So, this week has been...interesting. We've carted ourselves off near the jungle to white water raft on a tributary of the Amazon, we've visited a biodiverse, sustainable potato farm ran by self-determining indigenous communities, and now we're packing our things and preparing for our grand hike tomorrow---starting at 4:30 am sharp.
So, white water rafting. Alex enjoys such deadly adventures. I am quite reasonably horrified of water--especially fast moving water that slams into rocks and falls over small cliffs. But, Alex came horseback riding with me, so, I promised to go rafting. So we sought out a nice place that seemed legit, put on some sunscreen, and headed towards the river. The Urubamba River, to be precise, which is a head water of the Amazon! So, we arrive at the base camp, suit up in some sleek looking wet suits, put on some quite large and uncomfortable yellow jackets, life vests, helmets, etc, etc and head to our boats--erm, rafts.
So the two hour section of river that we rafted was apparently a level 3, though some parts were so incredibly dangerous (due to the large rocks and whirlpools) that we actually had to walk (or rather, climb) the coastal cliffs around the river to safer spots.
Anyway, it was actually quite fun. Despite the extreme upper body strength required and the amazingly freezing cold water that continually filled the bottom of the raft (causing us to lose all feeling in our extremities). Also, during intense sections of the rafting, because our raft had an uneven number of 5 people, I was placed in the middle of the front--sort of like a ship mast--where I faced the sloshing cold water head on (and, thus, ended up being incredibly soaked, under my wetsuit). Afterwards, we had lunch (which, of course, was a fried egg), and sat in a most wonderful sauna to warm up. Then Alex and two other people chose to zip line across the river, TWICE! It looked pretty exciting, but I had most definitely had my fill of adventure for the day.
After returning to Cusco we had planned to visit condors--which will probably never actually happen--but instead we finally found a day to head to Potato Park. This is a biodiversity reserve where six indigenous communities collaborate on sustainable farming (not just of potatoes, but of other Andean varieties of plants too). Anyway, Pablo has a friend who works with people in Potato Park, and so we received a pretty intimate tour. After stopping for lunch at a famous quinoa soup restaurant in Pisac, we headed on up to the park. There, our guide explained everything to us in as much detail as our Spanish would allow--about Andean medicinal plants, about the history and work of the campesinos, about the indigenous communities there, about discrimination, about medical clinics for the community, and so on and so forth. We stopped a couple of times along the way to meet with locals. Once we even got to go inside a construction zone where campesinos were communally building a new house out of adobe and Eucalyptus wood. Once at the potato museum and instruction school, our guide performed a sacred rite to the mother earth--showing us how to do so too. This was a pretty interesting and quite relative ceremony. Afterwards, we met some Quechua girls who were grinding hay/wheat with two burros walking around in a circle. We got to try, and were rather bad at it, but the girls were amused. Anyway, after that, some men came from a nearby mountain to show us the structure of the park, how the communities were arranged, and the gazillion different varieties of potatoes they grow there. They explained about how different communities grow different varieties, depending on altitude and taste desires. They physically showed us about 80 different types of potatoes, explaining the taste and cooking methods of each one, and what each one is used for culturally (for instance, some potatoes represent women and are given to husbands on wedding nights). Other potatoes are used as medicines, or for sacred rituals, and so on. It was quite amazing.
Tonight, however, we are facing the Peruvian stresses of preparing for Machu Picchu. Stress number 1: we were supposed to receive an orientation last night, but the hiking guides never showed up. Finally, tonight, they showed up an hour late. BUT at least they showed up. They showed us the map (the 36 mile long map), explained each day in detail, and answered all of our questions. So that was good. However, right before they arrived we were informed that we had to pack our stuff and leave our apartment because new students are coming tomorrow---SAY WHAT? So in a frenzy we harassed the owner of the apartment, asking sensible questions such as "where do we put our things, where do we stay when we get back?" etc. etc. His answers were along the lines of "I have somewhere to put your things, I don't know where you go when you get back." Of course. So, despite our extreme hunger, we called our program director after the hiking guides left and demanded answers (nicely demanded, that is...or maybe rather, asked what was up). We ate some curry, returned to our apartment, and were then informed (as we were trying to borrow an extra bag from the owner) that we actually get to keep our room and we can leave our things there. Huzzah! Huzzah! So, all the stress from today ended up not really being stressful at all. Now, though, we have to shower and prepare for our incredible journey that begins tomorrow, bright and early.
