This altitude sucks. We both woke up with headaches. At least I think it is from the altitude. It could be from concentrating so hard on not flushing toilet paper down the toilet. It’s just not natural. But there is a sign on the toilet which says to not put toilet paper in the toilet. I am not always successful at this. It’s supposed to help save the environment, and you know thetwinsontour are environmentally friendly.
Anyways, we flew to Cuzco yesterday afternoon (elevation 11k-12k depending on who is telling the story) and I felt fine. We drove for what seemed like hours to the hotel in The Sacred Valley (elevation 8 or 9k). My ears felt a little stuffy. Kind of like when you go to a loud concert and can’t hear anything for a while. Now all of that pressure has resettled to the middle of my forehead right between my eyes. I drank a cup of coca tea. It doesn’t have a very strong flavor, but for someone who doesn’t like tea, it tastes like ass. I am told it has a chamomile flavor to it. My headache is starting to feel better already. It really is magical tea. Time for cup number 2.
Yesterday was our city tour of Lima. Like all big cities there is a lot of traffic. We just made a couple of stops and then they dropped us at a shopping mall to find lunch. We had hoped to find a Chifa (Peruvian Chinese restaurant) but there wasn’t one there. I am determined to have some Chifa while I am here. It’s supposed to be way better than regular Chinese food.
We didn’t do too much in Lima. There just wasn’t time. We had the morning there. It was kind of gray and dreary looking. No sun. Evidently they have 5 months of sun in Lima. The rest is gray and dreary looking even though it doesn’t rain in Lima. Just 3 inches a year. Or maybe that was centimeters. Either way, it is nothing.
Our flight to Cuzco was uneventful. Which is a good thing. It was 8 o’clock by the time we made it to our hotel.
On the bus ride we noticed lots and lots of stray dogs. But I think I heard our guide say that they have owners, but they just let them out to wander the streets? Not sure about that, but there were sure a lot of dogs. There were a lot more dogs than people. No llamas or alpacas yet, but I am sure we will see those soon. Can’t call a trip to Peru complete without an alpaca sighting.
Today was a busy day. We hit three different sets of Inca ruins, and they were all beautiful, fascinating, amazing; I think you get the picture. Anyways the first stop were some Incan farming terraces. They are concentric circles of terraces that are in a valley. The temperature at the bottom is 15 degrees warmer then it is at the top of the hill. Don’t worry, I was skeptical too. However, I experienced it, and it is true. It was quite warm down within the terraces. Supposedly there are 12 different microclimates within this area. The brilliant Incas used this as a place to test crops and to learn what potatoes grow best at which temperatures. This was just a scientific testing area for them, not a working farm. Did you know there are over 3,000 kinds of potatoes in Peru? Apparently they recently did some genetic testing of the prolific potato and determined there are actually 7,000 different kinds of potatoes in Peru. We’ve got what, like 5 kinds of potatoes at the grocery store? I mean I feel like our potatoes are exotic when my mom buys the Yukon Gold potatoes for our Sunday night pot roast. Just think what 7,000 different kinds of potatoes could do to pot roast. For one thing, my mom would need to buy a bigger pan and it would revolutionize pot roast.
Then we went to the salt mines. The salt comes from an underground salty river. They put the water into these little pools and let the water evaporate and they scrape the salt off the top. They use it for cooking and for bath salts. They also have pink salt that the Chinese are just crazy for. They export most of their salt to China. This river has a 9% salinity where as the average ocean has a 3% salinity. Did you know that if you eat salt without iodine you will get goiters? That is why we eat iodized salt because really, no one wants to walk around with goiters.
Our last Inca sight of the day was more terraces. These were not farming terraces. It was some sort of religious temple that wasn’t very important. I know this because the stone steps were different sizes and not evenly spaced. The Incas didn’t bother to make them all the same size because it wasn’t a major religious area. I mean, they didn’t even put in a hand rail. Who builds a ruin with 193 steps, and no handrail?
This part is for my mom. You know she worries if she thinks we are not eating on vacation. Lunch was an experience. We were given an hour and 10 minutes to eat and shop. We decided to eat at a sit down restaurant. We ordered off the tourist menu, which we thought would be quick and easy. It was not. But you knew that probably. I had quinoa soup which was quite tasty. (Evidently the growing of quinoa is quite difficult and they have to get up at 4 in the morning to harvest it because later in the day it is to windy and all of the quinoa falls off the stem and is wasted. ) Now I think that I am morally opposed to quinoa because they export so much of it to the US that it drives up prices of local quinoa, but I think it is okay to eat it local at the source. It was tasty, but I had to be careful to not inhale it too quickly because I kept choking on it. Finally at 2:49, my main course came. Crusted chicken in an orange sauce. Absolutely scrumptious. Only problem was I was supposed to be on a bus at 3, and there was still desert to go. We told the waitress we needed our desert and checks and we were all leaving in 10 minutes. That spurred her into action. At least I got my chocolate cake to go.
And have I mentioned the roads here? Narrow, steep, hairpins where the bus hangs off the side of the cliff. At least this is what I hear. I have to close my eyes and sleep. There is no amount of Dramamine that can save me from that.
That wraps up this installment from your favorite twins, thetwinsontour.
Hasta la Vista.
Love,
Thetwinsontour
thetwinsontour 