Hey babes! How’s it going? I’m literally so excited to write this post for you. I just recently came back from a 5 day trip to the beautiful and stunning city of Cusco.
In all honesty this trip was initially a way for me to not lost flying miles that were going to expire last year. And also my initial idea of this trip was a kind of friends/party one. Well… with no friends and no parties and a sister this trip ended up being awesome.
My sister ended up being my travel buddy. I initially invited her last year but she said she wasn’t interested, and when any of my friends couldn’t make it and I was mentally prepared for the solo trip, she decided to join a month away from it.
It’s safe to say that with planning a part of it, came with a lot fights… none of us had much time, and we lost some awesome train offers, just because of that and “waiting”, but we ended up finding a little bit less cheaper option but very good as well in the end.
Where did we stay?
My trip was always very on a budget, so I dedicated myself to find a nice hostel that was cheap and where I wouldn’t feel annoyed at sharing my space. Honestly I am the kind of person who really enjoys their privacy a lot, so deciding for a hostel was huge for me.
So, after looking around a bit around booking I found Blacky Hostel. They offered you a bunk bed for really cheap price. I don’t remember how much it really was per night in dollars, but it was around probably $30 for the 5 days I stayed and my price included breakfast. I had to pay an extra of taxes because I am peruvian, but the price was still very cheap.
No breakfast rate is $5.60 and with breakfast is $7.50. Prices might change with time tho. There’s a few other room options that you can check at Booking.
They have a comfy zone for everyone to sit down and talk while drinking some of the free tea they offer you.
Book your stay with here with Booking and you’ll get $15. Honestly all my latest hotel bookings have been with them and I’m really happy, so totally recommend them.
The funny story
So, we had nothing planned for the Friday we arrived. My sister wanted to, but I said.. no, we never know if the flights will be delayed or whatever so we’ll end up missing the tour and losing our money. If something we can just walk around the city.
Well… guys, with age comes wisdom and I was right. We both had super early flights separated by simply 10 minutes. Departures were at 04:45 am and 04:55 am. Well, like I said wisdom and my witchy powers did it great, because, my flight was supposed to be able to land early, but we coudln’t land. Apparently there was some kind of huge big cloud not letting us land.
So they attempted to land one time, and then had my flight flying around above Cusco for an hour, a literal hour. Saw the same snowy peak at least 10 times I think, so they attempted another landing… that was a fail, but instead of keep trying, they decided to “cancel” my flight in the air and send us back to Lima. My sister landed safely but I was sent back to Lima.
They separeted all the passengers in the following flights. I was hoping to get back to Cusco on the first one, but I couldn’t. Why? Because I paid for my ticket with my flying miles, so everyone that did that was pushed to let’s said it somehow… “to the back of the line”.
But anyways… 6 hours later than planned, basically I arrived at Cusco. My sister has visited the San Pedro market, walked around and even fell asleep at the couch at the hostel waiting for me.
Were to eat?
While waiting at the main square for my sister’s friend, we got a recommendation… and then went to San Blas neighborhood to have dinner at Siete y Siete. Totally recommended place, delicious food and very cheap. The 3 of us ate and had dessert for S/.65 which is basically what ONE person pays if they go out for dinner/lunch in Lima. I visited that place a few times for brunch, lunch and dinner too.
I hate to admit this but besides where we were taken on our tours to eat, besides Siete y Siete and Papachos, where I had a date and you can actually find here in Lima, my main place to eat was Mc Donalds, simply because I was either on a rush or because it was the fastest and easiest way and place to eat. Not proud of myself.
Machu Picchu
Our plan for Saturday was Machu Picchu, and we were lucky to get some of the offers the train companies were offering. We initially were going to use Peru Rail, but the awesome offer we initially eyed was gone for the dates we had planned when we stupidly decided to buy them… I’m not sure why we waited so much.
So we looked at Inca Rail offers and for less than more $10, we got to get lunch… but choose the latest train back to Cusco so it was going to be cheap. So our round trip with food included was around $82. Which is still super cheap for what a round trip usually costs. The best thing, we didn’t had to wake up at 3 am to get on the bus. We found one of their “offices” at the main square and checked in and the next day we just simply had to be at another of their offices, were the buses will take us to Ollantaytambo.
We were greeted with delicious breakfast (muffins, cookies, coffee, water, etc) while we waited. At that time of the year their offer a Bi-Modal service. You are taken to Ollantaytambo with the bus and then you take the train to Machu Picchu.
As soon as we arrived at Aguas Calientes, we got our bus tickets to get up to the mountains (if you want you can hike it up) and finally enter the ruins. It was $15 for a round trip. There’s different prices for everyone, and also depending on what you want to do. You can get your Machu Picchu tickets here, check the availability tho.
We hiked all what he could and our tickets allowed us. Went to the old inca bridge, which is a narrow 20 min trek and wanted to do the sun gate but then realized it was 2 hours to go and to 2 hours to get back, and we didn’t had that much time, cuz we got in in the last turn.
We ended up getting out of Machu Picchu on time, got our bus back down and then walked around, had lunch, some beers and I don’t think we did had dinner tho. All that while we waited for 9 pm for the train back.
Rainbow Mountain
Our plan for Sunday was Rainbow Mountain and the tour offered by the hostel felt good an cheap so we took it. Safe to say, we did arrive at Cusco back from Machu Picchu at 1:30 am and got to wake up at 4, because they were picking us up 4:30.
After breakfast at a family house, we were take to where the hike to Rainbow Mountain starts. Then you have a 4 km hike to the top where you’ll be at 5 000 m above sea level, so the hike will be hard guys, believe me. Not sure how much time it took us to get there, because everyone goes on their own phase and what their bodies allows them to. But if you’re sure you can’t do it by yourself you can rent a horse, I think its around S/. 80 if you get it at the start, and it will get progressively cheaper once you are near the top.
The mountain top where you take the great pics had snow so I was happy to see it. And I think I did climb an 70-80% of it. I suffer from vertigo and a weird fear of heights so, when I felt that, that was it for me, I went back down. The hike down and back to your bus/car is super easy but still tiring since its a long walk.
After the hike, we went back to the place were we had breakfast, so we could have lunch buffet. I swear it was the first time I was happy to have soup and a 4 cups of coca leaves tea. I’m not sure if I felt sick because I was on two hours of sleep and super tired and affected by altitude or just altitude sickness, but I felt terrible… couldn’t close my eyes without feeling dizzy, so lunch totally recovered me and it was good.
A day of resting + city tour and more ruins
After so little sleep the days before, I used monda to recharge my energy. Went to Siete y Siete to have lunch under a hideous rain that got me, my clothes, my sister and my shoes all wet and for dinner, well we had… Mac Donalds! My sister did made a quad tour to Maras while I recharged my energy tho.
She was leaving early the next day and I was being left “alone”, so to not bore me much, I ended up taking a city tour + ruins that day. Went to the Qoricancha, and then visited Tambomachay, Qenqo, Pura Pucara and Sacsayhuaman. All of these during a non stop rain that got worst when we got back to the city. So I had to get to my date, under rivers of water and wet shoes.
The next day, went back on a little hike to Siete and Siete to get a cheese that my dad wanted. Got back to the hostel, got my stuff ready, had lunch, again at my “favorite” restaurant in Cusco (MD) and was picked up for the airport.
By the way, all the tours, except Machu Picchu we booked them at the hostel, make sure you contact them for rates, they will be happy to help you.
And also if you’re looking for the best water bottles that will keep your liquids warm and specially cold for up to 36+ hours, click here and get them. Use code lou for free shipping in the USA. Perfect for trekks.
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