Well, after 5 weeks of driving, we made it from BA, to Cusco, where we have been wanting to go ever since we started this trip. The drive from Puno, to Cusco took 5 long, but very beautiful hours. driving by snowcapped peaks and old Inca ruins, I would say it was worth the one hour delay in Juliaca, due to traffic. My dad calls Juliaca “The town of the devil.” We didn’t get caught in them, but we did see some more protesting when driving into Cusco. People were burining a truck across the rails to stop the train, which most tourists take. No tourists, no money, right?

 

We ended up staying in a Wyndham hotel, overlooking Cusco. To me, this sort of felt like the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in Iquique, Chile. WARNING, EXPECT DELAYS IF DRIVING IN CUSCO. Now I see why people don’t drive 4-runners in South America. Some of the streets you drive down, are so small, only small little sedans can fit through there. After being told that you need to book tours at Machu Picchu, the hotel manager helped us book a tour/hotel in Aguas Calientes, outside of Machu Picchu. In the night, people were shooting off fireworks and guns. For what, I still do not know.

 

On our first day in Cusco, my mom told us that we decided to take a Peruvian cooking class, so after having a good breakfast of eggs, pineapple, and cheese, a cab took us to our class, which was just off one of the three main plazas. We had to go to the market to get our ingredients, which was our first encounter with a Peruvian mercado. Inside, you can find over 15 different potatoes, purple corn, pig hearts and cow heads, and so much more. The stench of that mercado will never be forgotten. If you think you can chop finely, for this recipie, you will probably need to chop 15 times finer to get what our instructor wanted. We made a potato cake, with a filling of chicken salad, tomatoes, onions, chili paste, and avacado. This was accompined by a meat stew, and rice pudding. For drink, we had purple corn juice, or Chicha Morada In all, it turned out to be a filling, and very delicious meal.

 

 

  

 
 

  

   

The next day, we did a free walking tour of the city. We started near where our cooking class was, and proceded to the Mercado where we learned that it is being torn down in two years. The well known Inca trail takes a person 4 days and three nights, but we learned that the inca were able to do it in eight hours using a method I can’t explain. We also learned that four inca roads lead from the main square out to differeint parts of the empire. one, heading to the Pacific ocean, one heads to the Amazon, one leads to about Santiago, Chile laditude, and one heads to the Ecuador/Columbia border. The Inca Empire lasted only 90 short years. The tour ended in a resturaunt, where I had a wonderful cut of chicken, and my parents had their first Pisco Sour.

 

 

   
        

We are now staying in the Sacred Valley, about 15 minutes out of Urabamba, Peru. Our next post should be coming soon with a topic everyone should love. Machu Picchu.