Pretty Gentle

There are many worse ways to spend an afternoon than wobbling around the ancient walls of pretty Cusco while the sun lazes along its old cobble roads with you. Inca stonework fits together in perfect patchwork shapes—chunky, thick boulders sculpted precisely to match each other and snuggle together tightly enough to withstand earthquakes. It's amazing how they did it without hard metal tools, let alone moving the blocks without wheels.

This was very a soothing little time at the end of my trip, after all the heavy stories and long, exhausting bus rides. I found all the shapes and lines quite satisfying the way they lined up, although still a bit wonky in places. As I was feeling, maybe?

Here, the light seems to feel its way long the alleyways. I suppose in England our homes and offices are made of different materials, and the streets are wide, and interrupted by gardens, so the light does not bounce back and forth in the same way. Our weak light is diffused very easily. Here in the little roads of Cusco, the sun is quite strong even in winter, and there are reflections coming off all sorts of surfaces – polished cobbles, adobe plaster, windows, even from under eaves of houses by late afternoon.

If you ever find yourself in Peru, after other hectic or wild adventures, enjoy pretty Cusco. It is a very lovely, easy place to be and breathe in and out for a while. A gentle foot voyage along its roads can help you find a way through all the stirrings that travel in far off lands tends to do to a person.

Pretty, and gentle.

{Today's Soundtrack: Fanfarlo - If It Is Growing}