Cusco Elevation: 3,356 m [11,008 ft]

Today would be our short flight from Lima to the Incan capital - Cusco. At the time of our trip, Peru was still under the Covid pandemic rules. While we were properly masked up in the airport, when we were starting to board our plane, we were told that we had to be double masked as we didn’t have one of the special medical grade masks. Luckily a couple of us had some extra disposable masks on us (instead of in our check-in luggage) so we were able to get everyone on board with no real problem.

As we flew into Cusco, it was clearly a different city and region. As we approached the airport Cusco spread out below us in the valley floor and up the sides of the surrounding mountains. When we landed, we found the air to be very clear and crisp - refreshing after the cool, damp coastal air in Lima.

When we found our driver to the hotel, he asked to confirm which hotel he should take us to. When we said El Mercado Motel (run by our tour company Mountain Lodges of Peru), he informed us that it had not reopened after the COVID shutdown. He got on the phone and handed it to me. It turns out that they had rebooked us into what was probably an even nicer hotel - the Palacio del Inka.

This place was massive. We waited for our check-in while sipping coca leaf tea (was supposed to help with high altitudes) and looked at all the paintings and beautiful architecture around us. At that time, we met our guide who would be with us during the rest of the trip until we got back to Cusco.

After checking in we spent some time wondering around near our hotel and did some tourist shopping. While the other guys were not that hungry, my good ol’ hypoglycemia was starting to hit (regular eating is somewhat important). Luckily there were tons of food places (along with all kinds of shops and open air vendors) so we got some local sandwiches from a very nice lady in an open market place - perfect.

That evening we had dinner together and our guide gave us some additional information. I took a tour of the hotel which was amazing. The base stonework was from the original Inca temple on that sight - no mortar and the stones fit perfectly. There were many large and very old paintings that were done from a school that the Spaniards set up for the locals. It was interesting how they blended Christianity stories with stories from the local culture of their Gods and beliefs.

At the end of the tour we stopped to admire an Incan statue in full garb and surrounded by many different musical instruments. As we were admiring the detail, the statue moved! It turns out it was a local gentleman who shared stories of his people and demonstrated all of the instruments (never did figure out how some of them made sound). And to top off the experience, the hotel’s bartender taught us all how to make pisco sours (personalized for each of us with our own initial). Of course we had to taste test them - success and very satisfying.