Susan Munroe

After the thirteen days of non-stop hiking, after the jungle and the coffee truck, I was ready to go back to Cusco, to luxuriate in a hot shower and inject some cake into my fat-starved body.  My diet of rice, eggs, potatoes, coffee, yuca and the occasional piece of meat kept me running but did nothing for [...]

The taxi hurtled downhill toward the abuelita and her flock.  Sheep scatter and pigs struggle to waddle out of the way.  Too late, the driver applies the brakes, and ka-thud-du-kahdada – one of the sows disappears under our wheels.  Oh dear god.  I’m horrified, expecting a scene, expecting the abuelita to fly at us in a rage [...]

Cusco, the city of the Incas, the cultural capital of Perú.  At 3400 meters above sea level (11,300ft) it sits, spread across a shallow valley: a sea of terracotta roofs at the center; on the outskirts adobe huts lap at the edges of low, green-brown mountains; the steeples and towers of the city’s countless churches poke upwards like islets. [...]