Peru and Ayahuasca Diaries
August 21st, Monday — Exploring Cusco
Last night, I checked in at my hotel in Cusco, Casa Mirador, around 10 p.m.
The hotel is quite comfortable, and the manager, Carlos, is attentive and speaks English well.
For the first time on this trip, I had purchased an airport transfer and had reserved a taxi to the hotel through Booking.com. Although it might be slightly more expensive than a regular taxi, it was a great decision, especially for countries with a language barrier. For example, Cusco Airport doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but the vehicle did, and the driver spoke some English. This allowed me to call the hotel from the car, and Carlos could instruct the driver on the route. Cusco city is carved into the Andes Mountains, full of hills and stairs. Casa Mirador is located high up on one of those hills. If we hadn’t gotten directions, the taxi would have tried to go to the front of the hotel, and I would have tried to climb the hills and stairs with my heavy suitcase. However, with the directions we had received, we went around the back. Carlos was already at the door, and it was easy to reach my room.
By the way, Cusco is quite chilly at night, around 2–3 degrees Celsius. Just a night before, it was difficult to sleep due to the heat and I had to take two showers a day, but tonight, I slept wrapped in a shell of three blankets and still shivered.
“On the other hand, since the city is at an altitude of around 3500 meters, people like us who come from sea level can experience altitude sickness and sometimes struggle to breathe. Hotels keep oxygen for emergencies at their reception. To avoid altitude issues, it’s a common solution in Cusco to chew coca leaves or drink coca tea. As soon as I arrived, I prepared my coca tea. Carlos, from above (we have a bird’s eye view of the city), described the main squares and places where I could have a meal.”
Around 6:30 a.m., I set out to explore the city. I first had breakfast at a local place. I had booked a free city tour starting at 10 a.m. Until then, I thought I’d browse some shops, but in a minute I got caught up in a shopping frenzy. Everything is so colorful and beautiful, and the prices are reasonable. Suddenly, I bought many things, thinking “This is a gift, this is for me…” Fortunately, I thought I had resolved the gift issue for today. Then I realized I couldn’t wander around all day with the shopping bags in my hand. Afterward, while looking for my hotel to drop off these packages, I got completely lost in the labyrinthine streets of Cusco, with no navigation. I found myself lying by the statue of Christ at the top of the city. While I was looking for the way to my hotel and people said, “La Casa Mirador,” people thought I was asking for directions to the statue of Mirador and led me there. When I say “laying,” I mean literally laying, because the altitude doesn’t make me sick, but it makes me get tired incredibly quickly, and climbing till the statue of Mirador is quite a way.
It was almost 10 a.m., so I decided to give up rushing for the city tour for the day and started looking for my hotel calmly. When I finally reached Casa Mirador and told Carlos about what had happened, he told me that I couldn’t figure this out without the internet and that I needed to get a SIM card for the internet. He directed me to where I could get a SIM card. As a result, I decided this day to be a day for exploring the city on my own. Once I had my SIM card and internet on my phone, everything went much smoother.
