Two Beers and a Pretzel

So after the long bus to Lima, my first real night in Peru (the 9th) was aggravating… some small insect bit my lower eyelid, and the hostel was very loud.

Looking forward to what turned out to be a 20 hour bus ride back to southern Peru and up again to Cusco for $30, I opted for the 1 hour flight for $160.

Cusco is supposedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the Americas – about 3000 years.  It looks a helluva lot like Florence, Italy.  There’s Inca walls everywhere with Spanish Colonial buildings built right on top of them.  Among the cobblestone streets are a number of public squares and a surprising number of very old churches.

I arrived in Cusco just after lunch on Tuesday the 10th, and found the LOKI hostel.  This place was a decaying 500 year old building that was restored and turned into the most hopping hostel I’m been in yet.  It feels like you’re staying in an old castle.  To give you an idea how cool this place is, checkout is around 1 PM.  They also serve breakfast until 1 PM, they have a great bar, lots of activities, and totally expect you to go out after the bar closes at 1:30 AM.  Nice comfy beds and clean bathrooms.

The posted rules include “when you come home blind drunk at 7 AM, please try to be what reasonable people would consider ‘not too loud’, and try not to fall when climbing the ladder into the wrong bed.”

I’m in a 12 bed dorm with a bunch of really cool Swedes and Norwegians.

After making my way around town to Lama Path (my tour company) and paying my balance for the Inca Tral trek, I hiked around town a bit to try getting used to the 11,000 ft altitude, and made my way back to the hostel just after dark.

As an aside, on the bus trip from Mendoza, we somehow passed thru 2 time zones as we crossed the Andes.  Mendoza is 2 hours from Ohio time, Santiago is on Atlantic time, and Peru is on Eastern time, so it get’s dark around 7 PM here.

I found my way back to the Hostel bar and ran into all the Swedes drinking and playing UNO.  The hostel has a great Irish stew dinner for $3 at 8 PM, then pub quiz at 9.  Since my team (nmaed “The Ohio Farmers” by a drunk Swede) was horribly inebriated, we finished 2nd out of 10 teams by a mere 1 point behind a surprizingly sober team of Aussies and Brits.  Kind of reminds me of Pub Quiz at Fado back in Columbus where Will, Shenika and I were always in the running (if not the lead) regardless of how large and sober the other teams were…

After the quiz, the revelry lasted until about 1:30 AM.  A bunch of people went out, but I opted for bed, as heavy drinking is not recommended for your first day at altitude.

I woke up today around 11AM, took a shower, and had a WONDERFUL bacon, eggs and OJ breakfast for $3.  I went out to shop for a waterproof jacket and discovered that this whole town is full of knock-off fashion from North Face.  I think I’ll keep my current gear and just buy a spare poncho.
There was a debate in the hostel as to whether all the massage places around town were legit.  On the way back from shopping, I found out that at least the one I went to was a legit massage parlor (AKA, not a borthel).  I got a killer deep tissue massage that left me feeling like a lump of jello.  1 hour for about $8.
I’m taking it easy today (the 12th) to acclimate some more and to generally relax before trekking.  The Inca trail is supposed to be a killer on your knees and lungs…