The land of a stunningly effective, development-promoting and wealth-increasing Trade Promotion Agreement with the United States, signed into US law in 2007, the lessons of which Colombia and the USA really must take note! Get to know your trade history at the Office of the USTR website! I promise it's good for your health: http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/peru-tpa
Lima is as grand, polluted, multi-dimensional, and sophisticated as any Latin American capital--but with better local gastronomy! Cusco (spelled Qosqo, in Quechua) is ornate and bursting at the seams with complex history. Machu Picchu is a geometric masterpiece, tucked so high into the steeps of the Andes that it just causes one to go stumped, wondering: 561 years ago, just how did those Incan politicians and religious officials do it, anyway?
...But getting to Machu Picchu, if not by the Inca Trail, is a tough, time consuming, staggered affair of transport--but a true feat of modern combustible-driven technology. Make sure to pack some snack and a book, because you'll likely be traveling for about 2.5 times as long as you will be visiting the ruins themselves! My most burning remark about my final trip in the Andes is directed at Peru Rail: Just say no to monopolies!
With that said, and much packing left to do before as I wrap up 9.8 months in the Andean region, I'm leaving you the following videos of my dry-season trip to Lima and Cusco with Gabriel Hurst, fellow Fulbrighter and Cornell University class of '09, and Justin Davis, Cornell BA class of '07 and Georgetown MA/MPP class of '09. I pray they should speak for themselves in illuminating just a sliver of the wonders of the larger of Colombia's two direct neighbors to the south... ENJOY!
***A footnote: I will dedicate Video Four to the US Congress, not President Obama alone. Thanks for listening, Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Boehner!
***Footnote 2: You'll notice I wrap up this video series with some extremely inappropriate Peruvian street humor from Cusco. Though I'm unsure about the frequency of such sightings in the Incan capital, I can certainly say that these sorts of antics would likely be grounds for imprisonment in the States! It just goes to show, once again, that social acceptability is only relative. Enjoy the laughs... And the puzzlement!
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