Cuzco (Peru)

The next morning, we woke up at about 5:30 am for an all day drive.  We ended up leaving about 30 minutes late, which in did not affected the fact that there was no way we were making it to Cuzco that day. We drove and drove and drove, and could not move that freaking blue dot on our GPS map.  Someone had told u the day before that the drive from Nazca to Cuzco took 11 hrs, but after 10 hours, we were still pretty far (I assumed about 3 hours, but wasn't sure), so just to be safe, we pulled into the small town of Abancay for the night.  The accommodations weren't the worst we've had thus far.  Dinner consisted of the same thing we've had for ages now, a fried piece of meat and tons of carbs.  I am getting a bit sick of the cheap food options.   We woke up the next morning, and made our last leg of the drive to Cuzco, which ended up taking almost 6 hours, and included us getting pretty lost as the road we were supposed to take did not exist when we looked for it.  The drive, however, was gorgeous!  We definitely have hit the colder climate and drove through snow.  The views were really stunning with green mountains in the forefront, and snow capped mountains in the distance,  until we were surrounded by snow.  At one point I asked if we had yet driven through the Andes, maybe in Ecuador, but we knew we had definitely arrives at them when we met with the snow.  We also spent a lot amount of time driving through the valley floor of the Andes along a river, and kept having to pull over to snap shots.  I know a lot of people questioned our method of travel and would have opted for buses, but the views alone, and our opportunity to stop and explore have justified it for us.  When we arrived into the city, our originally researched hostel proved too elusive, so with some help from Cuzquenos, we found the historic center and a hostel by about 12-1pm.  There was a laundromat right by us, so we dropped off of bag full of sand, and a few articles of clothing from the sandboarding day, and headed off for our important tasks.  First things first, we ate.  The traditional Peruvian deals at restaurants usually consist of soup and the fried food with french fries and rice, but here they actually had a veggie meal, so I went with that.  We then set out to find a trip to Machu Picchu.  There are a gazillion tourist groups around Cuzco, so we easily found one and booked a trip.   Apparently, several years ago, people could get to Wayna Picchu simply by showing up early and the 200 allotted tickets were first-come-first-serve.  Unfortunately, that tradition has changed, and you have to reserve it in advance;  it is also no longer free.  So we missed out on Wayna Picchu, as it was booked, but we were able to book Montaña, which I guess is actually preferable.  All of the traditionally pictures of Machu Picchu that people see are taken from Montaña, as it is higher.  I had also heard that Wayna Picchu is known is the Sunrise Gate of Machu Picchu, but the park doesn't open anymore until after sunrise, so no bigs that we couldn't book that.  Once we had sufficiently bled money, we received our tickets and felt better about our timing.   There was a small coffee shop across from our hostel, so we played chess, and I sipped on a Coca (yes, the kind of coca not sold in the States) tea.  Then, we set out to snap some photos of town.  The main Plaza de Armas is really gorgeous.  It has well maintained gardens, beautiful architecture, and the mountains surrounding.   There is also a shocking number of backpacker essential stores, with what I can only assume are knockoff North Face articles.  I was able to buy a pretty great no-name fleece neck warmer for 15 soles ($5).  We also bought a bunch of snacks from a convenience store for Machu Picchu, including Coca energy bars! Haha.  We walked around a bit more.  Lots of women and children dressed in traditional Peruvian indigenous attire, and alpacas!  All over,  just being drawn through all the streets.  We saw a bunch on our drive, just mulling about in groups, but didn't get close.  Lord do they stink!  Or more specifically, their pee stinks.   I also bought an awesome alpaca hat, as I didn't pack a one originally, unsure of how cold things could get.   On that note, a huge shout out to my Aunt Eilleen, and sister-in-laws, Jen and Loren, for my long johns and fleece jacket.  I am wearing literally almost everything I brought, which does have the positive side effect of making my pack nice and light!  After spending so much in one day, we cut ourselves off!  Well, not until after we tried the traditional guinea pig dish here called, Cuy.  It was more expensive that it should be for the amount of meat a guinea pig yields, but Jared liked it; "tastes like chicken" he said.  I tried a bit, and then had an unpleasant physical reaction when I bit into either bone or cartilage, and was at that point full...for the rest of the night.  After dinner, we parked the car so we wouldn't have to worry while we were gone at Machu Picchu, showered up in what were supposed to be hot showers...they were not, and went to bed at 10 pm, for our 3:30 am wake up.