10/12/2026
Days 8 & 9, plus a reminder about travel:
The last of our group trip centered on the ancient Incan capital of Cusco.
The remainder of the temples and buildings are durable, seismic proof, construction. Plus the colonial constructions placed on top that weren't seismically stable.
The ruins of Sacsayhuaman "fortress", which is actually, a temple complex, but called a fortress as it was, effectively, the site of last major stand of the Inca against the Spanish above the city in the mountains.
We finished our time in Perú with a fun cooking class where we learned how to make our own Ceviche, a maracuya chilcano, plus lomo asado. Nobody managed to burn the place down at least and kept all their fingers.
Travel Lesson: Upon landing, I discovered my flight, at the end of a long connection time to begin with, was 3 hours delayed. That became 2.5 hours further delayed, plus and a hotel and meal voucher. I awoke in the wee hours to discover, the flight had cancelled altogether, and I was rebooked. But we're scheduled to arrive with too little connection time in Newark to be scheduled to make the last flight to ORD, so possibly an additional hotel in Newark on top of the additional night in Lima. I looked for options on Avianca and Copa, but with the earthquake in Panamá removing some options/capacity, the only option is the rebooked one. So, I'll either get in just early enough to try and sprint and catch the last flight of the night to ORD, or overnight again at EWR.
Lesson: it doesn't always go smoothly, be ready to roll with it.
