Our plane touched down in Lima, Peru, where we had about five hours to kill before our bus to Cusco left. We trudged around Lima in our tourist attire with all of our massive bags, and listened to people walking by discussing how we were going to be robbed before the day was out. Altogether a very uncomfortable experience. Other than the Plaza de Armas, which was beautiful, Lima was kind of a disappointment. It was really dirty and commercial, with lots of ugly grey concrete and billboards and trash everywhere. I was relieved that we only had to stay there for a few hours, and we ended up going to the bus terminal early just because we were so bored and paranoid. We bought some snacks and hopped on our bus to Cusco.
Over the next 25 hours (all of which were spent on the bus) we watched five movies, ate three meals, and slept for a while. I also made friends with the Israeli boy sitting next to me (we talked so much that my friends sitting behind me were a little weirded out and offered to rescue me, thinking he was one of those awkward people that talks incessantly) and acted as a translator between a group of tourists and the bus conductor. The bus ride was supposed to be 21 hours long and ended up being around 25, but at least towards the end the scenery was beautiful. We finally got to the bus station and were met by the lady from our hostel, who took us there right away. We checked into the hostel, showered and such, and headed out to explore a bit and find some dinner. Since it was Sunday, most places were closed, but we found a tiny pizza place that ended up being really good. Cusco was beautiful, full of old buildings and churches, so we didn't mind so much that we had to wander for so long to find food. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and passed out.
On Monday morning, we had breakfast at the hostel and then left to wander around the city for a bit. We went to the travel office to finalize our reservations for the Inca Trail, and went to a little cafe for lunch. After arguing with the waitress for about ten minutes, we determined that over two-thirds of their menu was not available, so I had some really boring soup and got out of there as fast as possible. After lunch, we got picked up by a tour bus for a city tour, which was really cool. Our guide, Carlos, took us to a cool museum that was originally an Inca temple and then was partially destroyed to make way for a Jesuit monastery. We got to see parts of each, and then went to Saqsawaman, the old ruins above the city. We got to see the Christo that overlooks the city even though it wasn't one of our stops, but we got to climb all over the ruins and learned a ton of stuff about the city's origins and such. After that, we hopped back on the bus and went to another old ruin, which was constructed with three levels to correspond with the three Incan levels of the world, and then we went to the Fountain of Youth. As our guide explained to us, splashing your face with the water will give you eternal youth, but drinking it will give you eternal diarrhea. Needless to say, we didn't drink any, but supposedly we'll all be young forever now. After that, our final stop was an Alpaca factory, which had tons of Alpaca gloves, hats, scarves, sweaters, etc. I got some presents for people back home, and then we headed home. At the hostel, we had a meeting with the Inca trail guides, where we arranged to rent backpacks and sleeping bags/mats for the four day hike. That night, we went to a really cute restaurant called Victor Vittoria, where we each got a bread basket, salad, two drinks, trout dinner, dessert, and coffee for about ten bucks each- plus all of it was delicious. Definitely a nice end to the day.
Tuesday was our last day before the hike, so we ran around all day buying water purification tablets, flashlights, and coca products (candies, cookies, leaves, etc- all from the same plant that cocaine is derived from. The leaves and other things are supposed to help with altitude sickness so we stocked up.) We all bought a bunch of presents and souveniers and got lunch at an outdoor restaurant in one of the main squares. I got accosted by two women in Peruvian garb, who threw a baby goat in my arms despite the fact that I refused several times, let us take a picture, and then screamed at me when I told them I didn't have any US dollars on me to tip them. (I wouldn't have anyway, but it also happened to be true.) The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping/exploring/doing other things that I can't think of right now until dinner. For dinner, we went to a Mexican-Italian-Peruvian restaurant (not kidding) called Chez Maggie, which ended up being great. We got back tot he hostel and started making preparations for the hike. I took my last shower for the next four days only to have the hot water die on me two minutes in, which was pretty depressing.
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