Cusco---Calle Resbalosa...

We arrived in Cusco at around 6:30 a.m. We took an overnight bus trip which left Arequippa at 9:30. As we expected there were tons of taxis waiting. Grant would never take the taxis closest to the bus stop, so we walked down the street a little and got a cheaper taxi. I had checked out some hostels in our book and gave the driver a name and zoom, we were off. He drove as close as he could to our street, but if you look at the picture, you can see that our street was really a stairway and no cars drove on it. We unloaded from the taxi with our backpacks and headed up the stairway. It was quite a little jaunt---and at an altitude of 12,000 feet, it was taxing. Once we settled into our room, we took a little nap. Sleeping on the bus was fine, but not the most restful.
Oh, about the bus trip---we left in the dark and before we were on the road even 20 min., we were doing switchbacks. There was no light and I was praying that we wouldn't go over an edge that I couldn't even see. I was glad to fall asleep. I did wake up a couple of hours later when we were obviously no longer on a paved road. I was a little disappointed not to be able to see all that we were passing through---I imagine it was pretty impressive.


This is the view of the Plaza de Armas from the patio of our hostel. The buildings around the square were all built by the Spanish. They tore down the Inca palaces and left the foundations upon which they built their churches.

This is the view of our street looking down from our hostel door.

Calle Resbalosa means slippery street and it was slippery. The cobblestones are worn smooth and the steps of the street slant downwards which makes going down them precarious---especially if they are wet.

Here's a shot of Grant at the top of the Calle Resbalosa, the street our hostel was on. The street is quite long, you can't see our hostel from this view. We hiked to the top of the street and continued uphill for about 30 minutes to get to the ruin which overlooks the town. In the picture you can see Grant holding the husk from an ear of corn we bought on the street---choclo con queso. Peruvians love their corn and believe it to be the best in the world. The ears of corn are shorter and fatter than ours and the kernals are very large and puffy. It is good---but our little purchase of choclo con queso on this day didn't prove to be very good for either of us. Grant got really sick, with fever and chills. I just had diarrhea---in fact we both did for almost a week. It was the queso--not the cheese. I thought when I tasted it that it tasted funny, but sometimes cheese tastes funny, so I didn't worry---quess I should have.