Day Two: Cusco

Wake up call 5.50am. Leave the Hostel by 6.30. Boarding time 7.50 am. These details may seem important to us. But in Latin America the notion of time is a little different. This morning we ended up leaving the hostel at 6:50 (totally my fault - I left my camera charger and we had to go back to get it!). At that point, most of us were in panic mode, and when we arrived at the airport at 7:20 we were frantic to get our luggage checked and our travel taxes paid. Most of us didn't think we'd make the flight, since we never would have in the same situation in the U.S. But we were shocked to find ourselves boarding (with other people!)10 minutes before take-off. This was our first lesson in "Peruvian time".

We arrived in Cusco at 9.30 am. The city is 11,000 feet above sea level, which means that altitude sickness is an issue. The first signs of sickness were felt by some members of the group as soon as we landed, and most of us have felt lightheaded, breathless, or tired at some point since then. But we have found out that a way to prevent illness is to drink tea made from cocaine leaves, which doesn't have the same effect as the drug but does act as a blood thinner, and therefore helps with circulation at high altitdes.

We were greeted by native performers at the airport, who sung and danced in welcome. We made our way to our Hostel with our guide Walter, and as soon as we left the airport we noticed the differences between Lima and Cusco. Some of the obvious differences were the population, the houses, and the roads, but we also noticed that there were a lot more native, quechua-speaking Peruvians in Cusco. We all felt extremely comfortable and enthused about being closer to our ultimate goal of getting to the Casa Mantay to help the women and the children. After climbing what felt like a million stairs we settled in the Home Sweet Home Hostel. The place is small and cozy, and has an absolutely amazing view of the city becuase it's nestled halfway up a huge hill (second photo below).

After settling in, we visited the Triunfo Cathedral, the main cathedral of the city. It was built in the 17th century and has many shrines that are adorned with gold and silver and visited by local catholics daily.

We then proceeded to visit an Inca temple that was taken over by the Spaniards and restructured into a cathedral. We also were able to visit Saxsaywaman, a section of Incan ruins which were high up in the mountains. We all felt that this was just a preview of Machu Pichu, which we'll be visiting tomorrow. We're all excited to have the chance to experience one of the seven ancient wonders of the world! Thus far we have also taken advantage of some Peruvian cuisine, which we all seem to have enjoyed a great deal.

After discussing our trip so far, we are all shocked about how much we've done in the two days that we have been here. It feels like it's been much, much longer, and the best part is that we still have yet to get to the Casa!

-Katie