So, see you later! In five days! (After which, we get to head back to the States!!!!! Tofu sandwiches! Veggie BBQ! Paneer Tikka Masala! Malai Kofta! mmmmmm)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Island Adventurers
So, Saturday morning Alexander, our roommate Aqilah, and myself awoke early to meet Pablo so that we could visit the amazing condors before leaving for the rainforest. Pablo,surprisingly, arrives somewhat on time but informs us that snow has blocked most of the passes out of Cusco. So, he has booked us a trip to Puno for that night! Well, we didn't really have the option of saying no, and we were intrigued about Puno (as it has been closed for some time now), so we decided to do it.
So, at about 9:00 pm a woman in a van comes to pick us up, she takes us to the bus station, purchases our tickets, shows us how to pay the tax, and leaves in the care of the bus attendants. However, once on the bus, we realized that the woman had given us the wrong tickets for this departure...she had put our tax stamps on our RETURN tickets....sooooo, after essentially being called incompetent fools by the woman checking the bus tickets, we finally straightened out the ticket situation, retrieved our now torn and marked return tickets, found our correct seats, and settled in for the 7-8 hour long ride to Puno.
The bus was amazingly comfortable. You could lean the very fluffy seats ALL the way back if you wanted (which didn't exactly work out if the person behind you wasn't lying back also, but anyway). Also, there were fold out foot rests! So the ride was pretty nice. All I really remember about it is that we stopped at some point along the way and it was snowing heavily outside. So, anyway, we arrive at the Puno bus station at about 5 a.m. Supposedly, someone was going to retrieve us. However, two freezing, rainy cold hours later, still no person. So we had some hot chocolate, hung out, walked around, froze a little, and tried calling every local number we knew. Another hour later found us hopelessly sitting in some cold, plastic chairs, still waiting, when a man walked up to us and asked "Alex Munjal?" YES! we all three emphatically screamed and practically ran to his car. He took us to some hostel/hotel in the middle of the city, where we were instructed "to wait." Welll....okay.
Finally, about an hour or so later, the owners? of the hotel told us we had breakfast waiting for us. So we went along, ate some bread, toast, and hot tea while listening to the other hotel attendants party it up in the next room (yes, they were intoxicated at 7:30 in the morning). We returned to the main waiting room where we were told we would return at 4 p.m. that day and that we could leave our things safely with the hotel attendants. So Aqilah takes her bag to the counter, and we head off shortly later with another person who may or may not be our guide. But like everyone else, he knows our names and seems to know where we should be.
Another little bit later, we've picked up a whole van load full of tourists and are being dropped off at Lake Titicaca. We all meander our way down to a boat, settle in, and are informed of the plans. So, here's what we're told: we will return TOMORROW at 4 (not today) and we're going to visit 3 islands: two today and one tomorrow. This sounds pretty exciting, despite the freezing rain and cold. So we embark on our trip. The boat was remarkably comfortable, and the slight churning of the waves created a most relaxing atmosphere as they rocked the boat ever so gently. So, after an hour or so nap, we arrived at the islands known as Uros. These islands are renowned as the "floating islands" of the lake. They are made from shallow water reeds which the Uros people layer to create literal floating islands. The base of the island is formed out of the tangled roots and soil of the reeds, while the top layers are made from dried reeds that are layered in a cross-hatch sort of pattern, to create a solid base. The Uros people utilize these reeds not only for island-building, but also for house-building, and even for eating (though they aren't the tastiest things). Anyway, we visited one of these islands, where we met several locals and visited their houses and shopped their wares. Afterward, we got on one of their pretty amazing and colorful boats (also made of reeds) and sailed to another floating island, where we could visit a market and meet with more locals.
