(The pics are Valparaiso).
Sorry, I know I´ve neglected you of late, so here´s a quick catch up. I got an early morning flight from Buenos Aires back to Santiago, then a bus to Valparaiso for a night, back to Santiago once more, then a flight to Peru, one night in Lima and now I´m in Cusco, having arrived around midday today.
Buenos Aires seemed magnificent, like a Latino Manhattan, but I only had half a day there, so too little to judge. I will return in a couple of weeks. Santiago you know about, Valparaiso is beautiful, or at least the historic port area is. The city that has sprung up around it is, well, cityish, but the port, which thrived just over a century ago, is full of pastal-coloured buildings, cobbled streets, and colonial Spanish architecture which is at the same time rustic and grand. I wish I could load pics, but as ever the computer is playing up, so you´ll have to take my word for it.
Lima, by contrast, is pretty damn ugly. Although it was a flying visit, so maybe its not fair to judge. It´s huge, about the size of London, certainly bigger than Santiago, and noticably poorer.
Finally, Cusco is fantastic. Unashamedly touristy, but as the former Capital of Inca empire, it is fair to assume the buildings at least were not built with the 21st century tourism trade in mind. I have three days here. Apparently I have to adjust to the altitude, but I feel fine, we´re at about 3500ft - I freefall three times this for breakfast. Anyway, on the 27th - Friday, I think, I never know what day of the week it is anymore (no jokes) - we start the four-day Inca trek to Machu Pichu. I´ll probably blog next when that´s completed and hopefully load some pics.
Buenos Aires seemed magnificent, like a Latino Manhattan, but I only had half a day there, so too little to judge. I will return in a couple of weeks. Santiago you know about, Valparaiso is beautiful, or at least the historic port area is. The city that has sprung up around it is, well, cityish, but the port, which thrived just over a century ago, is full of pastal-coloured buildings, cobbled streets, and colonial Spanish architecture which is at the same time rustic and grand. I wish I could load pics, but as ever the computer is playing up, so you´ll have to take my word for it.
Lima, by contrast, is pretty damn ugly. Although it was a flying visit, so maybe its not fair to judge. It´s huge, about the size of London, certainly bigger than Santiago, and noticably poorer.
Finally, Cusco is fantastic. Unashamedly touristy, but as the former Capital of Inca empire, it is fair to assume the buildings at least were not built with the 21st century tourism trade in mind. I have three days here. Apparently I have to adjust to the altitude, but I feel fine, we´re at about 3500ft - I freefall three times this for breakfast. Anyway, on the 27th - Friday, I think, I never know what day of the week it is anymore (no jokes) - we start the four-day Inca trek to Machu Pichu. I´ll probably blog next when that´s completed and hopefully load some pics.
No comments:
Post a Comment