Last Day in Cusco

Overall, today has been a fantastic day. It started early, about 6:45. Brennon and I awoke and showered, then showed up late for breakfast. Church was at 8:00, so we hustled through our plate and walked a block to the chapel. I offered to “touch” the piano, as they say it in Spanish, which was a lot easier this time because the sustain pedal worked. I still only caught bits and pieces of the talks (mostly just a word occasionally), but there were a couple of niños that were running around the chapel, which made the meeting entertaining.

Our plan was to go four-wheeling after church; we had it set up and everything. But Cliff, our director, made a stern comment about our integrity and following the rules, which forbids the use four-wheeling. We had a group meeting, and everyone felt bad (which means Cliff did his job well), so we ditched the idea and brainstormed new ones.

We previously had come up with an idea to go zip lining, and the world’s largest zip line is 45 minutes away from Cuzco, so we found the travel office to ask about prices and whatnot. The price was a little high (higher than they would have been to go four-wheeling), but the hour bus ride to and from the zip line is what really deterred us.

The travel office was up on the Plaza De Armas; as we were walking up there, we were impeded by a parade. They had bands planning, masked dancers throwing confetti, and people of all ages dressed in traditional wear marching in the procession. It was fun to watch for a little bit, but the parade ended up taking several hours, marching from plaza to plaza.

We returned back from our mini-adventure, and nobody wanted to do anything. So Susana, Alex, and I made a trip back up to the plaza to go to mass at the cathedral. The decorations in the cathedral were extravagant and gaudy. There were gold statues, for lack of a better work, from floor to ceiling depicting different saints and scenes. They lined the gothic walls and framed the alter where the bishop prayed. We quietly listened as the good people sang their praise and partook of communion. The spirit here was very different than the last cathedral I visited. The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. felt very empty; this one felt sincere, like the people were true to their faith.

Mass only lasted a half of an hour. We found lunch in a corner restaurant in an adjacent plaza, and it tasted pretty good. I had chicken with herbs and a special sauce with a sweet glass of Coca-Cola (Coke is made with real sugar down here). After dinner, we took a taxi up to the Christ statue that overlooks the city, which was the best decision we made all day. It was cool to get our of the tourist part of town, to drive through the residential part of the city, and to get on top of the peak and look over the city. We took our picture over the city, and an old man dressed in colorful clothes playing a ukulele type instrument jumped in our photo. We hiked down the other side of the statue and found some old walls, which Dave had said earlier were part of the fortifications of the original Incan city. We took another taxi back down the mountain and made our way back to the hotel, even more in love with the city.

 When we returned, nobody else was at the hotel. I took the opportunity to catch up on the blog and to rest for a bit. We had some time to kill, so we went to the other market that we hadn’t been to. I found some shirts for Jaren and Jesse that I hope fit because neither of them had sizes on them.

We met again in the lobby with everybody to go out for dinner, courtesy of Cliff and Dave. Dave had made us reservations at fancy restaurant called Chi Cha and said that he and Cliff would pay for part of our meal. We walked up there, hoping they would let us in earlier than our reservations, but they were packed, so we had to kill another hour on the town. We spent some time in the shops looking at nothing in particular. Dave bought all the girls roses from a vendor. Cooper bought a spoon because his grandpa collects them. Nate and Natalie were on the hunt for a birthday present for Aniko because her birthday was the next day. As we were just sitting and chatting in the main square, these cute little girls came up and started selling us their dumb llama key chains and their dumb hats. But they were freaking cute and funny. I ended up buying a keychain for Mom and Jesse; you better like them!

They bugged us and messed with us for almost the whole time, attracting about four other little girls that did the same. Their selling tactics are terrible- they just throw stuff on you then run away so you have to take it and buy it. But they played us bad. It was kinda fun, but it did get annoying after doing it for an hour.

Finally, our table opened up and we were taken to our seats. Dinner was really fun. We had great conversation, and Cliff and Dave bought us all sorts of appetizers to try. I had octopus for the first time, and I did not like it. I ordered chi cha morada, which seemed appropriate given the restaurant. It is a drink made from purple corn, which has a sweet and corny taste to it. I really like it. For the main course, I ordered veal-stuffed ravioli, and it was super tasty and had very dimensional flavors. Brennon, who sat next to me, ordered anticucho, which is animal heart. His plate came with chicken and beef heart, and we swapped tastes. I only tried the chicken heart, and it tasted just like chicken, but I was still a little queasy at the thought that it was heart.

After dinner, which we finished at about 11:00, we walked back to our hotel so some girls could change and get something warmer to wear. We hopped into two taxies and made the trek (again for me) up to the Christ statue. The night view of the city was also gorgeous, and you could also see the stars from up there. It was really peaceful, even with the bumping Cusqueño music. We showed up right before midnight, and when the clock struck twelve, we started celebrating Aniko’s birthday. The taxi drivers said it was a little late for us to go up, but it was memorable, even for the second time.