One Last Time in Cuzco

Cuzco, Peru-

After Machu Picchu I was back in Cuzco for the weekend. After all, why not spend one last Friday and Saturday night fruitlessly searching for clubs without cover charges? Turns out Friday night was wasted after I fell asleep at 9:00 pm but I still had Saturday night. A few drinks with a Colombian guy and we hit the town. We searched and searched for a decent place without a cover and came up short. It was time to stop playing games and force my way into a club somehow. I saw my golden ticket had arrived when I passed a club where the bouncer was busy talking to someone else. Not thinking twice I walked up to the door, past the bouncer and straight into the club joining the rest of the crowd inside. The night ended at 6:00 am and I felt my weekend in Cuzco was fulfilled with a night out and a new number to call on Sunday.

Earlier on that same Saturday afternoon I came across a very unexpected, but welcome, surprise. Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis should know by now that I like my beer. I especially like my ales. In the past year I’ve come across so few places offering ales I can count them on one hand so when I do see them I think they’re worth writing about. Saturday was such an occasion.

I was walking through the streets of Cuzco searching for a book exchange in any one of the numerous cafe’s when I saw in small writing on a billboard, “English Ales on Draught.” I kept walking as my brain processed such an unlikely phrase. When it dawned on me what I just read I did a double take to make sure I had read correctly. Indeed I had so I ran up the stairs to “The Cross Keys” pub to see for myself if it was true. The billboard did not lie. English ales. On draught. Four of them. Like Christmas this is an event that currently only comes around for me once a year. Like a kid on Christmas morning I was confronted with the impossible choice of which present I should choose first. I chose the Abbot Ale and it was Glorious. I guess mass international tourism has it’s advantages after all. I stopped by several times.

Other than my new-found watering hole another reason I was hanging around so long in Cuzco was to meet my old college friend Jeremy. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve met anyone I’ve known from back home so I was excited to see a familiar face. After several failed communication attempts from both parties I booked my ticket out of town thinking it was a lost cause. Four hours before my bus left town I was walking through Plaza de Armas and ran into him and Stacey. Good timing. We talked for a few hours before I caught my bus. Between the ale and an old friend Cuzco was able to provide a little back home familiarity before I said goodbye for Huacachina.

Oh, I took a few photos of Cuzco as well