Lima to Cusco trip
Lima, a coastal port town in Peru , lies on the country's arid Pacific coast but the Sea Princess was not scheduled to stop in Lima so that is why we travelled from Manta, (our last port) to Guayaquil where we caught a plane to Lima. We arrived in Lima at about 9pm but even though the Holiday Inn where we were staying at was directly across the road from the airport, within walking distance we were pick up by a coach and driven to the across the road because Lima is a dangerous place, especially at night. Sounds extreme but here is a quote from Australian Smart Traveller warnings: "Exercise a high degree of caution when travelling throughout Peru because of significant levels of serious crime. Keep car doors locked and windows up at all times, including when moving. Keep luggage out of sight, particularly when travelling to and from airports."
It was about 10pm by the time we'd collected luggage, transferred to the Holiday Inn and settled into our room. Our guide, Jamie also informed us that we needed to be back at the airport by 4.30am, in the morning to catch our plane to Cusco 'woah', that was a surprise. Even more daunting was the next bit of news that we would be woken up at 3.30am in order to be at the airport 1 hour before takeoff. (groan) We headed for bed immediately.
Every group member, though bleary-eyed, made it on time to the airport (we were given safe passage by coach across the road to the airport) When we entered the airport lobby we could not believe our eyes. Surprisingly, there were masses of people catching planes at that time in the morning so we joined the queues of people going through screening and immigration.
The scenic flight to Cusco crossed over the Andes Mountains, where we saw many snow covered peaks. We landed in Cusco which is over 3,400metres above sea level after a 2 hour flight. The fact that we'd gone from sea level to this height in this short time can sometimes be an issue in that altitude sickness symptoms can occur. But by the time we completed immigration requirements it was about 6.30am, but we were all still in good spirits and though tired none of us had headaches or shortness of breath. We headed off by coach for what was to become a fantastic welcome breakfast at a very historical and special venue, La Casona Princesita, a palace-mansion of a former Inca princess and her family.
