I´d rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would, if I only could, I surely would

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Our trip started on Monday, June 7th, as we flew through Atlanta, overnight to Lima, and directly to Cuzco, Peru the following morning. I got off to quite a messy start, having become completely sweat-soaked carrying my backpack from my house to the airport in humid weather and also spilling two-thirds of my ginger ale on my cargo pants on the flight. Nice.

Compared to the relative quiet of the Lima airport, our arrival at Cuzco airport was like being flung into a carnival. As soon as we entered the arrival area, a melee of pan flute music, tour guides, and hotel hosts swallowed us whole. We also noticed how thin the air was - I was already winded from putting on my pack.

Our hostel, Casa de la Gringa, was located in the San Blas section of Cuzco, which has a sort of laid-back, less touristy vibe than the area around the main square. It´s also uphill from the square, meaning that we got a nice workout everyday! We checked into our quaint little room and fell asleep immediately. Funny how during our whole time at elevation, we never really felt sick at all, but during the first few days, all I wanted to do was sleep. (Which I did 😊 ).

We found a couple of really cool restaurants in the area and quickly developed a liking for coca tea. It makes me sad that it´s illegal in the US, because it´s so good! Much more like green tea than I would have thought. And it really helped us to acclimatize. I was also able to try alpaca meat, but didn´t get around to the cuy, or guinea pig. Maybe in Lima (althought it´s more of a Cuzco specialty).

Any plans of ours on our first full day in the city (Wednesday) were dampened due to a national agricultural strike. EVERYTHING was shut down, from the cultural sites to many of the taxi services. We made our way to the Plaza de Armas to watch the proceedings, which I admit, made me a little nervous. Hundreds and hundreds of people marched through the plaza, shouting into megaphones and chanting. Police wearing riot gear and carrying shields blocked off certain roads. The surrounding streets were almost deserted. We had been told that usually these strikes were more symbolic and almost always peaceful, but I couldn´t help making mental exit strategies should, I don´t know, gunfire break out. It also didn´t help that we later learned that the protesters had wrapped an effigy of the Peruvian president in an American flag and set it on fire in the plaza. Yowza.

As we walked along one street off the main square, we saw a man ahead riding a bicycle cart and yelling into a megaphone. People started crowding around him. I was getting really uneasy until we came closer. I laughed. The man was shouting ¨Chocolate! Rico chocolate!¨ He was a vendor and locals were buying chocolate bars off his cart.

-Becky

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Photos

Agricultural strike
The burning effigy came later...

Muy delicioso!
Es verdad! Soy loco por los cornballs!

Cuzco at sunset
The view from the cafe.