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That bus ride was awful... it felt as though the double decker was going to fall over al night, the speed he was going around corners and over bumps was ridiculous. I burnt my foot almost on the radiator that kept coming on and off down the side of the bus by my foot, the window was freezing with condensation, Georgia was practically lying in my lap with her reclined chair so that made me feel claustrophobic, Scott was snoring in my one ear and we were at around 4900 metres above sea level for a while whilst we went over the valley, this didn't help the sleep pattern either due to lack of oxygen! To top it off my bottom left wisdom tooth is absolutely throbbing! I'm hoping I don't have an infection in it because the skin is pulling back from the tooth. I've taken paracetamols which has helped but not entirely gone.
We arrived in Cusco at 6.45am, it seemed like a nice city so far, I was surprised at how big it was. Although we could probably walk onto the runway to get to the plane rather than go through the normal way... it was a little insane to how close we were to it all!
You can always tell when you get to a main square of a place because the floor starts to become cobble stones and not concrete.
We got to the Cusco Plaza 2, it had a lovely foyer and sitting area with... great wifi throughout the building! Originally we weren't able to check in until 10.30am but Renzo worked his magic and we were able to check in straight away which was so good because we all stunk and were in need of a desperate shower, and it was warm! Thank god! Just what we needed - and it was so powerful!
We met back up at 9am to all go for breakfast, Renzo took us to his favourite cafe 'Jacks Cafe' it had more international food than anything but the portion sizes were supposed to be massive which was just what we all needed! I ordered the 'Gordo' it was toast with scrambled egg, crispy bacon, sautéed potatoes and beans. Yummy!! Scott had roughly the same but with mushrooms.
We were all in food comas after breakfast but walked it off zig zagging in and out of all the beautiful squares, Renzo took us to a huge market that sold pretty much anything from textiles to fruit, vegetables to lama foetus carcasses, pig heads to skinned guinea pigs, and at the bottom of the market cows face, placentas, cow stomach lining, hearts, lamb eyes, testicles, pretty much anything that you don't eat from Tesco on an animal was all sold here... it was awful! Bush tucker trial be blowed! I competed in one of them just walking through he smell of the market! BOFF.
Renzo' favourite is lamb eye soup. Tasty.
We seen so many people eating soup with a heart stuck in the middle of the bowl, I mean... what the hell!
We went to the fruit stalls afterwards, so many fruits!!! We tried some exotic fruits that we don't have at home, we only ate the inside and not the outside skin so it was all good - no dodgy tummies about! Me and Slavy shares a passion fruit, he is hilarious! He was eating the passion fruit, well the jelly bit around he seeds and spitting the seeds out, he didn't think he could eat them! Haha!
Renzo said that here you can get set menus (starters, main dish and drink) for 5-15 Peruvian soles. However, when it's that cheap it's left over food from the previous person who ordered the dish and didn't eat it all... what the hell is that all about!?
We shopped a little more and Renzo took us to rev black market where they sell all sorts of things! They were selling little bird eggs, I'm pretty sure people were buying a bag of them and sucking the raw egg out of the shell. Again, BOFF.
Shoe shopping was not for me and there were so many people in such a small space I was ready to leave.. I got some bits and bobs though because everything was all so colourful! We are coming back after the trek anyways so I think I may have another nose around then.
We all seemed to break off into groups; me, Scott, Renzo, Slavy, American Lauren, Sara and Ben went for smoothies and cake. (Which by the way hit the right spots!) fresh strawberry and passion fruit smoothies - delicious!
Again we broke up into a few groups, some went shopping and four of us went to the chocolate factory around the corner, we had a little tour of the museum there about how and where it was produced and then we got to try all the chocolates and chocolate liqueur! Delicious... the shots were about 35/40% each with alcohol and I'm sure we had at least 6-7 shots each! Rob looked wired when he came out before us from the shots and now I know why.
We were a little tired and it was around 2pm now so the cathedrals were closed and it was trying to rain so we headed back to the hotel and sat in the lobby having a chat and a giggle with Sara and Jaydin.
We had our briefing for the inca trail this evening at the local G Adventure office and paid for our rentals ready for the trail. We met our inca warrior guide - Jonathon. He was from Cusco and knew everything inside which was good, he did say that it's been raining in parts of the inca trail since Monday... it's Saturday today. So it's going to be bloody wet and muddy!
By this time my wisdom tooth was absolutely killing me again and this time I had an earache with it which was delightful, even when I swallow the pain gets dragged down with it too.
The gave us our duffle bags to use for our clothes. We have 6kilo each to give to the porters, however they don't mention that the sleeping bag and mattress that you hire weighs 3.2 kilos and you have to include it in your 6kilo weight. So technically we only have 2.8 kilos to take with us for 5 days (the homestay, at ollantaytambo and three days on the inca trail)
Fantastic.
I'd beat load my rucksack up then I think!
I went to the pharmacy on the way back, we were all going to go to the Irish bar for food but we couldn't fit 15 of us in the bar so we went up the road to a Peruvian that was a little more pricey but worth it. I had alpaca steak in a fig sauce with mash potato. It was so good! The alpacas are cute but bloody Delicious, and there wasn't one piece of fat on it! It tastes a little different to steak, it's tender but has a stronger taste to it.
After two beers and food it was time to head to the Irish bar for a drink! I was going to have Henry Weston's but it was 30 soles compared to a large cusquenza larger for 13 soles. - no brainer! The cider will have to wait till I get home!
We rocked home about midnight - such dirty stop outs! Scott had lost his voice by now and we were zonked! Heater on because it was a little chilly, I would say around 7-8 degrees. Which is cold for what we have been experiencing in Peru over the last week or so.
Excited to get started tomorrow, even if it's going to be a paid packing the duffle bag for 5 days!
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