A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Cuzco, Peru by TravelPod blogger Cheesenut titled "Machu Pichu" Cheesenut’s travel blog entry: "Cuzco is a tourist mecca with a little bit of everyone and everything. Its the launching point for Machu Pichu and its asociated treks (ie Inca Trail). The town is at about 10k feet in denuded highlands. Tourism is its big money maker and it saddens me a bit. All these kids running around selling the same postcards or carrying around their shoeshine kits willing to shine anything with some resemblance of a sole. A kid shined my Chacos and did a stand up job on the soles and even brushed the straps. They must all be part of the postcard/shoeshine mafia who deploy these kids and only feed them if they reach their quota. You think im joking, dont you!!!! Well I may be! Theres always an ugly side to tourism but the beauty can always be found around the next corner. The inca ruins are amazing. They were some smart bastards who could really exploit huge pools of slaves. The heart of their kingdom resided in the Sacred Valley, an extremely fertile area where 400 different types of potatoes and corn are grown. Every dish eaten contains papas whether its pizza or a stir fry dish with rice. Its insane!! And the corn is massive. The largest kernels I have ever seen. I was scared at first not knowing what the hell this mutant vegetable was. You'll find old ladies walking the streets selling corn on the cob with a nice slice of queso on ...