Today we end our time in Cusco. Loved this place and really wanted more time here as 4 nights was just not enough time to see and do all I had wanted. One last great
breakfast. We absolutely loved staying at the
JW Marriott El Convento Hotel. A mix of modern and the past. Spacious room with such comfortable bedding. Chocolates every night on the bed. Huge fluffy towels in the bathroom. Hotel staff was amazing. They were so attentive and helpful. Having the vouchers for the pisco sours every night-yummy. We made great use of the relaxation pool facilities. The hot tub with its strong jets was especially a treat for my aching back after a long day of sightseeing and the pool was a delight for my husband. The breakfast buffet with its egg station was beyond words to describe. So much food and such a variety. We would most definitely stay here again. Driving to the airport I can't
help myself as I take a few more pictures of the Cusco balconies and other sights of this amazing city.
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Views of balconies on the way to the airport
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| Driving to the Cusco Airport |
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| Local bus with stops written on the side |
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| Good bye Cusco! |
We had the 12:50 PM
Avianca #836 flight from
Cusco to
Lima. While waiting I buy some souvenirs. Liquor filled chocolates and a wood carved painted llama figure for myself and a key chain of the traditional Peru hat with the flaps for my husband. He ended up having it hang from the rear view mirror in his car. Due to a delay our flight actually took off at 1:10 PM. I had arranged for our seats to be on the left side of the plane for views of the Andes. We arrived in Lima at 2:40 PM instead of the scheduled time of 2:15 PM. It was an uneventful flight other than the delay. Drink and snack served. The flight was short and sweet. I had prebooked the round trip tickets with Avianca for a total cost of $280.50 for 2 adults.
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| Arriving at the airport |
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| Aeropuerto Internacional Alejandro Velasco Astete |
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| Our flight is AV #836 departing now at 1:10 PM |
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| Bought this for my husband |
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| Chocolate filled with liquor!! |
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So pretty!
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| Leaving Cusco |
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| View of the Andes from the plane |
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| Arriving Lima |
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| Lima Airport |
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| This was our plane |
Waiting at the Lima Airport with a sign with our name was George from
Taxidatum which I had arranged before leaving home for this trip. I should note that we ended up booking Taxidatum 5 times and except for the emergency substitute they had to arrange for us on 5/7 to get us from Ollantaytambo to Cusco we were very pleased with the service which I would grade as excellent. I would use them again and can definitely recommend this company. Since our flight had arrived late I had no time to explore the airport. I had arranged for Taxidatum to pick us up at 3:30 PM but George was early. No problem. I'll have time when we leave to return home. By the time we claimed our baggage and loaded them into the car we were leaving the airport and on our way by 3:00 PM. This is when we got our first taste of Lima traffic. I was just glad we weren't driving as traffic was a nightmare! Cost from airport to our hotel in Miraflores areawas $18.00 which included a little discount for the senior rate.
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| Lima Airport is located in Callao area |
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| Saw lots of netting like this |
The hotel I had booked for our final stay was the
Casa Andina Private Collection located in
Miraflores area. This area had been recommended by TA folks and it was a good choice for us. Because I had booked our international airfare through expedia.com I got a great deal. I paid $808.75 for a superior room for 5 nights. We stayed at this hotel from 5/11-5/16/17. Check in was a breeze. All the hotels I had prebooked through booking.com, expedia.com or direct delivered exactly what I had booked. In order to get to your room floor past the lobby area you needed to insert your room key card. This was for security purposes to protect the guests of the hotel. I was also happy to see that our room was right by the elevator. I have some slight issues with my back so I appreciated not to have a long, long walk down a corridor to get to our room (That was the only negative to our hotel in Cusco) Our room #1008 was huge. Beds seemed comfortable. We had a nice view. The area of the room containing the desk, table and chair were kind of separated from the sleeping area of the room by partial wall. Bathroom had toiletries, hair dryer, and a tub/shower combo. Towels were pure white, large, and fluffy soft. There was a safe for personal use as well as an iron and ironing board. Bathrobes. We were very happy with our room and our stay here. We would return and can recommend this hotel. Right across the street was a
TAMBO store which sold water, snacks, etc. This was convenient for us as we did not get free bottles of water. Cost was 10 soles for a large bottle of water. At
TAMBO we bought smaller bottles of water for 1.5 soles each. We quickly unpacked and prepared for our first sightseeing experience.
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Our hotel Casa Andina Private Collection
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| Reception |
Museo Larco is located in Pueblo Libre area. Our hotel got us a taxi and the rate was 25 soles. Taxis are more expensive in Lima than Cusco. Maybe because it's a much larger city and things are very spread out so travel distances are a bit longer. This museum was founded by collector Raael Larco Hoyle. Admission for 2 adults was 50 soles. This is an excellent collection of pre-Columbian gold, textiles, and ceramics. Excellent signage with tons of information. From the formative years of 1250 BC-1 AD we saw bowls, bottles of sacred animals like the owl/cat. Items from the cultures of Cupisnique, Vicus, Moche, Huari, Chimu, Inca, Conquest 1532 AD where Spanish elements were introduced into Andean art. The collection was huge. My favorite museum. Separate from this collection in another building on the grounds is an area housing examples of sexual representations of ancient Peru. Humans and animals. Quite interesting and worth a look. Even the grounds of this museum complex seemed nice.
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