Christmas back in Cuzco

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Friday 23rd December - Tuesday 27th December

Arriving early Christmas Eve morning back in Cuzco, we decided fate had made us still be in Cuzco for Christmas for good reason; the massive Christmas market in the centre square that spiralled out to the side streets and outer squares, and the chance to hear the ancient organs and choir sing in the huge cathedral for the Christmas mass. We couldn’t wait to start celebrating and with a calmer Peru and believing everything was normal again (at least until January) we had settled with plans to move down to Puno by bus after Christmas and then into Bolivia for new year. However, as good as we were feeling, when finalising our rearranged buses, we soon learnt that the political truce had obviously not been agreed by the protesters down south, and that the Peru-Bolivia land border was actually still shut!

Our Italian friends had moved down from Cuzco already, whilst we were in Puerto Maldonado, and had managed to cross the border by ferry over lake Titicaca instead; an option we had heard of and were considering. However, they let us know, that whilst it didn’t feel particularly unsafe, it was long and complicated with protesters still blocking the ferry landing trying to stop all from passing. Their ferry captain had had to use a small boat to paddle over to talk to the protesters and convince them to let the passengers pass. Argh. Cue more overthinking and trying to think of all possibilities; do we continue with our booked plan and risk not being able to cross the border and having to then waste money on hotels we can no longer cancel and spend more on a flight from Puno, or do we just call it quits now and reclaim all the money on things booked and spend out on a cheaper flight from here into Bolivia; albeit still pricier then the bus.

With it being Christmas Eve, we decided to sleep on it and let Santa decide. Putting those thoughts aside, we excitedly ventured into Cuzco centre and, after a tasty pancake and special llama coffee breaky, we enjoyed exploring the massive markets all over the city; full of festive decorations, food, drink, artwork, jewellery and, much more religious than home, various dolls of saints and clothing you buy for them. Maybe a little creepy for us, but these saints are obviously still very important for the locals and their strong faiths and were everywhere to be seen. We spent a long time just meandering around and some time in a cafe overlooking it all too, watching the huge amounts of people, mostly locals and Peruvian tourists, wonder around.

Later, with the huge cathedral doors opening, we followed the masses into mass, and managed to get a seat. Understanding only maybe the first paragraph of spoken words, we then just enjoyed the atmosphere of being there, with the priest and church boys parading down with a strong incense smoking, and with the organ and choir filling the air majestically. It was also much more casual than we had thought, with many walking in and out almost continuously, listening to the main service but also setting their own prayers to the various saints around the cathedral edges. This happened to work in our favour, as, after an hour or so, we were ready to move.

Feeling tired we headed back to our hotel, but knew most Peruvians tend to stay awake after mass, to celebrate Christmas at midnight with fireworks and then their dinner! Whilst we didn’t eat dinner at that time, we did manage to just about be awake at midnight to enjoy watching the fireworks explode all over the city from our hotels upper floor. There were a lot more than we were expecting and it was a cool sight to see the city light up with colours and whizzes and pops. Feliz Navidad!!

The following day, now Christmas Day, starts with a very quiet and slow morning, with most still in bed from the late night festivities. We definitely noticed the difference with a very quiet morning walk around the neighbourhood. We did manage to find a good cafe for second breakfasts of croissant and coffee and an open shop to buy some Xmas nibbles. These kept us going the rest of the day really, as we chilled in the hotel and made Christmas family calls. It also helped us keep going, when we were rearranging, cancelling and booking things yet again. Having counted our blessings of what we’d been able to do here in Peru, despite of the strikes, and having had enough of uncertainty, we decided to call it quits and book a flight into Bolivia.

I’m sure the crossing by ferry would have been fine, but not wanting the uncertainty, the feeling of having made a clear decision with a flight booked allowed us to relax a little more and enjoy our last couple days here in Cuzco; exploring the outer edges more by foot, visiting the monastery, enjoying some chill time in the sun in the many squares, people watching, visiting the Machu Picchu museum, and enjoying the chocolate museum workshop; yummy! We may have stayed a total of 11 nights in Cuzco, as opposed to the originally planned 6, but we’ve ended up feeling like we really know the city and have enjoyed it a lot; feeling kind of sad to go, but also ready to move on to the next place and country for more adventures. Here we come Bolivia!

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Comments

[Simon]

Merry Xmas
Keep the lovely pics coming! Hope you had a great holidays!