Day 3: Peru, Lima to Cusco to Urubamba Travel Day

During our orientation session Day 3 was billed as a "rest day" in that the only scheduled plans were a flight and a tour of Sulca, a museum of Peruvian textiles.

Our group was divided into two pick up times. Ours was 6:25 am, the other group was at around three a.m. We were handed our boarding passes. After a 45 minute drive to the airport, we arrived three hours early. Let me state, you do not need to arrive at the Lima airport three hours in advance. I think most of us would have been happier to have left at 7 am after eating a hearty breakfast at the hotel than leave just before the breakfast bar opened and be handed a paper bag of junk food. 

Don recognizing I would not be able to function all day without protein encouraged me to find something at the airport. The only option was at TGI Fridays, a US restaurant chain that seems to be shutting down in our part of the country.  I got a double order of scrambled eggs, chicken, toast, orange juice, and a hot tea for about $7.50. Based on conversations I heard throughout the day, I made the right choice.

We boarded another tiny plane. At least this flight was about 80 minutes. 

We landed in Cusco. We had been told the Exoticca representative would meet us outside after we gathered our bags. He would not be allowed inside the terminal. Instead we were met by someone insisting he gather our suitcases. Turns out he was a local (likely working with Exoticca) in the hopes of getting tips from us for being so helpful. I must say the Exoticca staff never asked for tips, or even lingered in hopes of getting one. We were good and all tipped a few soles.

Our driver took us to the Sulca Museum. After serving us some mint tea (supposed to help with altitude sickness), our guide told us about the different kinds of textiles, going into very interesting details about how each tapestry was made. I was too tired to appreciate one word of what was said. I can't imagine how the group who left three hours earlier fared. My mind drifted to how much Don's mom, Honey Bunny, would have been fascinated by their work and would have at least wanted to ask questions. The tapestries all had prices in US Dollars, and they were not cheap (nor should they be for what they were). We wandered around as if in a museum.

Feel the difference between
baby alpaca and the rest

Math through textiles

We were introduced to the llamas and alpacas, and given greens to feed them. I opted to not feed the animals, and instead take pictures. I enjoyed seeing how different people handed the process of feeding. The farmer in our group handed the clump to llamas and had them chomp at it. Don handed one or two strands at a time to each animal, trying to be fair. The content creator in our group handed grass to them in one hand while filming close ups of them chomping. A Canadian woman separated the bundles and fed a partial bundle to the animals, while keeping the rest away from them. If I had been busy feeding them my own bundles, I would not have been able to take pictures and appreciate the scene around me. I'm sure the animals will still be fed.

Never ending miles of mountains

Multitasking

We were then brought into a gift shop with clothing made from baby alpacas, versus the cheap alpaca stuff we would see everywhere after we left this place. Sulca was the only place we would see true baby alpaca wear. We should buy some! The prices are in US Dollars. They'll cut us a deal since we arrived on the bus.

I don't think anyone in our group bought anything. A little later in the trip, we would have appreciate the quality, but at that point it wasn't in me. Looking back at the pictures, I appreciate the wide variety of colors, and the softness. Unfortunately it was too far to return to on our own.

We returned to the van and drove a little further. This time to a viewpoint with more people trying to sell their souvenirs. The ride was bumpy, so the fresh air felt good, but I was still not in the mood to buy anything.

Meanwhile, altitude sickness was hitting me in the form of a solid headache. I was already tired from waking at 5 am on vacation (and getting in late the night before), now I felt dehydrated and head a headache. I just wanted to crawl into a hotel bed and wake up in my own bed in New Jersey.

Finally we arrived at our hotel in Urubamba. We were told we would stay here because it is only 9,000 feet above sea level, as opposed to 11,000 feet in Cusco. It is actually lower in Machu Picchu (7,900 feet).