Peru Trip Day 1 and 2 – SFO to Cusco

Utbt, her husband, kids M & C, my husband and I left SFO on a Thursday morning for Lima with our 6 baggage and 6 backpacks in tow. I had packed idlies for everyone just in case. And that was a savior since the vegetarian food served by LAN was horrible to put it mildly. We reached Lima at around midnight. Our flight to Cusco was at around 6am. So we waited at the exchanged some money and slept off in the window sill while the kids slept on baggage carts. Finally left at around 6am. The flight to Cusco was short and sweet, the scenery from up above and the landing was breath-taking.

We were greeted by our hotel staff. They took us to the hotel. A majestic statue of King Pachacutti welcomed us to the city. Our rooms were in the 3rd floor, the hotel staff managed to lug our baggage up. The altitude was slowly getting to us. Cusco is at an elevation of 11,200 ft. We had a nice breakfast with Coca tea(helps with altitude sickness) and slept for a couple of hours to catch up on lost sleep. Our friends(R, K and kids S and K) from New Jersey arrived at around 10:30am. After catching up and some more rest, we rented a van to take us around the town. First we stopped at an Indian restaurant(India Cafe I think) in Cusco. Not too bad. Then we left to see Cusco ruins.

We took the partial ticket to see the 3 ruins and hired an English speaking guide to show us Sacsayhuaman ruins. The ruin is from 11th century.

The walls are still intact but the towers were destroyed by the Spanish and the stones used to build the main buildings and the churches in Cusco. The view of Cusco from the ruin is breath-taking. Cusco city is build in the shape of a Puma. From there we were driven to Tambomachay, that is the baths/resort for the Incans.

 

After a quick view Puca Pucara which is the guard post, we drove back to Cusco at dusk soaking in the colorful city. Stopped on the way at the Cusco market and went crazy shopping for souvenirs and Alpaca woolen clothes. Came back to our room and had yummy chappathis and theplas that we had taken with us and called it a day since we had an early day next morning.