Cusco

---

I arrived to Cusco early in the morning, the sun was shining and the air was warm! I was worried that I would suffer from altitude sickness but thanks to my personal pharmacy, there were no problems! When I arrived at the hostel (which by the way had a beautiful terrace, bar, tv room and lounge area) my room was not ready so I stored my bags and began exploring the city. I hit the main square of Plaza del Armas and began working my bargaining skills at the market.

When I returned to the hostel I passed out in the sun and then made it to my bed once it was clean. It was really hard to sleep though because I was too anxious to see more of Cusco. Once awake I began my search for my wonderful Israeli pals Anna and Julia, the search failed so I went to dinner with my room mates. They were both Natives to Arequipa, with limited English which forced me to utilize my spanish! We went to a cozy pizzeria outside of the main square where a local group enchanted us with the traditional sounds of peruvian music - something I have learned about Peruvian music is that the sounds come from happy roots, the combination of the instruments and words create a vibe that people naturally gravitate towards. After about a few hours of chincha, pizza and music one of the boys was just about ready to propose, sooo following my instincts I ran for the hills of Cusco just in time to come across Anna and Julia! After uniting and catching up we went to the infamous club on Plaza del Armas known as InkaTeam. It was then I realized that Israeli´s have taken over Cusco. Half of Cusco has Israeli restaurants, travel agencies, music and of course the people. Since I had been rolling with the Israeli´s, people automatically assumed that I was also Israeli. Considering this I had and continue to have people attempting to communicate with me in Hebrew, Spanish and English, at this point in time I cant even distinguish which language it is, so I just open my mouth and hope that something appropriate comes out. My current favorite Hebrew phrase (LA MAMA!!!) A sassy phrase intended for any boy who´s trying to get fresh!

Me and the gals attempted our own hike with no guide (obviously we got lost) I believe that getting lost is one of the best parts of travelling because the unknown path often brings you to unknown and exciting places. We meant to hike for about 30 minutes up the mountain, but ended up on the complete opposite side of town and taking a few hours. We were sure to ask locals the direction and they all continued to point the same way, so we knew they weren´t messing with us. The source of the issue was actually ourselves, reason being the location we were asking for was definitely not the destination we were aiming for. Instead we ending up in the San Blas barrio which I consider to be the Boho hipster demographic. Since time no longer has meaning, we enjoyed the neighborhood for a while than began our trek up. The trek led us to a remarkable view of Cusco and Maximo ( our proud little pureblood Queshwa). Maximo sang to us and told us his story, however it was really hard to understand because he was speaking in Queshwa (which is the dialect of the Queshwa aka Inka people). Now that we were in the right direction we made it back to our hostel in 20 minutes - so embarrassing but that´s how it goes!

A few things to note
First
Cusco and actually in all of Peru, the driving is INSANE. Here, if a car hits you, tough luck because pedestrians don´t have right of way. My trick is to merge with a big group and huddle in the center, that way if a car rams into us, I´ll most likely be protected.

Secondly
Coca leaves seriously relieve anything! Whether it be altitude sickness, sour stomach, headache hunger you name it. I was sceptical in the beginning but I became desperate when I had a churning stomach, the plant works wonders! (STOP BEFORE YOU BECOME DEPENDENT)

I truly adore Cusco. The city is a melting pot of international people, modern locals and of course the indigenous locals. The diversity is incredibly refreshing. Cusco is a city that is unique in many ways, of course because of the people but the actual architecture of the cobble stone streets and buildings are something you would find in a fairytale. Luxury has a different meaning for everyone, but to me luxury is walking through the narrow streets into the mountains that are so close to the sky, you feel as if you can touch the sun. I know I am going to really miss Cusco, it has an incredibly hypnotic energy that will be hard to forget, but the traveller must keep trekking. I am beginning to learn that regardless of flexibility, you need to leave a place while you are still enamoured with it.

---