The bus from Cusco to Arequipa took the whole day (6am to 7pm) and we drove through a very very amazing landscape. I also saw herds of Lamas & Alpacas along the way. I scored the front panoramic seat again & I am very very happy about that. I will never understand while most people just sleep or watch a movie or so when in a bus or in a train. I think they miss out on half of their travels.
On my first day in Cusco I just relaxed. It is recommended to take it slow the first few days due to the high altitude and I saw a few people getting sick. I personally had just a headache, but I also realized that you really have to take it slow & steady as everything is just so much harder for your body. For example it was quite hard for me to climb up the stairs to the breakfast room on the forth floor in the hotel. My heart was beating very fast & I had to take a rest half way through.
I explored the city for 2 days, which is surprisingly big (500,000 inhabitants). I took two of the free walking tours, which I highly recommend. The guys are awesome & very passionate about their city & their culture & love to work with people. The tours aren’t actually free, they ask for a tip at the end, which I was very happy to give. It’s nice to do a few tours to see the different parts of the city & to hear the different explanations as every guide takes you slightly different ways & focuses on slightly different things. They also variate their tours based on the interest of the group. Finally it’s also a good way to meet new people.
You can also get very good and cheap massages in Cusco. I had a so called Inka massage which included Shiatsu & hot stones, lasted for 1hr and the costs were S/.30, which is about 8€. Amazing!! She also knew exactly about my back, shoulder & neck issues & helped me a lot with the pain management.
Tours I did from Cusco:
- Machu Picchu (2 days partly walking variation)
- Sacred valley
- Rainbow Mountain
- Maras (salt mines)
I will have separate blog posts for them.
So I stayed about 1 week in Cusco. It was quite stressful & exhausting with tours almost every day. As usual, I wish I would have much more time to take things slower.
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