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Published: March 15th 2007
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Coca Tea
Joyce attempts to acclimate to the elevation by sipping coca tea at Torre Dorada Lima to Cuzco
Jason and Joyce Day 2
When we planned our trip, we read and heard from numerous sources that Lima was just another big city and we should plan to stay there as little as possible. We took this message to heart, scheduling our flight out to Cuzco for 9am the morning of Day 2.
Before we headed back to the airport (in the same taxi as last night; the driver sleeps in his car near the hotel), we ate a quick (and free!) American-style breakfast at the hotel. The setup was quite nice--- small tables with white tablecloths and full place settings. The breakfast buffet spread ranged from fruits, breads, and cereal to eggs and sausage.
Jason poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip. The look on his face was priceless! Apparently, Peruvians brew their coffee very strong. Strong and undrinkable. He attempted to fix it by mixing it with milk, but was unable to correct the situation and get some caffeine in his system before we needed to leave for the airport.
Enter Cuzco The flight to Cuzco was short and uneventful. We were met at the airport by Ambar, our contact at Q'ente, the
Joyce's Alpaca Sweater
Jason and me on the Inca Trail a few days from now--- but I bought the sweater in Cuzco the night before we headed out on the trail. outfitter guiding us on the 4-day Inca Trail. Q'ente, meaning hummingbird in the native Inca language of Quechua, is a Peruvian owned and operated outfitter that practices environmentally conscious tourism.
As we rode to our hotel on the ourskirts of town, Ambar gave us a map and told us to meet our guide at the Q'ente office that evening for a pre-trip briefing.
Lodging We were welcomed to our hotel,
Torre Dorada, by Rosemarie and Peggy, both of whom treated us like family. As with Basadre Suites in Lima, we booked this hotel based on
TripAdvisor reviews. After giving us some recommendations on restaurants and attractions in Cuzco, Peggy suggested that we rest for most of the afternoon in our room to help our bodies adjust to the elevation (over 10,000 feet!). As we ascended up the staircase to our floor, Peggy reminded us to drink the free coca leaf tea outside our room.
Our room was a bit on the small side, with two teeny-tiny single beds, but it was very clean, which was a definite relief after our previous night in Lima! TripAdvisor definitely delivered with this hotel.
Venturing into Cuzco's Centre After we rested
Inferior Spanish Wall
Joyce and Jason in front of the Spanish-built wall. all afternoon, Oscar, one of Torre Dorada's staff, drove us into town. (Torre Dorada has complimentary transportation to and from the main part of Cuzco because it is a bit removed from the city.) We had him drop us off at LAN, where we exchanged dollars for Peruvian soles.
We then hustled through the Plaza de Armas and wove our way through some side streets, late to our Q’ente orientation meeting. One particular street was like a staircase. Though we began it with energy as we rushed to make our meeting, we soon had to stop and catch our breaths. Both of us thought we were okay with the elevation, but we hadn’t put ourselves to the test until now. I guess this is what people were talking about when they said the elevation gets to you! The staircase / street from Hell took longer than expected, but we finally made it to the Q’ente meeting.
At Q’ente, we met Patricia, Linda, and Paul. Patricia is our guide for the 4-day hike; Linda is a middle-aged British transplant to Australia who will join us on the trail; Paul, Linda’s husband, didn’t quite feel up to the strenuous hike,
Superior Inca Wall
Joyce and Jason in front of the Inca-built wall and the 12 angled stone. but will take the train to Machu Picchu and join us on the final day.
During the meeting, Patricia explained the logistics of the hike with us. We opted to pay a little extra to rent certain “luxuries”: a therm-a-rest mattress ($11), aluminum hiking stick ($6), and half a porter ($32). Ten porters are included in the price of our trip already, and they carry group equipment (tents, cooking supplies, food, etc.). The half-porter we paid for is to carry our extra things (sleeping bags, change of clothes, toiletries), up to 16 kg. Funnily enough, a full porter costs $70 and carries 32 kg; Jason joked that the best deal is to get two half-porters.
We left the meeting with three tasks for the night:
to buy a warm sweater for me (I had underestimated the potential coldness of the hike and didn’t pack appropriately)
to eat a good Peruvian meal
to get some good sleep before our 6am pickup the next morning.
We wandered around the shops of Cuzco for a little while and were charmed by the winding, stone roads and friendly people. We stopped in one building housing several shops and looked at the
Pushing the Wall
Jason pushes a stone into place, Inca-style. Alpaca sweaters. At the second shop, I saw one blue Alpaca sweater design that I absolutely loved. It was 100%!a(MISSING)lpaca wool (so it was super soft), had a v-neck, and was trimmed with a contrasting magenta Peruvian design on the collar, wrist, and waist areas. There were matching gloves and hat that I could purchase. After a little bit of friendly haggling with the shopowner, I paid 55 soles (about $20) for the set. I probably could have gotten it cheaper, but I feel like I got a great deal.
(picture of me in sweater)
Exhilarated by the great buy and hungry for a good meal, we continued on our way to find Pucara, a Peruvian restaurant that Peggy and Rosemarie had recommended. We didn’t know exactly where Pucara was located, so Jason asked a taxi driver who pointed us toward the Plaza de Armas.
Superior Inca Walls On our way to the Plaza, we walked down a stony street with stone walls on either side where people seemed to be taking lots of pictures with the wall. We didn’t know exactly what this was all about, but we decided to get our picture taken too.
Dinner at Pucara
Jason is ready to dig into our "Outstanding" trout dinners at Pucara. The woman we asked was a local, and after she took our picture, she led us to another spot against the wall and explained in broken English that this was the famous spot. So, we got our picture taken again, still unsure of the significance of any of this.
At this point, a young guy stepped up to us and asked if we’d like to know about the famous Inca 12 angled stone. Uncertain of whether this was somehow a scam, we ignored him for a minute. Finally, we said yes. He then quickly told us about the superior Inca method of meticulously building walls, fitting each individual stone to other stones and pushing them into place with their bare hands. He compared this to the cruder Spanish method of cutting rectangular stones for walls. Though we were a little uncertain whether the guy was giving us the real story, Jason gave him some soles for the explanation. We later read about the
famous 12 angled stone in our Lonely Planet--- I guess the guy really did know what he was talking about!
Dinner at Pucara After our brush with Inca wall history, we finally made it to
Pucara. The low lighting and wooden tables made for an inviting and relaxing atmosphere. The restaurant, the food, and the price (~$20 total!) were all, in Jason’s words, “outstanding”! This is what we ordered:
Cusquena, a local beer, even though we had been warned numerous times that alcohol is not good for the body in acclimating to elevation
Trout - Jason had a grilled version and mine was "Meniers" style, with a delicate texture and a light, lemony sauce. In Jason's words, both dishes were Outstanding!The vegetables were also incredible.
Papa Rellenos - a potato, stuffed with meat and other vegetables. Delicious.
After we finished dinner, we called the hotel for a pickup and headed to sleep at 9pm. We had a long few days ahead of us and needed to rest up! Despite these good intentions, though, it was a rough night of sleep. I got up several times, sick to my stomach, but was never quite able to vomit. (I was later told that this is a classic sign of elevation sickness.)
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