Wednesday, April 12, 2006
So our 14 hour "bus cama" sleeper bus was not what we were lead to believe. It was a "semi-cama," (they lied to us). It had comfortable reclining seats, a stewardess who served refreshments, & bad American movies dubbed or with subtitles, but was not a full sleeper, oh well, maybe we'll take one in Chile or Argentina...
Cusco, former capital of the Inca Empire sits 3399 meters (11,152 feet for the metric impaired) above sea level and was the 1st stop on our path to acclimatization (we won't be close to sea level again till May). It's an old city, with lots of colonial style buildings (many built with stone "borrowed" from much older Inca structures), narrow cobblestone streets (some so steep the turned to stone staircases), & pretty plazas & churches.
Neither of us has ever been at this altitude before & are still not used to it. Fortunately my opossum defense spared me the first bit of altitude sickness. Sadly Ellie was short of breath and had a headache for most of our first day (maybe she can learn to develop some other marsupial's defense system?). This is not to say that it's been easy for either of us, both of us were wheezing like asthmatics after climbing 2 flights of stairs, the difference was I'd push myself to the top & stop while my lungs burned.
Anyway, besides the altitude & overly zealous people trying to sell us everything from handicrafts "¡Compré algo! (Buy something!)" to marijuana (shoving crumbled weed in my face to prove it was fresh) we liked Cusco. We hiked to nearby ruins (Saqsaywaman, Puka Pukara, Q'enqo, & Tambomachay) with an aspiring guide in exchange for helping him practice his English, had some tasty meals, & there was a chocolate shop we really wanted to go back to.
We were really impressed by the construction of the Inca sites near Cusco. They were all cut stone, no mortar. I suspect they would still be standing if their stones hadn't been "mined" for some buildings in Cusco.
Also, I overpaid for a shoe shine ($1.66 instead of $0.33), it was the best shoe shine of my life.
We also really also really liked our hostal, they were REALLY great with helping us make travel arrangements & information for things around the city, so if you're ever in Cusco try to get into Hostal Anita - it's the annex of Hostel Amaru (a well reputed and affordable hostal in Cusco) - you'd never find Hostal Anita without help (there's no sign and it looks like nothing from the outside, but it's nice on the inside and cheaper than Amaru...
Kepfram
Cusco, former capital of the Inca Empire sits 3399 meters (11,152 feet for the metric impaired) above sea level and was the 1st stop on our path to acclimatization (we won't be close to sea level again till May). It's an old city, with lots of colonial style buildings (many built with stone "borrowed" from much older Inca structures), narrow cobblestone streets (some so steep the turned to stone staircases), & pretty plazas & churches.Neither of us has ever been at this altitude before & are still not used to it. Fortunately my opossum defense spared me the first bit of altitude sickness. Sadly Ellie was short of breath and had a headache for most of our first day (maybe she can learn to develop some other marsupial's defense system?). This is not to say that it's been easy for either of us, both of us were wheezing like asthmatics after climbing 2 flights of stairs, the difference was I'd push myself to the top & stop while my lungs burned.
Anyway, besides the altitude & overly zealous people trying to sell us everything from handicrafts "¡Compré algo! (Buy something!)" to marijuana (shoving crumbled weed in my face to prove it was fresh) we liked Cusco. We hiked to nearby ruins (Saqsaywaman, Puka Pukara, Q'enqo, & Tambomachay) with an aspiring guide in exchange for helping him practice his English, had some tasty meals, & there was a chocolate shop we really wanted to go back to.
We were really impressed by the construction of the Inca sites near Cusco. They were all cut stone, no mortar. I suspect they would still be standing if their stones hadn't been "mined" for some buildings in Cusco.
Also, I overpaid for a shoe shine ($1.66 instead of $0.33), it was the best shoe shine of my life.
We also really also really liked our hostal, they were REALLY great with helping us make travel arrangements & information for things around the city, so if you're ever in Cusco try to get into Hostal Anita - it's the annex of Hostel Amaru (a well reputed and affordable hostal in Cusco) - you'd never find Hostal Anita without help (there's no sign and it looks like nothing from the outside, but it's nice on the inside and cheaper than Amaru...
Kepfram
Kepfram & Ellie, 9:56 PM
