Our journey to Cusco was actually pretty smooth, considering how many hours (18) and flight connections (3) it took to get here. From Cartagena we flew back to Bogota, arriving around 1:30am. The airport is open all night, but most restaurants and stores are not so we joined other travelers camped out on the floor to get an hour or so of sleep. The three hours from 1:30am - 4:30am at the Bogota airport were definitely the most miserable of our trip so far. Alex and I both slept a little more on the three-hour flight to Lima, which helped give us the energy we needed to power through the final leg to Cusco. We landed with all of our baggage safely in tow and were rewarded with some pretty incredible views upon making it to Hostal Wara Wara, our home base in Cusco.
View from Wara Wara's patio overlooking Cusco's historic center.
We decided to take it easy given our travel exhaustion and upcoming Machu Picchu trek so we just wandered around the Plaza de Armas and explored the area for a bit.
La Compania de Jesus Church at Plaza de Armas.
Cusco Cathedral at Plaza de Armas.
After checking out the Plaza and surrounding areas we made our way to the Mercado Central de San Pedro, a large market with pretty much anything you might want. The market is organized by section, including handmade crafts, clothing, fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, spices and small cafes all lined up next to each other. We stopped to grab café con leche (two for 5 soles, or less than USD$2) and wandered down the eclectic aisles.
View of the side-by-side restaurants in the Central Market.
We passed on the pig heads.
Wowed by the favorable exchange rate, we bought some snacks and Alex ended up buying an Alpaca sweater for about US$12. We were very surprised by how warm and pleasant the weather was during the day given how far south we've traveled since Colombia. That said, it got very cold at night - we definitely needed our Alpaca blankets! After some shopping, we walked back to the Plaza de Armas to find a place to watch the sunset.
View of the Plaza de Armas from Norton's, a british-style pub overlooking the square.
After watching the sun disappear behind the hills, we wanted an early dinner before our bodies collapsed from the long day(s) of traveling. I head heard about a place serving hearty stews and excellent pisco sours, so we headed there. Restaurant Inkazuela definitely lived up to the hype and I expect we will return there soon. After a very warming dinner we walked back to our hostel. I had read some reviews complaining about the walk back from the square as it is all uphill, but figured these people were either out of shape or exaggerating. Well, I was wrong! The walk down to the square is steep but easy to navigate whereas the walk back forced us to pause a few times to catch our breath - I hope we start to acclimatize a bit over the next 24 hours! Once we finally made it to the top, we were happy to stop and check out the nighttime view.
Plaza de Armas at night.
Now that we are back home, it is time for bed (and it's only 8pm)! Tomorrow we will run some errands and prepare for our Machu Picchu trek, which begins at 5am on Monday. We'll be "out of pocket" for the next five days but will be sure to update the blog when we return to civilization!