I spent the month of April divided between two countries. I lived in Cuenca, Ecuador for two weeks and Cusco, Peru for the other half of the month.
My plane ride from Quito to Cuenca was easily the most scenic hour I’ve ever spent in the sky. I caught the early morning flight which took off at 6am, and although it was still dark when we took off, I was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise, over snow capped volcanoes. Moments like these in my travels, bring me to tears with gratitude. This is my life on a random Sunday morning. The Earth is so insanely beautiful.
Immediately when I arrived at Cuenca, it felt different than Quito. Quieter, sunnier, and more connected to nature. There’s a river that runs right through town separating the historic center from the newer part of town. You can see mountains along with the city skyline. There’s a beautiful blue domed cathedral right in the middle of the city. Walking around the cobblestone streets that very first day I already felt a sense of…. “I could live here.”
Another perk about Cuenca is that I made friends almost immediately. I don’t think I realized how lonely I was in Quito until I connected with two new friends in Cuenca. As you know, I joined Wifi Tribe earlier this year. One of the perks that the $500 annual membership fee gives me is access to the Wifi Tribe Slack Channel. This essentially allows me to connect with 1000s of other remote workers around the world and see if anyone is nearby.
I sent up my bat signal to the #travelwheremytribeat channel and was met with a response from another girl who was in Cuenca. She was traveling with a friend and the three of us met up for dinner one night, immediately clicked and spent the rest of our time in Cuenca hanging out.
Digital nomad life can be weird sometimes
After being by myself for so long in Quito, I really appreciated the connection with people who share a similar lifestyle to me. Being a digital nomad can get weird sometimes. People think you are on vacation and don’t understand why you have to work. It’s nice to spend time with other digital nomads who get that the lifestyle isn’t always glamorous.
In fact…. let’s talk about that for a moment. As someone who has been traveling for over 3 years now, I feel the need to be super honest with you. Every moment is NOT full of fun and adventure. In fact, I don’t even want that to be the case. There are times when I’m not really in the mood to explore the cities I’m temporarily calling home. Sometimes I just want to go to the same cafe every day for a week, get my work down, and come home to my air bnb and watch Netflix.
It’s taken me a while to come to terms with the fact that I get to choose how I spend my days. I don’t have to check off the top 10 tourist sites in each city. I’m allowed to stay in and watch the first act of Hamilton every night for a week (which is definitely what happened in Cuenca).
Adventures in Cuenca
And, when I feel up for it and ready for adventure, there are so many adventures ready to be had. One of the weekends in Cuenca, my new friends and I went to Piedra de Aguas. This is a popular spa 20 minutes outside of the city center, widely known for it’s spa circuit.
For $32 we got to spend a rainy Saturday giving eachother mud baths, jumping between thermal baths and cold plunges, sweating it out in a Turkish Sauna, and relaxing in a Japanese style pool. It was the perfect way to relax, unwind and have weird amounts of fun and laughter. There’s no bonding activity quite like putting red clay all over eachother.
The rest of my time in Cuenca was relatively uneventful. I got tons of work done sitting outside on the beautiful terrace of the Selina. I walked by the river everyday. I watched beautiful sunsets over the iconic blue cathedral. I went to an accordion concert dinner party and watched Kpop dancers in a Cuenca founder’s day parade. It was a incredible two weeks, and I was sad to leave.
First impressions of Cusco
The plane ride to get from Cuenca to Cusco took forever. I had an overnight layover in the Lima airport and was completely unable to sleep. I kept myself occupied by reading the travel memoir “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding”. Having that book to read is the only reason I survived from 12-4am in the Lima airport.
Once I recovered from my all nighter and began wandering the city of Cusco, I quickly fell in love. There’s something magical about Peru. Maybe it’s the llamas and baby alpacas on every street corner. Maybe it’s the 11,000+ ft of altitude which makes you feel a little bit drunk. Maybe it’s the colorful sweaters for sale that line the market walls. Maybe it’s the historic central plaza with the picturesque fountains and towering cathedrals Maybe it’s the quaint little cafes with sidewalk tables.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I have this feeling of aliveness every time I walk through the streets of Cusco. It’s wild on my travels how every place just seems to get better and better than the next.
Cusco Weekend Adventures
My first weekend in Cusco, was jam packed with adventures. I tackled Palcoyo (the rainbow mountain look alike) and the sacred valley.
Palcoyo Mountain
Palcoyo mountain is the less well known version of the famous rainbow mountain. At the moment of writing this, April 2022, Rainbow mountain is closed to tourists. The local communities have cut of access to it completely, though it sounds like this is just temporary.
Because I was craving some high altitude and some incredible pictures, I decided to make the long trip to Palcoyo. It was a looooong day. Palcoyo is a 4 hour drive outside the city of Cusco. The first two hours were just normal highway roads, but the last two hours were bumpy, winding mountain roads. We drove through lush green fields with herds of llamas and alpacas. There were SO MANY of them roaming around. It honestly felt like we were driving through a fairytale.
At 16,300 ft, the altitude on Palcoyo mountain is the highest I’ve ever been. The hike was fairly short (we drove most of the way), but just putting one foot in front of the other at that altitude takes so much effort. It was rough to climb all the way to the top, but the views were absolutely worth it.
ATVs in the Sacred Valley
On Sunday, I took an ATV adventure in the sacred valley. This was about an hour’s drive outside of Cusco. The valley was so beautiful and peaceful. We got to drive the ATVs through scenic farm lands, with huge towering glaciers in the distance. We drove by packs of animals and watched baby pigs and sheep nursing with their mothers. It was such a lovely way to spend the afternoon. I know there is SO much more to see in the sacred valley, and that this barely scratched the surface, but definitely an adventure worth having.
The main event of Cusco, is of course Machu Picchu, but I haven’t done that yet. I’m all signed up to do a 4d/3n trekking adventure on the Inca Trail, ending in Machu Picchu. I’m leaving for that Sunday, May 1st so that will definitely be the main topic of my May travel update post. If I survive it that is 🙂
Feeling so fortunate that I have so many beautiful adventures to share. Thanks for following along!
