I will definitely not gain weight here

Saturday, May 26

I’m fairly certain LATAM factored this into their flight schedule, but we boarded the plane at 10:30 and didn’t get cleared to leave until 11:28.  We landed at 12:20 in Cuzco, which is only 20 minutes later than scheduled.  I got the distinct impression that this happens.  A lot.  The good news is that the airport is tiny.  It’s nestled between the mountains and is only one one runway.  Landing here was interesting because I spied the runway from the sky and we looped around the mountains to line up with it and tuck down in between the biggest peaks.  Heart attack time, not for the fearful!  By the time I’d deplaned from my row 28 seat and used the restroom, my luggage was already coming around on the carousel.  Hallelujah.

At the airport I was met by Maria, who was essentially a fixer for Inka Natura, the company I am traveling with.  She had a driver take us to my hotel near the main square and cathedral in Cuzco.  I had a cup of coca tea (to counteract any effects of the altitude, we’re at 12,000 feet here) and waited to check in.  She gave me a great map with some recommendations for meals nearby and said she’d meet me with my guide after lunch.  And off she went

The hotel is nice.  The location is right off the square and it’s pretty quiet.  The square itself is pedestrian only which is nice.  There are two big churches and a bunch of shops and restaurants hidden beneath a really nice wooden facade that evokes another era.  I ate at Inka Grill where I had pumpkin soup and a mixed vegetable salad with tomatoes, egg, beets, artichokes and a whole load of avocado which was so good.  I learned very quickly that it’s hard to find a bad-for-you meal here.  Everything is fresh and not junky, it all feels healthy, which I suppose is a good thing.

My guide for the rest of my stay in the Sacred Valley is Armando.  He’s a very sweet guy who clearly loves his subject matter.  He also loves to take pictures, so I have about 50 of me at all the places we went to today!  That will be great at Machu Picchu!  We started out in the main square, Plaza de Armas where he gave a history of the square and the Inca king commemorated by a statue there.  Then we went into the main cathedral of Cuzco which was just gorgeous.  We entered through the chapel, which was mind-blowing enough with it’s beautiful ornate gilded altar and the doll-like statues of the Virgin and angels.  Then we branched off into the main church and it was even prettier.  The problem is though that this wasn’t original Incan, but rather influenced by the Spanish who came in the 1500s or so and basically destroyed whatever they could while looting for gold and silver.    The main altar in the church was silver and just spectacular to see.  We walked around a bit there and saw the catacombs beneath the altar and the Christ of the Earthquakes.  Now this one is a great story...

Back in 1650 or so, there was a massive earthquake in the Cuzco area.   People were freaking out.  Then they took this statue of Christ on the cross down and proceeded through the square with it and the earthquake stopped.  So they think it has magical powers and they continue to do the processional every year on Easter Monday.  That they’ve had earthquakes since then doesn’t seem to deter the believers.

From there we walked to Qorikancha, which is a temple to the sun.  This was another place that got built over, this time by the Dominicans.  Armando was funny though, he showed me the walls of what is left of the original Incan complex and said that it is “Incan Legos” because no mortar or cement was used, just an interlocking stonework.  It was fascinating to learn that given how tightly set the rocks are.  It’s also another one of those places, like Newgrange and Stonehenge, where on a certain day, in this case, the summer solstice, the sun would stream into a strategically placed window on to the golden chair where the Incan king would be sitting.  How they managed to get that right and also build walls and the like that last forever is really quite an achievement.

After that we drove up to Sachsayhuaman (pronounced “sexy woman”, which is a little odd to keep hearing over and over again!). This is a megalithic complex built of limestone. It wasn’t meant to be a complex but became one when the Incans fled central Cuzco and took cover up there on the hill in Sachsayhuaman.  This was another one of those architectural wonders that made you question how on earth they got this done with no heavy machinery.  I was dwarfed by it all and yet they managed to get the rock here, prop it up and stack it so that it never topples somehow.  For hundreds upon hundreds of years.

Armando and our driver brought me back to the hotel and I went to get some water and an Inca Kola (soft drink) for later.  You can’t use the sink water even to brush your teeth, so bottled water is a must even for that.

Dinner tonight was at Limo’s, another restaurant that Maria recommended.  I really wanted to try ceviche, and I did!  I had a Pisco sour to start (acclimatizing to the altitude be damned!) with a cold mashed potato with a hot miso ceviche on top (this was a fusion Peruvian-Japanese restaurant, I should add) and then I had ceviche which is just raw fish marinated in lime juice and with really spicy chili pepper.  It was awesome.  And again, the whole meal felt really healthy.  I’m certainly getting my protein.

Caught some kind of Peruvian dance show in the square on the way back to the hotel which I watched for a few minutes, but to be honest I was dead tired and freezing cold.  As nice as the afternoon was in the 60s, it drops to the 30s overnight.  I have the heat cranked in the room right now.  Up early for an 8 am start.