Wednesday. First full day in cusco.
Sleep was a little restless last night. I woke up several times practically gasping for air because of the altitude. I think what was happening is that a Preston’s body (mine specifically) builds a sort of muscle memory for exactly how deeply to breath when fast asleep to use the absolute minimum amount of energy and get just enough oxygen. I think that muscle memory didn’t get me enough air and I woke up a couple of times just because I needed to breath a little deeper for a bit. Weird.
So, after waking up we went down and had some Coffee in our hotel courtyard, which is extremely pleasant in the sunlight.
We took a walk down to town center, Plaza de Armas, in search of some breakfast. We ended up at a cafe where we had what we might consider the worst breakfast ever! We vowed to choose a little more carefully from here forth.
We then walked down to check in at our hiking trek company, Peru treks. we paid up the remainder of our tab first. There was a bit of a dollar bill debacle. apparently every US bill they accept needs to be in perfect, pristine condition. there was about 20 minutes of everybody emptying out their wallet and trading bills of varying qualities, and we ended up just barely getting enough crisp bills to pay the remainder of our balance without needing to track down a bank. we then had a quick debriefing with one of the guides and we were on our way, all set for our 5:20 pickup on Friday.
Lunch in courtyard. Down time for a while in our room.
Next, we paid a visit to Cusco’s largest food and artisan market, San Pedro Market. One thing I saw that I had never seen for sale before we’re cow snouts.
Snack and drinks at another plaza. Much better, but it was starting to get pretty cold. Actually, it got really cold! Some of might need to go buy some warmer clothes.
Walked around and shopped a bit. Dinner at a place called Greens Organic, where we had more ceviche, and Eric and Alyssa ordered alpaca, which apparently, is delicious.