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Published: August 8th 2006
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Journey to Cusco went really smoothly. We caught the night bus from Huaraz to Lima, arriving at around 5am. Took a taxi straight to the airport and waited for our 9am flight. We were in Cusco by 11.
We booked a hostal ahead of time because of the independence holiday around the 28th. Stayed at The Point which had been recommended to us. They were really disorganised and unsure whether we could stay the number of nights we had requested, despite assurances the day before that space was available.
The Point is not like any hostal we´ve stayed in before. There´s only one double room, the other 40 or so people staying in mixed dorms of between 5 and 12 beds per room. A great looking place, it has a huge stairway, courtyard and garden. Lots of facilities too: hot water, great showers, tv room with cable and free dvds, free internet and a bar open until 1am! The majority of guests were young single people. We found out later that this type of hostal is commonly known as a "party hostal"!
On arrival we met up with Becky and Tim who were leaving that night. They took
us to Jacks for lunch, a superb restaurant run by a couple of Aussies. We discovered that Cusco has loads of really good places to eat and food became the highlight of our stay. Without doubt its the best food we´ve had so far.
We basically spent the first 3 days in Cusco lounging about. Its a really attractive town with lots of facilities for tourists. However, after a while the shops get a little samey and the attention of the touts and children selling finger puppets becomes slightly irritating.
On Thursday we had to move out of the double room into a 5 bed dorm. This was our first night of dorm accommodation and lived up to all expectations.
The lack of organisation at the hostal meant we had to guess which beds were free. We went to bed relatively early (12am) not knowing if we´d be kicked out later. Around 1am Bob came in, turned on the lights and informed us he snored really loudly. At 6am 2 pissed Irish guys turned up with an American girl. To be fair to them, they tried to be as quiet as possible. However, Irish#2 + USA then
had sex for about an hour, just 3 feet from our bunk!
On Friday morning we took a cab with Carmen (likeably texan we met in hostal) to Saqsaywaman, some Inca ruins near Cusco. Entrance fee was a bit steep (40 soles) considering our guide book said it was free. In the evening Amy ate a roast Guinea Pig! (AJ: Its a traditional dish here and unsurprisingly, it tastes like chicken)
Saturday was the big independence day party at the hostal. Flags, banners and balloons, etc were hung around the place and a huge sound system was brought in to convert the bar into a nightclub. We went out for a few drinks to the Irish pub then returned to the party for more drinks and some dancing.
We had to get up at 5am the following morning to catch the train to Machu Picchu. Amy was sensible and went to bed at 2am, the time the party was supposed to finish. I carried on drinking and dancing until 3.30am then stumbled into bed for an hours kip.
Somehow Amy managed to wake up at 5 and of course, the party was still going on! We
had arranged to meet Kate at 5.30 to share the trip to Machu Picchu and the cost of accommodation in the town. She too had been partying and didn´t turn up. Despite our best efforts to find her (turning on lights in dorms and shouting her name) we had to leave without her.
Returned from Machu Picchu on Monday night for a couple more days at The Point. Tuesday we went to the Irish pub for late lunch with 2 great Irish girls from the hostal: Anita and Sinead. Stayed in the pub until 10.30pm then back to the hostal. Amy and Sinead were tired/hung over respectively so went to bed. Anita and I stayed in the hostal bar for a couple more drinks and were then persuaded by the party people to head back into town to go clubbing. I stumbled back to the hostal at 5.30am and collapsed into bed. At 7am Amy woke me up and we headed to the station to catch our train to Puno.
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