No one told me mountains could look like this. These aren't your grandfather's mountains. These are the Andes. We took the first Taca flight out of Lima at the butt crack of dawn. As we ascended, we could see the mountains in the distance. However, nothing prepared me for what we were about to see. A we approached, we looked down to see jagged white snow-capped peaks, blue lakes, and red soil. Every peak was a new surprise. This is what results from two techtonic plates smashing together - a beautiful disaster.
The landing into Cusco was a tight steep turn as this town is nestled in a valley full of red clay-topped roofs. Canines roam the streets. It's cold. I'm hoping for s warmup or the gloves will have to make an appearance.
While the flight is fresh in my mind, Taca served us a lovely croissant and muffin breakfast on the brief 60 minute flight. I was a cheesy hammy sodium dream. There was more than enough legroom and comfortable. I Lima we stopped a Starbucks first to get our fix, forgetting that we hadn't yet gone through security. But it was a domestic flight and they let people walk through with our cups. The Lima airport is stellar and appears new.
We've arrived at the hotel, sipping on some coca tea, and waiting for lieu room to be ready then we'll catch a siesta. This afternoon we'd like to spend shopping in San Blas so I'm sure the hotel can arrange a car for us. Speaking of the hotel, the driver picked us up at the airport with another couple. The male counterpart's hometown is in Muncie,Indiana, where I wen to Ball State. And in the breakfast dining room, a table across the way was full of businessmen from Chicago. 310 million people in the US, and we keep running into neighbors.
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Fast-forward 8 hours. We did some damage in Cusco. So much has happened since we arrived that I'll try to recall it all. First off, we were concerned about altitude sickness. We're a full day in and there is no sign yet (knock on wood). We're feeling just fine as though we were at sea level, although we tried whenever possible to have our driver drop us at the top of the San Blas barrio so we could walk downhill into central Cusco. At one point we did walk back up, but we took our time, then ducked into a tiny 5 table eatery run by the nicest woman. Carrie had the loom saltado and I the papa a la huancaina. Nom nom. Side note: Inka Cola, notsomuch.
San Blas is an artists and backpacker neighborhood with some great shopping so we thought the best way to take it easy today would be to get all our souvenir shopping done here. Almost all. We obviously do not blend in with our pale skin and red/blonde hair so we were bombarded on the street by roaming vendors at every turn. Some of them ran better deals than the stalls so we also picked up a few gems from them. Some Quechua locals in traditional Andean attire walked by and asked to take a picture of them with their baby llamas and lambs, so we did in exchange for some coin.
I'm so glad we did our research via Samantha Brown and Bourdain because it pointed us to some gems off the tourist path that we werent aware of. We found the ancient Incan city walls, walked the narrow cobbled streets, and ran some hard bargains. We are also blessed to be staying at a treasure of a b&b called Torre Dorada. Although it's located in a residential part of town, they offer free pickup and drop off at the city center, and even took us up to San Blas. This morning one of the kitchen staff made homemade queso tomales. The front desk is beyond helpful and they're going to purchase our Machu Picchu entrance tickets for us tomorrow. It'll be nice to have them when we return from tomorrow's excursion. We asked them to arrange a private driver for us for a half day when we go to visit the llama and alpaca sanctuary, Awana Kancha (again, thank you Samantha Brown), then he'll take us down the road to Sacsayhuaman, a massive Incan fortress. Then we'll hop that free ride again back to central Cusco and San Blas. If I'm not exhausted and Carrie will put up with me, the bus boy at the restaurant says he goes salsa dancing near the Plaza de Armas. Baila!
Central Cusco is lovely. The main square is surrounded by Catholic churches built upon Incan foundations, with a gardens and a fountain in the square. The Plaza is also surrounded by restaurants, pubs, souvenir shops for every budget, and tour companies. It's great for people watching but can get tiresome trying to ward off the roaming vendors.
I'm very much looking forward to our first full night's sleep in days. When the lady as the restaurant asked when's arrived in Cusco, I had no idea. That's because we got up at 2:30am in Lima today. We're running on coca tea and pure curiosity. The Sandman beckons.
PS - It gets colder than a witch's *** when the sun ducks behind the mountains. By about 30 degrees. Layers and gloves are a must.
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