Ramblings

So we traveled from Nazca to Cuzco shortly after. The ride to Cuzco was a surprisingly easy 15 hour bus ride through the mountains. Cuzco was much different than the other parts of Peru (at least from what we’ve seen thus far) in that it is heavily mountainous, with a chillier weather base than, say, Lima.

The buses were really ballin…our seats reclined nearly the entire way and the bus served food and movies throughout the night. Our first day we pretty much just bummed around, walking around the various parts of Cuzco (at least in the region where we’re at). There are alot of cool markets nearby and it’s fun to shop or browse.

We changed hostels the day after. The one we’re currently at is much more popular and has alot of younger people.The last few dayshave been pretty chill overall…I’m still getting used to the different altitude here. It’s definitely had a slight effect on my overall cardio (which was poor to begin with) but hopefully it’ll get better.

Food wise, I’m still searching for good Western food. Peruvian food is good as well, but I just miss some American dishes. Maybe it’s because I’m used to it, I dunno. I think I may have OD-ed on some of this peruvian food though (in that all of it is comprised of chicken/rice/veggies (and you can interchange fish/potatoes with that)). I guess I’m expecting too much (in that I just wish someone could make a decent burger or pizza or something). A few days ago I claimed I would have paid $100 for any one of the listed:

2 IHOP meals, a large meatlovers from old chicago, a pound burger with fries, a gigantic helping of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread.

Yesterday we shopped around for different Machu Picchu deals…everyone and their grandma has a tourist/travel company, all of them offering pretty much the same thing. Along the same vein, the shops and markets all sell the same old crap as well. It’s hard to imagine how all of them survive…I guess MP is just that big (as a tourist hotspot). We decided we’re probably just going to book through our hostel. It’s maybe $15 more than some of the other places but whatever…it’s convenient.

We also flirted with the idea of doing a multi-day rafting tour, but probably will end up not doing it…just based on time issues. Probably going to head out of Cuzco after MP (or just do a day trip with rafting or something).

So yeah…I guess this post is just a short update of what I’ve been up to the last few days…I’m quite excited for MP, where I’ll be taking a 4 day/3 night hike up to it. They say it’s pretty light hiking so I’m not too worried…I’ve decided to do the biking/adventure trip, the Inca Jungle trek.

Here are some pictures-

So yeah…Cuzco is pretty cool. Going to go to Machu Picchu the day after tomorrow, so pumped. Next update will be then…