Cusco: Part One

Inevitably plans change... We'd planned on flying to Cusco.  A one hour flight compared to the 22 hour bus ride seemed like a no-brainer. Upon discovering the price, however, we realized that we are cheap. Since bussing figures to be our means of crossing Boliva we weren't so excited about lengthening our time on the road. Our hostel had a small travel agency in it, and when we saw how nice the busses were our minds began to change. They were actually quite posh, with reclining, comfortable seats and meal service. Figuring that the bus saved us a nights stay in a hotel and aclimated us to the altitude more gradually, it became not only economical, but practical.
We departed Lima at 2:00 pm, which gave us a few hours of daylight to watch the landscape change, going from metropolis to stark desert in a matter of an hour. By the time night fell not much was different. When we reached daylight again the brown dunes had turned to dramatic green hillsides whose winding roads amounted to the lenghty travel time.

We were pretty ready to get off the bus in Cusco.We'd picked a hostel a short staircase off a level road, an easy task to climb at sea-level, but halfway up we could feel the effects of the altitude. Certainly not the crippling effects we'd been warned about, just slight headaches and the feeling of having the lung capacity of a ninety year old. We were greeted by Jose, one of the hostel owners, who led us to the rooftop terrace to wait for our room to be prepared. He returned with cups of coca tea (yes, that coca) and we sat in the sun taking in an unbeatable view of the hub of city, Plaza del Armas.

Plaza de Arrmas, as seen from our hostel patio

Enjoying the coca tea

Not missing the bus

That evening we took in some of the town and had a nice meal at the Plaza. We'd been excited to try "cuy," or as we know it, guinea pig (sorry to any guinea pig owners, but its an Andean staple). While good, it didn't quite live up the hype, but we're eager to try it prepared another way.  We also tried alpaca, sauteed with vegetables, which was good and tasted a lot like lamb.

Cuy al Horno, roast guinea pig

The next morning, after a long night's sleep, we woke up intending to spend the day taking care of a few errands and then seeing the city.  Again, plans change.  On the docket were organizing our trip to Machu Picchu and finding a place to get Yellow Fever vaccines.  We thought the trip to Machu Picchu would be a piece of cake to put together, considering that it's why most tourists come here.  Buy a train ticket.  Buy an entrance ticket.  Save money over going through a travel agency.  Yeah.  Not so much.  We couldn't find any consistent information on pricing or availability of entrance and train tickets.  This was only compounded by temporary changes in rail service and a new online system for buying entrance tickets, which is not 100% up and running.  Throw in a language barrier, and after several hours we had made exactly zero progress.
Ditto for our vaccine adventure.  This was something we had heard mixed information on whether or not it is required for entrance into Bolivia.  We guessed wrong.  It is.  Rumors of a free clinic (I'm sorry Mom) had us walking across town to find the hospital.  After a few failed attempts we were directed to a pharmacy in the main hospital where we could just purchase the vaccine, syringe and all.  We had a momentary, but very real, fear that we might actually have to inject oneanother.  Luckily we were directed upstairs where a nurse did all the dirty work.  Once we found the right place it took a mere five minutes.  No perscription, no appointments (no rubber gloves), done.  As far as healthcare systems go;  Peru: 1, America: 0.
This experince was a realization for us in that sometimes professional assistance is preferable.  It was a nice thought, planning our Machu Picchu trip on our own, but it just wasn't going to happen.  We went straight to our hostel, who of course has a travel agency, and they booked our trip easily... for less than we were expecting to pay.
These kinds of setbacks can be rather frustrating when traveling, especially since this was supposed to be our one day to enjoy Cusco. Learning from past travel experiences, we handled it pretty well and didn't let it get us down. Booking our visit so late in the day meant we couldn't get to and see Machu Picchu in a single day. We'd have to take the train to Aguas Calientes on Tuesday, stay the night, and see Machu Picchu on Wednesday. Ultimately it pushes plans back a day, but it bought us another half day in Cusco, a city we then really began to enjoy.

Hillside view from Plaza de Armas. Our hostel is a few levels down from the church.

Quite hungry at this point we made for the San Pedro market, filled with produce vendors, souvenier stands, and dozens of restaurant stalls. Our dinner the night before was nice, but it was Peruvian food served in a familiar restaraunt setting. At the market we got to eat the way locals do. Not much for aesthetics, just tiny white benches right by the cooks. For less than two dollars we shared a huge bowl of soup and lomo saltada (sauteed pork with potatoes and rice), a seemingly unfair price for how good the food was. For dessert, we had picarones, pumpkin and sweet potato donuts smothered in rich syrup that cost fifteen cents apiece. We also stocked up on food to bring to Machu Picchu for similarly low prices.

Vegetable stand at San Pedro Market

Lomo Saltado



Fresh fried picarones

We'll be coming back for breakfast, and likely for lunch.

We wrote this post on Monday, but the computer wouldn´t upload the photos. We´ll have more on Cusco after our trip to Machu Picchu.