We left Rio early and boarded the flight to Lima where we had to change to arrive in Cusco around 7 hours later. What was annoying is that in Lima (which was clouded in depressing grey fog) we had to collect our bags, re-check in and go through security rather than just a straight transfer. An hour and a tiny wobbly plane later we flew into a sunny, colourful Cusco.
The airport is really small and seemingly just built near adorable little houses that line the hilly mountains. We were met by a transfer as we are planning to stay here for 5 weeks to learn Spanish and volunteer so had pre-arranged accommodation with the language school (which I will do a future post on).
The tiny taxi beeped its way past half-finished buildings, cobbled pavements and women in traditional Peruvian style clothes holding baby llamas. The thing that struck me straight away is that there are no skyscrapers or gleaming shiny high rises. Everything seems to be made in traditional stone and no higher than a few floors. It sort of reminds me of Nepal but much much nicer as for some reason I did not enjoy that place!
They are very proud of the Inca heritage and there are numerous museums dotted around as well as ornate stonework in this style. It is a world away from the cosmopolitan craziness of Rio as although the traffic is pretty manic here they seem to live very relaxed lifestyles with food, family and rest high on their agenda.
It was pretty strange how as soon as night falls most people retreat into the relative warmth of their houses/beds (as it is so cold here). At first we were wondering if we were missing out on something but after talking to a lot of other backpackers here it’s just that people get up early and go to bed early, especially if you are on a budget and can’t be dining out or clubbing every night. We don’t have any Wi-Fi where we are staying hence the random timings of my blog posts but this digital detox is both a positive and negative. It means proper sleep, great long conversations and less pressure to keep up with the Joneses but when I do find a good Wi-Fi connection I turn into some crazed crack addict whoops!
Did I also mention how cold it is here? Even in the blinding daytime sun there is a chill especially being so high up in the world. Both the icy temperatures and altitude sickness are nothing like I have ever experienced before. I will post on this in the future as it has been a battle to overcome both these things let me tell you!
