Following our visit to Machu Picchu, we almost felt like we were done with this trip. We’ve been on the move for just under seven months now and the idea of home comforts and not moving location every few days sounds amazing. Of course we know there’s plenty more to see, but after seeing so much we need to go back to the mediocre until we’re desperate for the new things again.
When we returned from Aguas Calientes we booked two nights in Cusco, hoping for a quiet and comfortable break to absorb the past few days. Unfortunately the hostel we booked wasn’t very comfortable and almost everything in the room creaked with the smallest movement. Not exactly the resting spot we were hoping for.
It was a struggle for me to feel enthusiastic about being in Cusco, mostly because I was struggling to breathe properly thanks to the altitude. Just walking up a slight incline made me lose my breath and Cusco is full of hills. Despite this, I tried hard to change my perspective and be happy about where I was and that I’m able to experience all of this at all. Instead of moping around in our creaky room, I decided to join Mark for a walk around Cusco.
We went to the market, which was awkward to get around as the floor seemed to be made up of large broken slabs of concrete as they were redoing it. We must have chosen an off day too because half the stalls weren’t occupied either.
After our second night in the room of a thousand creaks, we had to pack our bags and store them for the day as we waited for our night bus to take us on to Puno. We had some flimsy burritos in a little Mexican place for lunch, which fell apart whenever you lifted them off the plate.
One of the things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time—any time in the past six months—is get my hair cut. I decided that Peru was probably going to be the cheapest place before I return home and have to pay upwards of £40 for something I like. The risk with cheap haircuts though, especially when neither of you speak the same language, is that things aren’t likely to go how you intended. While I was happy to lose the split ends which were making my hair look like a tumbleweed, I wasn’t prepared to lose 5 inches off the length. The cut only cost me 10 Peruvian sol (£2.25) so at least it wasn’t all bad.
There were probably more exciting things we could have done in Cusco, but we didn’t have the energy or enthusiasm for them. Maybe that was a shame but when you move so much in a short space of time, sometimes all you want to do is nothing.