Sunday, November 29, 2009

Cusco

I slept almost the whole time on the bus, waking up about a half hour out. Tiffany didnt do quite so well.

We caught a cab to get close to the hostal we had reserved. We had to walk the last couple blocks because the streets of the Sanblas neighborhood are too steep and narrow for cars.

The hostal was a craphole so we resolved to move. We wandered around Cusco for a while and found some good brunch. Cusco is a neat and pretty town but the tourist focus is immediately felt. We were offered massage, restaurants, handicrafts etc. at least 100 times within a few hours. It is the low season so the locals are scrounging for every dollar from the tourists. It can be very tiresome. We looked for new boots for Tiffany because hers killed her on our trek in the canyon.

A guy named Gustavo homed in on us and showed us a better hostal. He seemed a bit of a scammer but spoke good english and offered to help us. He took us several places but no luck on any good deals on trekking boots. Either no-name brand or American prices for good boots.

We finally ditched him, moved our stuff to the new hostal and took an offer for massage. Their flyers offered all kinds of massage but it ended up being fairly generic swedish. Still a good deal and relaxing for $15 for both.

Later we grabbed Mexican and listened to Gustav´s spiel on a Machu Picchu trek but decided to wait.

Went back and got some boots she had looked at. American prices but at least they are comfortable.

I ran into Gustav one more time and booked a rafting trip for tommorow. I wanted a multi-day but the rivers are up because of the rainy season and only part of the Urabamba is still being run. Wanted to get on the apurimac which is class 4-5.

5 comments:

  1. You will be going to Saxyhuaman (sp?), won't you? Walking distance out of Cusco. Machu Picchu of course has the location and the entire town and all -- but for pure power of the stones, Saxyhuaman is it.

    Had dinner with Jim on Thanksgiving and he said he was beginning to worry because he hadn't heard from you! I'm sending the link and if he can't get it over dialup, I'll copy and paste into emails.

    I am so jealous of your rafting trip on the Urubamba. My trip to Peru was very early in my whitewater career, but I remember trying to figure out lines from the train!

    M.R.

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  2. I just finished catching up on all the posts I missed while I was in WV. All I can say is WOW!

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  3. In case you missed it, I linked to an album with pictures of Chloe awhile back -- http://picasaweb.google.com/TBleizeffer/PicturesForMorgan#

    It also has a picture of you talking to Elin and Art on Thanksgiving. Carson took most of the pictures. We took Chloe on a walk along the Eno River. Reminds me a lot of Peru... huge snow-capped mountains and deep canyons.

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  4. Hey, last we heard from you was Sunday and you had a rafting trip booked for "tomorrow." It's Thursday! I want pictures! I know you are on a trip and having an adventure and everything, but what about all us armchair adventurers who are living vicariously?!?

    Looking forward to the next installment.

    M.R.

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  5. Hello. I tried to pay your mortgage today, and it asked me security questions I couldn't answer: "What is the name of your first boss." and "What is the name of the hospital in which you were born." Thought that answer might be "home". Tried to log on again, and it asked me Boss and Mother Bday. Not sure if it will ask me the same questions next time, but can you send back the answers, and I'll try again.
    I was successful in paying your credit card!

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