Cusco

(September 20-23)

Cusco is a surprisingly large city (400,000 people) at surprisingly high altitude (10,200 ft) just a short 1 hr flight from Lima. We were very interested to see what the cabin pressure would do on the flight since planes are usually pressurized to about 8,000 ft and then the pressure gradually increases as you descend back to the elevation of your final destination. With Cusco higher than typical cabin pressure altitude the pressure in the plane just kept getting lower and lower throughout the whole flight as the pressure went from sea level in Lima to 10,000 ft in Cusco. There was never the sensation of descending in your ears before landing.

flying over mountains

Landing in Cusco was interesting since the city is surrounded by mountains. The approach loops around the city staying just above the mountains before finally the pilots bank left and come down quickly down the valley. With such thin air the pilots have to maintain a higher speed to maintain enough lift to keep the plane in the air so we were traveling at a noticeably higher speed than usual upon landing. When we got to the end of the runway we did a U-turn and taxied back down the runway to get to the terminal. At most airports, planes face the same way for takeoffs and landings to take advantage of the wind direction. At Cusco you can only land heading West coming from the valley East of the city and you can only take off headed East back down that valley, regardless of the wind direction.

We successfully negotiated the taxi fare down to 20 soles from the original offer of 50 soles (a tourist trap at the airport - it would be 10 soles on the way back) and arrived at our hotel "Niños Hotel 1".

Behind a small green door, Niños was like a little oasis with a pretty open courtyard surrounded by 2 stories of rooms. It was conveniently located just a few blocks from Plaza de Armas, the main square.

Courtyard at Ninos I Hotel

We built in 3 days in Cusco to adjust to the altitude before climbing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  We really enjoyed walking around the old town area of Cusco and seeing the Inca and Colonial architecture.

Plaza de Armas, Cusco

C in Cusco with traditional gutters

Our first night we had a beer at Muse Too in Plaza San Blas which had an amazing view overlooking the city.

View from San Blas at sunset

For dinner we tried a local restaurant that offered a typical set menu for 7 soles ($2.69), which was a great value for chicken soup as an appetizer, beef hash or small beef filet for a main course, and a poached apple for dessert. We learned that Cusqueños (people from Cusco) often eat out for meals since it can be so economical.

Set menu for dinner

The next day we explored the main town market which had a good mix of local style hats, bags and sweaters, plus different sections with stalls selling all kinds of food and household goods.  A bought a knit wool hat to have on the Inca trail.

One end of the market was the restaurant section which had dozens of stalls selling all kinds of local foods and lots of locals partaking. We looked for stalls that had a lot of local customers and joined in for lunch. First we had ceviche with a tomato and onion salad and huge crispy corn kernels (maiz croquante) accompanied by fish broth soup. Then we sought out lomo saltado, a dish of stir fried salted beef mixed with vegetables, fried potatoes, and an egg since we ordered it con huevo, over rice. We did not manage to indicate that we only wanted 1 to share so we ended up with 2 portions.

At the ceviche stall (with maiz croquante in the foreground, yumm!)

Lomo saltado con huevo

After lunch we walked around the commercial streets near the market. These were almost like a continuation of the market with tiny shops selling every kind of goods imaginable. This seemed to be where the locals shopped.

That night we headed back up to the San Blas area since we had noticed several good looking small restaurants there. We found an Italian/Peruvian restaurant that was busy so we gave it a try. We tried 2 set menus - A got an "economico" menu that came with guacamole with fresh tortilla chips, a small piece of beef with potatoes, and fried plantains for desserts. C got a "typico" menu that came with an avocado stuffed with chicken salad (palta reina), a quarter of a guinea pig (cuy), and a chocolate drizzled pancake for dessert. The guinea pig tasted good (like chicken but a little more gamey) but was an awful lot of work to get the small amount of meat off all of the little bones.

Unfortunately it seems we had been a bit too adventurous with the local food since A woke up the next morning with unhappy intestines. After wallowing in bed until noon and a couple Immodiums she decided she might be up to venturing out for food. We had noticed an Australian restaurant, Jack's Cafe, with pretty standard Western food, including all day breakfast so we headed there for plain pancakes for A and some tasty French toast for C.

After breakfast/lunch, A seemed better so we decided to try our original plan for the day of hiking up to the Saqsayhuaman Inca ruins that overlook the city. It would be a good test of our altitude acclimatization before the Inca Trail. We had just enough cash on us for two tickets to the ruins (70 soles each!) and two bottles of water (2 soles each).

Typical "street" in Cusco on our way up to Saqsayhuaman

Saqsayhuaman

Saqsayhuaman was an Inca fortress where they made a last stand against the Spanish in the 1500s. It sits on a promontory overlooking the city and has great views of Cusco. The masonry is amazing with huge stones from several miles away cut to fit together precisely.

Overlooking Cusco

C in Saqsayhuaman

You know you're in Latin America when there is a Jesus on a hill

The direction arrows looked like they were from a video game

Our ticket for Saqsayhuaman also gave us entry to 3 other archaeological sites, one of which, Q'enqo, was only a mile away. The weather was starting to look a little ominous with thunder in the distance but it looked like the dark clouds were moving away from us so we set out to walk to Q'enqo.

Half way to Q'enqo the lightning strikes started getting a little too close for (A's) comfort and then it suddenly started pouring rain. We ran back to the doorway of a little shop and waited under the overhang of their tin roof for the storm to let up. All of the semi-domesticated dogs that had been playing in the street took the same strategy and all ran home to their owners when the rain started.

After only 15 min the rain let up and we continued on to Q'enqo. The rain meant the site was deserted and we fared quite well with our quick-dry clothes. In Q'enqo the Incas had partially carved the walls out of existing rocks and made use of some caves, in addition to building walls.  A pretended to be a human sacrifice on a rock that may have been used for that.

We hiked back down into Cusco along a path that was part of the old main Inca "highway" that went from Quito, Ecuador to Mendoza, Argentina.

Inca "highway" trail map

We got back just before dark and just in time for a quick snack before our briefing for the Inca Trail at the Quechuas Expeditions Office with our guide, Wilberth (Quechua name Yawar). After our briefing, we shopped for a couple last minute items for the hike and then continued to play it safe with pizza and pasta for dinner. Boy is it tough to comparison shop in a place where stores don't have set prices and you have to bargain. After packing our small duffel bags for the hike and packing away all of the stuff we would not be bringing on the hike, we headed to bed for a good night's sleep before our 5:15 wake up.