Cusco

We're now in Cusco a town inland from Lima in Peru. This is the main jumping off place for Machu Picchu so the place is crawling with tourists and there are souvenir shops every few metres with a range of quality goods. These are especially Alpaca knitwear and jewellery, but also wood crafts, ceramics, musical instruments.
The old town is a hive of narrow streets with buildings that are often built on the foundations of Inca buildings. The Incas built their buildings with rocks shaped to fit by master masons and no mortar. Apparently when earthquakes have rocked this area the Inca foundations have remained firm while the Spanish bricks and mortar have fallen apart.
One of the issues here is that Cusco is at 3,400m above sea level so the air is fairly thin. So we've been taking altitude sickness pills and on our arrival were offered Coca tea, a local drink that's supposed to relieve the effects of altitude. We haven't been badly affected but we are breathing more heavily than normal, especially when exercising.