Peru Part II: Cusco April 29-30th

We reluctantly left Puerto Maldonado and flew to Cusco. Flying out of the charming, quaint airport was not quite as fun as arriving. Airport personnel searched everyone’s luggage by hand (including the human-size bag of fruit traveling with people in front of us), and we felt our two-hour delay deeply as we baked in the non-airconditioned room. Then our hotel failed to pick us up at the Cusco airport like they were supposed to. That was perhaps the most overwhelmed and confused I felt in the entire trip - being swarmed by a colony of buzzing Peruvian taxi drivers all asking where we were going and if we happened to need a ride. In the end, we paid a few dollars for a ride to our hotel. 

Any and all frustration evaporated when we walked into the center of Cusco. It was beautiful. We visited a few of the cathedrals and enjoyed the views in the Plaza de Armas.

The next day we went on a beginners mountain biking ride between some of the Inca ruins. Someone with common sense might have looked at the mountains around us and thought, “where would beginners bike in this extremely mountainous region? And wouldn’t it be hard at such a high altitude?” Luckily for Ben and I, neither of us has that sense.

We were picked up at our hotel a half hour late and dropped off to begin our trip. We had a guide who responded to all of my questions and comments by smiling, nodding, and repeating random words I said. We began with an easy descent, and Ben kept yelling from 50 feet ahead “It’s like the Shire!”

We eventually got to our first destination, Moray. There were descending, concentric terraces that almost looked like an ancient stadium. The current theory is that the Incas used them for agriculture, since it's hard to farm on a mountain,

When we started to ride again, I was glad that the rest of it would be downhill. However, my relief didn’t last. Soon I was riding on a rocky steep path next to a sheer drop-off. I got suited up like Batman for the ride down and soon after fell on my face. Luckily I was going slow and the armor held up. Ben says that if he hadn’t been worried, he would’ve laughed hysterically. For a few minutes I was moaning and laying on the ground trying to recover with the bike lying on top of me. Unfortunately, no picture. 

After that I got even more scared of falling. So I walked my bike for the last mile or so and I just appreciated the stunning panorama. Unfortunately for me, I then fell while walking the bike - probably the lowest I’ve felt in a while. It was heavy and pulled me down a little too fast, and the fall seemed to go in slow motion as I made one wrong balancing choice after another. Luckily no one was around to laugh at me while I laid on the ground that time. It is a scene that belongs on World’s Funniest Home Videos.

Note that Ben decided to forego all pads. Also note, that he didn’t notice a sharp turn in the path at one point. Like a ninja, he jumped over the bike handlebars and landed on his feet after a 6-foot drop. Lastly note that Ben kept trying to give me bike ninja training so I wouldn’t get hurt, and I only got irritated and yelled “I know how to ride a FREAKIN’ bike”. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually have the skills to back that up.

Ben finished his ride and I finished my walk at the Salineras - aka salt mines. They pour water on the salty earth and mix it up to dissolve the salt. Then as the water evaporates in the sun, they’re left with a huge pile of salt. They were really beautiful and we enjoyed our walk around before getting a ride back to Cusco.

That night in Cusco we walked around the plaza again and the San Blas neighborhood - an old colonial one. Then we met back up with Will and Kenny at a local Italian restaurant. Fun fact: there is a ton of Italian food in Peru. Bizarre but delicious. We said goodbye to them for real this time.

That evening we noticed evidence of a very peculiar sunborn. Evidently, we got burned in the first hour of our bike ride before we put on sunscreen. Luckily for us, we were wearing elbow pads which created a beautiful striped pattern. I now have a slightly tanner version of these arms.