Since Cuzco's elevation is 11,000', the air is quite thin, especially so in the afternoon. For this reason, all flights arrive and leave in the morning. Our arrival was no different from Lima, a throng awaited us. Exhausted, we quickly tired of saying "no gracias" and resorted to ignoring and brushing by the pests. Once outside, a smiling, polite, English speaking man, who we eventually developed a rapport with, ushered us into his taxi and took us to our hotel just off the Plaza de Armas. Reynaldo, our new friend, was also a tour operator and wanted to sell us tours which we planned to do unguided. We quickly ducked into our room, promising to call him in a day or so. After a few hours of much needed peace and quiet, we ventured out on the Plaza de Armas, the main square, in search of sustenance. Susan was feeling a little weak but we were experiencing no severe acclimatization problems. We walked about a bit to familiarize before choosing the Bagdad Cafe, which had an outside balcony where we could watch the Cuzco lights and the flurry of activity in the Plaza over dinner. Even though we were still tired from traveling, our appetites were good and we felt that the altitude medication we had been taking for a few days seemed to be doing its job.
We soon found that we could not turn a corner or talk to anyone in Cuzco without them trying to sell us transportation or a tour of some sort. The hotel maid's brother was a taxi driver, the waitress sold tours and solicited laundry business, hawkers on the street sold any tour you could imagine. It went on and on. We eventually called Reynaldo and explained our simple needs. He then arranged all of our transportation to and from ruin sites, picked up and delivered most of our group from the airport as they arrived, and even weaseled eight of us to the front of an extremely long line after changing our return tickets at the airport. He was a wizard. It became obvious to us as the month went on that it was a tremendous advantage to have someone grease the skids and make things happen. We felt fortunate to have him on our side.
Tour hawkers were only overshadowed in the Plaza by people of all ages selling llama wool sweaters, jewelry, belts, camera straps, carved gourds, shoe shines, etc. Many of the younger set had special techniques for developing friendships to suck in the tourist. Susan's favorite was a shoeshine boy who tried to sell her a shine. When unsuccessful, he went after Bob and tried to shame him about the condition of his wife's boots. It was quite an entertaining circus which occasionally wore on our nerves.
After negotiating a trip to the central market and the train station on our second day in town, without being robbed, we were ready to venture into the countryside. Braving the local bus to Ollantaytambo via Urubamba, proved to be an all day adventure. Taking the local bus is very inexpensive and can be entertaining if you have the time. The 120 mile round trip took 5 hours, which was still faster than the train ride. Once we figured out how to get tickets and got into our seats without hurting ourselves, the first leg to Urubamba on a full-sized bus was quite comfortable. Unfortunately for us, the seats were spaced for much smaller people and the floor had just been waxed to a glossy shine. This combination provided unscheduled entertainment for the locals as two huge gringos tried to make it into the seats without sliding underneath them. We breathed a premature sigh of relief, only to find that seats were assigned and we were not in the right ones.
Plaza de Armas
Cuzco Street
Sacsayhuaman
