I've already met tons of travelers from a variety of places; Canada, Dubai, Brazil, Chile, Australia, to name a few. Once I got into Lima at midnight, I went through customs with no problem and then found a Starbucks to hang out at. Many people were doing the same thing I was: killing time until their 6am flight to Cuzco. As we wasted the wee hours of the morning away, the airport slowly started to bustle with life, indicating it was time for me to go back through security and catch my local Taca flight. By this time I was already dead tired.
Eventually I made it onto the plane. It wasn't crowded so I moved to an empty two seats so I could rest, but sleeping on an airplane is more like a series of uncomfortable and unsatisfying power naps. I kept waking up to the pilot saying we were delayed because of weather in Cuzco. After about two hours of that, they kicked us off the plane and said they'd fly when they could, oh no!
I had no idea what was going on, people were yelling at employees since apparently other airlines were flying to Cuzco no problem. I just hung around and talked to other travelers, meeting a few people who spoke fluent spanish as well so I could just ask them how the progress was going. After many hours and much commotion we FINALLY got back on the plane at around 1:30pm (it was supposed to leave at 6:40am). I sat on the left side, which ended up being a very good choice. All the nice views of the mountain and Cuzco were on the left side of the plane. We flew in and did a 360 to land. Here's the video:
I expected the doors to open on the airplane to reveal air so thin that I would barely have enough energy to take my packs off the plane! Instead, I thought I felt something, had no problem walking with my packs, and pretty much went along with my day as if I was at sea level. Damn scare tactics, I was so ready with my herbs to increase bloodflow and my sea bands haha.
I continued to hang out with the travelers I met at the airport, and we left the airport and walked across the street to get some local food, what they call a menu (pronounced in spanish). It´s a multi course meal that here included a soup and an entree for only 5 peruvian soles! That's what happens when you're not in airports and tourist central. Of course as we left the airport area we got bombarded by cab drivers and switched multiple times before we got one that seemed the cheapest and most legit.
I dropped my stuff at my hostel, which is pretty nice, and immediately went back out into Cuzco. Some Brazilian girl was couchsurfing and we all toured around with her host as a guide. We even saw the small place he lived in (literally a series of one room apts that went out to this atrium) and took the bus back. Those busses are crazy! The bus stops aren't marked, they're just "known." So he had to just tell us that we were at a bus stop. The busses are really just vans with a sliding door, and there's usually some young kid open and closing the door for people and collecting money. The 10-15 minute bus ride back into town only cost 60 sole cents
Anyway, it's time to pass out so I can function tomorrow.
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