The Winds of Change

So later on that night of 11/30/08, it was our last night in Puno so we had to see the city. There was a small touristy street that had small eateries and souvonears. I bought myself a wool hat with ear flaps, very comfy. We also had dinner at one of the restaurants there. We wanted to try something different so I ordered sauteed alpaca, Shiz wanted to try guinea pig but they were out so she had trout. The food was good, but it took forever and we didn't even get bread, whereas others around us did. We didn't know if we needed to order it or what. All in all it was a good day and we had to leave tomorrow morning at 5:50am to catch our plane at 8am with an hour taxi ride.

As I left off on the previous post Shiz and I have made changes to our itenerary so it will be as follows now:

12/01/08 - We flew from Juliaca (Puno) to Cusco, we also bought train tickets, bus tickets and entrance tickets to Machu Pichu (total ~$180 per person). As you can probably tell we aren't doing the 4 day hike anymore. It is mainly due to the fact that we can't even walk without suffocating, but we still wanted to make sure we saw Machu Pichu.
12/02/08 - We are planning this day to take in the city of Cusco.
12/03/08 - The entire day will be in Machu Pichu, 3 hour train ride each way...eek
12/04/08 - We moved our flight into Santiago, Chile to this day. Arrive into Santiago
12/05/08 - Santiago
12/06/08 - Valparaiso
12/07/08 - Santiago, leave for Buenos Aires, and back on track with our itenerary

So today 12/01/08 we arrive in Cusco, it was a short 40 min flight from Juliaca. We got to our hotel at 9am. The hotel is so nice, you can see from the pictures, but the story behind it is even better. It was started by Jolanda can den Berg in July 1996 when she came to Cusco, Peru on her own on a one-way ticket. She wanted to do something for all the children she saw on the streets, so she adopted 2 of the children and rented a small apartment. Before long she had 12 boys that she had adopted and needed a more consistent revenue stream, so she opened the first Ninos hotel in July 1998. It became a huge success so that now she has another Ninos Hotel open (the one we are staying at). Now total she has adopted over 30 children and all the revenue that is earned from the hotels are put directly to feeding, clothing, and educating the children. That is why we are staying here, besides it is an awesome room.

Then Shiz and I went walking around the city to get all our tickets in line. The city of Cusco is very small, so we were very productive and got everything done within 3 hours. We also took a tour of the local cathedrial, unfortunately no pictures were allowed. Finally we stopped for lunch at a small hole in the wall, but we knew it was going to be good because it was packed and we had to share a table with 2 other people for a while. The best part was we got a big bowl of soup (our choice), main course (I got chicken with rice and potatoes, Shiz got beef with rice and potatoes) and a drink (I got lemonade, Shiz got tea) and it was all for 10 soles per person (~$3.50 per person). ahhhh so cheap and it was good. Btw the lemonade totally tastes like kalamansi juice. After our lunch we were tired, the food coma was setting in, but on the way back to the hotel, there was a local market. It totally reminds me of markets back in China, merchants would rent out a space and sell fresh fruits, veggies, meats, supplies, etc. We walked around for a bit and bought some mandarins and super small strawberries. Now back to the hotel for a siesta. Adios