Cusco, Perú

Hello all, please note that I am still unclear on if it’s Cusco or Cuzco, and if it’s Inca or Inka, etc. I will use whatever my fingers deem correct.

Phew, now that that’s out of the way, let’s begin!

My first impression of the city, written around 23:00 the night we arrived – When we got to Cusco the air was instantly cooler and it’s so lovely. For the time being that is, I am sure I’ll be missing the heat soon enough. This evening we wandered down the road and got some indian food before we called it an early night. Our hostel seems sweet. There’s a tattoo shop, restaurant, bar, game area, lots of lounging spots, the works. Outside there is a large waka (giant rock/stone structure), a large empty swimming pool, and a culinary lab.

Day 1 in Cusco was a blast. We had breakfast at the hostel – french toast – and there is a nice view of the city from where we were sitting. After that we had to go get some cash. We walked to the city square, went to our Inca trail company office to verify the amount we owed, and then hit up the BCP for some money. Colombia was a 0.00025 exchange, but Perú is 0.27. Once we had enough we went paid off our trek balances, then went back to the hostel to pay for Rainbow Mountain. While sitting in the lobby, we last minute booked the cooking class I had been wanting to do oh so badly for that afternoon. We realized we wouldn’t get back from Rainbow Mountain until 17:00 or 18:00 so we wouldn’t have the time before the other chicas arrived.

We set off to get lunch and check out some stores along the way to the Market. Our meeting point for the class was the San Pedro Market. What a fun part of the class. We tried local fruits, lots of passion fruits, Chuta pan (a HUGE loaf of carmel sweet bread), chocolates, and cheeses. In my notes, I wrote how many varieties of Corn, Potatoes, and more that they have in Perú. Then every tour following it, the numbers varied so you have been warned. That being said, they may have 55 types of corn and 3000 types of potatoes. Along with 3 types of cheese.

We saw a dehydrated potato that they make in May, June, and July by putting a potato in the river for 10 days, then peeling it and leaving it in the run for 40 days at the top of the mountain. We also saw Maca, which is what Quinoa was to them 15 years ago. It’s similar in smell to chocolate, but it gives you loads of energy. Back to the types of cheese, we tried all three. The incas didn’t have cows, so that’s why they only have three local cheese varieties. Paria, Andean, and queso con oregano. We can get 1 kilo of cheese for 28 soles, aka 60 lbs for 7.50 USD. The cheeses were all pretty mild. Next we tried chocolate, yes, even I gave it the tiniest nibble. They tasted like, chocolate. Kate and Mer raved about them though. 1 bar is 5 soles. We walked through the produce and it smelled so good and fresh.

The base of most Peruvian food is Aji amarillo. A pepper that starts orange and turns yellow after boiling it in oil. They make a paste out of it and then use it in their cooking. There’s also a big Chinese/Asian influence in Peruvian food. Which makes sense because on the ride from the airport I saw so many Chifa restaurants with Chinese characters but wasn’t sure what Chifa meant. It means come to eat in Cantonese, apparently.

After the market we walked to the cooking class with our group. We had a fun and outgoing diverse little group. Two soon-to-be gynos from Germany, a couple from Ecuador (one of whom was originally from Dallas with parents from Chihuahua Mexico and now works for the marines with foreign embassies so that’s how he met his partner), and a girl from the UK who is a teacher, but she is in “the isle of something” at the moment, according to my roomies.

I won’t talk your ears off too much more about the deets of this cooking class, but it was a 10/10. A friend from Trinity, Anna, recommended the class and it was perfect. Thank you, Anna! Jesus remembered you btw. Everyone had their own workstation. We made 3 cocktails and 3 dishes. Pisco Sour, Pisco espresso martini, Pisco Punch, and Chicha punch? Maybe? haha.

Also, fyi, according to chef Jesus, pre covid, the 4th Sunday of the month of July was National Pisco day, and they would replace the alcohol in the fountain in the town square with Pisco.

The dishes we made were Ceviche (Peruvian asian fusion), Causa Limeña (made during the 1879 War of the Pacific when Chile fought Peru and Bolivia) and Tamales de Quinoa. We also had Picarones for dessert, but we didn’t make them ourselves. I will though because he provided all our recipes via email after the class. Jesus said he attended a cooking school in Lima that was a Peruvian Japanese fusion. Maybe I’ll go there! The top three dishes in Peru are Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, and Causa. Now I have tried all three, yay!

We walked home, halfway, with Paula and Tony from class and then parted ways. We rushed the rest of the way home and fell asleep as fast as we could because we had to be up at 04:00 to go to Rainbow Mountain! So early! So worth it!

Forgot to mention to you all that this may be a SUPER long and boring entry. Get your snacks and take your bathroom trip now.

We got picked up in a van and rode for about three hours (stopping for an interesting bfast buffet along the way) to get to the mountain. It took us about an hour to get up because we start around 12-13K feet and go up to about 16.5K feet (3800 – 5000 meters). While it only took an hour it was very difficult for me. My lungs and heart were working overtime. Proud of my body. We got our passports stamped at the top because they did not stamp them when we got to Peru. We stopped at the same buffet spot for lunch. Nothing wild, just soup, noodles, meats, random stuff. The van ride was a bit nauseating but that was to be expected.

We got back and took a lil bit of a rest before walking to an italian place for dinner and it was delish. The name is escaping me right now, it may be La Osteria, but don’t quote me. Scrumptious Osu bucco and pasta that was def freshly made. A quite simple yet flavorful meal.

