October Break in and Around Cusco, Peru

For the week off in October, our destination was Peru and the goal was the check Machu Picchu off our travel bucket list. After initially trying to squeeze in a few destinations around the country, we eventually decided to spend the full week based in Cusco, once the capital of the Incan Empire and now the tourist gateway to Machu Picchu. Our journey to Machu Picchu was scheduled for the end of the week, leaving us with plenty of time for exploring and eating and even some learning in and around Cusco.

Our first day was dedicated to acclimatizing to lower oxygen levels at 11,000 feet elevation by (slowly) walking around the San Blas neighborhood:

On many of the terracotta rooftops, a pair of ceramic bulls for good luck: 

The view from our hotel room:

It was a nice (slow) hike up the hill behind our hotel, to the ridge and beyond to visit the ruins at Sachsayhuaman (pronounced kind of like "Sexy Woman"), plus a big cross and Cristo Blanco:

Liam on his invisible hovercraft:

Cusco's main square, Plaza de Armas, down below:

Wanderings, markets, and museums:

In the creepy catacombs below the San Francisco Monastery:

Hamming it up at the Pisac Market. And Liam says he won't he a theater kid - ha!

A few of the things we ate (and one we did not)....

Coca tea to prevent altitude sickness? Check.

Alpaca? Check. And delicious.

Fresh fruit smoothie at the market? Check. Check. Check.

Inca Cola? Check. Tastes like bubble gum. Only needed to try it once.

Pineapple slices purchased from a vendor on the sidewalk? Check. A stranger taking a photo of this? Also check.

Steamed corn and cheese? Check. A perfect street food snack.

Sketchy fermented corn beer in a plastic bag? Yep.

Cuy (aka guinea pig)? Pass.

Day tripping through the Sacred Valley. Inca ruins, glacier views, and salt mines:

Circular terraces at Moray, possibly designed to create micro-climates to enable cultivation of a variety of crops in one place:

Super cool salt mines at Maras:

An attempt at staging what a typical family scene might have looked like in this Ollantaytambo ruin - tucking one kid into bed while the other (unbeknownst to the others) uses a urinal:

At the Ollantaytambo train station, it was "all aboard" to Agua Calientes, the launching pad for Machu Picchu:

Trying on silly hats after dinner:

After much advance research, the vision for our day at Machu Picchu was that we would get there before the hordes of pesky day-trippers arrived from further afield. Our plan was to have breakfast at 4:30am, meet our guide at 5:00am, be at the front of the line for the shuttle that brings visitors to the top of the hill, and then enjoy the early morning hours with the place nearly to ourselves. Also sunshine. Lots of sunshine.

What actually happened:
We awoke just after midnight to thunder and torrential rain which lasted well past 4:30am. When we finally did going, the rain has nearly ended and after some trouble connecting with our guide, we made our way to the bus stop where the line was so, so long.

So much for worrying about those day-trippers coming from Cusco - there were plenty of people already well ahead of us! Anyway, we boarded a bus around 6:45am for the twenty minute ride up to the entrance of the site. After a short time walking around the impressive stone walls and learning about the history surrounding us and some fascinating information about astronomical alignments in the architectural design, our guide decided he was off the clock and disappeared à la Keyser Söze - which was fine by us. We enjoyed a few more hours exploring on our own, people watching, cloud watching, and imagining what this place was like during the height of the Inca Empire (around 1450). 

So.Many.People. 

When it came time to head back down, the line for the shuttle was nearly a mile long. We waited in it for a while and then while on a stroll to distract a bored Liam, Kristen saw this sign near the bus loading area. 

We jumped at the chance to walk - straight down mostly organized stone steps with some muddy spots - to the bottom of the hill and then along a country road back to town. This allowed plenty of time to stuff ourselves with pizza before the six hour train ride back for our final night in Cusco.