El Ultimo Dia (The Last Day)

12/01/08 - After the nap that we took, we recouped some energy to hit the city again. We just wanted to see what the nightlife was like in Cusco, so we walked around the city center, Plaza de Armas. We also tried to find some where to have dinner, as it was around 8pm, but both Shiz and I hate the restaurants that push you to eat there. 90% of the restaurants have waiters standing outside with a menu and if they see foreigners walking by they will ask, "want to eat typical food?" (imagine with a Hispanic accent) So finally not left with a lot of choices, we just so happened to run across a McDonald's. It was the most inconspicuous McD's ever. Most McD's are red and yellow and can be seen from afar, but this one was blended in with the rest of the buildings. All in all we wanted to see what was different from Peruvian McD's than that from the states. I ordered a "McNirific" combo (McTasty in the states), and Shiz had a "McPollo" combo (McChicken in the states). The first thing that is different when you get the food is the presentation. The food actually looks like the commercials. The buns are not crushed, the lettuce and tomatoes are nicely placed, and the fries are crispy, not soggy. As for the taste, it tastes just like the ones in the US, but the meat has some extra flavor on it. I took a look and saw that they put salt and pepper on the beef before they grill it. Wonderful, overall the McD's was pretty good out here, also nothing strange on the menu like chicken feet or pig tail.

12/02/08 - Since Shiz and I changed our flight plans we wanted to use this day to see the sights around Cusco so we don't miss out on anything. Then Shiz got a call from LAN airlines saying her flight changes didn't go through for some reason and she had to call back in, well calling with a cellphone was out of the question, and calling in general was bad because it was hard to communicate with the reps because their english was limited, so Shiz found out where LAN had their local office and we figured we would go there first thing in the morning to clear it up. Unfortunately we only knew that the office was on Avenue del Sol somewhere, not sure the office number, but we figured we'll run into it if we keep walking. It was nice because we got to see a lot of the city and the people on a regular Tuesday morning. One thing I noticed were the people holding lime green string/ribbon. At first we thought they were selling string...kind of a weird business, but hey, who are we to judge. Later on I figured out that they were mobile pay phones. They would hold 2-3 cellphones and if you needed to make a call, then you would pay then a flat rate (1 sole) for a call, the green string was just an indicator. I thought that was pretty ingenious. The next thing we noticed, and this was something on going was the high amount of police officers on the streets. Unlike in the US, police are visible usually by car or motorcycle, but here they are walking on the streets, in the plazas, and the parks. There are tons of cops early in the morning, and late at night. Sometimes Shiz and I walk back from dinner at 9pm and there are still a lot of cops roaming the streets. Besides the fact that they are there to protect, they are mostly very good at english and can communicate with me. One example is from a picture I posted, there were tons of people in a line for a place called "RENIEC". At first we thought it was a bank, and people really needed money, but it was 9am on a tuesday. Finally I asked an officer and he said that it was an official government office for documentation, like passports, official IDs, etc. They only let a few people in at once so that's why there was a long line. So I found out all this information while walking back and forth with Shiz trying to find the LAN office. Finally we just went into an internet bar and paid 1 sole for 30 min to look up the exact address, we later found out that we were about 100 feet short of the LAN office, haha. That was pretty funny, so we got all our flights straightened up and it was about 11am.

12/02/08 - After our LAN adventure we wanted to climb the local ruins "Saqsaywaman" ruins. It was about a 30 min hike to it from our hotel and it was one of the top touristy spots to hit up. We finally make it all the way up there, we could have taken a taxi or bus, but we were feeling much better and wanted to climb to see the local culture. As you can see from the pictures there were llamas just hanging around eating as we passed by. Once we got our entrance tickets we took a break and ate some mandarins on some old inka rocks, that's when a group of cusco students were whispering and giggling saying "chino." Finally one of them approached us and wanted to take a picture with Shiz and I. I'm not sure if its because they have never seen asian people or what, but Shiz has a picture on her camera of our fan group. Anyways, that's when Michel came into our lives. It was written that there are many students who are aspiring to be tour guides at touristy areas like this and they must complete 580 hours of practice of giving tours. These tours are free but they do accept tips, it is mainly to help them with their english and tour giving abilities. Michel was one of the nicer/more believable ones, there were some that offered the same service but were hecka old. Michel showed us around and explained to us the significance of these ruins. It was much more interesting with Michel's explanations than if we just walked it ourselves. One thing I did notice, is that in Peru the "national parks" allow you to eat in them and climb on the rocks, etc. Never would that happen in the states. So after our grand tour of the ruins, we asked Michel for a place to eat that he would recommend, somewhere locals go, not touristy. Michel told us of "La Chomba".

12/02/08 - La Chomba = the best authentic food ever. So we find out where this place is and we start heading out there. The thing was as we kept walking it became less and less for foreigners. We finally find the place and the entrance looks like someones front yard, and off to the left is the restaurant. The moment we step into it we draw all the attention. It was one of those places where they are surprised to see foreigners. We grabbed a table and they proceeded to give us a small slip of paper. We were supposed to write down what we wanted down on the paper from a fixed menu in chalk hanging on the wall. We knew we wanted to try guinea pig for sure before we left, but I didn't know what guinea pig was called so it was a blast talking with the owner, trying to figure it out. I asked the owner if they had a meat, that was like a rat, but not and like a pig. Haha, I think I got the point across and he pointed to 1/2 a Cuy. So we ordered that and then I asked the waiter for a recommendation, I just kept agreeing with him, hoping what ever he ordered us was good. The food finally came and the half cuy was chewy and gamey. And the other dish that was recommended, but we didn't know what it was, even after eating it. It tasted like pork, and it looked like ribs. We couldn't put our finger on it but we still enjoyed all the food. when we finally returned to our room, we looked up what it was, from the receipt and it was...drum roll...goat spine!!! Haha, but it was still good. We then took and siesta and prepared for the Inka Grill.

12/02/08 - Inka Grill - this was one of the places that was highly recommended by one of Shiz's travel books. The Inka Grill is a very fancy and elegant place. We ordered a sampler appetiser and I had chicken tenderloin with Quinea Rissoto and Shiz had Peruvian Raviolis. Everything was so good, it was beyond good, it was great. The food and flavors was wonderful. The chicken was so tender, I don't think I've ever had chicken breast this tender before, and the rice with Quinea was so creamy and flavorful, so good. Shiz's raviolis were stuffed with a mix of veggies and a sweet squash, and it was topped with Parmesan cheese. I think we were completely satisfied with the meal, and the Inka Grill did live up to its reviews. Muy Bueno!

12/03/08 - Machu Picchu Day!!! so today is our Machu Picchu day. We had to get up at 5am to catch our Vistadome train to Aguas Caliente. The Vistadome train is very cool, they serve you breakfast, bread, cheese juice, muffins and meats. Also the top of the train was glass so when we drove through the valleys we could see the environment. Too bad I fell asleep, too early in the morning. More to follow, about to get on plane. :D