Trip to Peru: Cusco Day 1

We arrived at the airport to check in for our one hour flight to Cusco. When we looked at our boarding passes we noticed that the flight was different and left 15 minutes later, which was fine. While waiting for our plane to board, someone noticed that the Hotel confirmation showed us arriving October 1st! That day had long since passed. What happened? So we boarded the plane worried that we didn't have a place to stay. We arrived in Cusco and found a booth in the airport for our hotel. After talking to the man there who made a phone call to the hotel, sure enough, we had no rooms, and they were booked for one of the three nights we needed. Luckily, a woman at another hotel booth saw us and indicated that her hotel had rooms. So we talked to her and decided to say at the Royal Inca Hotel. It included free transportation to and from the airport, free breakfast and it was cheaper than our original rate. Once at the hotel, the woman, who would become our personal travel arranger, sat us down in the lobby and promptly started the check-in process. She was very nice and helpful, explaining everything to us, bringing us the paperwork, taking our credit cards to the desk for charges, and we were also given Coca tea, which is supposed to help with the altitude. Cusco sits at 11,000 feet, and when you travel from sea level to this altitude in one hour, the body doesn't like it. We all felt light headed and got easily tired.

Anyways, after we paid for our room the sales pitch came. Even though we had reserved our train trip to MachuPicchu, she said she could get us on a later train back so we would have more time there, plus a two hour private guided tour of MachuPicchu. They would do all the work to get us our tickets for the train and entrance to the park. We said "yes" and then also agreed to a private guided eight hour tour the following day of sites outside Cusco. So we handed over cash to her, they like the dollar in Cusco rather than their own currency, and our stay in Cusco was set.
We were then shown to our rooms. Mine was up three flights of stair, and at this altitude the short walk was an effort. The room was small but functional. My only complaint, other than the thin walls, a window that didn't close and hot water that wasn't always hot, is that I had to duck and lean to the left when walking from the bed to the bathroom, while watching not to fall down the stairs. Needless to say having a light switch near the bed was a must. As for the noise, which included music from a disco near by from midnight to 4AM and cats fighting on the roof, earplugs took care of that. I now always travel with earplugs.

After unpacking, I laid down in my bed to rest. They say after arriving in Cusco you should sleep for two hours to help with the thin air. No such luck. The phone range and it was time to head out and explore the city. We met in the lobby and started walking the streets looking for sites to see. We were told that these streets were very safe to walk, but once again, we had to watch out for cars as we crossed the road. Our first stop was the Convento De Santo Domingo Del Cusco. It was interesting, but nothing special. We then wandered to the Circuito Religioso Cusco Basilica Catedral. This cathedral was by far the most interesting one I have seen in my limited world travels. There was room after room of beautifully decorated sculptures, paintings and wordwork. Too bad there were no photographs allowed, I really wanted to take pictures of everything. There was even an underground tomb, complete with a low overhead. We spent as much time as was needed here. The only thing missing was the sound of a pipe organ like the one in Barcelona.

We left and continued our exploration of the city, where we were approached by many people offering us goods to buy. There were two young girls that were carrying a baby llama in a pouch and offered to let us take their photo for what converted into about 3 cents. Sorry, couldn't do it, poor llamas! Back at the hotel we decided just to eat in the hotel restaurant. It was open but no one was eating there. We sat down and as we ordered we tired to order "light" food, since at this altitude food digests slowly, we were once again informed of. Well, soup and salad are light, but I needed something I could sink my teeth into. Our dishes ranged from tasty to barely eatable. However, food is food, and we couldn't complain. So we paid the bill and retired to our rooms for the night. Tomorrow was what we planned for the whole time, MachuPicchu!