Cuzco 2002

Wake up call at 3:15! We’re ready and raring to go by 4:00.

Passports are distributed; we board the bus, head to the airport

& wait on the bus 30-45 minutes with no info from our guide.           

Finally we are escorted to the plane, distributed boarding passes

with no attempt to match names.  We have an uneventful 1 hr

trip, are picked up by our local guide & escorted to our bus & on

to the hotel.

We are served coca tea which is supposed to help us acclimate to

the 11,000+ altitude & encouraged to rest and hopefully nap until

lunch at 12:00. I’m glad to say I was able to nap & fortunately

woke up easily. At lunch out we found the people on the second

plane was delayed. Their flight was cancelled due to mechanical

problems & they sat on their bus for around 3 hours, did not leave

until after 9:00 (We left around 5:45-6:00) & consequently had no

chance to rest. This is definitely one time I’m glad we were

assigned to the first group.

After lunch we had a city tour of Cuzco. It was very interesting, we

went to a Cathedral adjacent to our excellent hotel, to a mestzo

Cathedral which combines various types of architecture & although

a catholic church as many statues with Inca/Andean ideas

interweaved.

We also visited archaeological sites-Saqsaywaman (Almost

pronounced sexy woman), Pukapukra, and Tambomachay. We drove

to an altitude of 13,600 ft & a couple of people on our bus had to

have oxygen. One lady had a really difficult time. When we made

 our last stop for shopping, she & others were returned to the

hotel.

We attended a folk show at a local restaurant for dinner. It was

very nice but we didn’t stay until the end because of another

early morning tomorrow. I didn’t see a lot of the dancing because

I was standing in the buffet line & later eating. I enjoyed what I

did see & the musicians afterwards were excellent. We were served

pisco sours, a South American drink similar to whiskey sour.