Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
I had misgivings about this trip. The more I travel the less I like places that are full of tourists and Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, certainly falls into that category.
Peru & Ecuador 2002 - Part One: Cuzco, Machu Picchu
Dougburnett2003-11-24 13:02:39
Displayed times (last time: )
Cuzco, Peru
Saturday, August 31, 2002
I had misgivings about this trip. The more I travel the less I like places that are full of tourists and Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, certainly falls into that category. I prefer instead destinations where other travelers are so rare that I look forward to seeing them.
As it would be pretty hard to get to get to Machu Picchu without passing through Cuzco, I decided to just grin and bear it. In addition, the other places I planned to visit weren't exactly unknown to my fellow travelers - the jungle town Puerto Maldonado, Nazca in the south of Peru and Quito and Otavalo in Ecuador. So, without really thinking it out I just decided to keep my stay at each place to the minimum, that way if I didn’t like the crowds in one spot, it wouldn’t be long before I would move along.
I arrived in Cuzco around 10:00 in the morning. I had spent the previous night in cool, damp Lima after my daylong flight from Detroit. As I stepped out of the airport into the noticeably thin air - Cuzco is over 2 miles high - I was approached by a taxi driver, an "official" taxi driver.
He made this perfectly clear by holding up the ID badge that was hanging around his neck. I had already inquired in the airport and knew this "official" status would mean two things: first, he would be more expensive than the "unofficial" taxis that hang around just outside the airport (he wanted 10 sol - $2.75) and, second, there was a better chance he wouldn't try any tricks. Arriving in a new town I always prefer to use the official taxis until I get a sense of how much trouble the other, cheaper ones will be.
It was only a ten-minute ride from the airport to my hotel, the Cristina. This was enough time for the driver to probe me about my plans and to gently pitch me on various tours and trips. I declined all preferring
...
See photographs from:
Peru Gallery
,
Ecuador Gallery
