Well a drunken promise for a "big night out in Cusco" is one thing... but it was quite another when, with the hangover from hell from the night before in Puno, I boarded a bus for the 7 hour journey to Cusco. Kylee´s tour group had left at 7am that morning on their tour truck, but I opted to sleep in and make my own way at lunchtime. Despite a bit of sleep on the bus, I was shattered when I arrived and checked into the hotel later that night. It suddenly seemed like a long way to go for a night out. The group had left a message for me at reception telling me where they had gone, and I decided to meet them later after dinner... because the truth be known, I had been visualising the green thai curry at Indigos all the way from Puno and nothing was going to stop me. I sank a couple of vodka red bulls with my dinner to fight the tiredness, and met them all at about 11pm in Paddy´s Irish Bar, a very classy joint.
Before we all fell asleep at the bar, we decided to hit the clubs. For anyone that doesn´t know, Cusco has a massive reputation for nightlife and general hedonism and craziness. It is gringo central, swarming with travellers who have come for Machu Picchu treks or maybe just for the nightlife. So first up was Mythology, which was pretty cool, good music, and the whole group was dancing and having a laugh. After a while though, it seemed to empty and there were more locals than tourists, probably because the music had switched to salsa and reggaeton, and the local girls were kicking our ass on the dancefloor. So we went next door to Mama Africa, and thats where things took a downhill turn in the class stakes... We walked in to find a packed sweaty club full of tourist clubbers, so far so good. There were strobe lights, good dance music, lively atmosphere. Then at some point, the DJ decided it was a good time to play "You can keep your hat on" by Tom Jones. Yes, the famous stripping song from The Full Monty. On cue, a woman jumped onto the bar and took her top and bra off, closely followed by a young lad who very gracefully and not at all drunkenly, slipped his trousers off followed by his underwear. They were gyrating all over the bar, and maybe I´m becoming a prude in my old age, but it was just pretty vile after a bit. I sat down to avert my eyes, only to be faced with a Peruvian girl lap dancing over every man in a 5 metre radius. She then jumped up and caught hold of the TV mounted on the ceiling, where she continued her routine swinging from a height. I was starting to feel like this was just a meat market, which is really not my scene. The members of Kylee´s tour group were also starting to "mix it up a bit" and nobody was really sure who was with who. I made a quick decision to get the hell out of there, and left them all to it!
Next day we were all Cusco casualties, wandering around in a still-drunken daze trying to spot the guy who had been dancing with no trousers on. Kylee and I went for lunch, then back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep before venturing out again later for a very quiet dinner and a comforting bottle of red wine. The group was leaving early in the morning for the Sacred Valley, before starting a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu. I was booked on a bus to Arequipa down in the south of Peru, ready for my exit to Chile. Things took another unexpected turn that night after dinner though, and again it deserves its own blog entry...
