To Cuzco

Day 3, to Cuzco

I have not had much sleep – my roommate M___  is sick with some stomach bug, and has been up and down all night. I grab a bite to eat at the hotel breakfast buffet – fresh fruit, rolls, juice.  The coffee is terrible.  They have ham and cheese, some sort of cereals, but I pass on those.  Our group meets downstairs, and we drive to the airport. 

Through domestic security, then downstairs to wait.  This is the waiting spot for the planes where you get in a little bus and they drive you to the plane, and you walk up the stairs to board.  We have an hour-plus wait, so we watch people.  But first we look for my sick roommate.  No one has seen her since we went through security.  We check all the bathrooms, wander around a little upstairs, then more downstairs.  I find her in the front row of the waiting place, doubled over in the seat and resting.  She is not visible from anywhere in the room.  We are all happy to see her – she has not been lost, she knew where she was.

There are Earthquake security zone signs on the giant supports in the airport waiting room – will one hit while we are here?

They announce our flight, we line up, walk outside, and the smell hits us – the worst sort of death smell you can image.  Obviously there are many dead and rotting animals close by.  We all start to gag it is so overwhelming.  I feel really sorry for M__.  Short drive to the plane, more horrendous odor, then we are boarded, and don’t wait long to take off (thank goodness).  The flight is not bad, except for the landing.  Cuzco is in a small valley, so we have to drop down in a tight turn to land on the one runway.  I keep telling myself the pilot is experienced, he has done this before.  We make it.

Out into the sunshine, thin air, hawkers, vendors, ads for Coca Cola and Internet.  The bus arrives and we drive into town to our hotel.  We check in, meet with the group, then  Arturo our guide leads us to Jack’s, where we have to wait outside – it is packed.  Food was worth the wait – sandwiches, burgers, fries, beer.  Afterwards we wander around town for 4 hours, shopping, taking pictures, trying to cope with the altitude. Back to the hotel for dinner and an early evening.