Final Day In Cuzco

Tuesday

Our stay at the Hotel Monesterio was fantastic! So this is the way rich people live ... with nothing less than first-class service and lavish comfort. I know I'm jumping ahead now, but we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia today and the Hotel Presidente and are now back to earth and beyond. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I'm in a third-world country. More on that later.

So yesterday we took a fairly lame "city tour" of Cuzco. Our tour guide was nice enough, but not very educated on the sites and he tried to make jokes throughout the six hour excursion. Key words, tried to make jokes. We did see a 15th century cathedral, some ruins as well as a few Inca ritual spots. We were with 16 others including June from New York. She looked like Barbra Streisand and had altitude sickness. It was her first day in Peru and that can totally happen. Stacy and I were fortunate on that matter until today. I've had a headache all day and am now slightly dizzy since arriving to La Paz which sits at 12,500 feet. More coca tea. Yeah. We've been drinking it every day as well as chewing the leaves. It's very medicinal :)

Today, Wednesday, was a travel day to get to Bolivia. We came prepared with all the published visa requirements in order to enter the country, but when all was said and done, it was a matter of filling out a simple form and paying $135 US per person. Go figure!

We decided we aren't leaving our hotel unless it's with our private guide from the travel company. Yes, it's that scary. We leave here Friday night and it won't be soon enough. The hotel is straight out of the late 60's. Our bathroom fixtures are Harvest Gold and I'm sure the curtains, also gold, have never been updated either. It's rated #14 out of 62 of all hotels in La Paz so I'd hate to see numbers 15 through 62.

Time for bed (that looks clean enough) as we have a 5 am wake up call.