We woke up in Lima about 6:30 and did nothing but lounge in bed and listen to traffic. We got up and showered - the hot and cold knobs were interesting and there was not shower curtain, and the toilet paper had to go in the trash can. We ate breakfast at the hotel: meat, cheese, some bacon that looked uncooked, melon, and tiny pancakes that were really sweet. WE walked down the street to the same gas station where we bought water yesterday and Ryan used the ATM. Next door we got coffee and chocolate glaze donuts at Dunkin' Donuts! Yes, I had to travel all the way to Lima for them! We ran back to the hotel got our bags and had time to use the internet to email our moms that we had arrived. Ryan checked his fantasy football to find out he won so that was exciting - and we loaded the tour bus for the airport.
We met the rest of our group, Jill from WI, Franzesca who is Swiss but lives in NY, Betina and Martine from Norway who are on a 4 month trip around the world, Bernie and David from the UK but Bernie is Irish. Once at the airport we checked our baggage and our GAP rep took our boarding passes to pay our departure tax. Tom and Sylgie also tried Dunkin' Donuts! We went through secutrity and waited at the gate while we chatted with Jill and Franzesca.
They made friends with an older woman who was on a tour group trip around the world. Our plane was an Airbus Jet but we had to walk outside and upstairs to get on board. I fell asleep right away but Ryan woke me up for the snack which was a triangle of pita bread and a triangle of sweet bread/cake. We landed, walked down stairs outside and into the airport. Cusco was warmer than I thought it would be!
I was already kind of sweaty wearing jeans and a sweater. Landing was fairly turbulent. It was cloudy and mountainy. Cusco is much smaller than Lima, you can see the whole city in the valley. 11,000 feet high and 600,000 people. We got our bags, I used the bathroom and we met the GAP rep. Our luggage went ontop of the van that transported us to the hotel. Drivers are still nutty, and the roades are all made of stone. Tom bought coca leaves for 1 sole and they chewed them, apparently its gross like grass. But, they had to wait until the hotel to spit it out.
We sat at a big table in the lobby and went over details, filled out paperwork for the hotel and got our room keys. Walking our bags to the 3rd floor was rough! I was so out of breath! We also tried coca tea which to me tasted just like green tea. We settled in and left right away for sightseeing in the city. We walked to the main street, Avenida el Sol, and took that to the Plaza de Armas. We took pictures and tried to find somewhere for lunch. We struck out at the first location, it was closed for construction, and ended up at a restaraunt called el Piccolo. We wanted alpaca and cuye but there was no chef so we had to choose from sandwiches and pizza. I had a beef stir fry sandwich and Ryan had a chicken salad croissant. We had a great view of the square, and were the only people in the place. We payed with a 100 sole bill and I' m pretty sure the serve had to run to a bank to get change because he was gone forever! After lunch we paid 25 soles each to enter La Catedral, the main cathedral in Cusco. It was huge!
Very ornate with gold and silver leafing and carved wood. The vaulted ceilings were amazing and there were amazing and there were catacombs you could go in but even I had to duck on the stairs they were so low. We ran into Toronto + Denver but they were looking for dinner so we kept walking around. We walked past the San Fransisco church, the La Merced church, Plaza Regocijo, Plaza San Fransisco, Santa Clara Church, Arco Santa Clara, San Pedro Church and the Machu Picchu train station! We passed a huge market called Mercado Central. We made our way back to Avenida el Sol and looked for some sunglasses for Ryan because he left his in the Fusion! We found some for 50 soles at an optical shop, bought some bottled water, and headed back to the hotel. I'm sure our hotel is in some sort of mattress district because there are stores full of mattresses and they're outside leaning against buildings. We also passed a store with an entire pig head just lying dead on a table. I'm pretty sure we saw guinea pigs in cages for sale, too.
We met our Inca Trail guide, Cesar, and he answered questions about the next few days. He gave us our duffel bags and we are only allowed to pack 6 kilos in them. We met up with the Miami 3, Norway 2, Tom and Sylgie, Jill and Franzesca and headed back to Plaza de Armas to find some dinner. We took pictures in the square, and chose a little cafe to eat at. I think our group overwhelmed them! We wanted guinea pig and seviche buy they were out. We drank dark beer and had alpaca on kababs with mashed potatoes instead! I think they took our drink order and then had to run to a market to buy it!
It was a slow dinner but fun to hang out and the food was good. After dinner we headed back, packed and weighed our duffels, Ryan picked his nose so he could breathe better and we watched a movie in English called Setinel (side note* there's one channel that only plays US tv shows, and there's this damn commercial on every 10 minutes with Jennifer Love Hewitt in a bra and Ryan stares at her boobs every time its on and I throw pillows at him. I'm so glad to be away from that commercial!!). Our departure time for the Sacred Valley is 7am...so we're getting up at 5:30 to shower, pack, and eat breakfast!
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