Southern Exposure

Wednesday, February 11

Our plan for today was to set up our Machu Picchu adventure and wonder around town, do some shopping and soak in the culture.

Alfredo, the helper from last night showed up at the hotel at breakfast to tell us about our options for Machu Picchu. We wanted to climb Wayna Picchu, the steep mountain that overlooks the complex, which only 400 people a day are allowed to climb. It was apparent that we had to spend the night in the town of Aquas Calientes, which is the closest stop over to Machu Picchu, and the next morning take one of the first buses to the ruins to get in line for the number to climb Wayna Picchu. After that we can do our tour of the whole complex, and we would have a few hours in Aquas Calientes to grab dinner, before heading back to Cusco. Of course Alfredo, offered to take care of all the reservations for us through his travel agency. We knew he was probably overcharging us $20 each for the all-inclusive trip, but for the sake of convenience and in order to allow more time to spend in the town we took him up on the offer.

We were really keen on getting us some famous Alpaca sweaters, but weren’t too confident about our ability to tell the difference between the real and the fake alpaca. Pretty much all places in Cusco claim they sell the real deal. Alfredo came to the rescue and took us to a factory shop that produced their own clothing specializing mainly in baby Alpaca, some of the finest and softest material we ever felt. They also had a rug and a jewelry factory next door, so this was a one stop shopping for us.

After a quick hands-on overview of the different types of threads and a lesson on how to tell one from the other (mainly through touch), we started our exhausting shopping journey. We settled in on a few sweaters and scarves for ourselves and as presents for family, and decided to set them aside and come back tomorrow in order to compare prices and quality in other shops in the town.

We spend the rest of the afternoon wondering around the narrow streets of Cusco in a true gringo fashion visiting shops and local markets, eyeballing cool things to buy. Apart from Mexico and Guatemala we were not that impressed with local crafts in other countries we’ve visited. Peru and Cusco in particular is a shopping heaven for anyone interested in the finest quality clothing, unique jewelry, textiles, gifts and random traditional chachkis.

One of the cutest things in Cusco are local girls and women who dress up in traditional colorful clothing to pose for pictures. The little girls carry adorable lambs in their pouches and the old ladies bring docile llamas with them and allow you to take a picture with them for one sole. (30 cents).

In the evening we decided to finally satisfy our curiosity and try the local favourite dish of cuy (guinea pig) at one of the recommended traditional Peruvian restaurants. Poor Matt who is a border line vegetarian was visibly displeased by the thought of the brown crusty rat-pig on his plate, but gave in to my spirit of inquiry.

It was a total disappointment. We should have ordered alpaca stroganoff instead. First of all, there was barely any meat on the thing and you had to work hard for it. The skin was very thick and chewy, and whatever meat I could find tasted like a dry blend of game and pork. Nothing to wow about. I’ve heard that locals like to eat their cuy leaving nothing behind, paws and head included, but you could not pay us to finish the dish. Though, it made for a good picture, and I can tell with all honesty, don’t waste your money on it.

After dinner we stopped at the Norton’s pub on the main plaza run by an expat rider Jeffrey to see if he can recommend a mechanic. Now that the oil leak problem on my bike seems to have gotten fixed in Quito, the steering feels heavy like it has a steering damper. My poor bike is like a patient for life, can’t spend a few weeks outside the moto hospital. Jeffrey gave us a contact name for a local mechanic, who we decided to contact tomorrow morning to see if we can set up an appointment for after we get back from Machu Picchu.