Cusco, Peru: Start of Day Two

Hello All,

 

Well, we are just getting started on our second day here in Cusco, Peru.  The good news is that I feel much better acclimated to the altitude now so the adjustment took less than 24 hours.   (CORRECTION:  Ozell looked up the elevation of Cusco, and it is about 10,800 feet.  I guess I was having a moment of mental confusion when I was multiplying the elevation in meters by 4 instead of 3.  That's what happens when the brain needs more oxygen than it is getting, I guess.  Lol)   We have a business day ahead of us.  We need to book a ticket to the Machu Picchu park, book tickets for the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu, and book a South American airplane pass for some of the other cities we want to see.  It looks like we can get a plane ticket for 4-5 stops for the same price it would cost us to take overland means of travel.  Plus, it turns out we were very fortunate with our 20 hour bus ride yesterday.  I have now heard other hostellers say they were stuck on 40-50 hour bus rides because there is a labor strike going on.  They ran into multiple blockades put up by locals in the small towns along the routes.  They had their buses defaced and vandalized, and some of them experienced bottles and rocks being hurled at the buses while they were inside.  Ozell and I decided to try to book some plane flights before we heard this news, but now it seems like an even more prudent idea.  Unfortunately, this may mean that I don't get to see some of the places that I was hoping to see.  I think Patagonia is out as of now.

 

This hostel is definitely more of a "party" hostel in the sense it has lots of 20 year olds who smoke, drink, snort coke, and talk really loud.  Last night, Ozell and I attempted to find a couple of the gay friendly places we read about on the web.  We picked the spots which were closest to the main square for the safety factor, but we were unable to locate them.  We did find one, but it was already closed since it is mainly a restaurant with a small bar.  I liked the name of it though... "Fallen Angel".  Lol

 

When we returned to the hostel at 11:30pm the "Playboy Party" was in full swing with a DJ who again played better music than what I typically hear at the bars in the US.  The hostel bar is a small place so it is not a full size club.  And I am not sure what qualified this party to be a "Playboy Party" since there was really nothing going on which would have had the venerable Heff's seal of approval- except maybe the coke snorting in the bathroom.  Lol.  I was hoping to at least see some drunk and coked up 20 year old titties bouncing up and down, but since it seems that everyone in the hostel at the moment is either Irish, English, or Scottish, I guess they all have retained their Puritan shame like we Americans.  The guys weren't much to look at either.  Maybe I would do two of them out of the 20 that are here.  The most concise way to describe the hostel last night is "Frat Party".   At least one of the girls was nice enough to let one of the guys draw an ejaculating penis and balls on the back of her neck and shoulders.  I am sure that was classy when they all went out to a Cusco club at 1 AM.  Ozell and I went to bed.  We did have an overpriced late dinner with our Belgian friend, Freek (rhymes with wreck not freak) along the main square of town.  Ozell and I walked around the square earlier in the day for our afternoon meal, but quickly realized that none of the plentiful restaurants were to our liking since they had menus in English and were charging double what we suspected we should be paying.  We found a local eatery a few blocks off the main square and achieved our goal of being the only gringos there.  But the dinner with Freek was nice because of the company and the view.  There is a pic of us that I will upload as soon as I can.

 

We are having internet issues at this hostel (along with everybody else) so uploading the pics may not happen for a few days.

 

I started this blog post earlier in the morning before Ozell and I had left to try to book some of our travel logistics.  We have now returned so I can tell you a little about today.  Unfortunately, we really haven't accomplished our logistical goals.  We confirmed that we can buy an entrance ticket to Machu Picchu right at the gate of the park and that there is no limit on the amount of visitors to the park.  However, there is a 400 person limit on taking the trail that climbs above Machu Picchu to the spot where all of the famous pictures are taken.  :(  And we will most likely not be able to do that because the 400 person limit is almost always reached by the people who stay in the last small town near the site and who arrive at Machu Picchu by dawn.  We will not get there until 10-11 am I think.  We were also not able to buy a South American air pass even though we went to the local LAN Airline office here in Cusco.  There was a language barrier and other hurdles.  Ozell is going to try to work through the travel agency we used for our around the world ticket and see what he comes up with.  We did some research online, and it seems we should be able to get tickets from La Paz, Bolivia to Santiago, Chile to Cordoba, Argentina and then again from Montevideo, Uruguay to Rio de Jeniero for about $500.  This would be ideal, but we shall see if it is possible or not.  We also weren't able to book our train tickets to Machu Picchu and then from Cusco to Puno, Peru (Lake Titicaca) because the Peru Rail offices were closed by the time we reached them at 12:30pm today.  We will probably book those tickets online.

 

We did pas a local outdoor basketball court which appear to have an adult woman's league getting reading for their game.  Half of the arena seating was just grass and earth terraces.  I have a pic or two.  We didn't stay long since we were on a business journey, but I thought two things were interesting.  One being that we are talking about local Andean women playing basketball.  Andeans tend to be very short in stature- both the men and the women.  While these basketball players seemed taller than average, most still could not have been much more than 5' or so.  They other thing that struck me is how they appear to play their own style of game.  Most notable was the fact that they all shot and passed the ball overhead as if they were making a soccer throw-in.  It appeared to be as effective as any other way.  While I am going to guess this is due to their short stature, you should not make a mistake that these women are weak.  The Andean people, especially the women, seem to be some of the hardiest people I have seen.  The amount of weight they carry on their backs up and down these mountains to get their goods to market in return for just a pittance is very impressive.  And because of necessity, it appears the retirement age is far higher than the 65-67 years it is in America.

 

On our way back from the train station, Ozell and I decided to take some different back streets and came upon a locals market.  We have some pics from there also.  Again, we were the only gringos around which is always a good sign for us that we are seeing parts of the town that most travelers do not get to see.  The highlight was eating a nice (and cheap!) lunch made at one of the market counters.  There were dogs trotting their way through the aisles, butchered and skinned bull heads with the blood drippings still trickling down onto the floor, and plenty of other exotic fare that you would rarely if ever see back in America.  The food we had was delicious even if this mercado would probably not have received a "A" from the health departments back home.  In reality, it probably wasn't any more unhygienic than camping outdoors back home-  well maybe a little.  ;)  Our cook was a lovely lady who was nice, approachable, and courteous.  We even made her work really hard to make change because all we had was a 50 Sole bill when our entire lunch only cost 10 Soles ($3.33).  She had to dart around to a few different vendors before she could give us the correct change.  Ozell rewarded her with a 3 Sole tip (you do not typically tip here) which made her day.  There is a pic of her which will be posted too.  We had chicken and rice for lunch along with some Mate (or cocoa leaf) tea.  We both liked that the cooks just take rounded stones and beat the meat to tenderize it.  Why have a fancy wooden mallet tenderizer when a stone would do just as well?  This is why I like traveling. 

 

We also saw many more of the indigenous Andean people and their colorful dress around the mercado.  Think bright colors, wool scarves and ponchos, and something similar to a Bowler style hat and then you get the right picture. 

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We also catch the beginning of a hard rain on our way back from the mercado to the hostel.  It's the hardest rain I have seen in a long time because San Diego and other places do get rain like this.  Ozell also pointed out to me that these showers appear to have left a dusting of snow around the local ridge tops which are only 500-700 feet higher than we are currently.  The temperatures are quite pleasant though, and when the sun is shining, we can get away with shorts and a t-shirt if we wanted.  It does get colder at night with lows in the lower to mid 40's.

 

I think that is enough to bore you with for now, and I might take a nap.  So until next time, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and happy.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean