The journey to Cuzco isnt quite as straightforward as hoped when we bought our through ticket in La Paz. First off, we're put into a taxi and sent off to the border, about 10 mins away, having handed over our ticket, breaking the first rule of travelling. But we get there, sort out the paperwork in Bolivia, walk over a bridge into Peru, and get the relevant stamp from immigration, and then find a driver from our company (there is only one guy with a mini bus there.) Everyone knows about the 2 gringos who want to go all the way to Cuzco, all the other tourists are stopping off in Puno for a day or two (dont they know there is a strike??!) so when we get to Puno bus station, we're met by a lady with two onward tickets to Cuzco on a decent sized coach. Not decent enough though for practically the whole of Peru who seem to want to get on the bus to Cuzco with a lot, if not all of their worldly belongings. They certainly know that there is a strike for three days. Slightly reminiscent of the bus trips in India that we took 8 months ago, the roads are pretty bumpy, but at least there arent dozens of people on the roof (they would freeze its so cold once the sun goes down) and we're not being stared at...
After arriving close to midnight, the next morning we realise that Cuzco, is a really nice place, which is good as we have three days here to kill. The Spanish influence on the place is evident - there are lots of churches and cathedrals promoting Catholicism. They were complete b'stards the conquistadores, destroying the Inca temples and important buildings so that they could build their temples to Christianity. However, they were kind enough to include a nod here and there to local customs to make them more user friendly. So in the, admittedly rather impressive, cathedral complex, you can see a recreation of the Last Supper painting, with local delicacy, guinea pig, sitting as the plat du jour in front of Jesus and his disciples.
As the nearest major city to Machu Picchu, Cuzco relies heavily on the tourist dollar, so there is quite a bit of hassle from local sellers pushing their woollen hats or pictures of local sites. Possibly the most unique to this Andean location is the women with baby llamas offering photos for about 20p. We find some decent places to eat, apart from the no1 destination on trip advisor which we give up on and tuck into a surprise almuerzo about 5 doors along. Only a surprise as we didnt really understand what was on the menu, which is always fun.
The further into the trip, the more we find that we can waste time pretty easily, especially as our local market has some cheap Malbec from Argentina on offer, and we're still carrying the 2l bottle of ready made cuba libre. So after a few days of reading books, pottering around town and nursing fuzzy heads, we have to head off early to get the train to Machu Picchu. Fortunately, the fab Incama hostel is happy to look after our big bags (which are looking even more touch and go that they will make it to a full year without falling apart - bloody cheap American rubbish!) and send us on our way to the train station.
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