Peru - Week 5 Cusco

We were whisked from the train to our hotel in Cusco. To our surprise, there was an alpaca in the courtyard of the hotel as we checked in. We would find out in the next few days that her name is Kiki and that she is an imp. In the mornings when her owner let her out of her stall, she kicked her heels up and frolicked around the courtyard, at times eating hotel foliage. She was at a loss when her owner was out of sight (that herd instinct again) and moaned. Needless to say, she was an unexpected and fun addition to our weeklong stay. 

Since Cusco is lower in elevation than Puno, it is slightly warmer here. At night, we turn on the radiant floor heat in the bathroom and it seems to heat the sleeping area too. During the days, Roger is in short-sleeve shirts. We start each day with a lovely breakfast at the hotel. Our choice of made-to-order omelette, scrambled or fried eggs, waffles, pancakes, French toast or all of the above. There are fruits, soups, and sandwiches available too. Despite ferreting out every inch of the offerings, we missed the Mimosas in the far corner for 4 days. We were really disappointed in ourselves! Once found, we added them to our morning fare. The cook and staff at the hotel are outstanding. There is live music in the patio area each evening (6:30 to 8:30 pm). We enjoyed it from the comfort of our room. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of Kiki! 

 

For the most part, our days in Cusco have been ones of exploration. We took a “free” walking tour on day 1, learning about the 4 main plazas of the city, the 4 main parts of Peru’s history (pre-Inca, Inca, Spaniard and independence), and one of the Inca ruins within the city. Many walls and streets date from Inca times. The best part of the tour was meeting a family from Indiana. He did his post-grad work in Psychology at UC Berkeley so we could swap stories.

  

One day we took a small group tour through beautiful landscapes to the Maras salt mines and Moray, an archeological complex of circular agricultural terraces built by the Incas. We saw the salt mines first. I always thought of salt as coming from the ocean.  But thousands of years ago, native peoples who lived in this little valley near Cusco discovered a salt water spring flowing out of the mountain (3 times as salty as the ocean). They collected the water in shallow pools beneath the spring, let it evaporate, and collected the salt for personal use and later for trading. The resulting salt products are highly valued by today’s chefs.

It is believed that terraces at Moray were used to test different plants under different climatic conditions (like an agricultural research station). We also stopped for a demonstration of how alpaca wool is dyed with natural colors.

 

 

Another day, we took a chocolate-making class…highly recommended. We learned a lot about chocolate, ground our own cocoa beans into paste and made small chocolate bars to take home.  

We ate lunch (our only meal after breakfast) at several unique places. We always share a meal because portion sizes here are huge. We had an Italian meal overlooking the main plaza. We had a vegan meal at a little corner restaurant that was particularly difficult to find. We had a Chifa (Chinese) meal with delicious wonton soup. We had a couple of fried trout meals—one was the “menu of the day” (your choice of several entrees with soup, dessert and a drink for $5 or less), and one at the central market on a bench shared with a many locals. Good food is not hard to come by in Cusco. We made one trip to Starbucks to use their wifi and had to buy a Frappuccino. It was one of the best we have ever had…due to the freshness of the coffee, I am told.

 This is a typical meal for one.

We spent a couple of days looking through museums. As some of you know, I majored in Latin American History in grad school, but at the time, very little was known about pre-Inca history. That certainly has changed. The museums are a wealth of information about the cultures, pottery, textiles, metallurgy and history of these early people. They had no written language, but their cultures date back to Egyptian times.

A good week of exploring and learning. Now, on to the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu.