Well after about 27 hours or so of travel we final made it into Cusco! The trip to get to Cusco was relatively uneventful unless you count the inevitable lack of human decency that you see taking place at airports; but we won’t get into that.
The most interesting thing that happened was on the way out of Fort Lauderdale, the pilot made an announcement that out the left window you could see Hurricane Michael moving in right along side of us. Apparently we were about 160 miles away from the hurricane which made it safe enough for us to fly next to😳
The airport food consided of some good food including authentic empanadas that were only $2.50 each and some papas fritas otherwise known as French fries with different dipping sauces.
We arrived at our hostel too early to check in so we took a walk around. We discovered the San Pedro Market that was filled with textile goods, fresh fruits, grains, herbs, animal parts and pretty much anything else you can think of…
We also got our first taste of coca tea at our hostel from the tea station they have set up.
Now you would be surprised to know that these Coca leaves are actually the main ingredient in cocain. But in their pure form they are not addictive and not bad for your health. Today the Coca leaf is used around Peru to heal many ailments as well as to help with altitude sickness. Since Cusco sits at around an altitude of 11,000 feet we will take all the help we can get to acclimatize.
We’ve also made a few friends already and against all recommendations decided to walk the city and get more exploring in. When all was said and done I clocked in at about 7 1/2 miles walking today and the day isn’t even done! Overall we’ve had a great first day visiting the chocolate museum and trying different chocolates and chocolate liqueurs, admiring the beautiful architecture and sampling some authentic food. Win for day one in Peru, we will see what the night and next few days bring!
