DAY #4 - Flight to Cusco!

Well, I have enountered my first problem of the trip. I woke up this morning, planning to arrive at the aiport around 10:30 for my 12:10 flight to Cusco. Travel to the airport was smooth and timely, and let me tell you, if I ever hear that a Peruvian taxi driver is entering NASCAR, I'm selling my house and putting all my money into him. I'm still a bit jittery from the ride.

Upon entering the airport, I walked up to the TACA Airlines desk (after momentarily scrambling to find my passport). For some reason, there were taking down all the robes and stuff. I asked the attendant about my flight to Cusco, and he said there were no more, the last one had left at 10:10 and the next one was 5:45 tomorrow morning. Ah, 10:10 am. Maybe I should have looked at my resveration instead of depending on my blog. Crud.

He booked me on the 5:45 am flight for tomorrow, and I hurried (ala Amazing Race) to the TAN ticket counter to see if they had any more flights. $176.00 American dollars later, I had ticket in hand and the lesson was learned. I have to call TACA today somehow and tell them not to cancel my return trip since I won't be on the one tomorrow morning.

The first 50 minutes of my flight were eventless and I finished a very good book. The last 15 minutes, however, were somewhere between scary and change my pants when I get off the flight. Holy cow. Between the updrafts of the 15,000 foot mountains around Cusco, and our desperate need to desend, the ride down was ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Cusco sits in a very deep valley with mountains all around it. We circled around the end of the city and made a steep decent into the airport. When we landed, all the passengers clapped, and I have no doubt they do this every time.

I left the airport via taxi, and arrived at my hotel around 15 minutes later (and 15 minutes ago). The hotel is interesting, it was a montasori built in the late 17th century to house nuns. My room is small (no, I mean SMALL) and I don't have any windows. I'm sitting now on the patio outside my room looking over the lobby/courtyard at the small cafe they have here. I love the hotel and will manage in my room!

The city of Cusco is my city. I love it. The mountains are beautiful, the buildings are old, and the streets are quieter (still very busy, though). As I came through town, all of the schools were letting out and the kids were bouncing home in their uniforms (every single one of them). I'm excited to go explore, now, this city started sometime in the 1600's and built in the shape of a puma. I have no doubt my camera will be filled with pictures!