How to keep getting lost even if doesn’t seem so. Peruvian Chronicles. Day 3.

After my breakfast and coca tea -already among my basics- to start the day, I went down the stairs, took Union St. until San Pedro’s Market and turned left to get to the square making my way between food and chicha street carts, honks, and people going in every possible direction.

My plan for the day was taking one of those sightseeing buses to have a general view of the city and then nail down my plans for the next days because if I don’t I’ll probably keep wandering aimlessly around the city. Not that it would be a bad plan, but there’s so much more to see.

When I got to the bus stop I was asked -one more time- if I want the tour in Spanish or English. And I say “one more time” because since I stepped in here it looks like when I’m carrying my camera (pretty much always) I had a sign on my forehead saying “English speaking person”. One of these days I’m gonna pretend I’m a true Northern gal.

I took the front seat of the bus and waited for it to start the sightseeing tour.

After a couple of minutes, the bus took off. It completes a closed circuit with some stipulated stops. It’s too bad it’s not a hop on- hop off kind of tour that in my opinion is an excellent way to start to know a city, instead of just watching it from the bus. One of those stops was the Tres Cruces viewpoint, next to the White Christ that can be seen from the Main Square. Now, I looked down from there to the city and I could’n’t help but notice some similarities between the city I was in and he city I was born in. Obvious differences apart, like the altitude and the size, Cusco -Perú- and Minas -Uruguay- are two cities built between a ring formed by hills, in a valley with pit form, and both have viewpoints from the high spots to watch the city. We keep going for a while longer, seeing Sacsayhuamán and a Vicuña wool stablishment, to go back to the same place we started the tour.

Cusco seen from the White Christ viewpoint. You can clearly see the Main Square that in Inca times duplicated its extension from what it is now.

Saqsayhuamán archeological site.

I started walking with no clear direction again, letting myself get carried away by whatever caught my senses in each corner. I kept walking along a street that starts on one of the sides of the Cathedral. A couple of blocks after, big big slope and I kept going to see where it went, like Alice chasing the white rabbit. The sidewalk began to narrow until disappearing completely, so I had to be cautious about the cars and vans I share the street with because though almost unexplicably, they fit in there.

Going up, still not knowing where to.

I reached the top of the slope, there’s another church and another square. I climbed up some stairs and walked through a narrow street crowded with artisan travellers. I walked around, took photos of two things that caught my eye, the view of the city and the colonial balconies. Watching the name of some of the restaurants and gift shops, I finally realized where I was, the San Blas neighborhood that is very trendy nowadays, but I gotta say, I prefer the area I’m staying at.

The view from the San Blas Square. The Church with the same name is on the right.

I took the same street to go back down, feeling a little bit hungry already, so I looked out for a place to eat. On the way down, I saw this small place with a friendly-priced executive menu so I didn’t think it twice and went in. I finally tried the so recommended quinoa soup, and it was not dissapointing at all. Actually, I still make quinoa soup regularly at home.

San Blas street way down was faster because of my food neccesity.

With a full stomach and happy I went back to the street, now with the mission to close the deal of my plan for the next days. I went in A LOT of travel agencies until I got bored and ended up resolving my itinerary for the next four days. The next one I’m meeting Maras salt pools and Moray and the next one is the turn for the Sacred Valley of the Incas. And then, finally, the one that was the star of the trip, the World Wonder, Machu Picchu. Having all this resolved I kind of relaxed -not that I was in that much stress either-. I went back home to take a shower, and desperate to have some Uruguayan mate. I’d love to drink it in the morining as I regularly do at home but walking on my own handling my camera and drinking mate isn’t a easy task, specially for me as I never standed out for my motor abilities.

Today, I crossed the street from my hostel to know the wonders of the local supermarket. I bought food for some days and a good amount of water. Besides being essential for the trekks, the altitude and the dry weather make it so easy for dehydration, so I tried to drink water almost constantly because, after all, it’s much more complicated to recover from dehydration that going aroud looking for a toilet. Going back to the food, today was the day ramen came into my life and became a one way street (until this day, I call it “my Peruvian dinner”). Then it was just preparing my small backpack for the next day and look for something to watch and fall asleep to on the TV.