Cusco, Peru

Sipping on Coca tea at our hostel

We flew to Cusco, Peru from Bogota, Colombia in hopes of doing day trips from Cusco, acclimating to the altitude, and psych ourselves up for Machu Piccu. Our plan was to check in to our trekking office for Machu Piccu and then spend a night or two down in Puno to see Lake Titicaca. When we got to Cusco, there were some strikes going on and apparently the 7 hour bus ride there turned into a 17 hour bus ride. Hurray for strikes. So we had some time to kill in this tourist town. We ended up sipping on Coca tea, took it easy, and did research. Luckily we didn't get altitude sickness but were close to it. I mean Cusco sits on the Andes mountains at 11,100 feet which I really didn't think we would feel any sort of effects. But we would fatigue easily, breath heavily while walking up small hills, and have slight headaches all day long. Yeah, our days were short.

Our view from our hostel of Cusco

Probably the best thing about our hostel was the view of Cusco. You can see on the mountain in the back it says Viva El Peru. Actually it seems like every town we visited would have something written on the side of the mountain with initials of something or the town name. Cusco is a beautiful town, just extremely cold at night.

Pisco Sour

Night came and we wanted to eat some local cuisine. We set off looking for a suggestion in Lonely Planet but found this hole in the wall where we only saw locals eating. Score. However it still had a tourist menu which is pretty much just a prix fix menu. I got the recommended Lomo de Alpaca, Sopa a la Criolla, and a Pisco Sour. the Sopa a la Criolla was amazing there, best one I had in town. It's a lightly spiced, creamy noodle soup with beef and vegetables. Lets just say I wouldn't order the Alpaca again. The pisco sour was surprisingly good. Here's some random facts about it; The alcohol Pisco is a brandy made from grapes. The actual mixed drink is Pisco, Lime juice, simple syrup, beaten egg whites, and bitters. You know, just in case you want to make it at home. Cheers.

The Lomo de Alpaca and fish fillet. [Photo cred: Steph]