In Cusco, you will see lots of tourists when you are in popular places. It is the city to go to for a visit to Machu Picchu. It is a small city, with beautiful cathedrals and buildings, many still with the original Incan foundations. There is also an Incan ruin near the city but cost a whopping 70 soles to enter, the fascination coming from 1 rock in the wall that is abnormally large and the mystery of how they managed to haul that rock.
For me, the city had a charm to it that made me stay 2 weeks there. The atmosphere was wonderful and you could walk around the city every day and still discover something new. I spent my time in Cusco with an English girl and we learnt about this small tea place where the English breakfast tea was like home for her. It was a small, cozy place, Alice in wonderland themed and the owner was so friendly, giving us all the tips she could think of.
San Pedro market was also very fascinating. It spanned a whole block and sold anything and everything, including bags of chips weighing 1kg. As Americans usually do things bigger, I met an American who just couldn’t resist and ended up buying a bag, carrying it around like a child. There are also many souvenir shops, juice stands, meat vendors and stalls for a hearty but cheap meal. It is quite hectic there, with all the tourists and locals. For this reason, I found myself very often in San Blas market, a short walk uphill from the main plaza. This market was much smaller but still had many places to choose from for lunch, costing a mere 5 soles for a big bowl of soup and a main course. It was also in this market that I tasted ceviche for the 1st time and haven’t stopped eating it since.
There are many day trips available around Cusco. I chose to do the day hike up rainbow mountain. However, like any mountains, the weather is unpredictable. All the pictures I had seen showed beautiful colors and a nice sunny day. Upon my arrival, I realized I was underdressed. The ground and mountains were completely covered in snow and all I had on was a t-shirt, a raincoat and a sweater that I almost didn’t bring. Even though I did not, yet again, get the infamous picture with the colorful mountains in the background, it made for a wonderful hike and let me test out the new found endurance I had acquired from hiking the Inca trail a few days prior.
Near Cusco, you can also find 2 jungles, the Manu and Tambopata reserves. I did a 3 day tour to the latter to check out the animals. The trip didn’t have the best start. To get to the jungle, there is a 10hrs bus ride to get to the neighbouring city, Puerto Maldonado. It ended up being 16hrs due to a landslide along the winding and narrow roads. A bulldozer had to be called to clear it up. This delay lead to a delayed walk on monkey island and no monkeys being seen. After this misfortune though, everything went great. That night, we took a boat along the river to see the animals and were able to see many caimans and a capybara, the largest rodent in the world. The next day included a day trip to a national park and a peaceful canoe ride in a lake.
There were beautiful birds, many black caimans, and lucky for us, the cutest family of giant otters that we got to observe. A 5km walk through the jungle is necessary to get to the lake and on the way back, we were able to see monkeys, making up for the lack of them from the day before. Later at night, we took a walk through the jungle again, where our guide introduced a variety of amazing plants and insects, including the chicken tarantula which, like it’s name suggests, is a massive spider that gave me quite the scare when the guide decided to get it out of its nest and it ran straight towards me. The last day called for a very early wake up to see hundreds of parrots congregating at a clay wall. There, they lick the clay which is rich in minerals, necessary for their well being. It was amazing seeing so many different types of parrots with the most beautiful colours together. With so many birds, it created quite a cacophony. Somehow, a three-toed sloth was able to sleep in a tree nearby and my amazing eagle-eyed guide saw the well camouflaged animal. The tour ended with zip lining and a walk along a bridge suspended high in the air to see above the trees.
Thankfully, the bus ride back lasted the planned 10hrs because I have another overnight bus to Arequipa the same day I get back to Cusco.