A work of art, and a nice cathedral.

June 8, 2013. We arrived in Cusco over a week ago, and felt all tingly and light-headed with excitement. Sometimes it was hard to breathe, so full of joy and expectation were we for our adventures ahead. [Cusco has an elevation of over 11,000 feet, so based on his clumsy description, it is likely that the writer is suffering from altitude sickness. -Ed.] 

The Plaza des Armas, with gay pride flags flying honorably. [Sic. -Ed.]

It is sometimes said that Paris is a great city, except for the Parisians. Cusco, too, is a great city, except for the Americans. You can't throw an empanada without hitting one of their dreadlocks. You see them everywhere: Walking around; Harassing the locals; Blogging. One sight that filled me with hope for humanity, however, was the multi-colored gay pride flag visible seemingly everywhere you went, acting as a noble monument to human tolerance and inclusiveness. [The flag referred to is the flag of the city of Cusco, which is a notoriously conservative, not to mention homophobic, city. Even a moment of cursory research on the part of the writer would have revealed this, and spared him from embarrassment and his readers from headaches. -Ed.]

The last supper. Spot Judas! (Hint: Look for the non-whitey.)

The cathedral in Cusco sports a number of beautiful paintings inside, my favorite being this depiction of the last supper. Instead of lamb, though, the main course is a hefty, juicy guinea pig, in honor of a great source of protein for Peruvians going back 4,000 years. I had some guinea pig on tapas later, and I hope it was not my last supper, but I found it fatty. [This confusion about the main course shown in the above painting by Marcos Zapata, done in 1753, while common, is nevertheless painful. The subject is not a guinea pig, but is actually a type of chinchilla. -Ed.]

'Til next time, folks! [I am retiring and will not be present. I have accepted a job as a bomb defuser, which promises to be both more productive and less stressful. -Ed.]

--Will