October 27, 2011
Before I left Lima, Pilar who owns the place I was staying at gave me lots of good information and good contacts for Cuzco, Puno (Lake Titicaca) and Arequipa and also allowed me to leave a suitcase case with her which I will pick up just before I leave on my flight back to Canada on November 23rd. There was a South Africa guy at her place that is staying in Lima until December so I lent him my "Last days of the Incas" book and he lent me his Hiram Bingham book "The lost city of the Incas".
My flight from Lima to Cuzco was at 9:30am and it only took 1 hour. Realizing ahead of time that there would be unscrupulous taxi drivers waiting for me outside ready to make me pay 3 times the going fare I decided to ask a tour operator that was located in the airport in Cuzco and he said 10 soles ($3.33US) to get into Cuzco and then I went outside and 2 of them quoted me 25 soles and I laughed and then the one says "OK how much you pay me?" (Obviously he was just measuring my level of ignorance for Cuzco prices) and I said "10 soles" and he asked who was going to give me a ride for 10 soles so I went back in and retrieved my luggage from the luggage carousel and the tour operator brought me out to meet his friend "Cesar" who arranges Tours so he took me to my place (that Pilar had recommended) for 10 soles and after I checked the room and checked-in I sat down with Cesar to see his tour prices he offered.
I originally told him I would be getting a second price so he better be giving me some competitive prices. To go out to Vilcabamba or Vitcos (which were the last 2 capitals of the Incas after the Conquistadores took over their old capital Cuzco) are not popular group tours so would be really expensive for one person and I am sure they are just more ruins that only an archaeologist could appreciate anyhow. After meeting with Cesar I had some coco tea which is made from coco leaves which helps with altitude sickness since Cuzco is 10,000 feet above sea level. I took a short nap for an hour and then headed out to check the tour operator that Pilar had recommended saying she trusted this guy. As I am on my way there a woman brought me into a tour operator place where another woman spoke english and gave me some good prices which were far cheaper than Cesars for the exact same tours. And after that I went to "Havitush tours" which Pilar recommended and they were rock bottom prices for the exact same tours. They are located at Procuradores 350 (Cuzco) just off the main plaza (Plaza de Armas) in a little alley nicknamed "Gringo alley".
So for tomorrow I booked a 4 hour city tour ($5US with english guide) which will take me out to 4-5 main Incan sites around Cuzco (Saqsaywaman, Q'engo, Tambomachay, Pukapukara and some other place). You have to buy a ticket for 130 soles which allows you to visit most of the sites in Cuzco for free up to 10 days before it expires. The Inca trail gets booked up months in advance and is expensive so to do Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu I have decide to do a 5 day hike which is $180US plus the rental of a sleeping bag for $8US but that will be at the end of my Cuzco visit. I will also be going to the "Sacred valley" that has many important Inca sites. I will be booking all these through Havitush Tours.
After that I just walked around Cuzco a little. I am sure Cuzco must have been a remarkable city before the Conquistadores showed up since after the Conquistadores took over they used the Inca's finely cut square stones for their own houses and churches and the whole city has about 5 feet of Incan stone rising from the streets. Cuzco is surrounded by mountains very similar to Vilcabamba in Ecuador and in the mountain top is carved "VIVA EL PERU".
Tonight I am going to read up on my guidebook and make all my tour plans within the next few days so I will spend around 10 days here (including the trek to Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu) before heading to Lake Titicaca.
Before I left Lima, Pilar who owns the place I was staying at gave me lots of good information and good contacts for Cuzco, Puno (Lake Titicaca) and Arequipa and also allowed me to leave a suitcase case with her which I will pick up just before I leave on my flight back to Canada on November 23rd. There was a South Africa guy at her place that is staying in Lima until December so I lent him my "Last days of the Incas" book and he lent me his Hiram Bingham book "The lost city of the Incas".
My flight from Lima to Cuzco was at 9:30am and it only took 1 hour. Realizing ahead of time that there would be unscrupulous taxi drivers waiting for me outside ready to make me pay 3 times the going fare I decided to ask a tour operator that was located in the airport in Cuzco and he said 10 soles ($3.33US) to get into Cuzco and then I went outside and 2 of them quoted me 25 soles and I laughed and then the one says "OK how much you pay me?" (Obviously he was just measuring my level of ignorance for Cuzco prices) and I said "10 soles" and he asked who was going to give me a ride for 10 soles so I went back in and retrieved my luggage from the luggage carousel and the tour operator brought me out to meet his friend "Cesar" who arranges Tours so he took me to my place (that Pilar had recommended) for 10 soles and after I checked the room and checked-in I sat down with Cesar to see his tour prices he offered.
I originally told him I would be getting a second price so he better be giving me some competitive prices. To go out to Vilcabamba or Vitcos (which were the last 2 capitals of the Incas after the Conquistadores took over their old capital Cuzco) are not popular group tours so would be really expensive for one person and I am sure they are just more ruins that only an archaeologist could appreciate anyhow. After meeting with Cesar I had some coco tea which is made from coco leaves which helps with altitude sickness since Cuzco is 10,000 feet above sea level. I took a short nap for an hour and then headed out to check the tour operator that Pilar had recommended saying she trusted this guy. As I am on my way there a woman brought me into a tour operator place where another woman spoke english and gave me some good prices which were far cheaper than Cesars for the exact same tours. And after that I went to "Havitush tours" which Pilar recommended and they were rock bottom prices for the exact same tours. They are located at Procuradores 350 (Cuzco) just off the main plaza (Plaza de Armas) in a little alley nicknamed "Gringo alley".
So for tomorrow I booked a 4 hour city tour ($5US with english guide) which will take me out to 4-5 main Incan sites around Cuzco (Saqsaywaman, Q'engo, Tambomachay, Pukapukara and some other place). You have to buy a ticket for 130 soles which allows you to visit most of the sites in Cuzco for free up to 10 days before it expires. The Inca trail gets booked up months in advance and is expensive so to do Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu I have decide to do a 5 day hike which is $180US plus the rental of a sleeping bag for $8US but that will be at the end of my Cuzco visit. I will also be going to the "Sacred valley" that has many important Inca sites. I will be booking all these through Havitush Tours.
After that I just walked around Cuzco a little. I am sure Cuzco must have been a remarkable city before the Conquistadores showed up since after the Conquistadores took over they used the Inca's finely cut square stones for their own houses and churches and the whole city has about 5 feet of Incan stone rising from the streets. Cuzco is surrounded by mountains very similar to Vilcabamba in Ecuador and in the mountain top is carved "VIVA EL PERU".
Tonight I am going to read up on my guidebook and make all my tour plans within the next few days so I will spend around 10 days here (including the trek to Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu) before heading to Lake Titicaca.
