A Steep Price For An Even Steeper Climb

Another day, another country. This post is coming at ya from the beautiful city of Cusco, located in Southern Peru. In addition to being a delightful city in its own right, Cusco also happens to be the kickoff point for my final big adventure this summer -- my five day trek to Macchu Pichu. I arrived here yesterday afternoon after a long day of traveling: I left the Galapagos on the 1st and landed in Quito in the afternoon; next I flew from Quito to Guayaquil, Ecuador, arriving at 11pm; I had a 10 hour layover in Guayaquil, so I ended up sleeping on a couch in the airport (quite a bit more successfully than you might have imagined); finally, I woke up early on the morning of the 2nd and flew to Cusco, with a plane transfer in Lima, Peru. After arriving at the Cusco airport, I took a bus to the city center. There were taxi drivers assaulting me from all directions at the airport, insisting that it was impossible to get a bus to the city center. There prices ranged from 10-15 dollars. Little to my surprise, I was able to walk 15 feet away from the terminal and hop on a bus, which cost me a whopping 30 cents.

My fist task upon arrival was to final a hotel or hostel, preferrably a reasonably price one, so I could set down my heavy luggage. This was no easy task, as Cusco is packed full of places for tourists to stay, ranging from the luxurious to the barely livable. Fortunately I met a local who was nice enough to show me around -- for several hours -- and help me find a place. He was really great. I ran into him initially as he tried to sell me some of his artwork, which was probably his main motivation for showing me around. Nevertheless, he was very helpful, and an all-around nice guy. We managed, after about an hour and a half, to find a nice hostel at a reasonable price. I stayed there last night and will be there again tonight as well.

Next I needed to find a travel agency in order to book my hike. This was an even more daunting task. There are literally hundreds of agencies and tour groups available to choose from -- you can find them in pretty much every other shop you come across. The problem is that the range of quality and professionalism among the organizations is drastic. A good majority of the agencies are quite literally hole-in-the-wall operations, consisting of little more than a single desk and some posters in a small, dark recess along the main plaza. Many of them actually share the space with other agencies, or operate other businesses, such as gift shops, in the same locale. You can help but run into a dozen of them simply walking down the street, especially since their representatives will often stand outside in attempts to lure you in. With all of these choices, and little to go by other than my gut feeling and what I had heard from others, this task proved rather difficult. I spent pretty much the entire day trying to choose -- talking to different agencies, browsing the internet for reviews, and even talking to other tourists undergoing the same miserable process.

In the end, I found several options. My plan for the start was to go on the Salkantay trek, an alternative route to the famous Inca Trail (which gets booked several months in advance). After talking to a variety of agencies, I found that pretty much all of them offered the same services, but the prices were quite variable. There were a variety of the more dingy, less professional appearing places that boasted prices around $180.  I found a more reputable appearing company that would take me on for $225. I seriously considered this one for quite some time, since it appeared much more professional and didn´t cost too much more. However, in the end, I decided to go for a company that seemed even more professional; moreover, they also had several positive reviews from a variety of sources. This decision took significant deliberation, as the price for this company was painfully higher -- I ended up paying the rather steep price of $450. Although I´m still struggling with justifying the decision I made, I think it was the right one. More than anything else, I was swayed by the fact that two of the people on my Galapagos cruise had also recently done the Salkantay trek, and each of them claimed they had a miserable time (which they attributed to the company the booked with). They both payed under $200 for the trip. So, I ultimately decided that ensuring an excellent experience was worth the extra $200. Oh yeah, I also had the opportunity to look at the roster before booking the trek. I found that the majority of the people I`ll be hiking with (there will be 16 in total, along with two guides), are from the USA and are right around my age. This was definitely another contributing factor to my decision. Also the fact that we have two guides instead of just one should make it a much nicer experience.

More than anything else, I´m mostly just relieved that everything has fallen into place. Several companies I talked to didn´t have any treks leaving on the day that I need to go, which was quite worrisome. So I really am quite fortunate that everything worked out.

As I said before, I`ll be doing the Salkantay trek, which will take a total of 5 days and 4 nights. Three nights will be spent camping in tents; as for the fourth night, we will be staying at a hostel in Aguas Calientes, a town at the base of Macchu Pichu. The trek is scheduled for tomorrow morning (the 4th). They will pick me up at my hostel around 5:30 am and we will take a bus ride to the point from which we will begin hiking. I`ll be sure to give more details about the actual hike/route after I return. As for today, I´m just going to relax, check out some of the local markets, and continue to let my body acclimate to the altitude. So far it hasn´t really affected me too much. I was a little bit dizzy when I first got off the plane, but that passed pretty quickly. Climbing stairs feels a bit more challenging than usual, but nothing too severe.

Well, I think that´s enough for today. I`m going to go grab another cheese empanada from the panaderia near my hostel (I had one a little bit ago and it was deeeelish), and then go read for a while. Cusco is a really nice city. There are lots of shops to explore and interesting things to look at, including women dressed in traditional clothing carrying around baby alpacas, as well as a guide dressed as an Incan warrior who poses for photos with tourists. Oh yeah, and I`m definitely planning on getting a massage today. Funny story -- one of my companions from the Galapagos cruise I mentioned above informed me ahead of time that there are a tons of places to get really cheap massages in Cusco (he said approx. $5, on average). If anything, this was an understatement. Walking through the streets yesterday afternoon and evening, I was constantly bombarded with cries of "Masaje señor? Would you like a massage? Very cheap!". There are women on virtually every street trying to lure you in with brochures and offers of cheap massages. One of them even said to me "I`ll give you a very good price -- free!". While most of the time I was able to fend them off and continue on my way, this one actually stopped me in my tracks. I couldn`t help but laugh to myself, and respond blithely to her offer...

...Free? Wow...that is a good price.

Hopefully I can find her again today, now that I actually have the time to partake of such an outrageous offer. In fact, if I get like, 200 massages today, it might even make up for spending more than I intended on the Macchu Pichu trek. And who knows...if I barter hard enough, perhaps I can even talk her into paying me.