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Published: July 31st 2010
Hello all.
So we've finally made it out of Cusco. We spent another night there after our last post after setting up flight plans back to Lima. Our general plan has been to make it far north to a small beach town called Mancora as soon as we can. Relaxing by some beaches sounds just about right after the difficulties of walking around the high altitude of Cusco and Puno. The bus ride from Cusco to Lima takes 20+ hours so we decided to book a flight rather than spend a day cramped on a bus.
The actual flight out of Cusco was uneventful, which we suppose is good. Right from the airport we grabbed a taxi to take us to the fancy Cruz Del Sur bus terminal to book tickets up to the north. A solid thirty minute taxi ride later we made it. The woman at the ticket counter told us there were no spaces for tomorrow's bus so we'd be spending two days in Lima. When picking out our seats we had the choice between the top cabin of the bus or spending 15 soles more ($5) for the VIP seats in the bottom. The nine hour trip was to Huanchaco, a small fishing/surfing/touristy village outside the much larger city, Trujillo, that is about halfway between Lima and Mancora. We bought the VIP.
Steve had already reserved a hotel in the Miraflores district of Lima, the same place we district we stayed at when we first arrived in Peru. This new hotel though was on the other side of the Miraflores and even nicer. The top floor even had a rooftop pool and bar. After checking in the hotel we walked around Miraflores some looking for a restaurant. It's strange but even just being a few blocks away on a different side of the district can give a different feeling about the whole area. Miraflores seemed more quaint from this side. We walked down a side street from Kennedy park that is filled with restaurants to find a place. Unfortunately this also means every restaurant's greeter comes out to hard sell you on going to their place. At one point we were surrounded by three people holding menus in our faces and promising us free pisco sours. We hurriedly picked the last man, later realizing it was probably the most expensive place. Oh well. Steve finally ordered the ceviche (raw fish that is "cooked" by marinating it in lime juice) he'd been wanting to experience and received a heaping plate full of fish with just as much raw onions. Apparently the onions go hand in hand with the fish in Peruvian ceviche dishes. After eating we made a quick stop to a bookstore nearby and called it a night.
The next day was a fantastically wonderful lazy day around Miraflores. We strolled through the streets a bit, ate some and shopped some. We saw nothing of historical importance and didin't really care to. After a good night's sleep we packed up and were at the bus station waiting for the bus to Huanchaco. We had arrived early so Patty taught Steve to play a card game called "Spite & Malice", winning the first game before we boarded our lush VIP seats.
After arriving in Huanchaco around 9 PM at night we headed directly to our reserved hotel, the Las Palmas, and went to bed. In the morning we played more "Spite & Malice" (Patty extending her lead) then walked up the beachfront after dropping off our laundry at the hotel reception. The town is beautiful though the weather has been overcast and dreery since we've arrived. We've not seen the sun yet. After eating, exploring and shopping some we went to the Cruz Del Sur station to see about tickets to Mancora only to find they only go from Trujillo to Lima from the Trujillo station. We found another bus service to get us up to Mancora though we now have to slum it in their non-VIP top seats (still well cushioned and movies). During the night we received our laundry and the shockingly high bill for it since they charge highly by the article of clothing, not by the kilogram as every other laundry service we've used so far. The laundry bill ended up exceeding the hotel stay. Back in the hotel during the night Steve finally won his first game (current score as of writing is 11-1, Patty).
When we woke up today, packed and switched hotels since the Las Palmas was reserved full for tonight. We're going kill time today, thinking of our niece Quinn's 1st birthday, till we head out for Mancora tomorrow.
Hope everyone is doing well. We'll write again soon.
Happy First Birthday Quinn!
-Steve & Patty
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Tre
non-member comment
Well done!
Well done Patty! You may want to let Steve win a few games of Spite and Malice though, otherwise he may not want to plany with you again! Really enjoy reading about your travels and can't wait to talk with you about it! Love, T