Cuzco Stay: The Lazy Travellers

The three lazy travelers awakened early to say goodbye to their crazy counterparts, after which they hopped back into bed to experience a magnificent sleep in.  It’s hard to feel lonely when you’re cuddled under a stolen Ikea duvet… although there were various points where they thought about the crazies...

Where they stayed: For the first two nights, back in Cuzco at the Prisma Hotel.  It was a bit dicey at first when hotel staff looked confusedly at their sheets and shook their heads no, indicating no reservation… they probably weren’t used to anyone doing the Cuzco Stay.  Luckily their G adventure guide came to the rescue, negotiated the stay, and they weren’t stuck wandering the mattress district of Cuzco looking for a soft place to lay down for the night. For the third night (pre-Macchu Picchu night!) they stayed in Aguas Calientes at another family run hotel; not much noteworthy to report except that it was damp, and JD found a spider in his room so they spent the rest of the night wondering if rainforest spiders were going to eat them in their sleep.  As a holding ground for pre-Machu Picchu it worked out well, a 5 minute walk downhill to the bus stop they would have to get up to go to at 3 a.m. 

What they ate: Everything non-Peruvian, highly rated on trip advisor, and delicious.  La Bodega, for trendy décor, yummy pizza, craft beer, garlic bread and dipping sauce; Papachos, for a great view of an anti-Israel protest and yummy mac and cheese and chicken wings; Cicciolina for for gnocci, chicken with mushroom sauce, and fancy chic dining whilst wearing fleece.  In Aguas Calientes they went to the Treehouse for gourmet dining and wine from the Peruvian desert.  

What they did: Had an (almost) private tour of Cuzco and the surrounding area.  Johan, a young, hip guy with a soft spoken yet confident drawl met them at their hotel and shuffled them into a van… built for 3?  Built for 10, but only with them, Johan, and a driver named Alejandro in it… extravagant!  The bunch wound their way up a deserted mountain road… hanging on for dear life and distracting themselves from fear of falling off a cliff with the Andean countryside.  Their first stop Moray was a set of large Incan terraces used to conduct research about crop growth.  Ash loved how much the Incans devoted to researching the smartest, strongest ways of doing and building things and JD, Britt and the puppets loved the photo op.  They climbed up their first floating steps, some more easily than others.  Their second stop was a salt mine called Moras, a series of over 5000 above ground wells tended to by local families.  The next day in Cuzco, Johan showed them around the Sexy Woman Incan site, another site where they used to sacrifice llamas, the Golden Palace, and the Incan museum.  He took them on a cave adventure, where Britt said, “This is as crazy as the lazy travellers get, going through a cave where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Turns out it was a bit longer than that, and that Britt and Ash are afraid of the dark.  Later they turned down sliding down a rock formation that doubled as a natural slide… for fear of brain injuries.  So. Adventurous.  They also checked out a traditional dance show and did a lot of shopping, including checking out the meat market (never go to the meat market), where JD got yelled at for looking at the frogs and the elderly couple threatened to make them into a drink for him.  In Aguas Calientes they walked around the tiny town, checked out some hot springs (from above, they weren’t impressive enough to go into, later finding out it was just heated up mountain water) and planned their route to the bus stop the next day.  

Lessons learned:  Don’t get locked out of your hotel room… or you may be faced with an elderly woman with a large set of keys, none of which appear to open your room door… (one did, finally!)  

Most confusing… should-I-feel-complimented-or-insulted moment:  When Johan caught the three lazy travelers taking finger puppet pictures and after they explained the premise behind them, turned to Ash and said “That one must be you, I can tell by the hair."  

Scariest moment of the trip:  When the small child of a Shaman attacked Ash with her blinding rage and the grip of her tiny fingers like fangs, after she mistook Ash’s trying to help her pick up her knocked over chair with Ash trying to steal her chair.  The image of the little she devil’s face is forever scarred into Ash’s memory.

Questions for Machu Picchu for the lazy travelers:

1) Will they get up early enough to make the first bus?

2) Will they find their crazy counterparts all in one piece?

Stay tuned!