Out and Back in Peru

Quechua Women in Native Costume

 July 3, 2004

Photo Gallery

Day 1-To Lima

July 1, 2004

Day 2-Cusco

July 2, 2004

Day 4-Pisac

July 4, 2004

Day 5-MP Trek

July 5, 2004

Day 6-MP Trek

July 6, 2004

Day 7-MP Trek

July 7, 2004

Day 8-Machu Picchu, Aquas Calientes

July 8, 2004

Day 9-Ollantaytambo

July 9, 2004

Day 10- Cusco

July 10, 2004

Day 11-12-Cusco, Lima, Home

July 11-12, 2004

Resource Review

Day 3-July 3, 2004

Exploring Cusco

Another gray, rainy, foggy day in Cusco!  We slept soundly until 6:00 am when we were awakened by footsteps on the porch outside our room.  Foot noise is the one downside to this hostal and morning is especially noisy with early checkouts for travel and treks. 

We met Barbara in the dining room for a breakfast of mango juice, warm bread, two kinds of jam (neither familiar to us), a banana, coffee and coca tea. Yummy!  Lingering over coffee, we looked forward to greeting Diane and Will on their arrival but gave up around 9:00 am when the front desk informed us that their plane had been delayed by the weather.  No real surprise here!

With rain jackets in hand, we headed to the Plaza to begin our first full (rested) day of sightseeing.  Plaza de Armas is the focal point for the city of Cusco, just as it was during the Inca period.  Once used for important Inca ceremonies, the Plaza is now framed by massive churches, shops, restaurants and travel agencies.  We peered in a number of shop window, admiring the beautiful jewelry, clothing  and trinkets.  As with the previous day, we had a trail of street sellers in our wake.

Our first stop was La Compania (Church of the Company of Jesus).  Originally commissioned in 1571 by Jesuit priests, the church was built on the plots of ancient Inca rulers.  The earthquake of 1650 caused extensive damage and the church was reconstructed in the late 1600's.  Unfortunately for these three gringos, the church does not have regular hours and the heavy wooden doors were locked tight when we arrived. We walked through the building to the right of the church, which was shrouded in canvas and under major renovations.  The elaborate entryway opened

 into a courtyard surrounded by

Plaza de Armas and La Compania

two levels of rooms.  Classes were being held in several rooms so we surmised that this building must be part of the university.  We walked around the courtyard and headed back to the Plaza.

We struggled a bit with our sightseeing plans; seems like we couldn't make the plunge to spend the entry fee of 10/soles for most sites.  When converted to US, this was only $2.85.  In looking back, the only thing we can figure is that we had purchased a BTU (Boleto Turistico Unico or Visitors Pass) for $10.00 US the day before and had expected that our pass would get us into most of the important sights.  On this day, each place we pulled out our pass told us that it was not accepted.  John and Barbara began teasing me about my wisdom to urge them to purchase this "most important" pass and we wondered if we would visit enough sites to make the purchase worthwhile.  At the conclusion of our trip, we had used the pass over and over but on this day, we used it not at all.

Finally the Inka Museum caught our collective eyes and we paid our 10/soles entrance fee.  Our first instinct was to take a self guided tour (i.e.read the signs by the exhibits) but after a few steps in the 1st room, we realized that we would gain more insight with a guide.  We returned to the ticket counter where a group of young Peruvians were offering guide services for tips.  As we stepped toward the counter, Oscar stepped forward. 

For the next 1.5 hours, Oscar walked us through the museum talking about the Inca culture and paving the way for our appreciation of the trek and ruins in Machu Picchu.  His English skills were pretty good and we found him interesting and animated.  Sadly though, this is another situation where we were clueless about tipping.

                                               Museo Inka Pamphlet and Entry Ticket  

Oscar took our offering with a gracious thank you and, after spending time in the museum's courtyard watching native demonstrations of fabric weaving, wind instrument crafting and doll making, we left the museum and returned to the hostal to check on the status of Will and Diane.

A brief conversation with the hostal personnel left us with the distinct impression that we had under tipped by at least 10/soles (a reoccurring number for us these days). This was evident in the "I wouldn't tip anymore than 30/soles" comment.  Yikes, we really goofed!  We did return to the museum in the late afternoon to rectify our error but Oscar had already left.  AND...Diane and Will were still delayed in Lima by the crummy weather.

