Cusco, You're a Great City, But You Didn't Have a Chance.

Author:  Jody

So, we had just come off of an incredible week and a half of visiting the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu, both of which constitute once in a lifetime experiences (although secretly we hope more than once :) ).  Then we arrived back in Cusco.  

We hadn't spent a lot of time here before heading to Machu Picchu.  During our one day there, Avery wasn't feeling well and although none of us were suffering from altitude sickness (thank goodness), we were suffering from jet lag.  We had been bumped from our original flight to Cusco and rerouted to Bogota, Columbia.  Not only did we arrive there quite late at night, but we also had to get up very early to catch our flight to Cusco.  So really on that first day in Cusco, we caught up on the blog and ensured we had our train tickets for our journey to Machu Picchu the next day.  

Our first impressions of the city were great though.  It is quite  impressive to fly into with houses separated from the runway by only a cement wall.  It's streets and buildings creep up the sides of the Andes and looks even more beautiful at night when the twinkling lights cover the city.  I really enjoyed the many pieces of public art that lined the main streets and squares.  They reflected the pride and prevalence of Incan culture which is alive and well in this former Incan capital.  

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So, with Avery feeling better and our incredible trip through the Sacred Valley, in Agua Calentes and Machu Picchu done, we returned to Cusco. We headed off to explore this great city built literally upon Incan culture and history.  Churches were constructed upon Incan walls and sacred sites, former goat and cart paths were decorated with Incan designs and monuments were found around every corner.  It was fantastic!  

However, with a constant drizzle which sometimes became rain, stray dogs eating out of garbage (which is a normal thing to see in South America), eating the same restaurant food which was never quite what you expected when you ordered it (this was more a problem for the kids) and people constantly asking you if you wanted to buy a sight seeing tour, massage or trinket, we all admitted over dinner one night that we weren't really keen to do all that much more exploring of the city.  

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Through our discussions though we realized that it really wasn't Cusco we were tired of.  It was that we had just come off of 2 really incredible weeks with new and exciting experiences.  As well, we were at the 6 week mark of our travels.  We were getting tired of being on the go - or maybe the pressure of having to be on the go, as if we were afraid of missing out on something.  We were tired.  

We talked about how if we were at home in Calgary, we would take a few days to just chill, get caught up on things and not worry about it, so why wouldn't we do this on our trip?  Although we have planned for these 'chill' weeks (like in Costa Rica), perhaps we needed one now?  After all, this journey isn't a vacation but our new life for the next few months.  

Or, maybe we were just ready for a new path?  Maybe we needed something completely different to excite our senses and offer us something completely different?  We were all hopeful that Rio would be the answer (get ready for that post soon).

​So maybe this post is a bit of an apology.  

Sorry Cusco. It's not you, it's us.  You are a fantastic city and we had a good time while we were there.  It's just that we were there at the wrong point within our trip.  Although you tried, you just didn't have a chance.  

Maybe next time....

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