Peru, Day 15 -16: Free Time in Cusco

Our train trip from Aguas Calientes back to Cusco was uneventful. It took a few stops and transfers to accommodate route changes as a result of the 2010 flooding, but we made it back to our tour hotel for one final night without incident. Unless you count my health. Everything came to a head that rest day back in Cusco, and I’m sure the return to an 11,000 foot altitude didn’t help. I basically laid in bed for the rest of the day. I do believe we emerged at some point to visit the bar and get some snacks there. I had a little pizza that was pretty tasty, but My Liege had an awesome spicy beef appetizer. Oh, yeah, sure, the first time he orders beef and I don’t it’s amazing. I wanted to eat all of his appetizer and let him have my pizza, but he didn’t go for it.

The next morning we changed hotels. I was a little nervous about the switch, because we’d been in 5-star hotels since first arriving in Cusco, and all through the Sacred Valley and Aguas Calientes, and because those hotels came with the tour we’d booked I could blame any dissatisfaction on the tour company. Not so easy to do when you’ve scoured the Internet and hotel review sites and booked the hotel yourself. And we were dropping down to three stars. Well, I tell you, it was a fantabulous change. We stayed at the Hotel Rumi Punku on an obscure street with a difficult-to-pronounce name. The street was nothing to write home about. Narrow, with construction or more probably renovations going on across the road. In Cusco, when they’re renovating or simply don’t want you to see what’s going on on the other side of the street, they cover the building in question with huge sheets of corrugated tin. So, a narrow street, and the door to our hotel was quite literally a hole in the wall. But! A hole in a wall that still had original Inca stonework. And, like most “a hole in the wall” places in Cusco, the entrance opened up into a beautiful little hotel with multiple courtyards, a very pleasant staff, and a decent breakfast.

The Hotel Rumi Punki. Three stars, but I far preferred it to the 5 star hotel we'd just come from. It didn't have a restaurant (although breakfast is served), but restaurants abound in the area, and for the difference in price, the savings we incurred, it was definitely a worthwhile move. When I booked, I went "all out" and asked for a king-sized bed. We had a fantastic, new-looking bathroom that never lacked for hot water.

Our room was very quiet, but we did have some noise. Like what sounded like very loud firecrackers going off early in the morning. It was nearing the end of May, and some festival or another was rapidly approaching. Wake up, wake up! We didn’t mind.

We had two free days in Cusco where we intended to just relax and do some touring on our own. The first thing we did was an Inca Stone Walking Tour. We had a map (without a listed route, we just flew by the seat of our pants) and our Frommer’s Peru (recommended), and off we went. We discovered this one amazing street filled with Inca walls. M.L got in trouble for nearly touching one of the stones! We realized a little policeman was stationed across the narrow street solely to blow his whistle at people like my dh.

After the whistle-blowing, M.L. behaved. We saw many amazing rocks in this wall. All tight Inca construction with Spanish buildings on top. The conquistadors recognized good foundations when they saw them. No reason to destroy the Inca foundations, just the Inca buildings.

Before heading out on our walking tour, we scoured laundries around the Hotel Rumi Punku and negotiated a fantastic rate from a pleasant young woman who delivered our laundry back to us exactly when she said she would (well, we had to pick it up from her). Laundry facilities abound in Cusco. You just have to do some exploring and decide if you want your stuff handwashed and hung to dry, or you prefer machines. We wanted machines. We liked our girl so much that we stopped her from negotiating her price down, down, down and I think we even gave her a sucker (we’d discovered these cherry suckers with gum in the middle called Globbopops, and we consumed them by the bagful. They really helped with the after-effects of my health issues, which were rapidly slowing, I’m pleased to report).

We stumbled upon this celebration in the Plaza de Armas. When the cause exists, they'll take one of their statues out of a church and parade it around. We had no clue why they were doing this today, but it was fun to watch.

For some reason, this marching band in the parade felt compelled to spray shaving cream on the crowd.

My camera card had filled up, so I went and sat on a park bench to change it while M.L. hung around the parade. I sat on a bench with room for three people, but an old woman working her worry beads was already there. I assumed when I sat it would just be her and me. Within minutes, an elderly gentleman showed up. I thought he was with her. But when he sat down, he began talking to me. In Spanish. We did pretty good, considering M.L. had the phrasebook and I was just getting by on the few words I’d learned our, so far, 2.5 weeks there. I learned the man’s name was Ernesto and that he lived in the mountains and had come to Cusco for whatever celebration was occurring or would occur soon. Later, I introduced him to M.L., who felt bereft that we didn’t get a picture of me with this friendly old guy. But I’d rather have the conversation than the picture. It was the highlight of my day.

Two main churches are on the Plaza de Armas. Shops and restaurants circle the square as well. I don't think I ever got a shot of the big cathedral we toured together, but I walked through this church on my own while M.L. rested in the square. I love the dark clouds hovering in the background. I told M.L. it was the ghosts of the Conquistadors.

You could climb the bell tower and wave out at the crowds. M.L. told me he would watch for me. So there I am, waving and waving and waving, while he's chatting up a Spanish woman sitting with him on his bench! I was nearly ready to climb back down when he finally saw me and snapped a few piccies. Men!
After a day of shopping for souvenirs, I was becoming more and more accustomed to "Peruvian Disneyland," so I did something I swore I would not do. I paid to have my picture taken with these two girls and the sweet little lambs. They said I could pay whatever I felt was right, but after I paid them, they immediately asked for more! It was all smiles and chuckles. Of course they want to get as much as they can. This is their job, walking around asking tourists if they want their picture taken. The least I could do was oblige once!

By Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

2 comments

  1. How wonderful that there was a celebration while you there, shaving cream and all! 🙂 Great picture of you waving from the church bell tower. I wish we had had more time in Cusco but thankfully I get to visit more of it through your blog post. 🙂

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