If Jack Kerouac were alive today in Cusco....

I´ve included some pics from the last week. The pics include:
1) me enjoying a delicious milkshake with Cusco´s Plaza de Armas in the background. The Plaza is the center of life for the city.
2) Some cuy (guinea pigs) that are about to be roasted. On Sunday May 14th, my host family put some cuy on the dinner table. Against the judgement of my stomach, I tried it. The Peru: Lonely Planet guidebook describes the taste of cuy as being like that of rabbit. I tend to disagree and would advise one that cuy tastes more like a damn rat! No more cuy for me.
3) This pic shows my new friend Carlos. He is the uncle in my host family. I told Carlos that I´d smoke a cigarette with him after I had finished the Inca trail. Carlos didn´t put his cig in the picture. He was afraid I´d black mail him and would send the pic to his priest! The Peruvian cig was pretty tastey.

Cusco´s been a blast; but like all good things, my time is winding down here. I´ve spent three weeks out of four in Cusco. During the last few weeks, I´ve made lots of new international friends, some of whom I´m going to try to catch up with when I do phase 2 of my travels. Phase 2 will hopefully include Australia, NZ, and Thailand. The raison d'etre for starting my travels in Cusco was to take advantage of the dry season which just began in Peru, to pick up some Spanish in language school, to meet some new friends to travel with, and to tackle the Incan Trail and Machu Picchu, which so far has been a highlight in my life!