The next day we had oatmeal that was surprisingly full of flavor, and then walked to our next hotel to await Kelsey and Katie’s arrival. This hotel, “Niños,” is so freaking beautiful. I love it. I also bought a bright purse in the front office. We helped the gals get some cash and then had lunch at JJonas, which was unexpectedly fire, and then went and checked them in for the trek as well. We wandered around the city, did some more shopping, showed them the market, and then relaxed at Niños until dinner. For dinner, we walked to Yaku just a few minutes away and had such a good meal. Mer and I split baked trout and pesto quinoa. They love trout and quinoa here, but man the trout was the best I have had here so far. Day one as our whole group was a success.

The next day, we had another tour. We walked to the pickup spot at 06:00 but there was no van in sight. We finally found a number online to reach out to and it turns out they were waiting for us back at Niños. Whoops. Thankfully we got retrieved and were on our way. It was only about an hour to the ATV place.

I ended up sitting up front with the driver and the guide. Fun time. This was my first time driving an ATV but we got a thorough lesson beforehand. Anyways, we got dusty as hell. Kristian, our guide, said the word for dust is polvo and the word for dusty is polvoriento. Just fyi. We took the ATVs to Moray, originally Muyu Oray in Quechua, meaning circle of the bottom. The theory goes that this is where the types of potatoes, corn, and quinoa from the inca laboratory was discovered. The soil was taken from the old empire in the jungle. The circle shape helped the colder wind from the glaciers pass through the mountains and flow in a spiral all the way to the bottom of the circle. Then each level of the terrace has four layers: big stone, gravel, sand, soil, which is constantly able to drain water when it rains. Each different terrace level has a different variety of let’s say potato, for example, because each level is a slightly different temperature. That’s what they say at least.

After we looked around we drove the ATVs back to the van, then headed to the Salt Mines. We can’t drive ATVs on the road that leads up to it. I am reading a book series right now which talks about Salt Mines, so seeing them was extra interesting for me. These are the Maras salt mines. The community owns the salt mines, made up of about 700 families, but in 1999 a company somehow bought the mines or owns them, not sure the specifics, and now the families have to sell their salt that they mine to the company, then buy it back for more, then they can sell it to the people on Perú. Seems sus.

The mines are at 3000 meters (about 10K feet) in elevation. When the rainy season ends they have three days to move the water to the pools. Then they repeat and repeat. After about a month, 10 cm (3 qualities) of salt is there. The lower part of the pool’s salt is for bathing because the minerals are stronger and it has a brown color because of the minerals/soil. The middle part has the pink salt, about 68 minerals, and it is the gourmet salt, only seen in Malasia and Cusco apparently. Then the top level is table salt. After this month (August) they will start to collect the salt. The first thing they will do is start walking reaaallly slow in the pools, taking tiny steps because they don’t want to break anything below the top level.

We met Verna. Her family owns about 3 pools in the mines. We tried some salt and I bought two flavors, an herb one and a smoky one, and now I have been carrying these around for a month. A hassle but oh well. The salt was so good.

We got home around 13:00 and I immediately hopped in the shower. We then wandered around a bit and got a tasty late lunch from LOCAL restaurant. We passed by the same shop we have been passing every day and I finally got the sweater I have been trying on every day. Thank you to my secret admirer. 😉 We then rested up that afternoon before we went to a fancy dinner.

The dinner was so so good you guys. We got (trout) ceviche that was stupendous honestly, a fancy guacamole, croquettas, and a to die for lomo saltado. We also got a free drink because they were behind schedule, so we decided to get the cocktail of the day as well, to treat ourselves. They made it tableside. The staff was so attentive we felt like celebrities. What a fun night. The restaurant was called Morena. I think. Or Morenas. You’ll know if you look. On the way home we got another drink at a cute random bar and they gave us two free nasty shots. Then we went to another bar with a live band and the crowd was comical. Funny evening.

On Friday, the last day before the trek, we took it pretty easy. We woke and and were lazy. Some made phone calls, others wrote in their journals, almost all got coffee, etc. Then we walked to Organika for breakfast, but missed the cutoff so we had lunch. We stopped by the market again, and then also went to the Inka museum. It was great to get some background before starting our trek honestly. The Inca empire was not as long as I thought, and there were so many pre-Inca settlements as well. We then hung out at Niños before our briefing with Alpaca Expeditions. The meeting went well. We have 15 in our group, 2 brits and the rest are from the US. We got the low down and our green duffles. Then we went and had dinner at Niños. Good pastas, just takes a hot minute to prepare. We packed everything up in the duffles, they had to be 7 kilos or less, and the rest went in our daypacks. We slept as well as we could and then woke up at 04:00.

~ I will be doing a separate post about Machu Picchu, so stay tuned for that ~

The day after the trek, it was just Meredith and myself once more. We got back to Cusco around 19:00 and made it to Niños one last time. We got dinner with Simon and Kieren, the two british friends we made on the trek, at Yaku. This time I got Adobo and it was great! We then followed our international relations member Kieren to an Irish pub and met up with about 4 other guys from the group that was doing the Inka trail at the same time as us. They were always camping near us. We drank some beers and went to a club that was actually a pleasant surprise. All the guys were such interesting characters. Mer and I made our leave eventually and passed out at Niños from exhaustion.

The next day was our last day. We packed, Mer got her yellow fever vaccine right in our hotel, we had lunch at Niños, and then walked around a smidge before it rained on us. We caught the first of five busses in our Bolivia Hop tour, taking a night bus to Arequipa. The bus was spacious and comfy. We left around 18:00 and arrived the next morning around 05:00.

Leaving Cusco was honestly hard to do. I made so many wonderful memories and friends. Alas, the next adventure called and I had to answer.

That’s all for now 🙂