I arrived in Cusco in the early morning. I have to say, I rather like arriving early because that way I can walk to the hostel and get a first feel for the city before the morning madness sets in.
I then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out which agency to do the trek to Machu Picchu with. There are hundreds of agencies in Cusco - and this is no exaggeration! Each one offers tours with more or less the same names, differing only in small details (or at least that's what they say) and price. I found the trek I'll be doing for anything between 140 and 230 US dollars. In the end, I decided to go with the hostel's agency, somewhere in the middle of the price range.
Having now repeatedly experienced this tour agency madness, I can confirm that what behavioral economists say is true: too much choice makes you feel worse about the choice you make in the end, regardless how good it may be objectively. I guess I'll see in just a few days if my choice was good or not.
While looking for tour agencies in the streets, I also got to have a look around, of course. What struck me was how many churches there are in Cusco. Apparently, what the Spanish did upon conquering the Inca was take down Inca buildings and temples and construct churches on their foundations.
Around the Plaza de Armas alone, there are four churches. This is one of them, called La Compañía de Jesús:
And right around the corner, there are two more: the cathedral, and a smaller church right next to it that also serves as tourist entrance to the cathedral.
Originally I wanted to go in to have a look, but I changed my mind when I discovered that they charge an entry fee of almost 10 euro. They sure know how to extract money from tourists here...
I then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out which agency to do the trek to Machu Picchu with. There are hundreds of agencies in Cusco - and this is no exaggeration! Each one offers tours with more or less the same names, differing only in small details (or at least that's what they say) and price. I found the trek I'll be doing for anything between 140 and 230 US dollars. In the end, I decided to go with the hostel's agency, somewhere in the middle of the price range.
Having now repeatedly experienced this tour agency madness, I can confirm that what behavioral economists say is true: too much choice makes you feel worse about the choice you make in the end, regardless how good it may be objectively. I guess I'll see in just a few days if my choice was good or not.
While looking for tour agencies in the streets, I also got to have a look around, of course. What struck me was how many churches there are in Cusco. Apparently, what the Spanish did upon conquering the Inca was take down Inca buildings and temples and construct churches on their foundations.
Around the Plaza de Armas alone, there are four churches. This is one of them, called La Compañía de Jesús:
And right around the corner, there are two more: the cathedral, and a smaller church right next to it that also serves as tourist entrance to the cathedral.
Originally I wanted to go in to have a look, but I changed my mind when I discovered that they charge an entry fee of almost 10 euro. They sure know how to extract money from tourists here...
