Cuzco

When we first arrived in Cuzco we really felt the altitute (3300m) and symptoms of altitude sickness. In Quito we had adjusted to the high altitute but spending a month at sea level had reversed all that and we had to re-adjust again. Just walking a block left us winded and tired. Two days later however we seem to have adjusted and returned back to normal.

We spent the first two days really just walking around Cuzco taking in the sites. As normal we found it more interesting walking around the Peruvian part of town and spend a whole day just doing that. By our third day we decided to make the 2 km walk uphill to Saqsaywaman (which means 'satisfied falcon' but goes by the mnemonic 'sexy woman'). The walk itself was quite tiring but highly worth it for a great view  of Cusco and some interesting Inca ruins. We got the one day boleto turistico ($70 sols)  admission to visit the Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Tambomachay & Pukapukara but only ended up visiting the first two because we were too tired to walk to the last two and it was getting late. If you do want to visit all four in one day I would recommend talking a taxi at the start of the day to the farthest one then walking back towards Cuzco. However if you only see one of the ruins in the immediate area of Cuzco, Saqsaywaman is probably the best.


It was in Cuzco that we finally tried guinea pig (cuy). This is a popular dish in both Ecuador and Peru so one night we decided to finally order it. It's quite expensive costing $20 and the worst part is that when it's served, it actually looks like a guinea pig and still even had teeth when they served it to us.  I took one bit and told Trevor the rest was all his. It was way too salty for me but Trevor didn't seem to mind and ate the whole thing on his own, and when I say the whole think I mean everything but the bones. He even eat the tongue and brain. There actually wasn't that much meat on it through and its actually quite boney which mean you have to use your fingers and really pick through the little bones.

Our other big pass time in Cuzco was the massage parlors. Just walking a couple blocks in Cuzco you would have at leave 5 people trying to get you to go for a massage. Trevor had never had a massage before and wasn't sure how he felt about it but decided to give it a try. Turns out he became more addicted to them then I was and we ended up getting a massage everyday in Cuzco. We did learn one lesson though, don't go for the cheap 10 sole massages. If you want a half decent massage pay the 20-30 soles for a good one.

While in Cuzco we also visited the Museo Inka which was worthwhile and interesting. We also visited Iglesia de Santo Domingo but weren't too impressed.