Off to Cusco

Wednesday August 19th.

Today we loaded on a bus for the six hour trip from Puno to Cusco where we will start the hike on the Inca Trail. As we climbed out of Puno we saw the prison where all of the Shining Path guerillas are now in jail.

The countryside is quite dry with small farms everywhere. We saw some llamas and alpacas at various points along the way. About halfway through the trip, we went over a pass at about 14,500 ft. Stopped for a few photos and snacks. The vendors were selling all sorts of tourist type stuff - alpaca hats, llama rugs, woolen gloves, ponchos, etc.

Once over the pass and into the Cusco province, the scenery changed dramatically. The farms looked very prosperous, there was more water, forests were prominent and there was a lot of greenery.

We arrived in Cusco at about three and our bus managed to run out of gas about 3 kilometres from our hotel. We all piled out onto the median of a busy street with our gear and waited in very hot weather for another bus to come and get us. Termperatures must have been around 25C. We then checked into our hostel - more like a hotel though.

After a quick clean-up we went for a walking tour with our guide of the main areas of the town. Lots of tourists on the street and very safe. We checked out some restaurants and stores and decided on a place for dinner later. We then walked up a hill to see how our bodies were responding to the altitude - not bad. Unfortunately a few of the guys decided to duck into a shop and didn´t notice us moving along. Fortunately we found them later back where we had lost them. They did remember to stay put.

Had a great dinner in a little restaurant while our guide for the Inca Trail provided us some guidance on what to pack, wear and expect. Everyone is allowed to pack 5 kg to be carried by the porters. We also will be taking day packs with water, rain gear, sunscreen, snacks, cameras and the like. All together we will have 23 porters (including 2 cooks), a head guide, two assistant guides and the 17 of us. This is one of the larger groups that they have ever seen and were quite surprised that we knew each other. The porters carry one small bag for each of us, all of the food, kitchen gear, tents, a chemical toilet, small chairs, water and their own gear. The camp will have a kitchen tent, a toilet tent, an eating tent and a tent for every two people in our group.

After dinner, our guide Nilton, persuaded a couple of the adults to go to a bar for a beer. The bar is favorite haunt for local latin dancing afficionados. Rumour has it (no pictures were taken) that Paul and James were up learning to tango with a couple of the local girls.