Fun in Cusco (Saturday Week 2)

Saturday morning I woke up early and left the house at 6am for my taxi ride to the airport. I’ve had numerous taxi rides while in Lima and this was the scariest taxi ride I’ve had. The first thing was that this taxi had no safety belts and the driver drove as if he were in a NASCAR Race. He threaded in and out of traffic, ran a few red lights and headed down back roads all while driving above the speed limit for the entire 35 minutes it took to get to the airport.

The flight to Cuzco was quick and easy and I was able to register with my hotel “The Royal Inca I” at the airport as I was told I would. The hotel had a taxi that took me to the hotel and I checked in. The hotel room was very nice, It had a king size bed with free wireless Internet, heat and hot water were nice to have.

After checking in I went on a short walk around the city and found a place to have cuy for lunch. Cuy is the traditional Peruvian dish of guinea pig that is common in the mountain areas in Peru. I didn’t care much for this dish but am glad that I tried it.

After lunch I went back at the hotel for a tour around the city of Cuzco. The tour took us to several historical churches, and Incan ruins in the mountains surrounding the city. I also met two ladies on the tour that I would coincidentally meet again later that evening.

At about 7:30pm I met with some of my fellow CCS volunteers that left a few days earlier to visit Cuzco and Machu Picchu. We met in front of the famous church per an e-mail earlier in the day and then went back to their Hostal to meet with the others before going out to dinner. Upon arriving at the at the hostal I see that my CCS colleagues had also befriended the two ladies that I met on the tour of Cuzco. We all then went to dinner and my colleagues the me a surprise birthday / “going away” party at one of the restaurants. During dinner I got a slight headache from the altitude in and was taken care of by one of my CCS friends who provided me with “600mg of Advil” which promptly cured my headache and was ready to go out. I found it to be very thoughtful and was extremely grateful for the kind gestures.

After dinner we went to get drinks and then went dancing at two of the local clubs. This would be my most memorable night out during my time in Peru. My CCS friends were great and I enjoyed the club atmosphere, as I don’t go out much.