Peru: Cuzco 2013

Getting there
We first flew to Salt Lake to LaX. That in itself was an adventure! We boarded our flight in Salt Lake, the plane "people" did their plane checks and then asked everyone to get off the plane... umm ok? Turns out they discovered they needed to replace a part. I immediately thought of friends:

At LaX their international airport is separate from their domestic airport but we didn't know that. When we got off our flight we we couldn't find our next gate. I finally asked a airport worker at a check in desk where the gate was and she told me that gate didn't exist... um ah! Seeing the panic on my face, clearly I didn't hide it well, she asked to see my ticket and seeing that our flight was international she explained that we needed to go down the hall, make a left and follow the signs to the international terminal. Oh? Ok! (Haha, It would have been helpful if she told me it was an entirely different building.) We followed the signs and they took us outside and then the directions stopped and we had no idea where to go next; luckily a security man pointed us in the right direction.
We flew from LaX to Lima. The airline for this flight was Peruvian and AMAZING! We felt like we were flying first class; we were given nice blankets and eye-sleeper masks, we could watch tv shows and like 80 movies, play games and listen to music FOR FREE, they fed us TWO HUGE meals, and they handed out treats and drinks often. We were also in the very back row of the airplane, with space behind us, which was nice because we could lean our seats back, to sleep, without feeling bad.
The Lima airport was FREEZING and I started to worry that my clothes wouldn't be warm enough for the trip. I survived for the most part but I did buy an "alpaca" beanie in Cuzco that I pretty much wore the entire time as you will see in all my pictures.
And then from Lima to Cuzco!
You know, for the two and half weeks in Peru, the only time we struggled the most with directions and travel was getting to Peru and coming back; I'm grateful for that.

That's Cuzco behind us

Cuzco
As I said in my overview post, Cuzco was our home base and we considered it "home" for our entire trip. We started out in Cuzco and then the next day went to the Amazon, came back to Cuzco and then took a train up to Aguas Calientes to visit Machu Picchu and then back to Cuzco, took a bus down to Puno, Lake Titicaca and Arequipa and then back to Cuzco. Sometimes we would have a day in between those stops and sometimes it was a quick sleep and then off to the next destination.

City Center
We started out at the city center and let our comfort radius grow from there. The only thing "American" we found at the city center was Starbucks which we were grateful for because we could buy hot chocolate for cold days and use the free wifi to email home and reassure our family that we were alive and having lots of fun. Another thing about the city center, well and EVERYWHERE else we went, was the fact that there was always someone trying to sell you something. Our first day we got a little overwhelmed and annoyed by the people constantly approaching us to buy things but by the end of the trip we got used to it. I got very good at saying, "No, Gracias" and "No, estoy bien." On our last day of the trip we had a few hours in Cuzco before we had to head to the airport to head home and we had some last minute souvenir shopping to do. We just sat on a bench and let people approach us and we eventually bought everything we needed. Haha, we did all of our shopping from a bench!

The city center or plaza

You'll notice the rainbow flags in the background; those are the state flags of Cuzco.

 We walked through an "indoor" market. Look at those pig heads! (Not Krista!)

People trying to sell Krista a dried gourd painted to look like an owl. It became a standing joke for the remainder for the trip, "No! I do not want an Owl Gourd!"
Those owl gourds were everywhere in Cuzco.

Admiring the amazing ancient walls in Peru and how the rocks were chiseled to fit perfectly together without anything holding them together. Oh! And Krista's Peru book! We referred to that book for everything on this trip and even used it as a tour guide sometimes.

City Tour

We signed up for a city tour of Cuzco, mostly because the tour included taking us on a bus to ruins around Cuzco and that meant not walking for hours to get to them. Our tour guide was actually a little hard to understand but we just got a kick out of it. She would explain things in Spanish and then in English; which was impressive. Since Krista speaks Spanish she would hear the first part and then sometimes give me the "readers digest" version if the tour guide's translations was too hard to understand.

