Exploring Cusco
On the 3rd, Göran woke up not feeling well, so we had a calm morning. When he felt better, we headed into town to have lunch at the vegan restaurant that I had chosen. On our walk there, we passed through the old city centre past the Plaza de Armas to the cosy and characterful San Blas district. We had delicious food at Chia and finally a dish that was loaded with vegetables, good spices, and plant-based protein sources. Apart from the lunch menu, the prices were a bit higher than what we were used to but still so much cheaper than a vegan restaurant of this calibre would have been in Europe, so I even treated myself to a starter (vegan ceviche) and a main course (handmade corn tacos with a vegetable-bean filling and guacamole).
Jacques had ordered the menu of the day although he knew that it would be far too little for him to satisfy his hunger, but since he wasn’t ready to pay the higher prices, what ended up happening is that I paid a lot for my food only to give one third of it to my dad 😀
But I did it with love, and he appreciated it, so it was all good. Our food was delicious, and this way Dad and I both got to try a greater variety of dishes as he let me try a bit of each of his dishes as well 🙂
Afterwards, we went to a small, cute café at the end of the street for a digestive coffee for the men and some dessert. The café, called L’Atelier, had a great flair and offered a nice view from the colonial balconies. The coffee was the best the men have had so far, and the cake was very tasty as well. With our stomachs full after this day of spoiling ourselves, we walked through the remainder of the old village and enjoyed the view when suddenly Jacques spotted two familiar faces on the other side of the street: Ingrid and Branko, the Dutch couple who have been travelling in their van for more than seven years. For those of you who don’t remember, we met them as well as Sarah and Hugh at Millpu. Although it was short back in Millpu, we got along very well, so I was overjoyed to see them again. We chatted on the street for quite a while until we agreed to meet up the next day. What a nice prospect! 🙂
We took a detour back to the hostel to see a bit more of the old town. After dinner that evening, we made plans for the next day and went to bed.
On the 4th, we went to see the Incan “Temple de la Luna”. Once we had left the city behind us after a steep hike up the slopes which surround the city, we entered a large grass field with the temple on it and beautiful nature behind. The temple was very interesting to see, and we decided to hike a bit away from it and all its tourists and did a small detour loop through nature. This serene quiet surrounded by nature is something all of us really enjoyed and had missed for a while. You don’t get that this way when cycling on roads, especially not since we left Tanta. On top of the nice nature, we were blessed by beautiful sunshine, which we were grateful for because so far it had rained every single day in Cusco, and that afternoon it was going to rain again.
After lunch at the hostel, we took a taxi to the campsite where Ingrid and Branko (and Sarah and Hugh) were staying, which was quite a bit from our hostel. We went there because we got the privilege of getting a tour of their van, which turned out to be so awesome! Every detail was thought through very well by either the German company that converted the truck or Branko, who is quite the technical handyman himself. The van felt really homely, spacious, and even had a storage unit which contained certain household supplies but also a special compartment with tools that might be needed on tougher roads or in harsh weather conditions. All in all, their van was amazing, and we had such a fun time talking with Ingrid and Branko. I can’t emphasise enough how kind and sympathetic they are. Sarah and Hugh did not join us yet at this point, because they had had some bad luck with their car that Hugh was working on, and he was finally in the flow with things going well.
In the afternoon, we headed to a beer café in town, all seven of us, and had some special craft beers. Although we all had different beers, every single one was tasty and special. But what made them even more delicious was the great company we drank them in. Chatting with all of them was such a blast, and all three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The price of the beers was a bit higher than what I had anticipated, but our Dutch and English friends were so kind and generous that they decided to pay the tab so it wouldn’t harm Göran’s and my lower budgets. So kind! If you guys read our blog: thank you so much once again! Not only for paying our share but especially for such a lovely time together.
That evening, we reorganised our bags for the big day that was following: our trip to Machu Picchu. We put the bags we weren’t going to take into storage and, with everything else packed and ready, we headed to bed early.
