Peru (7): CUSCO & SKYLODGE

17.01.

14th day

After 7 hours and some rainfalls, we finally reach Cusco.

The city center looks very cute, I am excited to explore it tomorrow.

But first, I check in and enjoy a hot shower. Wonderful!

Then I practice some ukulele. Max, whom I met in Paracas, has also arrived in Cusco on his bike today, so we are going to have dinner together. We have alpaca steak. Delicious, but not as good as in Chile back then. Then I am tired and go to bed.

18.01.

15th day

Wake up, breakfast, hang out. The breakfast is better than usual, they not only have strawberry jam but also peach jam. Today I still have to do some shopping before the next trips. I need a water bottle, which I realize too late actually works like a straw and I cough when I lift it to inhale air...

Coca candies, poncho, great. I go back to the hostel for a while and then there is not much else going on.

19.01.

16th day

Today is the day. I have planned a real highlight today. But before we go to the Skylodge Adventure Suites, I still have to buy gloves because there were none yesterday that blew me away. There is a store around the corner and I just buy the first ones I see because I don't feel like searching anymore. I have a coffee at the main square and then I go back to pack my stuff. I will be picked up at 2 pm by the van. And guess what? I forgot the gloves. Great Moira. Typical. As always.
On the way, we pick up a Swedish girl and a Czech couple, all super nice, and drive 1.5 hours to Ollantaytambo.

From below, you can already see what awaits us. A few glass pods hang on a steep wall at a height of 400m. That's where we want to go.

We get our safety harnesses, helmets, and a short briefing. And then we start. We climb up the Via Ferrata for almost 2 hours.

It's like climbing a ladder vertically. It takes some strength in the legs and arms. But we are quite fast.

Efren and Jacky, the two guides, climb ahead and behind us. Eventually, we reach the top. Luckily, it has stayed dry, which is unusual here. There are three glass "pods" where we sleep and another round one where we now have dinner.

First of all, we each get half a liter of red wine. Outside it gets dark and somehow we have to get into our overnight pods, which means another 5-10 minutes of climbing only with a headlamp. Yeah.

Our astronaut food is much better than expected. We have soup, salad, quinoa with chicken, and a brownie. Full. Boom.

After chatting with the Swedish girl Sophie for a while, we also start our way. I have the glass bubble that is furthest away and have to use a lot of strength to climb there. Without a guide. "Go ahead" they say. It's only 400m above the abyss. In the dark. On a steep wall. With only a headlamp.

I don't know the way. But somehow it works and I'm standing on the platform above my bubble. The toilet system is a bit different. It is divided into number 1 and number 2. Number 1 is for peeing, and for number 2, there is a bag like for dogs. Jacky explains to me vividly how to tie up the bag after use with as little air as possible... exciting...

Hot water and tea are also available.

20.01.

17th day

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep as well under the open sky as I thought. But it wasn't because of the glass bubble. I just couldn't sleep.

I managed to sleep for the last 2 hours. The morning view was beautiful, even though it was cloudy. Whatever.

We are supposed to meet in the main bubble at 7 am for breakfast. So I put on my safety harness... something like this... it should fit... helmet on, and let's go. 10 minutes in the fresh, slightly rainy morning air, hanging on slippery rocks until I reach the long-awaited coffee.

The breakfast is the best I have had in Peru so far, although nothing extraordinary. But everything from scrambled eggs to fruits, muesli, toast, jam, cheese, and sausage is there. And it tastes three times as good up here.

Now we have an hour for ourselves. I sit on top of my bubble and enjoy the view before I take my things and meet at the couple's bubble to start the zip-lining descent.

José, a new guide, is joining us as Efren descends a different way with Sophie. We hang on the cliff for a bit until we reach the first zipline. Here we practice braking once. We hang in our safety harnesses and zip down the six sections for 1.5 hours, one after the other.

The longest one is 700m long high above the abyss and you are only hanging by one rope... No safety rope or anything... Yeah. It's definitely thrilling.

Once we reach the bottom, we head back to Cusco directly. I try to catch up on some sleep, but the bumpy roads prevent that.

At Kokopelli, I get kicked out, but now there is no question of sleeping either because I meet up with Max to have a meal at a vegan restaurant recommended to him. We order a vegan platter for two and... man... what they serve there is amazing for €12 per person. We are almost bursting, and everything is just super tasty.

We want to go back to the main square and walk in the completely wrong direction for about 15 minutes, which I am reminded of for even longer. I believe it wasn't my fault :).

We hang out again at a coffee shop at Plaza de Armas before returning to the hostel.

I plan my route after the Inca Trail and look for flights.
In the evening, Max wants to meet up with a friend and asks if I want to come along. We decide to go to Loki, a kind of party hostel. We grab some beers and sit on the street in front of Loki, letting ourselves be sniffed by the many stray dogs. We wonder why we can't hear any music from Loki, but the actual location is quite far back on the property. After playing giant Jenga, I let myself be tempted to play Beer Pong for the first time. 9 cups of beer on each side of a table, and each one of us tries to hit the other's cups with a ping pong ball. If it goes in, you have to drink. And there are some other rules. Carla, Max's friend from Honduras, joins us, and she is clearly more skilled in the game than I am. It's a cat party... which means that everyone gets a few strokes on their face.

Inside, we continue with a game of musical chairs... long time no see... but I quickly leave again. Fine by me, because the two winners have to dance on the counter. I dance downstairs with Carla and Max, then they go outside to chat and smoke, and I continue dancing and chatting inside for a while until I get tired.

Then I grab a taxi, proudly negotiate the fare down from 7 to 6 soles (€1.60), and go to bed.

21.01.

18th day

Today, not much is getting done. Mainly, I Skype with various people back home in Germany. When I go out to get a coffee, it starts pouring rain. Suddenly. I have no way to cross the river, so I go into the restaurant behind me and order alpaca steak. This time it's really good. I am the only guest and treated like a princess. Me gusta. It doesn't stop raining.

A woman stands at the corner selling umbrellas for a small amount. I buy one from her and walk home. Everything is wet. Great, it's not like I need these things tomorrow for the Inca Trail.

... continue reading on Peru (8): INKA TRAIL & MACHU PICCHU