I actually get a pretty good nap in until people start arriving at the airport around 0500.
The flight to Cusco is only an hour, but surprisingly expensive at $340 round trip. It turns out that the Peruvian airlines have one low price for Peruvians and a high price for foreigners. There is a bus for only about $12 each way, but it is also 18-20 hours each way due to the mountains between Lima and Cusco.
After a 40 minute delay due to clouds in Cusco we're on our way. It's cloudy all the way so I can't see much of Peru yet. The landing in Cusco is interesting since it's in a valley surrounded by high mountains. The plane banks around several times and all around are clouds with mountains in them hundreds of feet over our heads.
Leaving the airport I hike outside onto the street with the locals and catch a regular taxi instead of an official airport taxi, for about 1/3 the price. The streets of Cusco are packed with taxis and buses; you can be pretty much anywhere and just step to the curb and throw out your hand and someone will pull over to pick you up. There are no meters as the standard price is 3 soles (about $1) for anywhere in the city center.
A brisk cab ride
brings me to Hospedaje Turistico Recoleta, home for the next few days.
It's an old house about 4 or 5 blocks away from the city center. My first time staying in a hostel but I figure you can't beat the price, $10/night for a bed, shared bathroom, and breakfast. There are dozens of these places all over the city as Cusco is right on the Lonely Planet backpacker circuit and the city is overrun with Machu Picchu tourists during high season (May - August).
The room is pretty basic, 2 bunk beds with some shelves. There are lockers in another area to store stuff you don't want people rummaging through, and several different common rooms with TV, DVDs, ping pong table. The view is nice, looking out on the terrace and courtyard.
It's around 9:30, pretty much 24 hours after I left Chicago. That plus the difference in elevation (500 feet to 11200 feet) has me pretty tired, but I set off to see a little bit of the city.
Lots of narrow, hilly streets on the way to Plaza De Armas, the city center
Church of la Compañía on Plaza de Armas, from 1576.
I stopped and got a tamale from a lady selling them out of a basket by the side of the church. I'm usually skeptical of street food but people were buying them as fast as she could hand them out and it was quite tasty. Only 1 sole.
Parts of the city were built on the old Inca ruins, using the walls as the foundation for new buildings
I had some lunch, my first plate of the Peruvian national dish of Lomo Saltado, really good, then headed back to the hostel for a nap.
In the evening Yesica from Trek Peru stopped by to go over the Inca Trail trip I have set for next Thursday, and I also managed to get set up for a whitewater rafting trip on the Urubamba river tomorrow.
The hostel has decent wifi so I can use my phone for mail and internet browsing. Strangely, the GPS in the phone does not work. It does seem to realize that I'm in the Southern hemisphere but can't find any satellites.
I spend an hour or so talking with some German girls about things to do in Cusco, they have been here for a few days and are waiting to catch the overnight bus to Arequipa. They are the first, but not last, Europeans to tell me how short a two week vacation is. They've been in South America for three weeks and still have two weeks to go. Then off to bed and straight to sleep.
