With our Lima mission accomplished, we headed off on to stage two; Cusco.
Lima, a sprawling mega city, the largest in Peru, home to over 10,000,000.
Flying over the incredible Andes.
It made me think. What were those Spanish conquistadors thinking back in 1533 when they came to attack Cusco on horseback amd on foot? Some men will do anything for gold and power.
And lower again
Urubamba, a town in the Sacred Valley to the northwest of Cusco.
Our first sighting of Cusco.
Wikipedia;
"Cusco (Spanish: Cuzco, [ˈkusko]; Quechua: Qusqu or Qosqo, IPA: [ˈqɔsqɔ]), often spelled Cuzco (/ˈkuːskoʊ/), is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andesmountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cusco Province. In 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).
The site was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Perudesignates it as the Historical Capital of Peru.[3]" End quote.
The big question in our minds is, how will we cope with the altitude? 3,400 metres. Basically the problem is lack of oxygen. We had never been that high, even in Nepal. According to one website; "For some visitors, the first hours in Cusco can be summarized as: shortness of breath, a discomfort in the body, dizziness, headaches, stomachaches, even vomiting. As great connoisseurs of natural medicine, the Incas used coca leaves to counteract soroche, quechua for high-altitude sickness. It is common to see locals chewing on coca leaves."
You know the coca from its somewhat well marketed drink, Coca-Cola although it is a long time since it contained actual coca. And from its more notorious product, cocaine. The locals (not the Witnesses) love to chew it as it is a mild stimulant. But drinking it as a tea apparently helps with altitude sickness but has no narcotic effect.
So we arrived, and this is new home for ten days right in the Centro Historico part of town. Less than 5 metres wide by 5 metres deep but 3 storeys high and right next door to our friends Duane and Sandi and our other neighbour, Mari, the Japanese sister we met at the convention the day before.
The view from the third storey window.
A 10 minute walk through the beautiful narrow Spanish colonial, cobbled streets to restaurant for dinner. Alex and I opted to share a light meal as is recomended to minimise the effects of altitude sickness. We also imbibed a coca tea.
Stopped for a breather on the uphill walk home. So how did we go with the altitude??? Apart from a mild headache, Alexandra was virtually unaffected. Myself on the other hand... I had all of the effects described above less the vomiting although it crossed my mind a few times. This will be interesting....
Lloydnalex
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