Cusco is actually at a higher altitude than Machu Picchu.

I came down from Machu Picchu on the 12 o’clock bus. Then back on the train to Ollantaytambo, then back in the van to Cusco. Another G Adventures group though they had trouble with their van, so we almost loaded them into ours.

Just as we were leaving the hotel to go to dinner, the power went out in the city. The restaurant was actually lit with candles when we got there. (Presumably the kitchen ran on gas for cooking.)

The next day the older half of the tour group took a regular city tour of Cusco (by bus). In the city proper we saw the cathedral and the Dominican convent, both of which were built on top of earlier Inca Temples. The latter suffered earthquake damage which exposed the underlying Inca foundations, since the slopped wall construction is more resistant to earthquakes.

The tour then went to several sites in the area surrounding the city such as Saqsaywaman (pictured), Puka Pukara, and Q’osco.

But the highlight must the the Cuzco portion of the culinary package I booked. Erick paz of Marcelo Batata and other restaurants in Cusco took me through the market and the variety of all kinds of there (26 kinds of avocado in Peru!). I then got personal instruction and prepared Lomo Saltado in the restaurant kitchen. The older half of the tour group had come along to eat at the restaurant. We were all left wondering why the heck we had been eating at the places we had when we could be going to restaurants like this.