more Cusco

We stayed at the Tierra Viva Centro hotel in Cusco before and after the trek. It was the loveliest, convenient, most relaxing place and I would totally stay there again. It had this blue paint on the windows and trim and it was so beautiful. I loved the fountain in the central plaza.

They had a really great continental breakfast and the fresh mango was my favorite, it was so delicious:

All the fruit and juices were so pretty:

The dining area was full of natural light and just a great place to relax. Ahh take me back:

Cool little statues:

Before the trek we visited the chocolate museum in Cusco one day and did a little class where we got to make our own chocolates. Here we are roasting cocoa beans:

Shelling the cocoa beans after we roasted them:

After a number of other steps we ended up with chocolates in the mold:

And mine:

  

Making one of several different yummy chocolate beverages:

A cathedral near the chocolate museum:

We ate lots of good food on the trip. This was from one of our nights out. The presentation was pretty wonderful too:

And a treat at a cafe one night following a $5 slightly painful but funny massage experience:

Our last day in Cusco was such a fun day. We met up with our new friends from the trek, Angie & Chris, for lunch and gelato then we spent the afternoon shopping for art, and checking out the local market. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Late that night we finally decided on a painting we had been considering. When we went back to talk to the owner we noticed another painting, similar to the one we were contemplating, was gone. He only spoke Spanish and my Spanish isn't the greatest so I wasn't sure if I understood him correctly but he told us our friends had come back and bought the other painting. We had been looking at them together earlier in the day. So we have sister paintings now which pretty much seals our friendship for life in my book : ) The painting's at the shop awaiting a frame we picked out but I'll post a picture when it's finished. It's been a really fun tradition to get art when we travel.

It was so fun to walk though the market. The fruit and flowers smelled divine. The meat above, not so much:

Cheese:

Angie and I enjoying the flowers, the best part of the market in my opinion:

The whole trip was amazing - the trip of a lifetime for sure! I'm so glad we got to go and that we had family willing to watch the kids so we could do it.