Sunday 10th May
A 6.15am wake-up call got us up for breakfast before jumping on the coach back to Lima airport. The flight was surprisingly on time (as they're normally delayed due to fog) and everyone seemed more awake after a good night's sleep!
The plane was quite small and Matt managed to bagsie a seat with loads of leg room next to Jane and I was a few rows back. Cusco airport was surrounded by the most outstanding landscape and had giant hills (well, mountains!) all around. We got on another coach for a short ride to the hotel, seeing our first taste of more fantastic scenery en-route.
Cusco is 3500m above sea level, and you could feel the effects immediately from getting off the plane. It was mostly breathlessness and a general feeling of pressure around your head, so mild headaches and a similar feeling to having trouble with your sinuses.
For lunch we tried one of the local delicacies, alpaca. It was actually really nice and just tasted like steak!
In the afternoon we walked from the hotel to Cusco's main square. It was very pretty and authentic and again, was surrounded by amazing mountains. The pictures really don't do the scenery justice.
At one point Matt spotted a statue of Jesus on top of one of the hills and asked our guide, Libbie, if he had a special name, to which she replied, "Yeah, Jesus!". We walked up one end of the town, and a little girl had followed us all the way up, trying to sell us handmade bracelets. James haggled her down to about 2 Soles (40p) and most of us ended up buying some so she ended up with only two left!
After a wander we ended up in a cafe with a few others in the group where we heard hilarious stories of Jane and Andy's escapades at Heathrow airport, them being the first to arrive, kitted out all in red, slowly appearing over the top of the escalators in front of a group of builders! Vanessa and Nicola also shared their people-watching stories from the morning before, including the one about the overly affectionate couple sitting on a bench.
The altitude hadn't really affected either of us at this point, which we were really relieved about. We'd been drinking lots of coca tea so maybe that was working! We had a briefing back at the hotel at 6pm and Matt C and Carol couldn't make it due to being quite ill because of the altitude. Afterwards, we all had to do a quick introduction of ourselves, which Simon started by standing up and saying, "My name's Simon and I'm an alcoholic!" After dinner the majority of the group headed to bed but Matt, John, Si and I stayed up to play cards. Carol was beginning to get worse so the doctor was called out and she was given oxygen and later on taken to the local hospital. We were all hoping she would be better by tomorrow. |
Sitting in a cafe in Cusco main square
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