Peru III: Rainbow Mountain

After touring the Sacred Valley, I joined a humanitarian medical team for the next two weeks. We stayed about two hours south of Cusco, working in the nearby villages. After a few days off, we took an excursion day up to nearby Rainbow Mountain. This is a very famous day trip from Cusco, and well deserving of its fame, though too crowded of course now. It's also the highest I'd ever been outside an airplane, at an elevation of 16,522ft above sea level! On the way back, since we were just a private group, I was able to request a stop at an incredible archaological site totally off tourist radar called Machu Pitumarca. It's a pre-Incan site in a dramatic location somewhat reminiscent of it's more famous namesake...and best of all? Only two other people there besides my group.