Cusco

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After a long trip from Lake Titicaca, we got into Cusco, the second largest city in Peru and checked into the Loki, which is known in town as the backpacker, party hostel. It was the biggest hostel that we had stayed in and our first shared living situation. We were in a bunk room with 7 other people, two guys from New Zealand we immediately got along with and ended up hanging out with them for the majority of the time that we were in Cusco. Later that night Antonio and Rorie checked into our room as well, so it was a great group of people in our room. Also, I ran into a guy, Will Minehart, who graduated a year before me from Bucknell. We both recognized each other and knew that we had had a class together but didn’t really know each other. It was really nice to have a little piece of home at that point. So we all got together that night as a team for Pub Quiz that night at the bar at our hostel. After we went out to the bars in Cusco, which were great! Most of the good bars are all located in the center square and there are tons of people outside the bar area giving you free drink coupons to try to get you to go to their bar. We had a great night and ever other night we went during our almost two week stay in Cusco was great!
The first week that we were in Cusco we pretty much just hung out every day, exploring the city and found tons of cute cafes to eat at, drink coffee, play games and just relax. We also did a ton of shopping because Cusco is known for its markets. We also met a ton of really nice people from around the world so it was fun to get to know people and hang out with them for an extended period of time.
One of the days we rented four wheelers and took a guided tour into the farmlands outside of town, where we were surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains. Most of the time we were riding on dirt roads in the middle of no where, and we got to see some ruins, and salt flats, and we stopped in a small town that was having a festival. However, we also had to ride through the city on our ATV which was very scary because we were riding on their highways, with busses and semi trucks speeding by us. It was probably the most scared I was out of our entire time in South America, but fortunately nothing bad happened.
We also celebrated Amanda’s 23rd Birthday in Cusco. Rachel and I decorated the hostel bar and got her a chocolate cake. We invited all the people we had met to join us and we had a little pre-bar celebration. Unfortunately, after Amanda blew out her candles, I decided that it would be a good idea to put her piece of cake in her face and I did it a little too hard and accidentally gave her a bloody nose. So there she was with chocolate cake and blood all over her face- I felt so bad. But after we cleaned up we went to the bars and it turned out to be a fun night. The next day which was Amanda’s actual birthday we just relaxed the whole day and then took her out to a nice dinner that night at a restaurant that ended up being one of our favorite restaurants in the whole city. We ended up spending some of our days there hanging out on their couches.
The next day we left for the Inca Trail (see separate entry) and after our five day backpacking trip we returned to Cusco for some more R & R. We decided to get massages and pedicures for only $8 for both together. It was a little sketchy because we were all on the same room with three tables for the massage, but it felt good (even though I have never had a massage and have nothing to compare it to). But after a great, long stay in Cusco we flew back to Quito for our last two weeks in Ecuador and the Galapagos.

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