Stepping Out: Next Adventure: Peru, Baby!

Viva El Peru, indeed!

We made it to Peru! Our first destination here is Cusco, the starting point for travelers ultimately headed to Macchu Picchu. Our flight from Quito had a stopover in Lima and with truly perfectly timed flights, another friend from the States met us in the international arrivals terminal, so we are now officially a group of three. The meeting up part was easy; the 6-hour layover that resulted in spending the night in the airport waiting for our 5 am flight to Cusco, not so much. Obviously, there isn’t much sleep that happens in an airport but since so many flights to Cusco leave so ridiculously early, the airport is fully open 24 hours a day, so even at 3 in the morning you can get a bite to eat or do some shopping to kill some time if you’re so inclined. We were not so inclined, but at least still having some hustle and bustle around us made it feel much less like a graveyard.

The main plaza in Cusco

Either way, we arrived in Cusco yesterday morning pretty unavoidably wiped out after getting only about an hour of sleep in the airport. Hence our plan for it to simply be a day to chill, nap and get acclimated to the city. We had a great lunch then spent the afternoon slowly wandering around the old part of the city. We chilled over coffee and dessert, we napped, we had dinner. About as low-key as a day gets.

Coffee and decadent desserts overlooking the plaza...
not too shabby!

In addition to acclimating to the city, we are also acclimating to the high altitude here. Laura and I had a head start in Ecuador as Quito is the world’s highest capital (at an elevation of 9,750 feet above sea level!) but since it was Lili’s first day, we were extra careful to take it slow. I actually haven’t had any issues with it since arriving, other than occasionally feeling out of breath from what would otherwise be a non-issue, such as walking fast or climbing stairs or walking up an incline. Laura’s had a bit more trouble, having more of the traditional symptoms off and on like headaches, nausea, dizziness, tingling in her arms and hands, as well as the shortness of breath. It’s the first time I’ve been in a place where altitude is an issue, and I find it an oddly interesting topic. It seems to be even worse here for her as the elevation of Cusco is a whopping 11,200 feet. She might start to get some relief tomorrow as we start to make our way closer to Macchu Picchu, which is “only” 7,970 feet. Pfft, that’s nothin’!

The "ticket window" at the soccer stadium

After receiving all sorts of varying information (as well as what we knew were outrageous price quotes) from everyone we asked about it, we decided to spend some time this morning at the official tourism office, getting the real low-down on the best way to get there on our own so we could start formulating a plan. Done.

The rabid, and very entertaining, Cusco fans

On a lark yesterday, we asked someone about soccer in Cusco and found out that they actually have two teams (one of which one the South American cup a few years ago) and that there just so happened to be a game today. If you want a truly South American experience, go to a soccer game here! For starters, we were wandering around looking for the ticket sales office and then noticed lines of people at various points along random spots on the outer wall. It took a minute to figure out that the “ticket office” is nothing more than hole just a few inches square in the wall where you hand your money through to a pair of eyes and suddenly a hand sticks the tickets back out at you. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto! You walk into the stadium and instead of pricey vendors selling Coke and hot dogs for 10 bucks a pop, there are tables set up with everything from fresh juices to pinchos (kabobs) to ice creams for prices that are mostly less than 50 cents. Inside the stadium you just sit wherever you like on the cement rows. I also found it amusing to observe what the vendors who came through the stands were selling: instead of beer, you could buy chicha (a juice made from sugar cane) in a little plastic bag. Forget hot dogs, here it’s kabobs. It was an awesome experience!

Drinking chicha from a bag at a soccer game, typical Sunday
afternoon for me, you know....

And what was most awesome was that we were the only gringos in the crowd. Just us and ten thousand screaming Peruvians, hurling insults at the players when they messed up and going berserk when they got a goal. Being able to speak Spanish, it was particularly amusing for me to be able to hear the things the fans were screaming at the players…. oh my! Even without knowing much about the game, much less this team or its players, it was impossible not to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the crowd. An interesting note was the very large police presence (and I’m not talking rent-a-cops, I’m talking suited to the hilt with shields and guns) to make sure the crowds didn’t get too unruly. South Americans do have a reputation for being rather rowdy fans and there have been some really tragic incidents at soccer games here involving rioting crowds. But at least for today, I only saw the police have to push back a few people who were standing at the fence yelling at the players… one being a woman, no less!

Cusco Market

In the afternoon we went to a big market and tried out all sorts of local delicacies. It’s hard to get over just how good you can eat here… and how ridiculously inexpensively you can do it. Today we honed in on fresh squeezed juice made right before your eyes, yogurt with fresh tropical fruit on top, homemade artisanal breads and pastries… and most of it costing less than $1. I’m going to go through serious withdrawal when I get home and can no longer get fresh, pure juice every morning!

Their loaves of bread have all sorts of things in them: coins,
candies, horse heads, doll faces.... hmm

Laura and Lili were not feeling well by late afternoon so they headed back to the hotel to rest and I ventured off on my own. And what better thing to do in a foreign country when you have some time on your own than…. why, a massage, of course! Especially when you can get one for less than $10. Follow that up with a yummy meal on the plaza and it doesn’t get much better. Until….

I watched this lady make me some super yummy pineapple juice
for realz... and then she served it to me in a bag!

… you walk outside to head back for the night and randomly find a group of traditional Peruvian musicians playing their instruments and dancing in the square, a large crowd starting to form around them. And then another shows up on the other side of the plaza. And then another comes down an alley. And then suddenly the whole plaza is teeming with different music groups, each in different types of traditional dress, each playing a different kind of music and doing their own dance. They finally all converged in the center, still all playing at the same time, none of the music being the same so the result was essentially complete chaos, and yet oh-so-South American and culturally rich and fascinating all at the same time. Gotta love an unexpected cultural experience that you just so happen to stumble upon while walking home!

The nighttime Peruvian musicathon I happened on tonight