“Do you think if the Spaniards hadn’t destroyed the Inca’s, Peru and South America as a whole, would’ve been a world power?” I asked our tour guide. 

He smiled shyly and nodded. 

“Definitely. Cusco, the capital of the world,” he answered dreamily as we looked upon the city from up top. 

The city is littered with churches, temples, cobblestone streets, each weeping with sanguine history on every stone and crevice. Cusco has been so meticulously maintained, it’s almost as if you are reliving the rise and fall of the powerful Quechua community and the disastrous cultural pillaging of the Spaniards, all at once. 

crunched tiny sidewalks, a gasp for air as you climb up high altitude steps.

you can get lost in its windy streets, with your head gazing up at the wooden balconies cascading with tendrils of floral arrangements.

bursting with all the colors of the spectrum. 

fruits, legumes, vegetables, roots.