Cuzco, Peru- Arrival on Wednesday

16Dec10

Wednesday came along faster than we imagined. Today we flew into Cuzco, Peru. So many people say that it is a magical place, but until I had a chance to see for myself, I really had no idea HOW magical it really is.

We arrived into Cuzco around 3:30pm on Wednesday afternoon. First stop was the hostel I had arranged since we had some VERY heavy luggage. We walked the few blocks it took to get to the hostel…did I mention that our bags were VERY heavy? Yeah, I thought so. We go to check in just to find out that they had just given our hotel to the punks that walked in right before us. And I was the one with the reservation! GRRR!!! So instead of offering a room there or at a place even CLOSE to there, we had to walk another six blocks with those VERY heavy bags to another hostel. Luckily for them, it was much nicer than the original. Once we got settled in, we headed out into town for some grub and sight-seeing.

As we walked through downtown Cuzco, we heard some deep drums pounding through the main streets near the Plaza de Armas. We walked a few blocks further to find the people of Sacred Valley in their native garb dancing down the main streets of Cuzco. What Adam and I didn’t realize is that we planned our trip to Sacred Valley during one of the most cultured and busiest times of the year. It was Inti Raymi- a native festival much like a reenactment of the civil war in the US- where the native tribes of Sacred Valley get together and celebrate their different tribes/cultures and reenact the battles once held back in ancient times.

Not sure what else there was to do during these great festivities, we walked through some side roads to find a little diner that served quick food for a good price. This is the restaurant where I tried alpaca (a smaller form of llamas) for the first time. It didn’t taste as wonderful as I would have expected. Kinda chewy. Since it was nearing 10:00pm, we figured the festivities would be going on for not much longer, so we grabbed a 6 pack of beers and popped a squat on a sidewalk near the main show, the Inti Raymi parade. It was wonderful! So many tribes in their native clothing throwing fire and dancing through the streets. The culture was rich that night!

After the end of the 6 pack, we headed inside where the weather was a little warmer. We stumbled upon an Irish Pub that was self-proclaimed ”the highest pub in the world,” which could be true. Considering the elevation of the town of Cuzco, the 2nd floor building in the Plaza de Armas square could rightfully be the highest in the world. But I’ll leave that up to Guinness to decide. The book, not the beer.

To take in all of the culture of the Inti Raymi, we stopped by one of the street vendors and grabbed some street meat, just to see how it tastes. We had tried so many different kinds of food in South America so far, we were fairly confident that we wouldn’t get sick…and took the risk. After the street meat, we bar hopped a little more and eventually made it back to hostel for the night. Good times for night one.