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So having an overnight bus to Cuzco turned out to be a godsend, the toilet was clean! We arrived in Cuzco Monday morning feeling below average but at least we got "some" sleep. Our taxis driver was there to pick us up at the bus terminal so Karl didn't even have time to visit the toilet which he desperately desired. As soon as we arrived where we had organised to stay we checked it out, it was not too clean but our room was more than adequate. We slept the whole of Monday which was fantastic.
Tuesday woke up sick of being both sick (bad pun) and ready for some fresh air, we went for a walk to find banks etc. We walked around the Plaza (town square), all of these in Peru have been fantastic places every one is carefully tendered early each morning with fantastic grass (local police enforce that you don't stand, lye on the grass at all!) and gardens, some of these have had monuments some of these have had children's play grounds all have had a massive number of seats they are fantastic meeting places for the locals and tourists alike. We then navigated, badly and ended up walking up about 250 steps at 3360meters, loosing your breath happens fast, to try and find a restaurant that serves mainly European style food, it was at 509 of the street so we followed the road to the end the last number was 488 and then went up the stairs thinking that the street may be linked somewhere else as our map we were given was cut off at the end of this street we were looking to no avail. We went down the street hungry and disappointed and we stumbled past several restaurants offering typical fare (not so clean), until we came across a restaurant that looked very clean (the chef was even wearing a proper uniform so Karl was satisfied), where we found a chicken dish that wouldn't upset our fragile stomachs, Delicious! When we left we found the restaurant that we wanted at 509 whatever street right next to 108? OK so numbers mean nothing in some cases! We did more wandering around (we wont mention Karl's little all the food in this country sux tantrum in a supermarket) after heading back to play cards in the sunny courtyard of the hostel which Jane won hands down.
Today we woke up late and went for the lazy brunch option of eating out, we picked a place overlooking the plaza in the lovely sun, again a very clean place to eat as it also doubles as an expensive hotel. Brunch was fantastic and really set us up for a full on day, We wondered round to one government building to buy a 'tourist pass' to all of the important sites around Cuzco, we then went to another area found some really helpful information regarding our trip to Macchu Pichu, that we and everyone else can get their tickets in advance with this we headed of to yet another government building quite far away. After securing tickets to enter Macchu Pichu YES!!!!!!!! (there's a 500 people per day limit) we went to visit Qorikancha site museum. It was small but fantastic its pretty much the basement of a yard that once housed a temple of the Inca that the Spanish conquerors tore down and reused the bricks to make a Catholic Church. This aside there were more mummies and a lot of information in Spanglish... (Just really bad English), after getting confused about what had just happened after we popped up on the field of the monument we had a little rest and then visited the Museum of Regional History. There were a lot of really good examples of Incan tools, implements with dual use agriculture and war, and small monuments etc. upstairs was mainly dedicated to Spanish Conquest and the Last Incan (in the view of the Spanish) and his crusade to free the peoples of South America and re-instate Incan Rule, as well as some half Spanish half Incan Guy that wrote about the trials and tribulations of the people of Peru. We had a massive dinner at the place we were trying to find yesterday and went home got changed into oh s*** its freezing cold clothes and headed off to see a show of some traditional Peruvian dancers from different ages and areas. All and all a fantastic day we aren't quite better yet but we are getting out and doing stuff, tomorrow we are off to some Inca ruins.
- comments
Uellan so glad you are on the mend! take plenty of piccies of Machu Pichu for me... although some of the other places you have been look more interesting and less touristy.
John H Keep up the great blog work. Very enjoyable checking in on your adventures - just like a travel show on telly but more enjoyable in the way that a good novel beats the movie version and knowing the narrators! A good education learning about a part of the world I know little about too :)