Hey Mister. Take a Picture?

On Monday morning, we caught an early flight to Cusco, a mountain town at an elevation of like 18,000 meters and home to thousands of Peruvians trying to sell you something.

Oxygen…..scarce……typing…….taking…..too….much….energy…..must…...rest…..

We didn’t want to push it too hard on the first day as we seemed to get winded with every step we took, so we did a bus ride/‘city tour’ of ruins and churches in the area. Brianna and I would like to kindly request that 4 hours of our life back, please.

We quickly discovered how well this city is set up for tourists. Advantage: several people speak English. Disadvantage: you can not walk 5 feet without being pestered. If you want a poncho, you have no less than 400 options in a 3 block radius. Looking for a wool sweater or a scary mask with a moutstache (see above)? You’ve come to the right place.

That evening, we had pisco sours and lomito saltado (7 on a scale of 10) at a place called El Meson. In fact, we have had lomito saltado several times and other traditional Peruvian food but none of lives up to the Peruvian food at Limon in SF. Sometimes, you don’t have to go very far to get away.......

Monday was all about white water rafting. It was MASSIVE! So much fun. Rapids were decent (some class 3s, lots of class 4s, some people fell in the water, etc). At the end, 25 of us crammed into a sauna built for about 7 and then had a surprisingly delicious provided lunch. Met a lot of cool people along the way, even a few Australians (thereby officially wrecking my theory that they are all jerks). When we got back to town, we decided to get one hour massages. How much would you be willing to pay for such a service? $149.99? How about $79.99? Well, act today and you can get a Peruvian massage for $6.99. Wow. Not the best massage I have ever had, but $7? Are you kidding me?

Tuesday, we toured the Sacred Valley, which really can’t be described in words, but I’ll try:

“Look at that! That’s awesome!”
“No way, did you see that dude?!”
Several minutes pass
“Hey, look, more ruins”
“Hey, another village of people trying to sell us crap”
Yawn "There is another llama.”
Several minutes pass
“Hey, can you pass me the coca leaf”
Chew, chew
“WOW! What incredible views!”
“Look at all the different colors!”
“I could run a marathon right now!”

Actually the views & ruins at Pisaq and Ollantaytambo were amazing and the coca leaf (yes, the key ingredient of cocaine) does in fact help ease the effects of higher altitude. It also helps you forget all of your problems and helps you become the life of the party and helps you stay awake for 3 days straight….and…..and….and…..

We just arrived in Aquas Calientes via train and we will cap off our 5 week odyssey with a visit to Machu Picchu tomorrow. Then only 3 more days in South America before we embark for the good ole USA.

If there is one thing I have re-learned on this trip, balance is key. Remember that folks and stay sane. Besos.