Woke up at 5am with severe stomach pains. Thankfully I had some cipro from my doctor, so I took it at the first sign to kill whatever I had somehow ingested. Sadly, I've narrowed it down and it was either those delicious banana pancakes from last night, or I got some water up my nose in the shower yesterday which may have also been the culprit.
I missed breakfast as I couldn't get out of bed. We had a car coming for us at 11am and I still needed to pack. Luckily, the cipro did its work and I was able to shower and pack before getting in the taxi with our new driver, Issac.
Isaac didn't speak English, and was very quiet at first. I started thinking this would be a long, boring car ride to Cusco. But, he probably thought we didn't speak Spanish, either. He finally broke the ice though, and then we had the best conversation for the 2+ hour long drive! We covered all kinds of topics from North Korea (took me a while to figure out what "notre correa" meant), the water problems in Peru, what it was like living in Urubamba his whole life, child labor, and a variety of questions he had about life in the United States.
All of this talking and listening in Spanish was really good for my Spanish skills. it was so much fun!
We did have two interesting things happen along the way to Cuzco.
First, we got stopped by the Polícia Nacional. This was unsettling for me, with all the corruption I've read about the police here. They had set up some kind of checkpoint in Urubamba, and were having random cars pull over and then checking them one at a time. They wanted to see Isaac's documents, and they scrutinized them for a while. I couldn't understand much of what they were saying. Eventually after much questioning, they let us go. I was surprised no money changed hands, as I hear this is quite common when interacting with the police in Peru.
I asked Isaac what they wanted, and he said they were just doing a document check for taxi drivers. Now I'm wondering if this might have been part of a legitimate effort to combat fake taxis that are responsible for express kidnappings and such.
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| Urubamba, Peru |
Second, while travelling along we came upon a place where they were drag-racing cars just off the highway, and Isaac asked if we wanted to stop and watch. It was funny, and reminded me so much of Wisconsin! They were sending cars one by one down this dirt road that disappeared around a mountain, and timing each car as they went. The racing kicked up all kinds of dust, and the onlookers were having a great time! But then, the police showed up and made us leave.
Here's a video I took when we were getting in to Cusco. I apologize for the sound (wind & cobblestone....) and the shakiness of the video, but you'll see what I mean about the appearance of poverty everywhere.
We then arrived at the Tierra Viva Plaza Hotel in Cuzco. It's very nice! They offered us coca tea right away and got us checked in quickly. The altitude is a couple thousand feet higher here than in Ollantaytambo, and I can tell.
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| The view from one of the Tierra Viva Plaza's balconies |
Our room here is much larger, has a tv, a large shower and bathroom, a small balcony, a full length mirror, desk, and wardrobe. The staff are very nice and helpful, and the presentation of everything here is nicer than we've seen anywhere else. Any reservations I had about staying in Cusco are better now. I think we will like it here!
We found an Italian place that had a high rating on trip advisor for dinner. It's called Roma Mia. I was still not sure about eating after being so sick this morning, so I just had bread. Adam had a vegeterian pasta dish and said it was great!
We just returned to our hotel room and are about to watch some movies in Spanish before calling it a night!
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