Today we headed for cusco, situated at 11,000 ft. Our flight was easy but the airport was a little nuts. We made it easily on time, but the lines were ridiculous so we got a bit ansy.
The flight boarded us out on the Tarmac which was fun, but we came in two bus loads. The place was really nice and modern, just like the airport. I’ve been really surprised at how modern everything is, as Peru never struck me as being a place with free wifi at every restaurant. (Ahem Australia).
Coming down, our descent was really fast as we were already so close to the land. Coming out of the plane I did have a little touch feeling something a little off, but I’m also a little anxious about feeling the effects of altitude sickness because of so many mixed reviews. We got our luggage and found our taxi driver after a little search.
We drove through a beautiful brown colored city that I’d seen coming in from the plane. The colors are so nice and seem almost Greek with bright blues against stark whites. The rooftops are all Spanish tiles so it makes for a very Tuscan look as well. The streets are cobbled stone and wind through the hills where we kept climbing to our pensione allemania. We were thinking it was quite a ways away from the center, but after our dinner at the main plaza de armas, we were quite happy with our location.
Once arrived at tHe hotel we were given our keys and shown our rooms. This place is incredible and has an Austrian feel to it being very wooden with gardens and Juliet type balconies over looking common cafe styled areas in our own private yard. The views are breathtaking with the rooftops addi so much character to the density of the packed sea of houses below.
We instantly started drinking coca tea to help with what we were starting to notice as some light headedness. After tea, we went to find something light to eat near by in San blas square, a cute little outdoor cafe called pacha papa. We ordered some soups and enjoyed hearing live music from a harp type instrument. I instantly began thinking of my dad when he strummed the Sony, pour Adeline, a song I played on the piano so many years ago.
After eating we stopped to look at some of the market goods that locals were selling and Karthik picked up some cool coasters that were hand made and showed some NASCAR lines as well as inca designs. He also got a sweater..a good idea for sure. It’s a little chillier here at night which was to be expected but the day was simply perfect weather.
We then weaved, excuse me, heaved our way back to the pensione and were huffing a bit at the top. We got back to our room and took a great nap to aide in our acclimating. Waking up we were really hungry so we ventured down to the main square while we took amazing pictures with the evening light showing the amazing colors and feel of the city. After a nice walk downhill, we found the recommended place by the hotel, but also one we’d heard about from preciously from other travelers called limo. So we decided on limo, and we ordered some great appetizers to try alpaca for the first time, along with ceviche, and lomo saltado. The yucca fries were so good, and we had a nice dessert, but I fear the sphere from astrid & gastón has ruined me for all other future desserts :(
