Is It Cuzco or Cusco?

Day 2 - Jun 14, 2017

OK, let’s start with the basics. Is it Cuzco or Cusco? Believe me… it matters. If you use your standard iPhone weather app and search on either name, both will come up as a choice: Cuzco, Peru and Cusco, Peru. If you click on Cuzco, Peru, the weather says high temperatures in the upper 40’s (F) and lows in the upper 20’s! Also, mostly cloudy and some rain. If you click on Cusco, Peru, the weather says highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the lower 40’s – quite a difference!! OK, when in doubt, go with the locals who spell it Cusco; besides we like that weather forecast much better.

We flew out of Lima and quite quickly we were over the Andes Mountains. Some of the views were striking and far from anything we see on the plains of Indiana. We even saw what we believe was the highest peak in the region sticking up through the clouds – Salcantay at 20, 574 feet above sea level (6271 meters for those of you into that kind of measure). See below.

 

When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted with coca leaves to chew in order to help with altitude sickness. The suggested limit was 3 leaves but we found Barry sneaking some extras and stuffing them in his pocket. Our driver and guide took us to our hotel, but the ride was slow with traffic as bad as I have seen in New York or Boston. We learned that this is the month of Corpus Christi (the Catholics in the crowd understand this) with lots of “festivities.” Therefore, some roads into the main square were closed so we were told that we would have to walk “two blocks” to our hotel. That ‘bait and switch’ turned into 10 blocks of schlepping our luggage over cobblestone streets. Oh well.

We got to our hotel where they served us coca tea to help with the altitude. The hotel is not much on the outside, but inside it was very nice with a cool little courtyard. We got settled and immediately ventured into the streets to explore the city. We went to the Plaza de Armas at the heart of the city (which was truly two blocks from our hotel). The festivities were in full swing – bands playing triumphantly, people dancing traditional dances (kind of like a flash mob) and religious parades. It was very lively.

We ate lunch at the Inka Grille (we give it a 'pretty good' rating) right on the Plaza, then wandered the streets which are filled with alpaca apparel shops and other Peruvian trinkets. We saw the most famous Incan stone in Cusco (remember, not Cuzco) as it was cut with 12 edges to perfectly fit with other stones. It is worth noting that 500+ years after the Inca laid these stones together with no mortar to bind them, the vast majority are still snugly fit … in fact, the joints are so snugly fit that we could not get a credit card in between them, and I am not sure we could have done so with a piece of paper.

On the Plaza de Armas, we went into the church of Society of Jesus (i.e. the Jesuits) which houses the largest altarpiece in all of Peru. It is quite ornate and 100% gold gilded. You would have to take my word for it since no one is allowed to take pictures in the church. However, through a special dispensation from some of my Jesuit friends, I was allowed to take a picture so I could share it with all my friends who may never get to Cusco. When confronted by one of the curators of the church, I pulled out another letter from a Jesuit friends of mine, Father Frank (you know him as Pope Francis), and the curator told me it was OK with her since it was OK with Father Frank.

We went back to our comfy hotel for happy hour (two for the price of one) and we could not resist some Pisco Sours. We sat in the courtyard for the cool evening around the fire pit and had our drinks and some food while we listened to some music. The music was provided by a guitarist that was doing a Bob Dylan impression and a bongo/percussionist. The music was from my era – the 60’s and 70’s, and they were very good.

  

By the way, whether it was the coca or our genes or our general fitness, none of us were affected by the altitude. On a few occasions, all of us had to take a few extra deep breaths, but that was all. We met some other people around the fire pit who had been in Cusco for a few days, and they warned us that day #2 was the day that the altitude gods sought their revenge. We will have to see.

After several hours of eating, drinking, listening and most importantly NOT WORKING, we retired for the night at the shameful hour of 10PM.