The above photo was taken while traveling on vacation with my family last December to Cusco, Peru.  After photography there is nothing I enjoy more than traveling, it's that sense of adventure and discovery of places unknown that makes it so enticing.  Just looking at the photo you get an idea of how fertile and full of life the  region is.  Most visitors to the city of Cusco are often content with exploring the expansive and vast ancient capital of the Incas, and yes they also enjoy the ruins that are literally scattered throughout the cities perimeter.  This being my second trip to Cusco I was much more interested in the surrounding landscape of the city than the city itself.  In some ways Cusco's topographical terrain reminds me in some ways of Portland's with the exception of the elevation differences, which are practically night and day!

 

Cusco, Peru: 3,400 m (11,200 ft)
Portland, Oregon-USA: 15.2 m (50 ft) 

Cusco is a landscape photographers wet dream, literally!  Everything you could possibly ask for from the large omnipresent mountains which cascade across all horizons to beautifully green hills that seem to roll like ocean waves on a collision course with the city below.  While the rainy season may not be ideal for those interested in visiting Machu Picchu, in my opinion is a great time to visit Cusco, especially towards the first weeks of December.  Usually around this time the bipolar skies offer the traveler the best experience of both worlds with mid-day and evening showers, scattered with the almost as unpredictable clear blue skies where the sun's rays pierce through dark clouds and shine spotlights of golden sunshine down upon the colonial city (all while Edvard Grieg's, Peer Gynt Op23: Morning Mood softly plays in the deep recesses of your unconscious mind).  I guess what I was trying to say (before I got carried away into a mad and incoherent rant) is that the weather is so wonderfully unpredictable that I believe the traveler is give a more vivid impression about live in the highland sierra, that and the COLORS the mixed light produces are literally AMAZING!

If you have already been to Cusco before it might not be a bad idea to reconsider a redux, especially since your first trip was probably so hectic what with all those ruins, churches, and museums you spent most of your time visiting, not to mention the time spent at Machu Pichhu, of course!

**The panoramic photo of the city of Cusco was taken by: 
Photographer: Ricardo Sánchez
*It can also be seen here on the Cusco Wikipedia page