The walking part of our tour around the City to museums and churches

Gardens at one of the churches we visited

While in one of the museums our tour guide was teaching about this number 15 person and every time she said this name she would say the ENTIRE name. We got pretty lost understanding the story with this long name thrown in every other sentence.

At the ruins of Saksaywama; sounds like Sexy Woman. At one point in the trip we were telling people about the things we did in Cuzco and I couldn't remember the name of this place for a moment and I called it Sexy Mama... I never heard the end of that one.

Saksaywama

These ruins were neat because they were similar to all the complex walls of the ruins around Peru but at a larger scale. The walls were built with boulders that fit perfectly together.

Our first live lama sighting!

At the beginning of the trip we would get so excited when we say Lamas and Alpacas but by the end we were pretty used to them since they were everywhere.

We were just told that this stone was once used for female sacrifice... I was scared.

A water drainage system still working at some of the ruins

Cuzco

Ninos Hotel
For two of our stops in Cuzco we stayed at the Ninos Hotel. It was the only hotel we stayed at; the rest of the trip we stayed in Hostels. We stayed here because a neighbor had told me about it and how much they loved staying there. Also! The hotel was started by a French Artist who also started a school for Peruvian children to better their education. The profits of the hotel go towards funding those schools. I liked the idea of giving back while we were there.

The courtyard at our hotel.

The street that our hotel was on. It's amazing how the buildings are tall and the same but you have no idea what's on the other side of them. Sometimes nice hotels or a run down tienda.

Our room. All of our stuff is everywhere because we were airing out our bags, they NEEDED it, and drying some things out too.

Every room had giant paintings from the Artist and owner of the hotel

 Breakfast at the hotel! I loved these breakfasts; they were simple but so delicious. I loved it so much that on our very last day of the trip we went back to the hotel and asked if we could at least come in for breakfast and pay for it... and they let us!

The little nook we would eat out breakfast in. So cozy and we could people watch. The best was when little kids would skip by on their way to school.

Sacred Valley Tour
We had planned to take a city bus to the sacred valley to visit Pisac for a day and just explore but then we found a tour that took you all over the sacred valley to Pisac, flea markets, Ollantaytambo, LUNCH and a church and it was only 10 U.S. dollars. It was cheaper than doing it on our own, they fed us and we had to do minimal work... it made sense!

 Our caterpillar tour bus!

While we were at the flea market we were given an hour to look around and shop. When it came to be an hour our bus still looked empty so Krista and I kept shopping. Turns out we were looking at a bus that looked just like ours but wasn't ours and 20 minutes after the time to get back, our tour guide came running to get us. Oops! He kept a closer eye on us the rest of the day.

The Sacred Valley!

 The Terracing at Pisac; probably the best ones I saw the whole time in Peru

 Floating Stairs! Ok, they're not really called that but these stairs were long rocks that were built into the walls of the terraces for staircases.

 Flea Market in Pisac

 Lunch time! Coke with almost every meal.

Ruins of Ollantaytambo! Say that 3 times fast.

 Look at that cool face carved into the side of the mountain

 Yarn at an Alpaca Clothing Shop

 We got to see and learn about how they turn the alpaca hair into yarn and how they die it with plants and fruits.

Our last stop of this tour was at a cathedral that was first built for the royalty of the Incas and then when Spain invaded they tore it down but used the foundation to build their cathedral. You can still see the foundation of the Inca church. While we were learning about this cathedral and it's history Krista wondered off during the English translation time to look at others things and she didn't see our group leave and go outside. When we were outside I instantly realized Krista wasn't with us. I ran back to the church but the door was closed. I pounded on the door until they opened it and Krista came out. Turns out when we left she started to head out to catch up with us but one of the priests wouldn't let her go unless she gave the church a donation. She gave a little but he decided it wasn't enough and was asking for more but that's when I started pounding and another priest opened the door and so she ran out. She wasn't too worried but I'm still glad I went back for her. Haha I was ready for a fight to get her back if I had to... people think I'm so sweet but you better watch out when my "mama bear" comes out.