Today we left Lima and flew to Cuzco. It's about an hour flight, but of course there's the 45 minutes to the airport, the waiting, and taking off 15 minutes late. But we made it above the clouds finally (it's been cloudy the whole time in Lima, I guess it's like Seattle in the winter only warmer). Cuzco is at 11,200 feet. We've been taking Diamox for a couple of days to help us acclimatize to the altitude. The pilot tipped the wings so we could get a good look at some of the mountains we were flying over.
Cuzco is in a bowl surrounded by mountains. The mountains look reddish brown. Our hotel is right on the main square: Plaza de Armas. While we were waiting for our room to be ready we had our first cup of coca tea. It has a mild, pleasant herbal taste. It's supposed to be good for altitude sickness as well.
This hotel is very different from our Lima hotel; it's very modern with hardwood floors and lots of metal and glass. Our room isn't facing the plaza, but we can easily see it over the roof tops.
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| Out the window of our room |
The hotel also has a terrace above the fourth floor where you can see the plaza and the moutains in all directions.
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| On the terrace looking southwest away from the plaza |
After we got checked into our room, we went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. We sat on the balcony so we could watch the Plaza. We had sandwiches and chiips fresh made from Peruvian potatoes: small and white and purple. Very delicious!
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| Sandra watching the plaza |
Today on the plaza, they are having a Parade of Dances and Musical Groups. We could watch the groups as they entered the square while we ate. They are school groups in fancy costumes that march onto the square and then dance in front of the grandstand. It started with little bitty kids and then got older in age. The costumes range from very traditional Peruvian costumes to fantastical costumes.
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| Some of the little kids |
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| A great costume |
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| Many wore knit caps with fantastic hats on top |
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| This group had great masks |
You can watch a brief video of some of the dancing/marching. Each group had their own drummers and flutists. We've been listening to drum and flutes all afternoon!
We came back to our room and took a nap (in spite of the drums and flutes). So far I only feel a little spacy and very sleepy from the altitude. After our nap we walked through the plaza and then a few streets over to get a little more movement today; we didn't do too badly even uphill (looks like we'll be doing a lot uphill). We came back to the plaza and watched the dancers a while more.
For dinner we ate at a restaurant that faces the plaza. We had our first taste of the traditional Peruvian dish cuyo (guinea pig). It tasted fine if you can get past what it is. They also had a very tasty chili relleno, a small chili stuffed with ground meat, cheese, and vegetables.
We're finishing the night laying in bed hoping that the festivities will be over soon and we can get some sleep! Two days from today is the Festival of Corpus Christi, which actually begins with openers tomorrow and the main festival on Thursday. So we should not lack for entertainment.
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