Jenn's Big 30 in Peru Day 6: 30 & Young
Today's a big day. Not only is it the last day here in Cusco but it's also Jenn's 30th Birthday. The reason for the trip has finally come and I feel so honored to be here to celebrate it with her. We woke up at around 7 AM this morning with the lightest agenda of the trip. As Jenn relaxed in bed and basked in her birthday glow I went out to a rainy Cusco to grab her a birthday hot chocolate at Starbucks.
We laid in bed until close to 10 AM when we got out of bed and got breakfast for the final time at the JW Marriott. They have a great breakfast spread but having the same breakfast spread six days in a row has gotten a little old. We went far lighter for breakfast this morning. After breakfast, we went and set up a driver to take us to the airport tomorrow and grabbed a CD that the rafting company dropped off with the pictures we purchased.
After that Jenn and I went down to the bottom of the hotel where the spa is located. For Jenn's birthday, I booked her a three-hour spa appointment. She started off with a two-hour hot stone massage followed by an hour facial. While she enjoyed her massage I stayed at the indoor pool, enjoyed the jacuzzi and the sauna. At 1 PM Jenn went for her facial and I went for an hour massage. It was exactly what the doctor ordered after a pretty busy couple of days.
When I got out of my massage Jenn was lounging by the indoor pool looking like she was turning 25 and not 30. We left the pool area at around 2 PM and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the bar. We both had Pisco Sour's and split three empanadas. The three were beef, cheese, and chicken and were accompanied by an incredible hot sauce that made for great dipping. We left the bar and went for a short walk before returning to our room and started sadly packing up for our flight home tomorrow.
We decided to keep things simple for Jenn's 30th birthday dinner celebration. We went back to the same restaurant we had the first night, Quespi. We both started with a glass of wine, Jenn had a Chardonnay and I had a Malbec, both were Peruvian wines. We started off with their incredible homemade bread, we literally went through two of them.
For our entree, Jenn went with salmon with mixed vegetables and potatoes. The salmon was perfectly cooked and had a nice sauce on top. I went with the Osso buco with gnocchi which was phenomenal. It was a little more hearty than I was hoping for but the Osso Buco was perfectly cooked and the gnocchi was divine. We couldn't finish Jenn's birthday celebration without some plain vanilla ice cream.
After dinner, we made our way back up to our room, finished packing and called it a night to make sure to get some sleep before our early flight home tomorrow. At this point, I'm just starting to wrap my head around the incredible trip we just had. Everything about this trip has been perfect. We've been on some incredible tours, experienced one of the new wonders of the world, went white water rafting, and spent a cumulative of four hours at the spa to bring in Jenn's 30th birthday. It's a trip I know neither of us will soon forget and it only gets me more excited for all the adventures that await us.
