Day Six - CUSCO and AGUAS CALIENTES

Doing a little shopping on the streets

Cusco

Jose in Cusco

Darrin and Jose

Ricky was still awake working when I awoke at 3:30 AM for my flight to Cusco. I was a bit concerned about the taxi driver arriving on time but there was a knock on the door promptly at 4:00 AM. Jorge was Calvic’s friend. As it turns out he was LDS as well. Real nice guy. We talked about his family and his trip to the US on our way to the airport.

I met Jose at Cusco airport. I recognized him immediately from afar. We immediately clicked as well. Our first stop was his house about 15 minutes south of Cusco.
Went to his house. He lives with his parents and 2 sisters. The house was very cool. In the middle was an open area to the outside. All the rooms were entered through this area. Jose showed me to my room, which was actually his room. It was on the 2nd story which overlooked the courtyard area, which was filled with lots of plants and caged birds.
I met his mother and little sister. They served us bread and fresh papaya juice. They were very kind but were in a hurry. His mother teaches at a local grade school. His father is a professor at a nearby university.

I got online and saw that Yuri there. I let him know where I was at and that we would be on our way later that day. Jose decided to give Yuri a call. We had heard rumors of a strike in Cusco and thought it would be best to leave for Machu Picchu today. Yuri agreed.

Went into Cusco for some sightseeing. Cusco is a great city. Lots of old buildings and streets. Cusco is the capital of the Inca world and is one of the oldest cities in South America. Since Jose grew up there, everything was commonplace. So he really wasn’t too sure what to show me. But everything was new and amazing to me. We visited the Cusco Town Square. Had a good lunch of one of Jose’s favorite places. It was very rustic but the food was good. We walked through a huge market. I bought some ear rings for Joni and some famous Cusco chocolate for Ricky’s family. They requested it. We met a couple of Jose’s friends and family members along our walk downtown. We went Bought tickets for the train to Aguas Calientes.I realized I needed my passport, which was back at Jose’s house. We headed back to his Jose to get my passport and pack for the trip. I met his sister. Very nice. She is an intern to become a medical doctor. I also went with Jose to his university to check on some paperwork.

We had a couple hours before we had to catch a taxi and head to the train station. We decided to check out Sacsayhuaman, pronounced "sexy woman". Sexy Woman is an area with a bunch of ruins and the man spot for a yearly festival celebrating the Sun. There were several guides waiting around as we stepped out of the taxi. For a very small fee we could have our own guide that would speak both English and Spanish. I thought why not. The tour was very interesting. Our guide had a lot of knowledge or the area.

Got to where we need to catch the train after 2 hour drive in a crowded taxi on mostly a dirt road.
There was a large crowd of people already waiting at the train station. We waited for the departure time. The time came and went. We finally heard that the strikers decided to start early and were blocking the railroad tracks keeping the trains coming back down. After hours of waiting we finally got moving. Because Jose was a local, his train ticket was much cheaper, but also meant he had to ride in a separate car. I ended up hanging out with some folks with from San Diego who were traveling together on a tour. They welcomed me into their group. Fed me pizza.

We finally arrived to Aguas Calientes just before midnight. It was dark, of course. Yuri had called Jose and told him he couldn’t wait for us any longer and that we would have to find our own motel once we got there. That sorta freaked me out but figured it was just part of the adventure.

We arrived at the station at Aguas Calientes. There were people calling out that they had hotel rooms to rent. One lady was saying she had rooms for 20 soles ($7). Jose and I agreed to it. We figured that at that price the place would be crap but didn’t care at that point. Turns out the place was pretty nice. The 2 beds were actually comfortable and a shower that had luke warm water. No soap. But it was clean. It was a new hotel so they were making good deals to build up the business. The owner of the hotel was a very kind man. As soon as we got our room a rainstorm hit. It was quick and intense. Lots of lightning and thunder. Torrents of rain. The power went out for about 30 minutes, which was scary and exciting at the same time.