A little bit later we returned to our original boat and set sail in the ever-darkening sky to the island that we would be staying at that night. Braving the fierce cold and freezing dribble of rain, Alex and I climbed to the top of the boat, where we had an amazing view of the beautiful lake, the surrounding mountains, and the snowy peaks of Bolivia in the distance. When we could stand the cold no longer, we returned to our warm seats inside the boat and drifted off to sleep until we arrived at the island Amantani. Once there, we climbed up a narrow trail up the face of a cliff and met with our Quechua families, whom we would be staying the night with. Alex, Aqilah, and I were assigned to a woman named Gladys, who was younger, wore a bright smile, and had endless energy. She dashed up the incredibly steep, slippery, wet trail that led through farms, houses, and the town, to her family home. There we were taken to a surprisingly large room that housed four beds, each with about 6 layers of sheets, blankets, and quilts (thankfully). We immediately passed out from the exhaustion that had been slowly overcoming us throughout the duration of the trip. We had a cold hour or so nap, when Gladys came to wake us up. She led us to their beautiful, rustic kitchen. There was a clay, wood-fired stove with cast iron pots bubbling on top. She was using a Eucalyptus type wood to keep the fire going, so the whole kitchen had this wonderful smoky sage-Eucalyptus smell. Not to mention, the fire was keeping us warm. Anyway, her sister came to join us, and they explained that their parents had went to Puno for a couple of days to buy supplies, so it would just be them with us for tonight. So we had our lunch, which consisted of quinoa and vegetable soup, fried egg with vegetables, rice, and muna tea. Muna is a local herb found throughout the Andes that is similar to mint and is said to be good for stomach problems. Anyway, we had freshly picked muna for our tea, which added to the amazingess of our nice, toasty lunch. After lunch we washed dishes, with Aqilah scrubbing them in freshly boiled water, me rinsing them in cold water, and Alex drying and putting them away.
We were supposed to meet our tourist group at 4:00 pm, but we slightly overslept. After waking up we literally RAN up the side of the mountain, to the top, where our group was still going about its tour of the farms and Incan ruins of the island. We made it all the way to the temple of the father Earth (the mother Earth temple was closed), which overlooked the rest of the island, where we could see the other communities nestled away near the coast lines. At dusk we meandered our way back down, using Alex's medical pen-light as guidance, and returned to our beds. We didn't really fall asleep, but rather huddled for warmth until we couldn't take it any longer. So we stumbled down to the kitchen, where the fire for dinner was already going, and asked if we could help in any way. The sisters shared a glance that pretty much relayed their lack of faith in our abilities, but regardless, they gave us a clay bowl full of small, purple potatoes, a very large knife, and asked us to peel. It took us an incredibly long time, and I'm pretty sure we ended up with more peel than potato, but they thanked us and sent us on our way. A little bit later we had dinner, which consisted of more quinoa soup and rice with mixed vegetables.
We were going to explore the town after this, but it was so incredibly dark, even with Alex's pen-light, that we made it all of 10 feet before retreating back to our lighted dorm (thanks to solar power!). There we, of course, returned to our blankets and drifted off to sleep. During this time the power went out (due the overwhelming amount of rain and incredible lack of sun), and Gladys rushed us a candle, explaining the solar power situation and apologizing for the rain. At about 8:30, she returned, with typical clothes, which she instructed us to put on (or rather, she put mine on for me: two layers of heavy wool skirts, a heavy wool shirt, and a very stiff, thick woven belt that wrapped around me several times and probably could have served as a bullet proof vest). Alex wore a poncho and a chullo (a cap of sorts). Then we headed off to the town hall, where other tourists were dressed up and dancing to traditional music with locals. We danced a round of dancing, Alex had a Cusquena, then we decided we absolutely had to retire for a real full night of rest. While brushing our teeth and preparing for bed, Alex and I were entranced by the amazingly brilliant night sky. There were no lights on Amantani so you could see the stars as big as if they were lamps hanging from nearby villagers' roofs. The light trail of the Milky Way flowed through them, lighting up the black even more. It was one of the most beautiful nights I have ever experienced.
Bright and early at 6:30 the next morning, Gladys woke us up, fed us pancakes with jam, and sent us on our way. We met our tourist group at the shore, thanked our families in Quechua, and headed back to the boat to visit the final island: Taquile. Thankfully the sun was out today and everything...I mean EVERYTHING was crystal blue. The lake, the sky, the mountains--it was amazing. We could see the snowy peaks of Bolivia shining in the distance, the few clouds stood out stark white against the sky, and the sun shimmered on the perfectly clear water. This was our view for the two hours as we rode to Taquile.
