2014 - Peru Day 16 (Cusco / Lima)

Today we fly to Lima, stay there for 2 nights before we head back to Toronto. We have an early flight at 9:25am which should have us there for around 10:25am, giving us a day and a half in Lima.

Our chariot awaits

The breakfast at the hotel actually changed and we got a avocado and tomato starter with a toasted cheese sandwich along with a fresh pineapple juice. Overall, I really enjoyed this hotel, it is small but the staff is friendly and they have good breakfast (especially the freshly made juice).

Breakfast at Wifala

Nothing of note for our flight. The airport space is small, so there isn't much to shop around after you go through clearance/security (roughly 4 shops and 1 cafe). At first glance I thought Lima would be more like Toronto in that there are rules on the road. I was wrong. People still drive over lines but there is a method to the madness. It looks like a poor country (roads are dirty, housing isn't well kept, old cars I don't recognize) until we hit the nicer part of town which is in Miraflores where we will be staying for the next two nights.

In both Morocco and Peru, I ALWAYS had to haggle and it gets annoying. Before arriving here, we asked a few people (tourist information, the hotel) how much the cab from the airport to Miraflores would be and we were told roughly 40-50 soles. When we landed, the first taxi stand told us 120 soles, so we promptly walked away from that one. The next one told me 65 soles, to which I said 50 soles. After failed negotiations, he finally caved at 50 soles. So, if you know what you want to pay, say it and just walk away if they don't agree (although they'll usually try to meet half way even though they're still making money off you). The cab ride was longer than expected at roughly 50 minutes.

iStore?

Our hotel is Tierra Viva, suggested by a friend and is the 2nd best hotel on TripAdvisor. The place is nice and clean. The staff is helpful (we asked about currency exchange and even though they have a posted rate if you do exchange with them, they suggested a shop just down the street). Our room included a giant king bed which was my first and the thing is huge (easily fit 3 people). Wifi and breakfast are included for roughly $100 USD a night.

King sized bed!

We learned that there isn't much in Miraflores other than it being the nicer part of town. There is a big mall just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. There is a museum nearby, but nothing much of note, just feels like a regular city but lacking in attractions for reasons unknown to us.

View from the mall (Lacromar) at Miraflores

Makeout statue

Atop some mosaics near makeout statue

Stopped by Bembos for lunch which is a local fast food joint at the mall. The food reminds me of Licks or Harveys. The mall reminds me of home. It has the usual suspects of Guess, Banana Republic, and more. Along the coast you can walk down for a nice stroll along the waterfront. Takes about 30 minutes from the mall to the lighthouse and back. Worth the walk to see the locals being very nonchalant about making out in public, seeing the surfers hit the waves, and just in general, enjoy the area.

Lacromar at night

Dinner was at Mangos which was suggested by a friend, a restaurant where if you sit outside, you have a nice view of the coast. Ordered the chicha moradas (a local drink), lemonade, lomos saltados, and mango ceviche. All for 94 soles, not bad. Very tasty food and a great view of the ocean.

Us at Mangos

Lomos Saltado

Ceviche

Tomorrow we wander the downtown area of Lima!

2014 - Peru Day 15 (Cusco)

Our final full day in Cusco before we head to Lima for a day and then we head back to Toronto. Today, we plan to do some last minute souvenir shopping, meet up with some friends from the Amazon and visit the planetarium. The breakfast included in the hotel consists of a hot drink, freshly squeezed orange juice, bread and a tomato omelette.

Breakfast at Wifala

So, what do you think this is?

The hotel is right by a children's park, so I said, let's go have a look! (ya, I seem to enjoy these for some reason). There were NO kids there at all, I guess they were all at school, so we got some nice solo pictures while there. It seems like a nice playground for kids with lots of structures to play in.

I'm a bus driver!

I'm a pilot!

We wandered to the main square (Plaza De Armas) and found out from tourist information where the local handicraft market was and we headed there. Not much here, and frankly, I'm not surprised. Lots of shops which sell the same things ('alpaca clothing', jewelry and souvenirs). We ended up picking up some trinkets after much bargaining (something that they said cost 3 soles, I ended up getting for 1 soles).

The famous 12-sided rock

Part of a very big mural

On this trip, we saw quite a number of street vendors and I always wanted to try some of it since the locals were. Since we were going on the Inca Trail and Amazon, Allison said I should wait until we got back in case whatever we got was dirty. So, today, I finally got some random street drink, a questionable pineapple juice on the road. Why is it questionable? It came in a used fanta bottle with no label on it. 1 sole! It was actually pretty refreshing.

