Greetings from the Serenade of the Seas, where I’m back on board after an amazing three day, two night adventure in the Peruvian Andes. I’m actually writing this on January 31, which is the first opportunity I’ve had to catch up on the blog. Fortunately, today is the first of three sea days, so I’ll use them to relate my experiences on days one, two and three of the trip. Today’s post is about day one, January 28, so let’s begin.
We docked early in the morning in Pisco, Peru, at what has to be the most isolated, barren and desolate port I’ve ever seen. The small mining and fishing port ranks 105th in activity in South America, if that gives you any idea of its size. Looking out beyond the port, you’ll see nothing but sand, not a speck of green or sign of human habitation, as the city of Pisco is over the horizon.
A 35 minute bus ride brought us to the Pisco airport, where we boarded an Airbus A320 for the 50 minute flight to Cusco, deep in the Andes mountains. Even though it’s a short flight, you would be hard pressed to find a more dramatic transition in such a brief period of time. From desert we went to high mountains, from desert we went to alpine greenery, and from sparsely populated to a crush of humanity. To put an exclamation point on the degree of change, in less than an hour we went from sea level to 11,152 feet in altitude. Fortunately, Michele and I were taking altitude medication and neither of us had any problems with altitude sickness.
Considering its location high in the rugged Andes mountains, Cusco is surprisingly large, with a population approaching half a million. Narrow streets, heavy traffic, and pedestrians everywhere make driving in the city quite an experience. The types of motorist behavior that occasionally generate road rage in the US occur several times a minute as you drive through the the city, and it’s amazing to me that I never saw an accident or an injured pedestrian. It’s a kind of organized chaos that would be unimaginable at home, but it all seems to work in Cusco.
Upon landing we were transported in small vans (I can’t imagine bringing full size buses into the city) to Chicha 2 do Piso, a lovely restaurant, where we were treated to a delicious lunch featuring local specialties. We were offered coca tea (yes, that coca), which is believed to be helpful in managing the adjustment to high altitude. I drank two cups, and thought it was tasty. We also had our first experience with Inca Kola, a Coca Cola product that is made with lemon grass. It’s very popular here, and smells like bubblegum. The taste is a little more complicated than that, and I wouldn’t go looking for it, but it was fun to try.
After lunch we toured the central area of downtown Cusco, which features three separate delightful plazas. The most important is bounded by three enormous churches , the most important of which is the Cusco Cathedral, or Virgin Assumption Basilica, which was built between 1559 and 1654 on the site of an ancient Incan temple. We were only there for an hour, and I say “only” because I could happily spend a day in the Cathedral admiring the paintings, shrines, artifacts, artwork and aura of the place. It’s that special, and put it on your must-see list if you ever have an opportunity to visit Cusco.
All too soon it was time to check in to Montesario, a luxury hotel located in a former sixteenth century monastery. This blog post wasn’t supposed to be about our hotel, but this one is a destination in its own right. The owners have gone to great lengths to preserve the feel of the old monastery, down to maintaining the oil paintings that adorn the rooms and hallways. I had no way to count them, but there may be hundreds of beautiful, religious themed works on the walls. There were three in our spacious room alone. The two restaurants on site are elegant, white tablecloth affairs, and the food is fantastic.
One last feature of the hotel deserves its own paragraph. The Incas treated cedar trees, their tallest native trees, as sacred, and never cut them down, building all their structures of stone. When the Spaniards came, they worked to erase all aspects of Incan religion and culture, and quickly chopped down all the cedar trees for erecting buildings and making furniture. There is exactly one cedar tree remaining in the Cusco region, a 330 year old beauty, and it sits in the center of one of the hotel’s two courtyards. I’ll share a photo, but what an amazing historical exclamation point to the finest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.
Our first day in Cusco wrapped up with dinner at San Francisco de Asis Church, a Franciscan church and monastery built in 1572. After yet another fantastic meal we were treated to a performance of Incan ceremonial dancing and music in the church courtyard. I was pretty tired by this point after a long day, but I found the costumes and dancing riveting.
Then it was back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible, as we were scheduled to have a very full day ahead of us on day two of our Andes adventure. And as it turned out, day two really was remarkable, and I can’t wait to fill you in on Plan B, after we weren’t able to visit Machu Picchu as scheduled. Back tomorrow with all the details.
You cannot imagine a more desolate commercial port than the one serving Pisco.
If anything, the half hour drive from Pisco’s port to the airport was even emptier. No greenery or signs of human habitation anywhere until we passed through the town of Pisco on our way to the airport.
We were greeted at the Cusco airport by Peruvian folk dancers.
The first order of business after landing was lunch, which included coca tea and Inca Kola. I preferred the tea to the Kola. Hmm.
The most important of the three central plazas in downtown Cusco. In the background is one of the three churches in the plaza, and this one isn’t even the Cathedral.
Another of the three plazas. All three were impressive.
Every city needs an Irish pub, even Cusco, Peru.
Shops like these are everywhere, reinforcing Cusco’s importance as a tourist destination.
Then it was time to check in to our incredible hotel. This is one of the two courtyards. Note the houses built into the hillside in the background, a common sight in Cusco.
Flowers in the bar at our hotel. Despite its location high in the Andes, you certainly can go first class here, likely due to Cusco’s importance as a tourist destination.
This is the magnificent 330 year old cedar tree that graces the other courtyard at the hotel. It’s the very last one in the Cusco region. The Spaniards cut the rest down. It was never explained to us why they left this one.
This painting in our room is one of the likely hundreds on the walls of the guest rooms, hallways and common areas of the hotel, all dating back to the facility’s origins as a Catholic monastery.
Dinner was at San Francisco do Asis Church. The room we dined in was dominated by this painting of the Last Supper. Your homework is to see if you can find out why Jesus and the disciples are eating guinea pig. The deeper you get into what that involves, the more interesting it gets.
After dinner we were treated to a performance of an Incan ritual, which included dancing and a lot of drums.
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