were given a tour of the campus. It was very impressive! The rest of the day was spent shopping!