Upon arriving we hiked another steep trail, winding around the face of a cliff, until we arrived at a central plaza where the view was even better and clearer than before. We explored this plaza, took pictures, learned about the traditional dress and laws of the people of Taquile, and then headed off to lunch. Lunch was a not-so-wonderful but extremely expensive fried egg with rice. Afterward, we hiked down over 500 steps, straight down the mountain, to the harbor that our boat was waiting in. By this time it was incredibly windy and the waves tossed the boat around as we made our way back to Puno. Even though the boat was thrust back and forth and side to side, it was actually incredibly relaxing. If you closed your eyes it was like sitting in a rocking chair (which, granted, was rocking pretty hard). Anyway, we slept pretty well until we arrived to Puno. Once there we followed our group and boarded a bus, where we were taken back to our hotels. Luckily, Alex remember the name of our "hotel" once the guide said it, and we safely made it back. Afterwards, we wandered around the main tourist strip of Puno, looking for things to eat and things to do until our bus left at 9 p.m. We ate some interesting Mediterranean food (I had bruschetta with figs and red wine sauce), had some hot chocolate, had some ice cream, walked around the plaza, visited several tiendas, and finally made our way to the bus station. From there we had an uneventful, but comfortable, ride back to Cusco.
At about 4 am we arrived in Cusco--super excited about a hot shower (or the closest thing you can get to a hot shower here) and our beds. But, alas, nothing in Peru is so easy. So, we arrive at the apartment and find that it has been bolted from the inside. So, we proceed to knock, bang, yell, and tap for an hour or so--successfully waking up the entire neighborhood, who all came out to ask if we were okay. However, we did not succeed in waking up the person inside. So, at 5:30 in the morning, defeated, cold, and tired, we left the apartment and wandered around Cusco looking for a cheap hostel to sleep in. We finally found one, up some rickety stairs from an artisan market. Two beds crammed incredibly close together with some shady looking sheets, peeling walls, and a very musty smell. It was, however, two beds with lots of blankets. So Aqilah, Alex, and I promptly slipped under our sheets and passed out for 4 hours. Twenty dollars and four hours later, though, we were back in our apartment, showered, and cozied up under our own warm, comfortable (ish) beds.
All in all it was quite an interesting trip that was well, well worth it.
So, at about 9:00 pm a woman in a van comes to pick us up, she takes us to the bus station, purchases our tickets, shows us how to pay the tax, and leaves in the care of the bus attendants. However, once on the bus, we realized that the woman had given us the wrong tickets for this departure...she had put our tax stamps on our RETURN tickets....sooooo, after essentially being called incompetent fools by the woman checking the bus tickets, we finally straightened out the ticket situation, retrieved our now torn and marked return tickets, found our correct seats, and settled in for the 7-8 hour long ride to Puno.
The bus was amazingly comfortable. You could lean the very fluffy seats ALL the way back if you wanted (which didn't exactly work out if the person behind you wasn't lying back also, but anyway). Also, there were fold out foot rests! So the ride was pretty nice. All I really remember about it is that we stopped at some point along the way and it was snowing heavily outside. So, anyway, we arrive at the Puno bus station at about 5 a.m. Supposedly, someone was going to retrieve us. However, two freezing, rainy cold hours later, still no person. So we had some hot chocolate, hung out, walked around, froze a little, and tried calling every local number we knew. Another hour later found us hopelessly sitting in some cold, plastic chairs, still waiting, when a man walked up to us and asked "Alex Munjal?" YES! we all three emphatically screamed and practically ran to his car. He took us to some hostel/hotel in the middle of the city, where we were instructed "to wait." Welll....okay.
Finally, about an hour or so later, the owners? of the hotel told us we had breakfast waiting for us. So we went along, ate some bread, toast, and hot tea while listening to the other hotel attendants party it up in the next room (yes, they were intoxicated at 7:30 in the morning). We returned to the main waiting room where we were told we would return at 4 p.m. that day and that we could leave our things safely with the hotel attendants. So Aqilah takes her bag to the counter, and we head off shortly later with another person who may or may not be our guide. But like everyone else, he knows our names and seems to know where we should be.
