Cusco, Peru - part II

it is so nice when you don´t need to know what weekday it is :) nor what date it is.. i can afford that only like 2 days in a row though.. but that is plenty for now.

this morning i went through all my shampoo/lotion/soap/water bottles and let the extra pressure out :) i´ve never been in that high altitude before.. so far i'm liking it... i have been here for 30 hours by now and i have no major problems with altitude as far as i can tell. i´m also quite happy about the fact that my stomach is all in order :) i was sure that it will get upset with the different foods and different bacteria.. but nothing so far. i´ll try to keep it that way as well.

this whole day i have spent on administrative things:
- confirmed my reservation for the inca trail which meant a short overview of how the hike will be.. during the day it is +28C and during the night the temperature drops to -5C :) we were suggested to bring gloves and a hat (which i did bring with me just in case) one lady who just returned from there suggested that we buy the plastic ponchos as they got heavy rain and hail while hiking.. and the poncho will cover the pack bag as well so all your stuff will be dry even if it rains. we will also pass through rain forest so we need to bring the insect repellent (which i bought in Minnesota already)... i also bought the purifying tablets just in case although they say that we will have plenty of water during our meal brakes... but you never know... my inca trail will start on the 27th, i will be picked up from my hotel at 5:20 in the morning :-S
- ran around the town trying to exchange money.. not that exchange places are not available but to check the commission rates and so on.. some places exchange travelers cheques some don´t.. and for some reason the banks were extremely crowded today.. no idea what the deal was
- walked to the train station to try to check on how much is the train ticket to Puno and when do the trains depart... ticket is 19$ and trains leave every Mon-Tue-Fri-Sat.
- looked up some alternative hotel options as i´m thinking about staying here a bit longer than originally planned. not sure yet. will decide tomorrow. Puno seems as a little town so perhaps there is not much interesting to do there? no idea... but spending extra 3-4 days here in cusco won´t hurt much anyways. and here seems to be plenty of things to do

besides all the above i did have time to do some sightseeing as well.. climbed a hill at the north end of the town.. it had a nice view to Cusco as well as a small dark church. church was not lit and was empty.. on the door there was one young girl (5 years perhaps) who was singing, drawing and playing with a tiny kitten.. kitten must have been only few months old. i also visited the Inka Museum and Santo Dominigo church. both were interesting and very enjoyable.

in the afternoon i also did some shopping and took pictures for Kristi.. of all their patterns and colors and fabrics. some are not very happy about me photographing.. they'd like it much more if i'd buy the shirts/bags/rugs/blankets.

few words about internet connection as well.. in most places it is quite nice and fast.. it costs 4 EEK per hour :) and i´m able to download the applications i need as well as use USB connection. that is all i need. in cusco there are internet places really on every single corner whereas in lima i did not find many at all.

i´ll try to post some more tomorrow... then on Wednesday i will be going to the mountains - inca trail... this trip is 4 days and i will be back in cusco on the 30th of June, train will arrive at 9:40pm after which i will just go back to my hotel. so i´m guessing after tomorrow´s entry the next entry will be on the 1st of July which should be Sunday.