We stayed at the hotel across the street from the airport - which was highly convenient and provided a good night sleep, but was not the cheapest thing in the world. Oh well - sometimes the easy thing is not the cheap thing. We arrived last night about midnight into Lima - got straight through customs no problem.
We were at the Hotel Costa del Sol - Ramada and they had a great buffet breakfast - you could even get your own omelette or pancakes made. And plus they had the Peruvian version of cocoa puffs - how awesome is that? AND they had brownies for breakfast.. obviously the best idea ever.
We got up and headed straight back to the airport - it was like deja vu, but this time we headed to the national departures as we were headed from Lima, Peru to Cusco, Peru. A lot of tourists take this route to get to Machu Picchu, and I saw the most Japanese tourists and American tourists I have seen all trip.
We boarded the plane and were in the premium section on LAN (yes, I'm spoiled rotten) which was a really nice surprise - with more leg room. The flight was just over an hour over the Andes mountains to the mini city of Cusco. We arrived, and a man from the hotel met us - he even had a sign with my name on it - I felt important!
We drove through the cobbled streets of Cusco up a hill and arrived at our bed and breakfast for the night. You enter through a big blue door, and are in a haven in the city. We are staying at Second Home Cusco - great location, very reasonable, and killer breakfast in the morning. The room we stayed in had a bedroom and a living room - it was huge! Only bummer was the entrance was a tad low and you had to duck to avoid bumping your head - definitely gave the place character. And people probably were not as tall as we are nowadays. Carlos the owner kindly greeted us and served us coca tea which is supposed to help you with altitude sickness. I tried a sip, but I'm glad I didn't drink the whole thing because you can have a positive drug screen for cocaine metabolites.. haha - that would not be a good way to start of my job!
We then headed to explore Cusco during the afternoon. It is like stepping back in time walking the cobblestone streets of the city. The streets are very narrow in parts - definitely not built in the time of cars, maybe even when horses and carriages were a mainstay. The Incas were long inhabitants of the Cusco region, but in 1535 the Spaniards entered. We walked around the main square called Plaza de Armas which is a large green area bordered by 2 churches and shops on the sides. We had to do our daily religious venture, and visited The Cathedral - which set us back $10 - all in the name of travel.
The cathedral is a very imposing building (see picture below) which was started to be built in 1559. The inside is even more incredible with countless works of colonial art with many altars covered in gold leaf. We visited on Easter Sunday and the church was filled with flowers from the service which made it smell amazing.
After getting our religious fix, we decided to check out the shopping and buy some souvenirs - we've both been relatively well behaved so far, so we figured it was okay to look. I got a gorgeous oil painting, and I broke down and brought a furry llama. His name is Lorenzo. Kyle invested in some alpaca gear for a friend. And I finally found a Christmas ornament in South America for my collection. A very successful shopping outing.
I forgot to mention lunch. We had a fabulous lunch at Cicciolina - recommended by both the hotel and the guidebook. 1. the setting was fantastic - upstairs overlookng the street and 2. the food was out of this world. We had to try to local delicacies so we ordered guinea pig and alpaca. Both were surprisingly tasty.
We were getting a bit thirsty and decided to try one of the many local watering holes. We found out there is a large expat population, and couldn't pass up the chance of going to an English pub. We went to Cross Keys where I was able to get a cider in Cusco, Peru - who knew that even existed. Talking of England - thank you to all those at Marie Curie reading along - hope you are enjoying it!
That night, we had another fabulous dinner at Boca - which was owned by the same man that owns Cicciolina - highly recommended. No guinea pig this time for me. Although Kyle did has the alpaca burger.
Off to pack my backpack for the trip to Aguacalientes tomorrow!
Photos:
1. my cup of coca tea
2. the view right out side of our hotel
3. the same view at night
4. The Cathedral of Cusco
5. Menu at the Cross Keys pub - who knew you could get an English breakfast in Cusco
6. our chariot from Lima to Cusco
7. My sign at the airport :)
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