Street pineapple vendor

After the handicraft market, we met up with some friends from the jungle for lunch at a restaurant recommended by our tour guide called La Cusqueñita for guinea pig. The place is awesome. Guinea pig only cost us 45 soles (this is pretty cheap compared to what we've seen at 60-80 soles) and it included the whole thing (at many places, you don't get the head). My roasted lamb shank cost 26 soles and the portions are huge. Highly recommended, my lamb was nicely done and Allison devoured the guinea pig like she hadn't eaten for days. While we were there, there were shows going on, roughly 5 dances which were differently themed. By the time the dancing started, the place got busy, so try to get there slightly before noon. There is a buffet, but we just went with the a la carte menu. It is roughly a 15 minute walk from the main square. If you get lost trying to find it, just ask a local. We asked 5 people and each one was able to tell us where it was. Oh, by the way, it is a pretty local food joint, we didn't see too many tourists (or maybe they were all at the buffet section).

Guinea Pig

Lamb shank

One of many dances we saw

After lunch, on the way back to the main square, we stopped at El Hada for some ice cream. It's very good ice cream, although a bit expensive, in my opinion, at 6 soles per scoop. It does come in waffle cones though.

Roasted pineapple for me, papaya for Allison

We went to the Choco Museo after. It is a chocolate shop which has a museum attached to it which talks about the history behind chocolate, how it's made, where it comes from, which country consumes the most and more. It's a nice stop and it's free! Less than 5 minutes by foot from the main square.

Cold chocolate!

Based on suggestions, we went to the planetarium. It is different from your traditional planetariums because it actually takes place at someone's home! They still had the dome room where they project the night sky on the ceiling and you can see the stars. There were also some posters on the wall that explain how the Incas viewed the night sky and how they built their buildings and even their farmlands around it (the night sky). We learned about constellations (who knew there are different sets of constellations based on where you are on Earth?) and how the Incas viewed the sky. After the presentation we got to see some stars through a telescope (roughly 5 stars, some being double stars, which are stars that look like one star by the naked eye but under the telescope, you can actually see that it is two stars close together, some being stars you can't even see without the telescope and others) and we even saw Saturn (it was pretty neat to see what it looks like since it isn't as detailed as the pictures you see on the internet)! 50 soles for roughly 2 hours. It is a bit more expensive than I thought it is worth, but if you have time, it's a nice attraction. They do provide very good service, pick up from the square, provide you with blankets for warmth, a hot drink and a ride back to the square.

The planetarium drops you off at the main square (pick up is at the square just next to it). Prior to visiting the planetarium, we had already decided that we would go to Uchu for dinner. The food was great. We ordered steak which comes on a hot stone and you use the stone to cook the steak to your liking. The full menu with pricing is on their website. The steak entrees are roughly 45 soles with the appetizer being roughly 20 soles.

Mashed potato base, avocado center with fried trout on top

Us at Uchu

Beef steak

Tomorrow we fly to Lima!

2014 - Peru Day 14 (Amazon Day 7)

With a 4:45am breakfast time we knew today would be a long travel day. This is our last day in the Amazon (thankfully, we return to civilization, hot water, no bugs). Our expected arrival time to Cusco is 6pm!

Sunrise

Breakfast was just scrambled eggs with bread and hot drinks. At this point our group has gone through almost 2 containers of Milo.

The sun covered by the morning fog

Watching the sunrise in the Amazon is a great way to start the day. Looking at the sky change from black to orange to red is fantastic. As well as watching the mist slowly disappear from the treetops is just so cool.

The morning Amazonian fog

Our trip back consists of a 2.5 hour boat ride, 1 hour taxi ride, 15 minute boat ride and an 8 hour bus ride. Shortly after we got on the bus, we had lunch at what looked like an abandoned building. Weird, since the building looked new. Lunch was two sandwiches, one with just cheese, one with just cheese and meat, a chicken thigh, and some snacks.

And here I thought we had a lot of sorting

On our way back I think we angered the older Holland people again which is pretty funny. The man wanted to stop for some llamas and we did, but instead of getting photos of just the animals, we wanted to get photos with them, which ended up being us chasing away the llamas disrupting his photos. Oh well.

Tired after chasing a llama

Llamas!

The views on the bus ride back are actually really nice, lots of mountains, lots of farms, some animals, but a lot of what we have already seen. To get back to Cusco, we took the Interoceanic highway which goes from the Pacific to the Atlantic (Peru to Brazil) which is pretty cool. While on the highway, we did notice a lot of construction since the highway is fairly new. Also, since it is built on the mountain-side, it is prone to rock slides and there are certain areas of the highway blocked off due to this. Kushka cafe was on the dinner menu again. We got the Alpaca steak and beef loin.

Our last meal at kushka cafe

Our new hotel is Wifala Themetic Hotel. This place is awesome. The room is smaller than Wara Wara but each room is themed, ours being the Nasca lines. The washroom is awesome, waterfall shower! There is even a hot water bag in the bed to keep you warm! And there is consistent hot water! The downside is that it is a roughly 20 minutes walk from the main square.

Cusco's Plaza De Armas by night

Tomorrow is our last full day in Cusco. We will be souvenir shopping, meeting up with some of the friends from our Amazon trip for lunch and going to the planetarium.