Three days in Cuzco

cuzco
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We arrived back in Ollantaytambo just after 6am and like the ticket seller had told me when I bought the tickets, there was a line-up of buses taking people to Cusco for 5 soles.  The two hour ride cost less than $2.   Its actually quicker and a lot cheaper to do it this way than take the train back to Cuzco, but we had no choice as the backpacker train we were on terminated in Ollantaytambo.

So we arrived in Cuzco and checked in to a hotel near where the bus left us off.  It was about a 5 or ten minute walk to the plaza de armas.   We rested a bit and spent the day looking around Cuzco.  We ate at a great little restaurant on the second floor balcony.  We were the only customers and the guy was taking very good care of us, took our picture, and we tried to converse in Spanish (that didn't work out too well, but we tried).  I ordered the guinea pig, it was rolled like some kind of rolentini.  The skin was still on it and you could see tiny hairs!  Apparently it is a cheap popular dish in the mountains, but I think its normally cooked differently.  You could see 'cuy' restaurants everywhere when we rove around.  it wasn't disgusting, but I won't say I liked it.  It tasted like very very very smoked meat.

I ordered the guinea pig, it was rolled like some kind of rolentini.

plaza de armas
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I got thru lunch and we found a new hotel that we would check into for the next two nights.  We aslo booked a rafting trip on the Urubamba river for the next day.  Finally we went into a travel shop to inquire about a ticket to Arequipa.  We walked out with a three night tour to the jungle!

The next day was  the rafting and since we didn't fly to Puerto Maldanado until Friday, we had one extra day in Cuzco.  The rafting was a lot of fun even with the freezing conditions.  We all wore wetsuits and rain jackets.  We met a nice couple from Poland, among others.

lunch time
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Thursday we spent in Cuzco picking up various things to take with us to the jungle since we packed for a cold weather vacation, not a warm weather one.  We found out about a place called "El moleno"  (or something like that).  It was a nice market in the fact that it was huge and nothing touristy to sell.  We got everything we needed and went back into town.  That night we ate like the locals and stuff ourselves at a fried chicken joint with salad, chicken, and "papas fritas".

moon rising
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It was another early night as we needed to leave at 6.30 for our flight to Puerto Maldanado.