Cusco, Peru - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Cusco Slide Show

After our rest and fun in the desert, we boarded a bus in Ica for Cusco, Peru. Prior to getting on our bus, we first spent an uneventful day in Ica waiting for our overnight bus to leave. This is all that needs to be said about our day in Ica - an endless amount of vendors, a bad chicken dinner, and a lack of focus on our part to do anything other than wander aimlessly. Noah did get a math lesson done in a cafe though!
We then boarded a Cruz del Sur bus, a "luxury" bus line in Peru for our "15 hour" overnight bus ride. Nice bus, they serve dinner and breakfast, and we don't have to pay for a night of lodging. What is there not to like? Well, let me tell you. The bus left 45 minutes late and it actually took 18 hours. It took 18 hours because it never got above 30 miles per hour due to it's endless climb up the Andes Mountains, eventually ending in Cusco, a city 10,909 feet above sea level. The 18 hour bus ride felt like an 18 hour tilt-a-whirl ride at Valleyfair with all the switchbacks while climbing and the fact that we were on the second level of the bus in the back. The scenery was nice though!
We rolled into Cusco with high altitude headaches, and not sleeping, not showering, not brushing our teeth and we still had 17 taxi drivers all asking to take us somewhere. The pain subsided as we were taken to our hotel, which was a nice little place in the San Blas neighborhood of Cusco, even higher up overlooking the city. The hotel was Casa de Campo and it had nice clean rooms with hot showers and wireless internet. Things were looking up.
Actually, things were looking up for Jennifer and Noah. I wish the same could be said for me. For the next 72 hours I dealt with not only altitude sickness but a bad case of traveler's sickness (that is the nice term). The first 36 hours were spent in bed with a pillow over my head while Jennifer and Noah explored the city. A couple days later, Noah picked it up, luckily for only 24 hours.  Fortunately, the Park Nicollet Travel Clinic outfitted us with the appropriate medication and all is well now.
While I was back in the room, Jennifer came across a Spring festival, a colorful parade of Peruvian dancers and musicians. She enjoyed the mix of Spanish and Inca architecture, churches and markets. She returned back to a lifeless husband and grabbed Noah for dinner. The highlight of our stay in Cusco was our Spanish lessons, taught by Peruvian single mothers, a non-profit organization that benefits them directly. All three of us (yes, Jim was up and about) had our own private instructors that took us around town and taught us Spanish vocabulary and grammar. Jennifer and Noah's teachers brought them to the Mercado Central, where they saw every imaginable animal part for sale, including cow tongue, pigs tail, and local delicacy, guinea pig and one variety of cheese.
The good news is that we are now all healthy for our trip to Machu Picchu! To see a slide show of Cusco, click on the following link ==> Cusco Slide Show.