Wednesday, July 25: Journey to Cuzco
Our train arrived in Ollantaytambo from Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu at 6:00. A taxi driver arranged by Hosteria Rumichaca picked us up and drove us to the sister guesthouse in Cuzco. We wondered if this was necessary, but we had heard people on the train saying that it was faster to go to Cuzco by car than by train. There were also many taxis offering to take people to Cuzco, so it seemed reasonable. It was dark for much of the trip, so we didn’t see much except stars. It was worth it, though, to hear the taxi driver’s cell phone ring—a perfect recording or a rooster crowing. It was adorable.
An hour and a half later, Jose’s brother, Ramiro, greeted us at the door. To my right I saw a dining room with the old furniture and a large portrait of a woman now deceased. I think this was probably Jose and Ramiro’s mother’s house originally.
Ramiro led us up the 3 (!) flights of stairs to our room. Not only were there two bottles of water on the table in the room as in Rumichaca, there was a water cooler outside the room in case we needed more. Clearly this was to protect against altitude sickness. Ramiro asked if we wanted anything to eat. We were hungry, but between the exhaustion from our hike and the altitude, we couldn’t face going back up and down those stairs. Twenty minutes later a servant brought to our room two plates, each with two hamburger patties, sliced tomatoes, and fried potato slices. There was also a basket of four small round pieces of Andean flatbread. We sliced the bread in half and put a patty on it with ketchup, mustard and tomato. We washed it down with some chamomile tea. It totally hit the spot. Then we each took a well-deserved shower, and hit the sack.
Tags: Cuzco, hotel, Peru, Sacred Valley, taxi, Travel
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