A Tale of Two Cities
This year’s international adventure took us to South America. It was my first time there so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Our trip consisted of three main parts: Cusco, the Inka Trail, and Lima. I’ll dedicate a standalone post to the Inka Trail, so for now I’ll focus on the two very different cities that we spent time in.
Cusco
Cusco was our first stop on the trip. We had a few days there to acclimate (11,000ft) before starting the trek. I wasn’t really sure what to expect since I have never flown into that high of an elevation before. I had some altitude pills just in case. Our plane landed in the late afternoon, exhausted from almost 20 hours of travel, we really just wanted to sleep. I didn’t feel too bad getting off the plane. It was mostly just a relief to not be in a vehicle or airport. Cusco airport is quite tiny and is nestled in the flat of the valley that the city occupies. If the days are clear, its warm and sunny despite coming out of their winter. It felt nice to finally be there. There are two main seasons in this part of Peru. The winters are dry while the summers are wet. The hills around Cusco were brown as can be and matched the adobe color of all the buildings. My first impressions of Cusco was that it reminded me of Athens. If you’ve ever been to Athens, you’ll notice a lot of the buildings are incomplete and have re-bar sticking up out of the top. Many of the buildings we drove past in Cusco were also like this. Its like they built the first, maybe second, or third floors, and then suddenly stopped. We later learned from a tour guide that many families will start building, then run out of money and leave it to the next generation to finish.
Plaza de Armas is the main square in Cusco. Its surrounded by shops, restaurants, and the oldest churches. It was walkable from the AirBnB we were staying at so it gave us a
good chance to explore the surrounded area. My first time in the plaza was at night. It was still packed despite it being late and around 40 degrees outside. And not just with tourist either. Apparently a ton of local kids come here at night to hang out and play Pokemon Go. It was a prime spot to hang out and drop lures. Who knew? The main source of economy in Cusco is tourism. Everyone we met was very friendly and helpful to the poor American’s that were terrible at speaking spanish.
Many of the streets around the square are cobblestone. Streets on radiating from the back portion of the plaza begin going uphill. Many of them fairly steep. The theme of our time in Cusco and Sacred Valley was terraces. Everything is terraced, which is quite impressive when you’re looking at ancient ruins carved directly into mountains. But even the city of Cusco was terraced, with layers upon layers of houses and small businesses. I think the reason I enjoyed Cusco so much was that it felt quaint. Despite all the tourist, it was very much full of people going about their everyday lives. We saw people going to school, going to work, people having band practice, celebrating any number of things because it seems like there’s a celebration everyday. It was different from America but it was a good kind of different because we got to see how people lived there.
We took one of the free walking tours that’s offered in Cusco. It actually turned out to be more than just wondering the streets. They led us up a street from Plaza de Armas. The guide said its the steepest street in Cusco which I can believe because I was rendered gasping for air after climbing those stairs. You top out at a church that overlooks the city and gives some pretty nice views of the surrounding area. From there, a shuttle picked us up and drove us up the hill that overlooks Cusco. Its home to Saqsayhuman, an ancient Inca archeological site, and Cristo Blanco, a 26ft tall statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the city. We then went back down the hill and were dropped back off at the church.
Lima
In contrast was Lima. If you were suddenly dropped onto a street in Lima, you likely wouldn’t suspect you were in Peru. It was very much like LA. A large metropolitan area sprawling next to the ocean. High-rise condos dotting the city. Too many cars and not enough car emission restrictions. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t terribly psyched to go to Lima. My friends wanted to see the different sides to Peru. However, the advice I was given from my friends who had been there before was to skip it. And now I can see why. You have to understand, we’re not people who love cities. Cities have their own beauty to them. But for the most part, we love the outdoors and that’s hard to come by in a metropolis.
We stayed in the Mira Flores district of Lima. Its a convenient location, close to the beach, shops, and several parks. Lima was at the tail end of our trip, after the Inca Trail trek so we weren’t as fresh eyed and excited. We also hadn’t really made any plans for their either. Our first full day there, we looked up what was nearby and settled on the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC).It was a weekday so we were pretty much the only ones there aside from a group of school students.
I love going to art museums. Art is something that transcends the language barrier. So what if I can’t read the placard very well. Art shouldn’t be described anyway. It is there to be viewed and contemplated. One exhibit that stood out was a collection of sculptures that were placed in the outdoor fountain. The cool part was that they had a ramp that led into the water. Against the building was a shelf with some rubber boots that you could put on, then wade into the fountain to walk around the sculptures. I had never seen such a thing before, it was so creative and such an interesting way to experie
nce art.
Our other big stop in Lima was Parque Kennedy or as we referred to it, the cat park. The cat park ishome to some 100 stray cats. People come to hang out with them, feed them, give them water.Mostly its just a bunch of cats lounging around. It was a pretty bizarre thing to see. Some of them looked a bit mangy, but for the most part they seemed healthy. We had so little to do, we even went back a second time.
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