Today I began part 2 of this Peruvian adventure.

Departing for the airport at 3:30 AM was easy knowing there’s an amazing city and adventure awaiting me in Cusco. The Lima airport is busy and chaotic, but the flight out of Lima to Cusco was smooth. I was surprised at how large of a snack the airline provided since the flight was under an hour: vanilla waver cookies, saltine crackers, some other cookie, and I opted to drink juice which tasted like Tang…so gross.

Flying over the highlands during sunrise was beautiful. Mountains peaking out from the blanket of clouds. And as we neared Cusco (a city of 400,000) people had carved “Viva en Lima” and symbols into the mountain side visible from the plane.

The moment I stepped off the plane, the change in altitude hit me like a wave. Now at 11,000+ feet, my legs felt heavy and achy. It was hard to walk and people were moving slowly after departing the plane. At every airport around the world, people rush off planes to get to baggage claim, but not in this instance. I felt dizzy and all the sudden I felt exhausted. Took a few deep breaths and moved with the crowd to the one luggage belt in the airport.

My transfer from the airport to the hotel went smooth, and the guide had a lot of instructions for me: wear sunblock, dress warmly in the morning and night since it gets very cold in Cusco, bring a rain jacket to Machu Picchu and don’t forget your passport, no red meat or alcohol on your first day in Cusco, and “eat chicken, soup, rice, something lite, and then tomorrow you can have some Peruvian specialties like alpaca or guinea pig.”

(Side note: I had read about the Peruvians love of guinea pig in the guidebook, and one thing I was hoping to see – but ran out of time – was a painting of the Last Supper where Jesus and his disciples are feasting on guinea pig. There are stuffed animal guinea pigs and alpacas sold at the local markets for tourists.)

I spent some time this morning in the Sonesta Hotel lobby drinking several cups of coca leaf tea waiting for my room to be available. Coca tea is similar to green tea, but sweeter. It’s made with the coca leaf and the tea is served throughout Cusco to help combat altitude sickness. According to wikipedia, coco tea

contains alkaloids which–when extracted chemically–are the source for cocaine base. … Owing to the presence of these alkaloids, coca tea is a mild stimulant; its consumption may be compared to consumption of coffee or tea. The coca alkaloid content of coca tea is such that the consumption of one cup of coca tea can cause a positive result on a drug test for cocaine, however.

After 3 hours in Cusco, things are still a bit hazy. No headache or leg aches…just a fog which will probably be resolved by getting some sleep!

So far I’ve been very impressed with Condor Travel, the tour agency I hired in Lima to tour the city at night, they provided the airport transfers both in Lima and Cusco, and they are running the rest of the weekend for me. Everything has been clean and efficient. I am SO glad that I went this route versus organizing everything on my own!