On Friday morning, Brenda and I met the rest of the Exodus tour group at breakfast. They were all from the UK: Laurence and his son, Alex, Alasdair, Ciaran, Alasdair G., Alex H., Steve, and Fiona. It was a lively and talkative bunch and I knew we were all going to get along just grand.
We met our Inca Trail Guide, Carlos, and we talked about the trip. We were to put 7 kilos of stuff in one bag, along with our camp pad, and keep all the rest of our stuff in our day pack. Also, if there is a major problem the rescue flight ambulence folks would only accept crisp 100 dollar notes.
I thought it was odd they wouldn’t accept their own currency…The consecutive “why”s illicited an increased volume and a strained tone from Carlos, so I realized for the sake of peace I should just let it drop. This was somehow the custom and I needed to accept it.
None of the Brits seemed to think it odd; the Peruvian fascination/obsession with American dollars…and this was odd to me in an of itself. Maybe they think it’s bad manners to ask questions or pry.
I guess it just feels imperialistic; being an American and in another country and *expecting* them to use *my* currency or being told I better not use theirs! I want so very much to experience another culture-I don’t want to hear *my* music and eat *my* food and be surrounded by *my* decor.
In any event, when Carlos calmed down, we discussed a tour of the archeological sites around Cusco and planned to get lunch afterwards. The archeological tour was super, as you can see from the video above. There were 4 main sites just outside of Cuzco.
It was interesting to tour these places I had read about in my research prior to the trip. Carlos did a good job explaining what we were seeing and also creating a certain amount of intrigue. The poor guy was peppered with questions from me! When I was standing at those ruins, the research all started sinking in and making sense. I was happy Carlos was so knowledgeable and willing to indulge.
After the tour, back in Cusco, we had lunch at PachaMama in the San Blas Square. It was very yummy and there was a lovely veranda with a wood fired outdoor stove. We watched them cook our pizzas and we ordered beer. It was a perfect afternoon, not too hot and not too cold. Great day to be walking around and making new friends! I tried Alpaca for the first time and it was delicious. The quinoa vegetable soup was also quite tasty. But, Steve’s pizza was the best-thank goodness he shared a piece!
After lunch, we went back to the hotel and pre-packed for the Inca Trail.
Since the mattresses hadn’t arrived yet, we had to guess how much space to leave in the porter bag. It was a little tricky and also not quite as organized as I had hoped. Having the mattresses that afternoon would have really made everything go so much smoother…(the following morning, some folks were a late because they had to weigh and shift stuff at the last minute). As a trip leader, I noticed this detail which was neglected, or could be improved. But I don’t think anybody else really cared.
Brenda and I then struck out and found an Internet Cafe as the one at the hotel was very slow. I read emails and wrote to Dennis. She wrote to Woody. We stopped at a Drugstore for sunblock and bugspray. The latter, we never really used! I also managed to acquire two pairs of fingerless knit gloves and a cool alpaca beanie hat for Dennis.
Later that night, Brenda and I went to the Inca Cafe. We both had pasta and headed back to the hotel. Went to sleep early as we had to wake up at 5am. Our room was the noisiest one in the place…so it took me a little bit to fall asleep.
Inca Trail was tomorrow! Oh the excitement!
Tags: Archeological Ruins, Cusco, Pacha Mama Restaurant, Peru, Tour