Our time in Peru started by flying from Iquitos to Cusco on Sunday, September 20th. This was an 8am departure with a connection in Lima and an ultimate arrival around noon – a simple journey compared to our previous. We were greeted by our Airbnb hosts at the airport and taken to their home where they prepared some coca tea and showed us around. We were looking forward to a nice shower and warmer accommodations than our concrete dorm in Iquitos, but unfortunately we found ourselves disappointed. With Airbnb there is always a bit of a gamble as reviews and pictures do not necessarily equate to physically living somewhere as a family. This place had wonderful reviews of their hospitality and the bedrooms matched the description, but the remainder of the home was just a mess. There were cats and dogs (and at least one mouse) and an open air courtyard of sorts that was a bit filthy. The people were super nice but there was no hot water and with Cusco at 12,000 feet the temperature was downright bone chilling. Our room was about 55 degrees at night, which was a far cry from the 100+ temps we experienced in Iquitos. Determined to make the best of it, we settled in and went to find food.
We woke up the next morning hoping to enjoy our included breakfast, which consisted of bread, jelly and some watery porridge designed to help with the altitude. Further disappointment ensued as Airbnb reviews had us expecting a bit more. We tried to warm up and focus on some schoolwork. When that was complete we headed towards the main plaza of town to connect with our trekking operator and figure out what further supplies we might need for our Machu Picchu hike.
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| Breakfast in kitchen room |
600 years ago Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire. It was where the royal Incas lived and the pride of locals is easy to feel. There is a bit of a dual culture forming between those who want to preserve their heritage and culture and those who want to grow and expand with tourism being a huge source of revenue. The Plaza de Armas consists of historical buildings, restaurants and shops and is more or less the center of the old town. Inca construction consists of very tightly fit stone and it can be seen in many of the beautiful structures here.
We were all a bit cold as we adjusted to the cooler temps up high, and then the afternoon rain showers set in. We headed to the mall (yes a bit lame but really our only option other than going back to our 'home' to sit in our damp cold rooms, which no wanted to do). Craving some safe and normal food, the boys saw a Chili’s (like in America), and forced our hand for lunch. It's amazing how incredible something known can taste after two months away! We made a few other stops and with the rain now finished, we headed back to the plaza area before returning to our very cold dwelling. We decided that maybe some new shoes might help dad's feet as they were only continuing to get worse and with the Inca Trek one week away, concern was elevating rapidly. The boys tried to discreetly ask mom how dad was ever going to make the hike.
The next day our host was overzealous to coordinate a city tour for us. We agreed on a tour with an operator which took us to four different historical sites over about a 5 hour period. Another cold rainy afternoon and some communication issues between our host the tour operator made this attempt a bust in the beginning. We were told we would be picked up between 1 and 1:15 and by 1:45 no one had shown up and we'd all been standing in the rain. Our host who was trying to resolve the situation finally hailed us cabs and rode with us to the first stop where we eventually learned that we were supposed to be at that location at 1:40 and we had missed most of the tour at the first place. Buzzkill to say the least. We were cold and wet and not many of us were thrilled about this tour idea at this point . However, the tour guide gave us (and another couple – at least we weren’t only ones) an abbreviated tour of Qurikancha and off we went. We headed to the next stop, a ruin officially called Sacsayhuaman but referred to by all as "Sexy Woman."
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Posing with Peruvian women & their llamas and alpacas
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The stone work here is unbelievable. One stone weighs 125 tons and is believed to have been moved here over 7KM!
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| Huge stones, rainy day |
From here we drove up to Tombomachay which is a ruin where water flows consistently all the time, no matter what. It could be pouring buckets and the flow is the same all year long. Even more interesting is that, even today, the experts do not know where the water comes from - but the Incas did. Our final stop was and alpaca store where we were taught how to tell the difference from real and synthetic alpaca - of course the "real" stuff is much more expensive. At the end of the tour everyone had come around and was glad we'd gotten out of the place we were staying to explore a bit.
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| Tombomachay - not everyone was happy |
By the end of our second day, realizing that rain showers were common most afternoons, and being cold around the clock, the homesickness that was setting in was becoming even more pronounced. We were also anxiously awaiting the arrival of our neighbor, Ray, who was flying in to join us on the Inca Trek. We realized the kids had never gone this long without seeing Uncle Ray! Counting down the minutes, no one wanted to be left behind, so we all headed to the airport to greet him. Also, unannounced to the family, dad was looking into different accommodations as the mood has soured in our place and no one was resting too well. With the Inca Trail coming up, we determined we would be smarter to be rested and comfortable before beginning. So we bounced from our Airbnb to a Starwood hotel! Oh what a treat: hot water, nice beds, a gym, toilet paper can go in the toilet, a hair dryer, and a breakfast buffett to die for - the kids act like they have never seen a hotel before. This was a very nice splurge indeed.
With Ray in town everyone's spirits were lifted and we enjoyed hanging out and getting to catch up. Over the next three days we bummed around Cusco gathering gear for our upcoming trek that we feared was going to be colder and wetter than we'd expected. We saw several parades as there seems to always be something to celebrate in Cusco! We walked through the San Blas neighborhood, took a bus to the Sacred Valley and visited the agricultural terraces of Moray, the salt mines at Salineras, and got lost in the little village of Urubamba. We had treasured adult time at a Pisco Sour-making course at our hotel, and we all enjoyed some fun meals together - it was such a treat to have our days together feel just like old times!
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| Pisco Sour class! |
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| Moray - Different levels were used for testing soils and temperatures for growing crops |
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| Moray from above |
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| Happy 12th Birthday! |
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