Another little bit later, we've picked up a whole van load full of tourists and are being dropped off at Lake Titicaca. We all meander our way down to a boat, settle in, and are informed of the plans. So, here's what we're told: we will return TOMORROW at 4 (not today) and we're going to visit 3 islands: two today and one tomorrow. This sounds pretty exciting, despite the freezing rain and cold. So we embark on our trip. The boat was remarkably comfortable, and the slight churning of the waves created a most relaxing atmosphere as they rocked the boat ever so gently. So, after an hour or so nap, we arrived at the islands known as Uros. These islands are renowned as the "floating islands" of the lake. They are made from shallow water reeds which the Uros people layer to create literal floating islands. The base of the island is formed out of the tangled roots and soil of the reeds, while the top layers are made from dried reeds that are layered in a cross-hatch sort of pattern, to create a solid base. The Uros people utilize these reeds not only for island-building, but also for house-building, and even for eating (though they aren't the tastiest things). Anyway, we visited one of these islands, where we met several locals and visited their houses and shopped their wares. Afterward, we got on one of their pretty amazing and colorful boats (also made of reeds) and sailed to another floating island, where we could visit a market and meet with more locals.
A little bit later we returned to our original boat and set sail in the ever-darkening sky to the island that we would be staying at that night. Braving the fierce cold and freezing dribble of rain, Alex and I climbed to the top of the boat, where we had an amazing view of the beautiful lake, the surrounding mountains, and the snowy peaks of Bolivia in the distance. When we could stand the cold no longer, we returned to our warm seats inside the boat and drifted off to sleep until we arrived at the island Amantani. Once there, we climbed up a narrow trail up the face of a cliff and met with our Quechua families, whom we would be staying the night with. Alex, Aqilah, and I were assigned to a woman named Gladys, who was younger, wore a bright smile, and had endless energy. She dashed up the incredibly steep, slippery, wet trail that led through farms, houses, and the town, to her family home. There we were taken to a surprisingly large room that housed four beds, each with about 6 layers of sheets, blankets, and quilts (thankfully). We immediately passed out from the exhaustion that had been slowly overcoming us throughout the duration of the trip. We had a cold hour or so nap, when Gladys came to wake us up. She led us to their beautiful, rustic kitchen. There was a clay, wood-fired stove with cast iron pots bubbling on top. She was using a Eucalyptus type wood to keep the fire going, so the whole kitchen had this wonderful smoky sage-Eucalyptus smell. Not to mention, the fire was keeping us warm. Anyway, her sister came to join us, and they explained that their parents had went to Puno for a couple of days to buy supplies, so it would just be them with us for tonight. So we had our lunch, which consisted of quinoa and vegetable soup, fried egg with vegetables, rice, and muna tea. Muna is a local herb found throughout the Andes that is similar to mint and is said to be good for stomach problems. Anyway, we had freshly picked muna for our tea, which added to the amazingess of our nice, toasty lunch. After lunch we washed dishes, with Aqilah scrubbing them in freshly boiled water, me rinsing them in cold water, and Alex drying and putting them away.
We were supposed to meet our tourist group at 4:00 pm, but we slightly overslept. After waking up we literally RAN up the side of the mountain, to the top, where our group was still going about its tour of the farms and Incan ruins of the island. We made it all the way to the temple of the father Earth (the mother Earth temple was closed), which overlooked the rest of the island, where we could see the other communities nestled away near the coast lines. At dusk we meandered our way back down, using Alex's medical pen-light as guidance, and returned to our beds. We didn't really fall asleep, but rather huddled for warmth until we couldn't take it any longer. So we stumbled down to the kitchen, where the fire for dinner was already going, and asked if we could help in any way. The sisters shared a glance that pretty much relayed their lack of faith in our abilities, but regardless, they gave us a clay bowl full of small, purple potatoes, a very large knife, and asked us to peel. It took us an incredibly long time, and I'm pretty sure we ended up with more peel than potato, but they thanked us and sent us on our way. A little bit later we had dinner, which consisted of more quinoa soup and rice with mixed vegetables.
