Travelling from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo

Day 2: April 10, 2013, 1:38 PM

Last night when I wrote, we had just gotten to Lima. I had 5+ more hours to go before our next flight would depart. About 2 AM we were allowed to go through security to our gate. On the way we found a cell phone store called "Claro." We bought a phone for about $45 USD (which included 400 international minutes and what I eventually understood to be unlimited international texting) and then went to our gate. There were places to lay down on/across the seats and a few others were doing that already when we got there. So we tried to sleep, but didn't get more than 10-15 minutes at a time. 

By 3:30 AM, the lack of sleep mixed with culture shock and general anxiety over travel was really taking its toll. I was losing it: crying, afraid I'd made a big mistake, WHY was this all happening...even though nothing out of the ordinary had happened and everything was going according to schedule.

Finally just before 5 AM we boarded the plane, but my morale was at an all time low. I was crying uncontrollably, but trying to hide it, throughout the flight. Then, when we were supposed to land, suddenly we went sharply up. A minute later, the pilot came on saying something in Spanish about needing to try a different approach. I could see why! I mean, the mountains are so high and pointy, you'd have to try not to hit them and then go down quickly to the runway. That, and half the city of Cuzco is in the clouds, so how can you see anything where you're going? We circled around above the city for almost an hour, before finally landing. I didn't think it would ever end. 

By this time we'd been travelling for 25 hours and we still had to find our driver to Ollantaytambo. 

The Cuzco airport is primitive. It looks like someone dropped a couple old buildings and joined them together. In the bathrooms, there are no toilet seats. The toilet paper is located OUTSIDE the stalls, so you have to guess what you'll need and take it in with you. The mens bathroom didn't have any doors on the stalls. 

So as you're trying to leave the airport, you're bombarded with this mob of people wanting to get you a taxi, book a tour, etc. It's like there is no regulation at all. I have since learned that this is pretty common in most countries outside the US. Initially we could not find our driver inside, so we went outside through this crowd and spotted him holding a big sign with my name on it. What a RELIEF! We're finally on the last step of our journey. Marco, our driver, was really nice and spoke a little English. Adam sat with him in the front and I sat in the back.

As we started the drive into and through Cuzco, my first thoughts were:

• This place is the biggest shithole I've ever seen.
• Why are there so many random dogs running the streets?
• Did I just see a llama, in a city?
• Are there any traffic rules? Signs?
• It seems that honking can mean anything here because everybody is honking all the time... "You're an asshole!" "Hey friend!" "Watch out for that dog!" "Hello," "Coming up behind you!" "Nice day out!"

The cars would just jam into some kind of formation, so close together I don't know how they're not hitting each other constantly. Then there'll be some kind of cop with a whistle, blowing repeatedly, pointing and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure no one pays attention.

Anyway, the whole place looked like a giant slum. The road layout made no sense. The smell of car exhaust was so strong, and that mixed with the low amount of oxygen here at ~11,000 feet, I really started to question what we were thinking by coming here. 

As we drove on and finally got out of the city though, I started to see beauty. When we arrived in Ollantaytambo a couple hours later, I was really glad we chose this place to stay first. Marco pulled up to a long stone stairway and said "Now we go."

So we took our backpacks and walked up and found Hostal Iskay, the place we will stay for our first 4 nights. It's really cute, quaint. Our matrimonial suite is probably the size of my daughter's small bedroom but that is considered large here. We went straight to our room and fell asleep at 8 AM and just woke up at about 1:30 PM. Now my goal is to get a wifi connection and let our families know we're fine.

But first, I brave the shower...(you do know that even the locals can not drink the water here, right?)

The shower is in there to the left.

And this is our room at Hostal Iskay. I grew to really like it there and would definitely stay again!