Cusco

     We finally got to Cusco at about 6:30AM after a long night of travel that started at 8:30PM. We were greeted by a tiny airport and biting cold. The first taxi driver that offered to take us definitely overcharged us ($15) but we were too dazed and confused to care. We grabbed the free breakfast at our hostel and went straight back to bed. At first glance I wasn’t thrilled with Cusco. To me it seemed a bit run down and not all that interesting. I was wrong. After a bit more walking around and exploring, I got to see how gorgeous Cusco really is. Especially in the city center where the old, historic looking buildings had me falling in love. The fact that the city had a Starbucks was a win and we had some pretty good meals. There were lots of soups, meat and rice but we avoided the cuy (aka guinea pig). Also vegetables seemed to be more available in Peru and I was pretty thrilled about that.

    We hit up a crappy Irish bar called Paddy’s the night after Machu Picchu and honestly the vibe and the people were a bust. But drinks were 2 for $6 so two Cuba Libres later we were feeling pretty good and had fun all the same just Elise and I.

    We spent a good amount of time shopping and spent probably a little too much money. I was lucky that everything fit into my suitcases because I went a little wild on the various alpaca products (blankets and scarves galore). We stumbled so much cool stuff just strolling around: little markets, cheap and delicious food and we even got to see a parade we weren’t expecting one day while eating lunch on the balcony of a restaurant along Avenida del Sol. It was called the “procession of the virgin” and the streets were packed as people walked by with huge religious statues carried by hoards of men and people walking along in indigenous clothes and the occasional llama.

    Our other relaxing days in Cusco were pretty great. We spent our mornings walking to the main square (Plaza de Armas) to look around and get Starbucks. Yes I know what you are probably thinking: “C’mon Claire, you’re in Peru and you’re going to get Starbucks instead of Peruvian coffee?”. Well, honestly Peruvian coffee isn’t good. Every single place that I went to get coffee served me a flavorless americano and we don’t have Starbucks in Ecuador so getting a nice, familiar caramel macchiato sounded pretty good. We strolled around the little markets and took in the city. We saw yet again another procession in which we had no idea what was going on, but basically school children were walking around carrying stop signs so we were pretty lost (like am I allowed to cross the street or not?).

We found a street fair that consisted of about 50 stands selling cuy (roasted guinea pig), torta, Peruvian beer and some other traditional Peruvian cuisine that we sadly didn’t have enough money on hand to try. We did however get a beer and also a kind stranger got us free entry to a local museum all because he wanted to take a photo with the gringas. It was a very eventful couple of days and we absolutely fell in love with Cusco. It was a beautiful city that definitely looks more historic than modern and because of that it expressed the vibrant Peruvian culture. Just like that we are done in Peru and back to Ecuador.    

Chao por ahora,

Claire