Cultural Submersion in the Andes
So I never do this, because once I see daylight, it’s all over and I can’t go back to sleep… But in this room, with this view, it’s a must! We slept with the curtains open so we could wake up to the magnificent view of Cusco’s terra-cotta roofs against the green mountain peaks. Muy bonita y romántico, sí sí 🙂
It’s horseback riding time!! We figured this was a great way to get outside and acclimate to the altitude and also enjoy the scenery of the Cusco countryside. The stables were in the hills north of Cusco and we were at the city’s highest point… the views were absolutely breathtaking. We had a great morning on horseback visiting two Inca archeological ruins, The Temple of the Moon and Devil’s Balcony, learning more about the Inca history and culture along the way. Of course I got the horse with a gas problem… Every time we went up a hill, he let it rip! The whole group got a kick out of it. The two girls who were part of our tour were from Holland. We really enjoyed meeting them and are looking forward to meeting the people we will be spending four days with on the Inca trail.
Soooo Cusqueñans walk their alpaca’s like Americans walk their dogs. As we were coming back into town, we passed this… a mother picking her child up from school with their pet alpaca. LOL
The skies opened up just as we got back to our hotel, so we really lucked out with a beautiful morning. We grabbed our umbrellas and headed out to see more of Cusco and thankfully it only rained for about an hour. We wandered through Qorikancha, better known in English as the “Court of Gold,” a temple built by the Incas but taken over by the Spanish conquistadors.
Walking around the streets of Cusco, you’re bombarded by tons of people selling everything from tours to Machu Picchu, to sunglasses, pictures with their llamas and massages. We decided to treat ourselves and paid the equivalent of $9.25 USD for a sixty minute full body massage. Ummm, can the States get on board with this??
So Brittany and I definitely didn’t pack right for these chilly nights in the Andes Mountains and both of us are worried we’re going to be freezing on this hike… So we went shopping for Alpaca wool sweaters and now have new additions to our closest!
We ate dinner at Chicha, a popular restaurant inspired and owned by Peruvian celebrity chef Gastón Acurio, godfather of the 
Nuevo-Andino culinary craze. The write-up said, “If you haven’t tried cuy yet, the trendy way Acurio presents this delicacy, might encourage you to pull the trigger.” For those of you not familiar, cuy is guinea pig, which has long been an Andean speciality. We were hesitant to try it, but decided this might be the best opportunity. Our stomachs aren’t strong enough to have it served roasted and delivered whole on the plate, with the head and arms still attached, but we ordered the Chaufa dish, which is a Peruvian-Chinese fried rice featuring cuy filleted on top. We managed to finish the plate, but we’re not sure we ever need to eat that again, haha.
We’re trying to figure out if we haven’t fully caught up on sleep yet or if this altitude just zaps the energy right out of you… but either way, we’re still beat and want to make sure we’re well rested for these early mornings ahead on the hike. So it’s another low-key night with an early bedtime.