After several days of fun in Cusco, the three of us have begun to make our way down the Urubamba river, along the Inca Trail towards Machu Picchu. All in all, it was a fun time. On Wednesday, Becks and I checked out the Catedral del Cusco and tried playing the game "Cuanto Jesuses Aqui" inspired by my father. We got up to about the mid-20's before we lost count. It was a beautiful and ornate cathedral, but they did not allow for photography for whatever reason. We also discovered a creepy chamber in the basement which seemed to be some sort of dungeon. We discovered the gyros district in Cusco and were able to get our fill on that deliciousness, for a good price too! Later on, I checked out the handicraft martket by myself and picked up some llame-embroidered alpaca wool gear. After leaving the market I walked around for a bit and encountered two musicians with a guitar and a bongo. I talked with them a bit and they invited me to play with them. Then I grabbed Simon and Rebecca and we all had a nice jam session.
We all very much liked Cusco, but it was a bit too expensive for us. You could easily blow $500 dollars here on food, lodging, activities, and drinks during a single day. We like the international scene, but the abundance of tourists means everyone is trying to sell you something. The weather during the day got up to the 70's during the day but down to 30's at night, which I suppose is how mountain weather goes.
Yesterday, we checked out at one from the Wild Rover, but had to wait around til three because Becks accidentally left her climbing shoes at the 7a School. We got some bad Chifa food, and then took a taxi over there and arrived promptly at three for the school's opening. Unfortunately, we had to wait another 15 minutes for the person to come and open the door. Typical climber. Afterwards, we grabbed up all our stuff and went to the bus stop to catch a ride to the ruins of Ollantaytambo. We waited til the bus was filled, which took no time, and then were on our way. The last person to jump on the bus happened to be a guy from the Czech Republic named Misha. We got on to talking with him and learned that he was going to stay at a hostel in Urubamba, along the way we were going. He told us the hostel's name was the Llama Pack Backpacker and it was owned by a really cool guy who is a rock climber/adventurist, and also raises monster llamas (ones almost as big as horses)! We decided as a group that we would make a pit stop in Urubamba and go meet this guy.
The ride down to the valley was beautiful, and went very smoothly. Misha wa s happy to tell us that we were on the "Autobahn of the Andes". As it turns out, this Czech guy has been traveling the world for a while and had spent the past five years of his life in the Himalayas in Nepal. Apparently the roads there were exponentially worse, so we were able to count ourselves as lucky.
We made it down to the hostel in Urubamba, and once inside the gate we were immediately confronted by a llama, who we later learned his name was Guapo. The hostel itself was very nice, complete with a lounge full of climbing books & mags, a kitchen, nice rooms, shower, garden to chill in, and a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. We met the the owner of the hostel, Coqui, who was a very cool individual. He was psyched that we were there to climb and said that maybe he could accompany us sometime, or perhaps we could accompany him to meet his giant llama pack. We will definitely have to do that while we are here. We told him that we were gratefully to have a place to stay but didn't want to pay the full price for the room, so he told us we could set up our tent in the yard right by Guapo's pen.
After we got settled in, Misha suggested that we could go grab some firewood and chorizos and have ourselves a nice little campfire. We walked down the road a few blocks until we came across a giant pile of wood in someone's yard. No, we weren't sure if we were supposed to take those eucalyptus logs, but a local had told Misha that no one would mind so we figured it was alright. We hauled our load back to the hostel, but not before picking up some sausages and bread at a local store.
We had a nice campfire, roasted dogs, and talked about traveling and life with Misha. We also got an awesome view of the stars, and were told it only gets better up on the summit. He's an interesting guy who has been traveling for the past 15 years of his life, and has been all over the world. He also studied Buddhist teachings for a while in Nepal, and shared some of his insights. We all agreed that being a traveller is much better than being a tourist, and that the life in the mountains is the most pure.
Went to bed early last night, woke up at 9, had breakfast, and are preparing for a little hike up into the local mountains.
¡Chao!
We all very much liked Cusco, but it was a bit too expensive for us. You could easily blow $500 dollars here on food, lodging, activities, and drinks during a single day. We like the international scene, but the abundance of tourists means everyone is trying to sell you something. The weather during the day got up to the 70's during the day but down to 30's at night, which I suppose is how mountain weather goes.
Yesterday, we checked out at one from the Wild Rover, but had to wait around til three because Becks accidentally left her climbing shoes at the 7a School. We got some bad Chifa food, and then took a taxi over there and arrived promptly at three for the school's opening. Unfortunately, we had to wait another 15 minutes for the person to come and open the door. Typical climber. Afterwards, we grabbed up all our stuff and went to the bus stop to catch a ride to the ruins of Ollantaytambo. We waited til the bus was filled, which took no time, and then were on our way. The last person to jump on the bus happened to be a guy from the Czech Republic named Misha. We got on to talking with him and learned that he was going to stay at a hostel in Urubamba, along the way we were going. He told us the hostel's name was the Llama Pack Backpacker and it was owned by a really cool guy who is a rock climber/adventurist, and also raises monster llamas (ones almost as big as horses)! We decided as a group that we would make a pit stop in Urubamba and go meet this guy.
The ride down to the valley was beautiful, and went very smoothly. Misha wa s happy to tell us that we were on the "Autobahn of the Andes". As it turns out, this Czech guy has been traveling the world for a while and had spent the past five years of his life in the Himalayas in Nepal. Apparently the roads there were exponentially worse, so we were able to count ourselves as lucky.
We made it down to the hostel in Urubamba, and once inside the gate we were immediately confronted by a llama, who we later learned his name was Guapo. The hostel itself was very nice, complete with a lounge full of climbing books & mags, a kitchen, nice rooms, shower, garden to chill in, and a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains. We met the the owner of the hostel, Coqui, who was a very cool individual. He was psyched that we were there to climb and said that maybe he could accompany us sometime, or perhaps we could accompany him to meet his giant llama pack. We will definitely have to do that while we are here. We told him that we were gratefully to have a place to stay but didn't want to pay the full price for the room, so he told us we could set up our tent in the yard right by Guapo's pen.
After we got settled in, Misha suggested that we could go grab some firewood and chorizos and have ourselves a nice little campfire. We walked down the road a few blocks until we came across a giant pile of wood in someone's yard. No, we weren't sure if we were supposed to take those eucalyptus logs, but a local had told Misha that no one would mind so we figured it was alright. We hauled our load back to the hostel, but not before picking up some sausages and bread at a local store.
We had a nice campfire, roasted dogs, and talked about traveling and life with Misha. We also got an awesome view of the stars, and were told it only gets better up on the summit. He's an interesting guy who has been traveling for the past 15 years of his life, and has been all over the world. He also studied Buddhist teachings for a while in Nepal, and shared some of his insights. We all agreed that being a traveller is much better than being a tourist, and that the life in the mountains is the most pure.
Went to bed early last night, woke up at 9, had breakfast, and are preparing for a little hike up into the local mountains.
¡Chao!
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