We flew into Cuzco this morning from Lima, an absolutely beautiful flight over the Andes. We departed very early though and fortunately didnt have to check our packs, so we could quickly get through the airport and on to Los Ninos, an orphange we are staying at our first night in Cuzco. We were greeted upon our arrival with coca tea, which allegedly is suppose to help with the altitude sickness. I can´t say for sure if there was any effect, but I´ve been doing quite well thus far. We left Los Ninos early to walk around town. We visited the market where we were tempted to buy the skinned dog or pigs heads. They also sell guinea pig here which they claim is a delicacy. There is a restaurant in town that specializes in guinea pig. We found a travel agency (for lack of a better word) to help us with our train tickets and such for Aguascalientes. We intended to leave on Wednesday, but due to limited availability on the train, will be leaving tomorrow night instead and staying in Aguascalientes two nights. We will be in Machu Picchu on Thursday and on Friday we fly back from Cuzco to Lima.
We saw a lot of really neat ruins today. I´ve nearly used up one 2gig chip already. We toured a number of churches and convents as well. I dont remember the names of where we went and I dont have my pack with me at the moment (I am at an internet cafe). We saw many llamas and alpacas today and I found some nice new hats to add to my collection. Clothes made from alpacas and llamas are really cheap here. We don´t exactly have space for many things though.
Tomorrow we will spend nearly the entire day visiting ruins and towns in the “Sacred Valley” before catching our train at 8:30. We didn´t eat much all day, so when we returned to Cuzco today we found a nice place to eat. I had a very nice and large bowl of chicken soup, steak and rice, with french fries, and some strange dessert – all for $1.25 each (Yunuen got something similar). The food here is ridiculously cheap.
I still dont have the ability to upload photos as these computers are pretty cheap and I dont have my pack with me anyway….Not sure if I´ll have internet access in Aguascalientes!
ciao…
