Drink It Before the Ice Melts
Trip Start
Aug 02, 2007
1
16
22
Trip End
Aug 22, 2007
Cusco,
Peru
Thursday, August 16, 2007
At the airport, we checked in and found out we were flying through Juliaca (nearby Lake Titicaca) instead of through Lima. We were kind of happy about that because it's never nice to have to fly through the city you just came from. The flights were really quick and easy but it was crazy when we landed in Juliaca - just sitting there, Mike and I both felt really short of breath. Then we read that Juliaca is over 12,500 feet!
While checking into our hotel, we saw a newspaper talking about the earthquake and all the fatalities and damage it had caused. That's when we realized how big it really was and decided we should go to an internet place to let everyone know we were ok. We felt bad that everyone had been worrying and we didn't even know it. Sorry again!
Cusco is really pretty with the red-tiled roofs and big main square. There are a lot more tourists here than any other city we've visited. Our guidebook says: "Getting around Cusco is straightforward and relatively simple." We would have to disagree with that. We found the city really confusing to navigate! It does look like it would be simple...base everything on where you are in relation to the big cathedral on the square, but somehow, we always seemed to be going in the wrong direction.
Anyway, we decided we'd go for a leisurely lunch at a quinta, which was described by the guidebook as a traditional open-air Peruvian restaurant where you get big meals of local specialties for pretty cheap. We decided we'd go to Eulalia, the oldest quinta, which has been around since 1941. After getting lost and out of breath from walking a little uphill (Cusco is over 11,000 feet), we got to Eulalia and relaxed with a refreshing Cusqueña beer. All the regions seem to have their own beer. Each tastes exactly the same. However, the Cusqueña beer was especially neat because the design on the bottle was a little Incan stone wall. One of the stones was the famous 12-sided stone, which we planned on going to look for after lunch. Lunch was tasty - Mike had lamb with lots of side dishes and I had a stuffed hot pepper. Both were local dishes and both were very tasty. An American guy at a table next to ours ordered the guinea pig. His girlfriend looked mortified at what he was served. Two locals at a nearby table were giggling at his attempts to eat his rodent-like lunch and began giving him advice on how to approach the delicacy. As usual, the place was packed (probably half locals, half tourists) by the time we left. We really liked it there although the bathrooms were scary (not designed with girls in mind).
We decided to walk around to find examples of Incan stonework. The Incans made amazing walls of huge stones that were cut so precisely that they looked like the pieces from a puzzle. It really was amazing to see how the stones fit together. We went to the famous 12-sided stone and counted the sides. You have to be somewhat creative in your counting, but it was neat.
After relaxing at the hotel, we weren't really hungry for dinner so we went to a bar, Los Perros. I had my first Bloody Mary of the whole trip. It was also my first mixed drink. We haven't mentioned the water issue. As you know, when you travel to certain places, you need to be careful of the water. That seems easy - just drink bottled water. But what about ice? You don't know if it's made from regular tap water or not, so I had been avoiding it, which is kind of difficult when you like mixed drinks. Mike was also being careful but he had a few mixed drinks with ice in them...standing by his theory that either the freezing of the ice or the alcohol would kill whatever was lurking in there. So far, his theory had worked. I decided to give it a try here. I decided that I would lower my risk of getting sick by making sure to drink fast before the ice melted into my drink. Seemed logical! (Later I was happy to see that they got their ice out of bags, so presumably it was purified.) We stayed there for a few drinks and then decided to wander around and ended up having some delicious appetizers at a really nice restaurant, Bohemia. The waiters were wearing tuxedo shirts and bowties and the service was excellent. So were the food and drinks. Exhausted, we went back to the hotel and didn't even get lost.
