COOKING AND BRAAAAPING AROUND THE WORLD: GETTING TO AND BEING IN CUZCO

DAY-177

4/27/2012

        I woke pretty beat up today, took it easy knowing I only had a 3-4hr ride to Cusco. It was a pretty straight forward paved road, lots of twistiest and of course lots and lots of fun. I was expecting lots of police check points once I was on the main road to Cuzco but I didn’t see any. I pulled into Cuzco and it was a huge city, but I lucked out and asked a local for the Centro. I pulled into town and rode around for about 10 minutes until I found the hostel I was looking for but they were full. I was sitting on my bike trying to find another hostel when I realized I was on a street full of them, asked about one and they had parking and an open bed but it was 13 bucks. I headed up into the hills to another one, but after checking it out I decided to head back down into the Centro and went back to the same hostel. This time they all of a sudden had an opening for a room that was only 8 bucks. There were lots of stairs to climb to get to the back area where I could park my bike. They pulled out a few planks and I walked the bike up with the help of a little throttle and a guy making sure I was in line. I parked the bike grabbed my bed and took a siesta. I ran into my friend Matthias from Germany who I had met in Ecuador. I took it easy trying to get a hold of my friend Wyley who was going to be in Cuzco around the same time so we were going to meet up for a day of exploring and he was bringing down a Canon s100 camera to me.

DAY-178-179

4/28-29/2012

        Walked around all day, checking out Cuzco; it is rad but way to touristy for me, everyone trying to sell you something. I took it easy for the day caught up on some blogging and RR’s with lots of photos. Got an email from my friend and we planned to meet for breakfast. I did not know how much I needed to see a familiar face until I walked into breakfast and met Wyley and his mom. I threw my new camera in my locker and went with them to Pisca for the Sunday market. We spent the day walking through the market and meeting a Shaman which was very interesting. I went to an Irish pub the highest Irish owned pub in the world, and had a well needed and best bacon cheeseburger I have had since leaving home.

DAY-180

4/30/2012

        I was drinking tea working online in the morning when I saw a girl walk into the room for free breakfast and I realized I knew her. Jay from Canada who I had hung out with and partied with in El Salvador, we decided to meet up for a few drinks and food tonight. I did a lot of laundry and ran around getting ready for my Machu Picchu adventure starting tomorrow.

I have been trying to figure out what the best and cheapest way to do Machu Picchu is. They offer all different very expensive tours and packages to get you there. You cannot ride to Machu Picchu, there are no roads getting you to Aguas Calientes (the town where you hike from to get to Machu Picchu). I found I could ride with in a two hour walk to Aguas Calientes, the ride is a 6hr ride, but I have to find a safe place to leave my bike. I started to talk to more travelers and found I could take a bus for 6 bucks to a town near and then take another bus to get me to the walk for all of 12 bucks. So I wouldn’t have to leave my bike and gear at a random place. I teamed up with a German guy Mathias. We decided on taking the bus and hiking to get there and a rad train through the park on the way home (the earliest train because it is the cheapest).

I met up with Jay and her friend at their hostel for food and drinks, was an awesome night catching up on where we have been and what we have been up to over the past 4 months. I headed home around 12 full and swaying.
12 full and swaying.