We were going to explore the town after this, but it was so incredibly dark, even with Alex's pen-light, that we made it all of 10 feet before retreating back to our lighted dorm (thanks to solar power!). There we, of course, returned to our blankets and drifted off to sleep. During this time the power went out (due the overwhelming amount of rain and incredible lack of sun), and Gladys rushed us a candle, explaining the solar power situation and apologizing for the rain. At about 8:30, she returned, with typical clothes, which she instructed us to put on (or rather, she put mine on for me: two layers of heavy wool skirts, a heavy wool shirt, and a very stiff, thick woven belt that wrapped around me several times and probably could have served as a bullet proof vest). Alex wore a poncho and a chullo (a cap of sorts). Then we headed off to the town hall, where other tourists were dressed up and dancing to traditional music with locals. We danced a round of dancing, Alex had a Cusquena, then we decided we absolutely had to retire for a real full night of rest. While brushing our teeth and preparing for bed, Alex and I were entranced by the amazingly brilliant night sky. There were no lights on Amantani so you could see the stars as big as if they were lamps hanging from nearby villagers' roofs. The light trail of the Milky Way flowed through them, lighting up the black even more. It was one of the most beautiful nights I have ever experienced.
Bright and early at 6:30 the next morning, Gladys woke us up, fed us pancakes with jam, and sent us on our way. We met our tourist group at the shore, thanked our families in Quechua, and headed back to the boat to visit the final island: Taquile. Thankfully the sun was out today and everything...I mean EVERYTHING was crystal blue. The lake, the sky, the mountains--it was amazing. We could see the snowy peaks of Bolivia shining in the distance, the few clouds stood out stark white against the sky, and the sun shimmered on the perfectly clear water. This was our view for the two hours as we rode to Taquile.
Upon arriving we hiked another steep trail, winding around the face of a cliff, until we arrived at a central plaza where the view was even better and clearer than before. We explored this plaza, took pictures, learned about the traditional dress and laws of the people of Taquile, and then headed off to lunch. Lunch was a not-so-wonderful but extremely expensive fried egg with rice. Afterward, we hiked down over 500 steps, straight down the mountain, to the harbor that our boat was waiting in. By this time it was incredibly windy and the waves tossed the boat around as we made our way back to Puno. Even though the boat was thrust back and forth and side to side, it was actually incredibly relaxing. If you closed your eyes it was like sitting in a rocking chair (which, granted, was rocking pretty hard). Anyway, we slept pretty well until we arrived to Puno. Once there we followed our group and boarded a bus, where we were taken back to our hotels. Luckily, Alex remember the name of our "hotel" once the guide said it, and we safely made it back. Afterwards, we wandered around the main tourist strip of Puno, looking for things to eat and things to do until our bus left at 9 p.m. We ate some interesting Mediterranean food (I had bruschetta with figs and red wine sauce), had some hot chocolate, had some ice cream, walked around the plaza, visited several tiendas, and finally made our way to the bus station. From there we had an uneventful, but comfortable, ride back to Cusco.
At about 4 am we arrived in Cusco--super excited about a hot shower (or the closest thing you can get to a hot shower here) and our beds. But, alas, nothing in Peru is so easy. So, we arrive at the apartment and find that it has been bolted from the inside. So, we proceed to knock, bang, yell, and tap for an hour or so--successfully waking up the entire neighborhood, who all came out to ask if we were okay. However, we did not succeed in waking up the person inside. So, at 5:30 in the morning, defeated, cold, and tired, we left the apartment and wandered around Cusco looking for a cheap hostel to sleep in. We finally found one, up some rickety stairs from an artisan market. Two beds crammed incredibly close together with some shady looking sheets, peeling walls, and a very musty smell. It was, however, two beds with lots of blankets. So Aqilah, Alex, and I promptly slipped under our sheets and passed out for 4 hours. Twenty dollars and four hours later, though, we were back in our apartment, showered, and cozied up under our own warm, comfortable (ish) beds.
