We set off on the 7 hour bus ride with much enthusiasm, and pumped music from the portable speakers we'd brought along just for occasions like this. We sounded fabulous, but are glad there aren't any videos to prove otherwise.
At first the scenery was rather boring. Everything was dry, brown and repetitive. But then, as we started to climb higher in the Andes (just had to throw that in there - did you know we're in Peru????!!!! So exciting!) things became greener, the corners on the road became tighter, and sitting in the same seat for an extended period became a little more bearable.
We stopped for a toilet break at a pretty spectacular lookout. It probably seems like we go on and on about toilets, but it's pretty exciting when one appears in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, it was here that we had a chance to get a photo with a real llama! (See attached - hope you like 'em). It was extremely smelly, nowhere near as cute as they look in The Emperor's New Groove, but everyone back home will be hearing about just how cute and cuddly they were - please don't spoil it with reality.
You'll notice from the picture too that we were at an elevation of 4,335m. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means that basically there was no oxygen in the air and we're superheroes for surviving it! However, we did manage to shop, get excited about the llamas, run around taking photos of the magnificent vistas and all that before we realised, so perhaps we'll be ok for the trek after all. Still, it was the highest we've been so far, and there were a few headaches afterwards. Needless to say, the party bus pumped the tunes a litre lower after this, and some even settled in for a nap.
Lunch ended up being in a buffet restaurant, with full glass walls so you can see the rise of the mountains above. It was such a chillaxing (combination of relaxing and chilling out) moment to be able to guzzle gourmet dishes whilst taking in the view. We've been pretty lucky with our food finds on this trip, but we're not sure it can continue being this good.
Among the things we got to try were this scrumptious chicken curry that seems to be all over the place in Peru, steamed veggies (these taste so good after such a carb high diet!), really yummy rice with some sort of yellow stuff on it (sorry, can't give you much more than that), a zillion other chicken varieties, beef salt ado (sort of like a stir fry but way way better), and that's before talking about the soups, noodles, creme caramels, purple corn jelly (yes, that's the truth!) and a really delicious rice pudding. The highlight was perhaps the real live bananas that we could peel ourselves so they were safe to eat. Fruit is the one thing we're missing a bit on this trip. Please have fruit bowls stocked for when we get home. (Thanks).
Anyway, we had to get back on the bus and the last few hours seemed to drag on forever. Trivial pursuit challenges were had, singing continued a little, but sleeping seemed to be the most popular activity.
Driving into Cuzco was such a disappointment. We'd read so much about it and were so excited about the cobblestone streets, so when we could only see dirty, dilapidated buildings on scruffy, ordinary streets, we thought we'd got it all wrong. However, once we got to the main square, the Plaza de Armas, all our dreams came true.
Cuzco is magnificent! There are stunning churches and cathedrals everywhere. The streets really are lined with cobblestones. At one point, we thought our bus wasn't even going to make it up one of the steep inclines, but he got there in the end by zig-zagging across the road. Everything was perfect, until our bus driver asked us where our hotel was.
This is a good lesson we've learned, and we'll never repeat it. We all assumed the bus driver knew where the hotel was. We thought he was with the lady who had organised it for us. Turns out they were different companies, even though we'd dealt with them together (how does that work??!!) so there was no way of finding out where our super cheap, super cute, super convenient, home for 20 people was. We had thought we were so organised that we hadn't even brought the brochure with us. It's ok though, we're tough and independent and know how to put a roof over our heads, so we did just that.
Some of us minded the bags in the main square, watching all the people hanging out on a Saturday afternoon. While this was happening, the leaders for the day went off to find accommodation. Luck had us find a gorgeous Hospedaje (hostel style accommodation), perfectly located, with availability. However, it was out of our price range. It was too good to be true... or was it?
We've learned how to bargain, so worked out a deal with the hotel owner. We got it down to the price we needed, and even got breakfast included! Score! The group then had to carry their oversized packs through the streets of Cuzco, where we then dumped our stuff at the hostel, before hitting the town to see what was on offer.
We started by walking uphill from our hostel. Dinner was on the menu and we found a great little place that closed its doors once we were all safely inside, and even put up the closed sign. It was so exciting to have a whole restaurant to ourselves!
The budget people had bargained an excellent deal which would see us eat a huge meal of entree and main, well within our budget. We're becoming pros at this. It's a shame we can't do this sort of thing in Australia!
Seeing a lively, bustling place, many tourists stuck their heads in, made comments that clearly it must be a wonderful restaurant if it is so full, so they said they'd go back the next night. The truth is, we hadn't even eaten the food yet! It's funny how congregating in a place makes things popular, often for no good reason at all. Second element of the truth - we wouldn't go back there. We've been spoilt with some amazing food in Peru, and unfortunately they just didn't make the cut. There was nothing wrong with it, but we've had better.
After this, we went down to the main square and had a look around. The first thing we all found was McDonalds, so of course had to buy a McFlurry for dessert. When in other countries, it's crucial to experience all of the cultural elements, including pop culture and fast food, so we immersed ourselves for a learning experience and will most likely do so again.
The Snickers McFlurry was a winner (chocolate fudge, Snickers chunks), as was the M&Ms McFlurry (caramel fudge, mini M&Ms). It seems the ultimate champion was the Oreo McFlurry (chocolate fudge, Oreo pieces), so we'll have to experience it for ourselves if it wasn't our choice on this night. Plenty of time for that.
We returned to the hotel happy but tired. A team meeting was held to work out what the plan of action would be for our first day in Cuzco, and you'll read all about that in the next email.
We hope you're all well and can't wait to see you!
Love Team B. Today B is for Bus-lagged.
No comments:
Post a Comment