Fair to say that day 1 was basically a write-off with both of us feeling the effects of the altitude. Cusco is situated at 3400m above sea level. We were surprised how lethargic we both felt and also how easy it was to get out of breath (even by our standards) - just walking the streets or climbing some steps.
After a monster sleep (4pm to 6am) and what seems like gallons of free-flowing cocoa tea, we resurfaced to actually get a look around the place.
We jumped on the open-top bus for a lap of the city, and it stood out to us immediately that the place was stuck in time. Not in a backwards kind of way, but architecturally & culturally it felt very authentic. This shouldn't come as a surprise considering Cusco has been declared World Heritage Site in 1983, so little can change...
Lots of plazas and open spaces (although the living quarters seem to be very small and modest). We saw a few groups of school kids practicing their dancing routines:
Plaza de Armas
Locals' accommodation
Catholicism is more than a little visible - in the shops, hotels, cafe's and of course the monastery and two cathedrals within 50m of the town centre.
Cristo Bianco on background of a snow-capped mountain 6500m high
The town held a few surprises for us.
Surprise #1 was that it is bigger than we thought - about half a million people here in a really long, skinny city stretched along a valley.
Surprise #2 was that it has the highest UV concentration in the world, so naturally JS added to sunburn from Lima.
Surprise #3 was that the foundations (and in many cases the lower part of the walls) for most of the buildings in the old central part of town are from the Inca era in the 1500's. The Spanish invasion basically destroyed most things here, but they were not silly enough to completely level the buildings - just left enough to put new Spanish-style walls and roofs on top.
Inca stonework is so solid that it withstood 2 massive earthquakes (one in 1650 and one in 1950) which destroyed more than one third of the city.
Inca stone foundations
In similar Peruvian fashion to what we saw in Lima, they are not shy with the number of Police. However rather than riding Segway's and taking photos for tourists, here they are attempting to replace what seems to be a perfectly operational traffic light system. In the middle of a normal busy intersection with plenty of red & green lights, there always seems to be a stern looking young female officer blowing incessantly on a whistle which is being completely ignored on account of the traffic light she is standing under doing her job amply.
Another thing we found interesting is that one of the universities here (they have several) is the second oldest in South America (after one in Lima) and offers a first-class education free of charge, and many of the locals take this opportunity.
Searching out good local food has been a little tricky, but last night we got it right.
Our culinary experience started out at a pretty trendy bar for a few Pisco Sours (the national drink of Peru - sour brandy with lemon juice, simple syrup, egg whites and bitters) which we thought were excellent if not a bit on the strong side at this altitude!
We followed with dinner at a quaint restaurant containing three tables and two staff. We tried one of the two local specialities which was a fillet of Alpaca which tasted a bit like veal. The other delicacy is Cuy al Horno (oven roasted Guinea Pig) but that is on the not yet/maybe list for now.
Pisco Sour
Trek starts tomorrow early morning, with a bus trip out to Sacred Valley where we start the Inca trail.
Will update in a week or so once back from trek and rested up.
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