Cusco
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
70
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Cusco,
Peru
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Well, our next destination in Peru was Cuzco. We again got collected from our Hotel at some ungodly hour of the morning and got taken to the airport for our flight.
The flight was a farce from beginning to end. First we were seated on separate sides of the aisle and a Peruvian woman, glued to her mobile phone, was in David's seat so she then went and sat in my seat! Then she stood at the back of the aeroplane while the stewardess tried to sort her out. David had an empty seat in-between him and a Peruvian man so I took it. Then this Peruvian woman wandered up and down aimlessly then tapped me on the shoulder. We suggested she sit in the empty seat on the other side of the aisle. Still glued to her mobile phone, the doors closed, seatbelt signs went on and she ignored all information announcements and instructions by crew. Then her mobile phone rang and she had suddenly fallen fast asleep. I gently nudged her awake and as the plane taxi-ed to the runway she again sat glued to her mobile phone. I wondered whether she just didn't have a clue what to do and was masking her fear with her phone
Inka building
. She ignored the stewardess' requests to turn her phone off and do her seatbelt up. Eventually, she came to her senses though. Bizarre. This aeroplane was like a bus. It stopped halfway to Cuzco to drop off and collect more passengers at another airport. During this brief interlude, the Peruvian man sitting next to David left and we shifted up a seat closer to the window. Now an American woman, Linda, sat down next to me. She was claustrophobic and had been sitting in the windowless back seats. Linda and her girlfriend, Marissa, were New Yorkers and lovely so we got chatting and had a right laugh. Now that same Peruvian woman caused another scene. She had got off the plane but obviously it was not her stop so had been told to get back on. Now she had no seat as Marissa was now sitting there. Linda's windowless seat at the back was free though and Linda, Marissa, David and I tried to explain this. Then the drag-queen-pensioner-stewardess got involved and we tried to explain that we had all swapped seats due to claustrophobia and David and I wanting to be together but the Stewardess blatantly lied to us by saying this Peruvian woman had to sit next to her daughter. (There was a teenage girl flying alone). We told the stewardess she was lying and demanded she checked all our boarding tickets because this Peruvian woman was not with this teenage girl and this Peruvian woman probably didn't even have a seat on the aeroplane! The stewardess had no problem-solving skills or professionalism at all
Cusco Cathedral
. We were all standing up debating while the other passengers watched this comedy show and this Peruvian woman just went mute while we tried to solve her problems!! More importantly, the aeroplane was waiting to take off! Eventually, the Peruvian woman sat right at the back behind me and no sooner had the aeroplane taken off then she got travel sick! (David: It was very funny. To recap on Lois' saga: Marissa sat in the seat Lois had a boarding card for. The stewardess then demanded Marissa move because she wasn't meant to be there and the Peruvian waif was. I stuck my nose in suggesting everyone show boarding cards. Marissa took up the baton: "Yes, let's see her boarding card.", meaning the Peruvian. At which point the stewardess said: "She has a boarding card, I've seen it for this seat, so please move." The Stewardess was now caught in an outright lie, so we snuck Lois' boarding card to Marissa across the aisle and got the stewardess to repeat her lie a couple more times before presenting the boarding card... I've never seen someone go quite so red.)We got to our Hotel and again had a brief sleep before our City tour that afternoon. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire. Full of Inca ruins and beautiful historic architecture, the City is small with a plethora of markets, cobbled alleyways and a winding labyrinth of secret alleyways. After the Spanish invaded, the architecture changed to baroque architecture as they replaced Inca temples with churches.
Cathedral and the square
(David: The churches are fascinating, you can see how those cunning Spaniards sold the whole religion thing to the Peruvians. For example: Jesus is depicted with Peruvian features, skin tone and facial features. Then there's Mary with her traditional Peruvian dresses and all the decorations incorporate Peruvian symbology. I found the whole thing very interesting... Lois however, would have rather been plucking her eyebrows with an oxyacetylene torch). (Lois: I don't believe in God or Jesus and have no religious beliefs, only spiritual beliefs i.e. our loved ones who have died guide us etc etc and I really believe in buddhism. I really don't want God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the 3 wise men being rammed down my throat. We came to Peru for Inkas not Catholics! We have enough of those back home!!)Our Hotel was lovely and central. Deeply embedded within the City's narrow, cobbled lanes. The City Tour was good fun. About 15 of us. We went to the Cathedral, a Church, a place called Sacsayhuaman (otherwise called Sexy Woman) which was basically like Stonehenge. It's a walled enclosure with massive great Inka stone walls and walkways everywhere. How the hell the Inkas got the massive stones there and then to construct them into elevated walkways, steps and walls is an enigma to this day. The altitude really affected me. My ears were killing me, my brain was in a vice and I felt like I had drunk 3 neat gins. It was awful....although...actually...3 neat gins?? Hmmm...I'm liking this thought..
Sexy Woman at er...Sexy Woman!
. (David: We were at about 3,300 metres or so: over 10,000 feet.)That night we went to nearby Inka Grill where we had a delicious meal and then back at the Hotel we had a late night drink while we sat and listened to 'Stenna Stairlift' to Heaven (otherwise known as Led Zeps Stairway to Heaven) played on violin and guitar by two old blokes supplementing their Peruvian Pension!
The next day we got collected at another ungodly hour of dawn and got on the train to Machu Pichu (David: Or more accurately, the small village at the bottom of Machu Picchu: Aguas Calientes). This was a 4-hour PeruRail journey, through stunning Peru countryside of mud huts, dogs chasing the train and women cultivating their farmland with sacks on their back. Beautiful and fascinating journey.
Love, us xxx
