The Coca Leaf is Not a Drug (aka This is what 3400 metres feels like)

Cusco is a mere hour away from Lima, but 3400 metres higher. The air is harder to breathe, and when you get off the plane you are greeted with leaflets that inform you that due to the altitude and weather, planes often don´t have the same capacity leaving as arriving. I think that´s their disclaimer that you and your gear may not make it out of Cusco on time. Luckily, there seem to be flights every hour, so I´m confident that when the time comes to leave, I will be able to.

When we got to our hotel, we settled into comfy leather couches and tried to stay awake for our briefing. They served us coca tea, which really looks and tastes like green tea, but our guides swear it´s the best way to climatize. They also say the tea is ¨not¨a drug, and there are teeshirts all over town with the slogan as well. Later this week while we´re on the Lares trail we´ll be making an offering of the leaves to the gods.

Anyway, after unpacking and napping we set out to explore Cusco. We had a delicious gourmet lunch, with presentation that rivalled any fine restaurant in the US, for about 12USD each. 1000 pictures, 3 plazas, 2 churches, and a bunch of alpaca scarves later we are ready to call it a day.

The city is very beautiful, if overrun by tourists. We´ve heard more English spoken here than at any other point on our trip. Lovely old Spanish architecture juxtaposed with Incan ruins, and the peaks of the Andes (I think... my sense of geography is notably poor this trip as I thought Ecuador and the Galapagos were on the eastern coast of South America) in the distance.

Tomorrow we leave for the Sacred Valley and Ollytantambo. Our hike begins the day after, and we will climb to a height of 4700 metres the 2nd day!!! Luckily we stay in a hotel (near hot springs!) the night before we go to Machu Picchu so we´ll be able to be clean for our photos...