We came up the 5 hour trip to Cusco from Puno on one of the luxury buses. As we drove into the city over miles of rocky dirt road I remember thinking to myself that this seems more like every other Peruvian city than the cultural capital of the world (which they tout in signs all over town).
We arrived and hopped on a cab to our lodging, prearranged by the travel agency that set up our tours in Arequipa. We got to a hostel that was bursting with American teenagers and their luggage, a youth hostel with emphasis on youth. The proprietor was somewhat shocked by our arrival, but found a room. It wasn’t much, but by this point we plunked our bags down and thought let’s see what comes of it.
Within 10 minutes there was a knock on the door. A guy, Ronald, from the tour company was there to move us to a different place. Mistakes had been made.
The new place was an old casona that had recently been restored to be an inn. The doors on the first floor were no more than 4.5 feet tall, and the stairs to the balcony of the internal courtyard were a bit cattywampus. It was much closer to the town center, and the staff was great. Things were starting to look up for Cusco.
We planned to take some time in Cusco, resting between tours in the high altitude (3400 meters).
The city is a tourist mecca. We heard accents from all over the Americas, Europe and Australasia. No Africans or Antarcticans, although there probably were some. If we thought Puno touristy, this was Puno on steroids. What this means, however, is that the city has made efforts to build a tourist infrastructure. Large areas of the old city are preserved. There are restaurants and inns everywhere. You can’t walk down the street without a tout trying to sell you something.
We found some great restaurants. The staff at our lodging was superb. The old town is beautiful. See the Inca Ag With a Grain of Salt, Sacred Ruination, and Machu Picchu posts for tours we took from Cusco.
The night before leaving, we encountered a large group of twenty-somethings at one of the churches dressed in costumes. The guys had bells on their legs. The women had nothing on their legs. A marching band was warming up. We decided to see what would unfold. Apparently in the weeks leading up to Easter, there are many such parades. A religious icon was carried from this church to the cathedral accompanied by groups of costumed dancers and bands. The guys were all passing around a bottle of something strong. The women were all looking coy. Finally it started. Sorry about the photo quality, I only had my phone (note that the slideshow takes a little time to load) –
The next day we checked out and went to the airport. In South America, it is wise to arrive 2 hours before domestic flights and 3 before international. We checked in and waited to board. Eventually, the airport was shut down. There had been an accident and all flights were canceled for the rest of the day. I found a pay phone. After about 45 minutes the agent on the other end of the line said she couldn’t help as the system was down. Ellen had already got in a different line. We were booked on flights the next morning, connecting quickly in Lima for the flight to Bogota, then waiting 8 hours in the night for the flight to Cartagena. We lost non-refundable reservations for hotels in both Lima and Cartagena.
Caught a cab to go back to town to find lodging. The cab driver, an old and knowing sort, took of the the Ninos Hotel. We’d wanted to stay there since our friend Anne told us about it. It was started by a Dutch woman who wanted to help the street kids. There are now several locations and restaurants, and she helps 600 kids at any given moment. They didn’t answer. The cabbie took us to a place, right off the main plaza, and helped us find a room for a very reasonable price. It had a huge bed and down comforters.
The next day, (our flight was at 3:00), we had lunch and noticed there were no vehicles in the old town. Hundreds of police were walking by in uniform. Turns out, there were groups like the previous night, dancing and marching from their churches all across town. Traffic was prohibited in the center of town near the cathedral. There were TV crews set up to record the festivities.
This school, a military school from the looks of the uniforms, were early marchers.
Of course, our hotel was right in the center of town. We got our luggage and walked a few blocks to get a cab. Found one, checked in, then waited as our flight was two hours delayed. Still made the Bogota flight, and had the luxury of sleeping across sets of chairs in the Bogota airport. It is new and nice, but still…
Cusco is a beautiful city (click on any picture for slideshow mode) –
Love your story, and a impressed with your sanguinity. I will take a leaf from your book and practice such attitude in my future travels! Glad to hear you finally made the flight and keep penning these tales…I’m enjoying them!