After leaving Arequipa we headed north traveling higher into the Andes mountains. Nestled in at 11,200ft is the historic city of Cusco and our home base for the next few days.

We had a couple days before Erin was due to arrive and used that time to explore the city. We stayed at Kokopelli Hostel Cusco where they had plenty of coco tea (to help with the altitude) available. While walking around the city we would occasionally see Alpaca’s roaming free wandering into courtyards and grazing on the grasses.

It was a nice treat to be in a tourist town, because there was an extra large variety of food available! We kept seeing Guinea pig on the menu’s but we never actually ordered this local delicacy.

La Bodega 138

Sara found this tasty pizza joint where we enjoyed the craft beer, La Bodega Pizza (leek, mushroom, bacon), and the Large pizza with leek, mushroom, red pepper, and pepperoni.

Green Point

We had carrot soup, stuffed sweet potato with mashed peas, grilled veggie sandwich an a strawberry shortbread cookie to finish the meal.

Sumaq

This tiny restaurant was a delicious surprise. The oven was practically in the dining room! We enjoyed a set menu: Pisco Sours, Quinoa and Cuscuina soup, chicken in cream sauce, grilled alpaca, and Chocolate and caramel pancake for dessert.

Pachapapa

We had a surprise hail storm on our leasurely walk which made us have to run! It was worth it for: Stuffed pepper with potato and cheese salad, Oven roasted pork with potato and cheese salad

When Erin arrived we switched hostels to Kurumi Hostel where we could stay together and figure out the plan for Machu Picchu. Sara and I learned that there was a nearby hostel that planned really good tours, so we decided to book through Loki Travel. When talking with the agent we learned that the usual Inka trail tours book up months in advance, but of course they had other options for us! We decided upon an “Inka Jungle Trek” to Machu Picchu which was to include Biking, White water rafting, hiking a portion of the Inka trail, and finally a hike up to Machu Picchu. With that booked we had some more time in Cusco to get acclimated to the altitude before our adventure!

It was fun to explore Cusco with Erin. She had different ideas on things to do than what Sara and I usually do. We spent our time strolling the plazas, finding delicious cake, walking the endless steps to different viewpoints, and people watching in Plaza de Armas.