2008 Roadtrip Cuzco, Perú Accommodations

Online, Dimitri had found us an apart hotel in a middle class neighborhood of Santa Mónica which we really liked. (Los Alamos Cusco Apart-Hotel, Jr. Ricardo Palma N-1, Urbanizción Santa Mónica, Cusco, Perú (51-84) 993-0468, e-mail: info@cuscoaparthotel.com, web:www.cuscoaparthotel.com) The location is a S/.3 taxi ride, taking about 7 minutes from the center of Cuzco. So it's very convenient without the craziness of the center. And it's perfect for people, like us, who have a car.

For our month stay, we were able to negotiate a S/.198 or US$70 per day rate (regular rate US$120 per day). The second floor walk-up was a large 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment, with good light and great mountain views. The owners, Carolina and Elwin Voter, are delightful people.

Our living room at Los Alamos Cusco Apart Hotel

The building has secure parking and a 24-hour guard. There is a large, well-equipped kitchen and the living room has a fireplace. The one problem (as usual) was that it has no central heating. We carry one portable heater and we went out to buy another one pronto. The apartment has wi-fi that works pretty well, cable TV, and, with of our toys, all of the comforts of home.

Well, almost all. Our Archos 605 PVR couldn't be connected to the TV directly because the TV is so old that there is no "video out" connection. Elwin was very nice and he borrowed a friend's VCR for us. We were able to plug the Archos 605 into the VCR. The VCR connected to the TV and we could record! The Beijing Olympic Opening festivities were the first thing we recorded. The reception of the channel was poor. Too bad.

Every morning one of the women who clean the apartment comes to our apartment at the time we request to make us breakfast. We have freshly squeezed orange juice every day and whatever we want to eat that day. The kitchen is so well equipped we have had American-style pancakes (made on an electric frypan) with maple-type syrup that we found at the market at the end of the road. Another day we had waffles. Another day French toast, using the egg bread we bought from Panaderia Don Estaban & Don Poncho Santa Monica A-16, (Av. de la Cultura frente al colegio Sn Antonio) (51-84)253-659, e-mail: info@donestebanydonpancho.com and web: http://www.donestebanydonpancho.com/).

While we're on the road, we love to "nest" and having our favorite breakfasts is one of the best ways to do that. This apartment has been lovely for us.

Cuzco has a terrible problem with roving packs of dogs and our neighborhood in Santa Moníca is no exception. Sometimes their barking is almost impossible to endure. And, the packs of dogs running in the street are truly scary when walking. That's just about the only negative thing I can think of about our stay in Cuzco (and it would be the same anywhere, not just in the neighborhood where our apartment was).

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