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Published: January 18th 2009
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We were out of bed at 0830 and had to have a cold shower as I couldn’t figure out the electric heating system. We bumped into David - the Irishman we had met in Nazca - who was staying at the same hostel and between us we solved New Zealand’s and the worlds rugby problems.
The sun was out when we finally decided to do something so we went to the ATM to get finds to pay for the backpacker train to Cusco US$100 each and our flight from Cusco to Lima US$117 each. Jo found a BNZ MasterCard by the ATM so we wrote a message saying to meet us at our hostel between 1200 and 1300 and left it by the machine.
Everywhere around Plaza de Armas gringos are approached by “travel agencies”, people selling paintings or postcards and massage therapists. Suffice it to say that the most important Spanish phrase to know in Cusco is “no, gracias”. As we were walking back to the hotel a lady grabbed Jo on the arm, Jo pulled her arm away and said “don’t touch me”. It turned out to be the agent who had booked our Aguas Calientes train
tickets for us and they had recognised us as they were coming back from lunch. After much apologising and a hug all was forgiven and we collected our train tickets.
We decided to buy a few beers to have back on the deck of the hostel and couldn’t pass the 1.1 litre Zenda bottles at S6 (NZ$3). We wiled away a few hours until the rain came down so I left Jo at the hostel and went back to the ATM where we found the credit card, and pulled the note off the wall and took the card to the tourist police. The second climb of the day back to the hostel was a little harder than the first but I’m actually starting to feel a little healthier as a result of more walking than I usually do.
Our next stop was San Blas, an area of Cusco known for its arts and crafts, it was market day in the square and I bought an etched CD holder for S25 (NZ$13). Our photo CD collection is growing almost daily so it seemed a reasonable investment.
In the last few days we had covered north and east of
Plaza de Armas so we decided to head south and see what we could find. Five blocks out we came across Mercado Central - the markets the locals use. The bulk of the market was dedicated to meats, fruit and vegetables but a few stalls offered the now usual fare of blankets, stupid Peruvian beanies and rip-off soccer shirts. We splashed out on a mango smoothie S3.50 (NZ$1.75) - enough to fill three glasses and drank it whilst watching the locals go about their weekend.
It took 30 minutes or so to walk back to the hostel (the third time up the stairs was getting a little tough) and we watched the sun go down and the rain roll in over the Andes whilst enjoying the remaining two Zendas. We were joined by four Dutch backpackers to help finish off the last bottle as we had emailed Sam and Janaya to try and meet them at 1800 and we were running out of time. Sam and Janaya must have missed the email so we climbed all the way back up the hill to a restaurant that I’d previously scouted but unfortunately it didn’t open until 1900.
Jo was
pretty shattered after three walks up the hill to our hostel in one day and went to bed. I stayed up with a bloke who helped run the hostel and watched two Peruvian soccer games whilst downing some newly acquired Zendas. We were joined later on by David and the Dutch folks. I got to bed at 2220.
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