Saturday, November 18, 2017
We planned this trip to see our son David, who is five months into a six-month job in Peru, but the first part did not involve him at all. David had already been to Machu Picchu and several times to Cusco, so we decided to do those parts on our own. Our flight from Newark (direct to Lima!) on Friday was uneventful and even productive (I had good wifi service the entire flight and got a fair amount of work done). We stayed at the only airport hotel in Lima, the Wyndham, because we had an early flight the next day. Given that it was 10:30 pm when we arrived, our only food option was the hotel restaurant, but it was fine.
We left Lima early Saturday morning for a short flight to Cusco, high in the Andes (elevation about 11,200 at our hotel, the Belmond Monasterio (below), a converted monastery.
It’s a pretty hotel with Gregorian chants playing in the multiple courtyards.
After dumping our stuff in the room (which was ready, even though it was still morning), we took a self-guided walking tour through the central (old) part of the city.
Above and below, the Plaza de Armas. It turns out that practically every Peruvian city has a Plaza de Armas. This was the prettiest one we saw. We walked through the cathedral (not shown, as it was behind me when I took these photos). Kind of an odd place, because it felt like three churches next to each other instead of one big space. There were about ten separate altars, and the whole place was full of what were essentially giant dolls, clothed in full regalia, representing various saints, historical figures and church leaders.
Cusco is full of alleyways.
We always like to walk through food markets. They never disappoint for local color (literally and figuratively).
We stopped back at the hotel to rest for a few minutes. Good timing because while we were in our room a massive hailstorm began, with thunder and lightning and, eventually, an accumulation of three inches. Click on this link for a 5-second film:
It must have been somewhat unusual, because even the hotel staff members were taking pictures. Once the hail let up, we continued our walking tour. The guidebook had us heading next to Sacsayhuaman, but the book failed to mention that the walk was straight uphill. Mind you, we had just arrived a few hours earlier, so the altitude was definitely a factor. (Altitude issues: On the advice of a few friends, we were taking Diamox (acetazolamide) and we really didn’t have any serious symptoms, but walking uphill left us a little breathless. The hotel had coca tea out all day in the lobby, and we partook of that as well. Finally, I had paid the extra $20 to have oxygen pumped into our room at night, but who knows whether that helped us sleep better.)
It was already 5:00 and the ruins closed at 5:30, so we decided not the pay the equivalent of $50 to go in. I might have insisted had I been 100 pages further into my book (The Last Days of the Incas), in which case I would have understood the military significance of this site.
Instead, we got the gist of it from the outside and walked up to the Cristo Blanco statue to enjoy the view of the city.
The Plaza de Armas is the big empty space near my head.
That night the hotel restaurant had opera night during dinner. I was fairly certain that would drive Dave nuts, so we made a reservation at a place just steps away from the hotel. First, I had a Pisco Sour at the hotel bar. Pisco is the national drink in Peru. It’s a clear liqueur, sort of like a grappa. Dave and I disagreed about it; he didn’t mind it straight but thought it made no sense in a cocktail. I thought those Pisco Sours were pretty tasty. The hotel’s collection of Piscos:
At the restaurant, I had as an appetizer the Peruvian version of avocado toast. This was the best avocado I’ve ever tasted. For the first half of this vacation, we ate really well and enjoyed Peruvian cuisine. (Things went a bit downhill after that.)
Off to bed early, for we had another early start the next day (true of every day on this trip).