Day 4: Cusco, Peru

Wednesday November 7, 2013

Cusco. We woke up early to catch a 8:30am flight from Lima to Cusco. But with Theresa's bad luck (she's had 4/5 flights delayed since the start of her trip) , we had a delayed flight too. I don't know we both fell asleep while the plane was just chillin on the runway. StarPeru is the airline we took, and there are multiple flights to cusco a day. It's about $75 usd for the trip. It costs the same as a bus to cusco, but a bus is 22 hours or something. Why on earth would you want to sit on a bus!?

The flight was about an hour long and the views were fantastic from the airplane. Even with just an hour flight, they handed us a box for breakfast! You could see the Andes snow capped peaked mountains and the valleys at the same time. And of course clouds in between. 

We got picked up by a driver from our hostel. When we stepped into our jostle the first thing they gave us was cocotea. So these leaves are cocaine leaves and in mass amounts of quantity would you even be able to produce cocaine. But the leaves by itself, just a few leaves and hot water is suppose to help with altitude sickness and all sorts of other health stuff. Who knows, google it. Haha I'm not a big fan of tea, so drinking it is slightly difficult. Theresa is just chugging it down while I'm holding my nose and drinking a bit of it. I think I'll try without for the time being, drinking this might make me throw up. Haha 

We went across the tiny street to another hostel to book our Machu Picchu hike. Yes, we waited till the last minute. They have treks leaving everyday, so there isn't any booking issues. If you end up doing the inca trail hike, maybe then you have took 4 months in advance. But there's the jungle trek and the salkantay trek and a few more I forget. 

Were doing the salkantay trek. The harder trek out of all of those, but supposedly the trek with the best views. On top of that, we are not just doing Machu Picchu, we're going to go to huayna Picchu too! Another mountain, about 1.5 hours up more to see the view of Machu Picchu from above! Excited but scared. Or rather, feeling really out of shape. Haha. Supposedly the 2nd day is the worst day with the longest and most difficult trek. 

Wish us luck. 

We went down the street and stopped at the first hole in the wall restaurant. Again, appetizer and an entree for 10 sols... But this time total!! Not each! Me and Theresa each ate lunch for 5 sols= 1.80 usd! Crazy!! Well maybe not the best place we've been to, but the chicken noodle soup was definitely worth it. They have us this purple corn drink called chicha. Again, a drink Theresa loves and is chugging it down, but for me it tastes like bubble gum. It smelled like bubble yum and it surely tasted like bubble yum. I don't like it because you don't swallow and drink bubble gum stuff. Haha She can have mine. 

We went to the main square, plaza de armes. The Cathedral of Santo Domingo and Church of la Compañía de Jesus both are located in this area and open up towards a beautiful fountain in the middle. A lot of tourists were there and just people hanging out. 

When we first arrived to Cusco, it was cold! I had on leggings and jeans and a shirt, a long sleeve, sweatshirt and jacket. By 1pm as were walking around this square, we could not strip fast enough. I think it was a really nice day, sunny with only a few clouds. Only difference is, were so high up in elevation. We're closer to the sun;)  We spent the rest of the day walking the streets with all the little gift stores and bargain markets. 

As the sun began to set, so was the temperature. We got back to our hostel, after climbing what it seems like the excorsist stairs, we made it up to the rooftop of our place. Beautiful panoramic view of the city of Cusco! 

We have been laying here on our beds for the past 5 hours. I took a little nap but we both still feel a little out of it. It's our first day here so all we can do is rest and hope our bodies adjust to this high altitude! Hydrate, Facebook, instragram and blog. Yup. I'm hungry but I'm too lazy to walk down those excorsist stairs to find a place to eat. Haha.

Day 5: more cusco