Peru - Land of the Chifas

After an extremely relaxing week in Rio getting sunburnt, eating rice and pissing off drug dealers on the beach, we made our way to Cusco via Sao Paulo and a night in Lima

We didn't end up seeing much of Lima as we flew in late at night and flew out to Cusco midday the next day but what we did see were a lot of 'chifas' (or what they call chinese restaurants). Apparently, according to our taxi driver (and that tomb of knowledge, the lonely planet guide) Peru is actually home to quite a lot of asians and the chinese food is meant to be excellent. We did get a taste of chinese food at the airport but i'm not sure if it was the best place to judge chinese food as it was pretty average (like a lot of airport eateries we've come to realise). Ever the adventurous explorers we tried chinese food again in Cusco at a place near the city center. It was a little place run by a chinese guy from shanghai who married a local girl, who was rather excited to see a few asians in his place so he came over to talk to us. Alas unfortunately for him none of us was able to speak to him in mandarin and ordering with him became almost as difficult as ordering in spanish. The food was again unspectacular but he did have a really cool poster of him out the front in an "iron chef" pose and I realised that chifa was my new favourite spanish word (mainly because it sounded coolo).

Cusco is a very popular destination for tourist as it could be described as the country's cultural capital since it was once the capital of the Incan empire. An empire that the locals and our guide were quick to claim invent science and was destroyed by the evil spanish invaders. We didn't argue (cause we're pretty agreeable sort of guys). Cusco is good place to go to see the Sacred Valley (a place with a number of Inca ruins) on a day trip and start a number of Inca trails to Maccu Pichu. The thing about Cusco which everyone should be aware of is that its at 3400 metres above sea level so the air is thinner and people coming from sea level need to allow around 4 days to acclimatise (which we found out later to see if you develop full blown symptoms of altitude sickness). We gave ourselves one and a half days (on the advice of our trek provider).....not a smart move relying on the advice of a person who has more to gain from you paying for a longer trek with them. The first day and a half was okay with the occasional headaches and some breathlessness but according to our guide sea-level dwellers can have enough 'energy' in them to resist succumbing to the more serious altitude sickness symptoms (vomiting, body aches, diarrhea, etc). I'm sure you guys can all see where this is heading so i'll leave the next part to another post. =)


This is the main square of Cusco


An example of spanish architecture


Chifa in Cusco. Note the "Iron Chef" pose (Who will reign supreme?!)