Quito to Cusco

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We had one final perk from the cruise line in that they had arranged a bus to the airport. We dozed in the seats but were woken by our cruise guide pointing out some spectacular views of the volcanoes, including the snow-capped Cotopaxi which comes as close to the classical cone shape as anything we’ve seen. It was still visible from the sidewalk outside the airport and Sonia stopped to snap a few photos before we checked in for our flight. We had a few light snacks at the airport, boarded a two hour flight to Lima, Peru and then transferred to a second, one-hour flight to Cusco. Cusco is at 11,200 feet above sea level, meaning that they actually must need to DE-pressurize the airplane as it lands (cabin pressure is usually somewhere around the equivalent of 7500 feet). We took a short cab ride to our lovely hotel, open only one year and quite stylish. We lounged in our rooms for a bit to recover from the travel, then visited with the very helpful front desk staff to arrange dinner and a car for the next day’s journey. The kids were happy to continue lounging in the room, so John and Sonia headed out to explore while we still had some daylight. It was cool when we arrived and headed towards downright chilly as the sun went lower in the sky. We took a short walk from the hotel to the central square and admired the cathedral, the monastery and some of the statues. But the real drama came from the backdrop – the towering Andes Mountains on all sides, and clouds lit quite dramatically by the setting sun. We noted that in addition to the change in surroundings relative to our Galapagos cruise, the other tourists were quite different as well. The affluent older folk who made up the bulk of the ship-board population had been replaced by throngs of slightly grungy twenty-something trekkers. The square provided more than enough entertainment to take up the remaining daylight and we headed back to the hotel to collect the kids for dinner. On the hotel’s recommendation we dined at ChiCha (named after a local drink made from fermented corn). We sampled deep fried pork and a fava bean casserole but passed on the alpaca carpaccio. Dinner was good, but we were very tired from our early start and were happily asleep by 9pm. We slept long, though somewhat restlessly as the thin air was quite drying and we all awoke from time to time in need of some water.

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Photos

Cotopaxi
Spectacular active volcano outside of Quito - viewed from the Quito airport.

La Compania
One of the two beautiful churches in the main square in Cusco

Cool clouds at dusk in Cusco
La Compania in foreground