Off to lunch.  We asked the hostal for the name of a restaurant serving local cuisine and were sent in search of KusiKuy (Calle Suecia 339).  With the exception of a few locals, we were the only people in the restaurant.  John and Barbara ordered grilled alpaca with Peruvian potatoes.  I ordered grilled trout with mixed veggies, rice and fried potatoes.  As we sat talking and waiting for our meal, a restaurant employee came in from outside with two bags, one filled with bread and one filled with what appeared to be fresh meat.  We joked that the bags contained our lunch, but honestly, we were probably not so wrong with our speculation!

Our food was delish!  Alpaca, a staple food for Peruvians, was served sliced in thin pieces and grilled with spices.  The meat has no cholesterol. John and Barbara thought it was every bit as good as steak.  My trout was "melt in my mouth" wonderful.  The meals were also served with the palta (avocado) chunks sprinkled with white cheese.

Next?  Back to the Plaza to visit the Cathedral of Cusco City, only 10/soles!  The Cathedral is the main Cusco church and was built after the Spanish conquest.  Many of the stones used in construction were taken from the Incan fortress, Sacsayhuaman, located on a hill overlooking the city of Cusco.  The Cathedral is most impressive with an incredible collection of artwork, wood carving and colonial goldsmith work.  Construction started in 1559 but the Cathedral was not completed until 1669, six years after the big earthquake.  We thought it interesting the Cathedral suffered no damage from the earthquake indicating remarkably sturdy construction.

We walked around the Cathedral in awe.  Barbara's goal was to find the famous painting of the Last Supper at which Christ and his disciples are feasting on cuy (guinea pig).  We found the painting as well as a number of other beautiful works.  We wished we had a guide to walk us through but alas, no guides for hire.  We exited the Cathedral and returned to the Plaza.

The rest of our afternoon flew by as we walked up and down the side streets radiating from the Plaza.  We went in and out of galleries, small markets and jewelry stores putting off our decision to by anything major.  We stopped at El Beun Pastor, a bakery located at 579 Cuesta San Blas for a pastry delight to take back to our room. According to the guidebook "The Inca Trail, Cusco & Machu Picchu" the bakery is a charitable concern helping finance a home for disadvantaged girls. 

Finally we returned to the hotel for a short rest before heading back to the Plaza for dinner.  So far we were not having any ill effects from the altitude, unless you count huffing and puffing up the hills. All of us have been above 12,000' on previous occasions with little effect so we were not expecting any problems.

The moment we returned to the Plaza for dinner (dusk), we were immediately accosted by menu hawkers.  Barbara stopped to talk to many of them and look at their menus while John and I walked away.  His comment about dinner? "Find me a place to eat that has not hired

Cusco Side Streets

someone to shove a menu in my face."  That was an easy request, only one place on the Plaza was not pushing menus, Inka Grill.

Our dinner was excellent, service great, atmosphere...upscale.  We enjoyed a relaxed evening listening to a local band play the Andean pipes, mandolin, drums and a guitar, truly peaceful native music.  John had a pesto pizza with grilled veggies, I had a dish of mushrooms, artichokes and asparagus risotto. Our bill came to 97/soles plus 10% tip for three people or about $9.00 US/person.  Expensive for Cusco, yes!  Worth it, absolutely!!  We watched two guys at the table next to ours order and try cuy.  From the looks on their faces, we wouldn't miss much with our decision to pass on this local delicacy.  I tried out the ATM located in the doorway at the Inka Grill.  It dispensed US dollars and soles.  I noted when I returned home that I had not been charged a service charge on my bank statement. 

Reluctant to leave, we were tired so we forced ourselves away from the restaurant.  Upon arrival at the hotel, we learned that Martin, the El Balcon transfer service, had waited for Will and Diane at the airport until 5:00 pm but their flight to Cusco never took off.  Will and Diane were stranded for another night.  Around 8:30 pm, we received a call from Diane.  They were in a hotel in Lima and would return to the airport early in the morning for another attempt.  If unable to get to Cusco, they planned on taking the night flight back to Knoxville.  The trek was the main reason for the trip and if they didn't arrive in the morning, they would have insufficient time to acclimate.  We wished them well and turned in for the night. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Sunday was about the same as today.  Another long but fascinating day.  We couldn't wait till morning to go to the ruins above Cusco and to the Sunday Pisac market.