Traveling Solo in Cusco, Peru

A single, American woman travels alone in a distant foreign country, only to realize her thoughts and fears of being a non-Spanish speaking woman in unsafe, crime-ridden, drug cartel infested South America are stereotypically flawed. Instead, what she discovers is an ancient peoples who have embraced their own version of modernity, maintained the best of their cultural heritage, and have a unique spiritual existence that marries Spanish Catholicism with Incan mysticism.

Cusco, the heartbeat and epicenter of the ancient Incan Empire from the 13th Century - 1532, attracts more than two million visitors a year who wish to see the puma effigy city and explore one of the world's greatest archeological discoveries--Machu Picchu, one of the 7 Wonders of the World since 2007--and hike the Incan trail.

The archilogically preserved city, still recovering from the great 1950 earthquake, has resisted replacing its historic buildings with new ones. The city of more than 400,000, nested at 11,000 feet in the Andes mountains, looks and feels like a time capsule in many respects. Only the bustling traffic and trapped dissel fumes remind you it's the 21st century, along with the numerous people seeking money in exchange for goods or services at every turn.

Streets are lined with ancient souls carrying forward aged traditions and ways of life untouched by mechanization and automation. From the youngest slung across their mother's back to the oldest with a lifetime of hard work and poverty upon their faces, each conveys a certain truth about their reality that is neither helpless nor hopeful. There is only a look of acceptance: what it is, what it has always been, what it will always be, as if each plays a part without question or judgment of another. It is a strange observation, to see so many people devoid of drive toward upward mobility or change. In some ways it is similar to other developing country populations who seem to accept their lives as they are and seek no input from more "developed" nation.

Streets appear crimeless; not even graffiti has tainted the ancient walls. I wonder free and alone yet feel safer than walking certain neighborhoods in my own backyard. While Cusco is a tourist city, I feel ashamed for having been so fearful. I pass by many who survive only by what is kindly and freely given, yet their eyes are filled with neither resentment or longing and in exchange, I feel neither guilt or shame for not giving all I can to each person. Instead, there is a momentary acknowledgment of our lots in life. I move on and they do not. 

Street dogs are everywhere, a common reality in many non-Western countries. When first exposed to this as a Westerner, it's heartbreaking. You want to rescue them, but soon realize something magical would be lost if you did. These dogs are free, masters of their own lives. They navigate the streets with ease, bathe in the sun, find shelter in the shade, and there is no lack of water or food. These siesta-basking four-legged people have assimilated comfortably and survive peacefully. Many roam together all day every day as if life is just one big doggy play date. They are quiet and kind, yet dirty enough that humans keep their paws off. Life as a street dog may not be so bad after all; it's quiet refreshing not to see them bound by collar and leash, which seems rather more a cruel fate than roaming harmoniously and harmlessly free.

The city's spiritual vibe has attracted many healers, spiritualists, artists, meditation gurus, massage therapists, hippies, Rastafarians, and some trustafarians. Not far from the Plaza de Armas, many can have settled and opened small shops, restaurants, yoga studios, and meditation centers. In the plaza close by, ancient spirit music accompanied by the stone water fountain creates the perfect meditation zone. I finished my first day in this high-altitude zone sitting by this fountain, soaking up sun, taking it all in. After a thoroughly non-Peruvian dinner at Paddy's Irish Pub--don't ask why--I passed out for 14-hours, recovering and preparing for today's adventure.