Huaraz down to Cusco

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Just a blog filler-inner and to put up some more photos.

After the ice climbing we spent our last two days chilling in Huaraz, enjoying the time out. We went out for a fellow travelers birthday and tried the only place in Huaraz that serves sushi. We were reassured that the fish would be fresh as it was Friday…mmm…that definitely 'reassured' us and put our minds at ease! Let’s just say that it was exactly the kind of sushi you would expect in a Peruvian town, 3100m above sea level and a couple of hundred km’s from the coast. Thankfully (!??), they were mostly filled with rice and cucumber and only 1 piece had fish in it, and dun dun dun... it was good ol’ canned tuna!! We however decided that was a good thing! Never the less we had a great night out with one too many Pisco Sours.

We travelled back down to Lima and enjoyed 2 days at sea level, the thick oxygen rich air and fresh Ceviche recharged our batteries before we started our mammoth 22 hour bus trip down to Cusco, the historical Inca capital.

**At this stage we deviated a bit from our original plans and skipped out the famous Nazca lines. After a few bad reviews about the flights over the lines and some other stories from travelers, we decided to rather save our money for an Amazon Jungle trip in Bolivia!

Cusco is the main stop over for anyone wanting to do Machu Picchu and is a bustling vibey city. It was once the Inca Capital, so is filled with historical artifacts. We were fascinated by the old Inca stonework combined with the colonial Spanish architecture. Often you would walk down a small alleyway and see original Inca foundations at the bottom of modern day brick and mortar. You would also see a whole bunch of other stuff down these alleys, but it really isnt worth mentioning here..ahem. The way they carved and cut stone, to precisely fit together without any mortar, is extremely skilful!

James also tried the infamous Cuy (guinea pig). After hearing that it really wasn’t the tastiest meat around, he opted for the ‘quarter portion’ instead of possibly being stuck with the whole rodent if it wasn’t palatable! Ah man, it was hilarious seeing the little hind leg on the plate – nails and all! James dug into it and chowed down like it was a good ol quarter chicken from Nandos, and apparently it was very scrumptious! He described it as a 'mini pig' with super crackling. I on the other hand enjoyed a tasty Alpaca steak with quinoa.

From Cusco, we travelled down to Arequipa, Peru’s second biggest city. From there we planned to do some trekking in the neighboring Colca Canyon!

A few photos from the last couple of days.

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Photos

Coupla travelers
On the road again

Cuy
Tasty Guinea Pig

Peru landscape
North of Lima is extremely dry, dotted with green oases.

Comments

[Karina]

hi - the guinea pig looked awful!! Sorry James! It all looks superb. Love the blogs. Love karina

[Home and Away]

I just started following you on your fantastic trip...
we hope to see Peru and South America at the end of 2013 o4 early 2014, so your blogs come in handy for researxh purposes. Keep up the great work.

[Terri Peckham]

Ha ha ha...the picture of the cuy was hysterical!! I would have gone with the steak option too Toni. We had them as pets and they were soooo cute. Definately wouldn't have been able to try them!! Lots of Love xx

[Trish]

First time on my computer in weeks. Starting to go through your blogs and hoping this is the only one that will put me off my lunch!! Just reading through Toni's always enjoyable description and got to the photo of James' supper of guinea pig leg. Was just taking a mouthful of salad and now feel positively ill!! Can't believe you sat through him eating that Toni!! Eeeew.