The next day I packed an overnight bag that the hotel lent me, and got onto a bus through the Sacred Valley to visit two sites.  The first site was in Pisac, and the top of the site was about 11,500 feet about sea level.  It was an hour long hike round trip. 

I'm scared of heights, and it's been getting worse over the last several years.  But I was happy that I made it to the top of the site.  Coming down was a little harder than going up so I spent a lot of time looking at my feet.

​After lunch we drove to Ollantaytambo, which is another well-known site.  At this one, my legs started shaking when I got to the first tour stop up 250 or so steps up. We were standing on an open ledge and I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the last part of the walk so I broke off from the group and very slowly came back down without taking my eyes off of my feet.  I was leaving the group for my train to Machu Picchu anyway so I didn't feel too bad.  Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out too well (and I forgot to snap photos from up above).

​A few people from the tour stayed behind in Ollantaytambo and took Inca Rail to Aguas Calientes which is the town at the base of Machu Picchu.  The train ride was about an hour and 40 minutes and I got to my hostel at around 9:30pm.

The second stop was at Q'enqo.  We only spent about 20 minutes there.

​The next stop was at Tambomachay, which is about 12,000 feet above sea level.

​The last stop on the tour was a placed called Puka Pukara.

I had a travel agency book three days of tours for me when I got to Cusco.  The second day I was there I took a tour of some ruins on the outside of the city.

​The first stop was at Saqsayhuaman.

I flew from Lima to Cusco on Friday.  Cusco is about 11,000 feet above sea level and everyone talks about altitude sickness.  I wasn't originally planning to buy anything for it, but when I saw everyone chomping on what I think was coca gum, I went to the pharmacy at the airport and bought some type of medicine that didn't have coca in it and is supposed to make oxygen absorb into your blood more easily.
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Other than having to walk much slower than normal, and sleeping over nine hours the past two nights, the pills must have worked because I feel pretty good.

​The first day, I booked a city tour for day 2, a tour of the Sacred Valley for day 3, and Machu Picchu for day 4.  After I checked in, I just walked around the town, which is very nice.  At lunch I tried Alpaca carpaccio, which was really good.

​For dinner, I had a Peruvian Specialty, Cuy, which is guinea pig.  The taste itself was good, but I think I lost part of my appetite when it was presented to me.  I think it would have been better shredded on nachos or inside a ravioli. 
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​Here it is, look at that presentation.  After I took a picture, they took it back to cut it up, and I was thinking, great, I'll get some shredded meat on a plate.  They just chopped it up into four pieces...glad I tried it though.

I got to Lima yesterday and walked around the Miraflores district where I am staying.  There are several sites that TripAdvisor suggests, but wasn't in the mood to sit in a taxi in traffic to get to them.  I slept most of the four hour flight to Lima after being up all night and really just wanted to relax.  Ended up in a tourist area and had steak and fettuccini for lunch.  I took a nap and then had dinner at a Beatles-themed restaurant.

​Today I did some research on a possible job back in the US and took another walk around the neighborhood.  I had some ceviche for lunch and take-out for dinner.  Tomorrow morning I fly to Cusco, which is the departure point for Machu Picchu and the main reason I'm in Peru.  I think it's 10 or 11 thousand feet above sea level, so hoping that I don't feel the effects as I didn't buy any altitude-sickness medicine.