Cusco

I have just now arrived back in Andahuaylas after an incredible week in Cusco, the Inca Jungle, and Machu Picchu! I decided to break up my stories about the trip into three posts because so much happened. The journey started buying a bus ticket. Most of the travel here, both for common Peruvians and backpackers tight on cash, is by bus. The buses are a real gamble too and my family had told me that when paying the same price you could end up with a bus that has reclining beds or a bus that has chickens in the aisle, especially when traveling in an area that sees little to no tourists like the route from Andahuaylas to Cusco. I was also reminded that you have to bargain for literally everything. Even when buying a ticket from a national bus company the teller told me a price that was much higher than it should have been. I ended up getting the ticket for 25 soles or around 10 dollars which was decent.

The other thing I had heard about the buses is that you have to vigilantly guard your belongings. Everyone in my family and the people I have talked to say that they have had their things stolen many times on the buses when they are dozing off. A Swedish pastor here in Andahuaylas told me that he had his wallet and cell phone stolen as he was sitting on them and didn't even realize it. For this reason, I didn't sleep at all during the eight hour ride. I also triumphantly walked off the bus with both cameras, my phone, my wallet, and my iPad all accounted for.

The bus got into Cusco at four in the morning and I was exhausted so I promptly took a taxi to the Loki Hostel where I was staying and fell asleep on a couch in their TV room. Waking up six hours later, I explored the hostel a bit and found it to be an incredibly interesting place. The structure itself was one of the first Spanish hacienda houses in the city of Cusco and was the exact location where Tupac Amaru II, an indigenous leader in the 19th century, planned his nearly successful revolt against the Spanish.

After walking around a bit I met four Australians who said they were going bungee jumping in an hour. They asked if I wanted to join and, of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to jump for the second time this year. Off we went to a place called the Action Valley just outside the city. This jump was 100 times safer than the one I had done previously at Victoria Falls. It was complete with a double safety harness, a neck brace, and the instructors giving you step by step instructions of how to prepare yourself with breathing exercises. We all threw ourselves out of the cable car 320 feet up without any problems. Easy. The adrenaline high is unbeatable though; our fingers didn't stop twitching for a solid hour.

I spent the next day wandering all of the ins and outs of Cusco. It is a fascinating city. All the the buildings are built in a valley surrounded by three hills and the rapid population growth is pushing more and more houses up the hills. No street in the center is much wider than a medium-sized car and they are sprawled upon a variety of different slopes. The whole city reminded me a lot of Venice but without the water. It seemed like the perfect setting for a Peruvian Thief Lord. I also thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of being in a much more global city than Andahuaylas. The people overall were more aware of the outside world, I could listen to more than one type of music and the food, oh the food. The old adage "you can get that anywhere back home" was the opposite for me. I got my hands on as much fast food as possible after only eating rice, beans, chicken, and eggs for the majority of the past two months. KFC. Mickey D's. Starbucks. I had it all. That succulent Big Mac was most definitely a highlight of my time in Cusco.