Cusco

Cusco, the historical capital of the Inca Empire, has a strong presence of aboriginal culture and tourism industry. Each year, tourists flock to Cusco en route to Machu Picchu. The mix of stone walls and colonial churches gives the city a unique character and makes Cusco a tourist destination in its own ways.

Getting oxygen to help with altitude sickness

E and I arrived at Cusco by Star Peru, a low budget Peruvian airline. We were met by our hotel driver, who swiftly loaded our luggages onto the roof of the car and took us to Hotel Andenes al Cielo.  The hotel is quaint and charming.  At the hotel, we were greeted by Sa and Ed, who flew to Cusco a day before us. Sa proceeded to tell us about her awful experience with altitude sickness when she first arrived. At this time, I was starting to feel sick as well, except I could not pinpoint whether it was due to the altitude or the few pisco sours I had the night before.

Before coming to Cusco, we were warned about the cold mountain weather by the people from Lima. But to the contrary, it was a beautiful sunny afternoon in Cusco.  Backpackers were roaming the streets in shorts and flipflops.  We walked around Plaza de Armas, visited a local fruit market, and took pictures of a Cusco woman and her alpaca (for a price of s/10 or $1).

Cusco woman and her alpaca

 Cathedral in Plaza de Armas

Plaza de Armas

Toward the end of the night, my altitude sickness/pisco sour hangover had only worsened. So I called it an early night, in preparation for our 2 day trek to Machu Picchu.