All in all it was quite an interesting trip that was well, well worth it.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Horses: Perhaps not so dangerous after all
So, after the week of festivals, Cusco has been pretty quiet. The only festival this week was a follow-up to the Corpus Christi saint-n-virgin parade. Where the images had been on display for the week, they are now returned to their resting places in the great variety of churches and other religious institutions in the city. I don't know if I mentioned earlier that this is an adaptation of a previous Inca custom. The Inca preserved the mummies of their kings, and treated them as though they were still alive, parading them about and feeding them the richest feasts. Indeed, according to Veronica's research, the Inca habit of feeding their dead was one of the reasons they were so vulnerable to the invasion led by Francisco Pizarro, an intriguing example of a maladaptive meme. A key point to the success of the Spanish conquest of much of the New World depended on taking advantage of the relationships of the native people. Pizarro only had 168 men, 27 horses, and a cannon with which he was given a charter to conquer the Inca in 1529. In 1532, they arrived at the Inca Empire in the midst of a struggle between the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa (sons of Huayna Capac), tenuous loyalty especially among newly conquered territories, and chaos resulting from a smallpox epidemic. The Spaniards were not only able to talk their way out of trouble, but acquired the help of tens of thousands of other natives in the process. Atahualpa succeeded in becoming the leader of the Inca, but was tricked into being captured by the Spanish, and executed in 1533. Huascar was also assasinated, and the conquistadores blamed it on Atahualpa. Manco Inca, another brother of Atahualpa, was installed by the Spanish as Inca. He cooperated with the Spanish until he realized he could take advantage of an internal feud among them, and recaptured Cusco in 1536. He was nearly successful, but a last ditch effort by Spanish cavalry led to his defeat at Sacsayhuaman. He retreated to Vilcabamba in the jungle, the famous last city of the Inca, where they waged a war of resistance until 1572, when the last Inca Tupac Amaru (whom with Tupac Shakur claimed ancestry...dunno about that) was captured and brutally executed in Plaza de Armas in Cusco. He said, "Mother Earth, witness how my enemies shed my blood," and that was that for the Inca Empire. The following years included brutal suppression of Inca culture, though many practices survive to today.
So, as noted, one of the slightly annoying things about Cusco is something called the "boleto turistico", which is a ticket that includes entry over a 10-day period to a variety of impressive to hole-in-the-wall destinations in and around Cusco. We purchased them during our tour of the Sacred Valley, but we were determined to make the most of them, so spent a few days looking in the museums that were listed. They weren't the most exciting, one of them had some archaeological artifacts of past cultures (probably the most interesting out of them), a popular art museum, and a native art museum that turned out to be more of a market for handicrafts. There was also a really cool dance presentation that we went to one evening in which traditional live music was played while dances from the surrounding area were performed.
Last Tuesday we checked out some of the ruins above Cusco on horseback. The horses were pretty chill, so there weren't any near death experiences. We clambered through the hills surrounding Cusco, with some really epic landscapes. Our guide followed us by foot, playing his flute periodically, which lent a sort of mystical quality to the venture. The first stop was near a couple of ruins, Pukapukara and Tambomachay. We had to leave the horses momentarily as it was down the major highway, hence not a good place for horses. Pukapukara is a really cool Inca station that reminds me of Amon Sul, where Frodo gets stabbed by the Witch King (+10 nerd points). But really, its a kind of ruined tower on a small hilltop overlooking the surrounding countryside, with all of the impressive Inca stonework intact. Tambomachay was interesting, being most notable for its fountains, although we had to quench our thirst with a bottle of water purchased from una mujer since the fountains were blocked off. Returning to our horses, we continued along the hills to the Temple of the Moon, which seemed to be carved straight out of a huge boulder. We finished our riding tour shortly thereafter near a field of potatoes, and continued on foot to the ruins of Q'enko. Also carved into a boulder, this was apparently the site of some manner of sacrifice. Our last stop was actually a return to Sacsayhuaman, to take a look at the grand Inca structure, which was the site of the battle that was the last significant chance the Inca had at resisting the Spanish invasion. The stonework there is incredible. Many of the stones were pillaged by the Spaniards for the construction of their own houses, but many were so large that they could not be moved.
Otherwise we have been continuing to practice our Spanish. I think the Spanish I do know is becoming more intuitive, but I've been having some trouble with vocab building. Poco a poco, I guess. It's been fun shopping at all the various markets, stores, blankets-at-the-side-of-the-road, etc. I even have been able to use enough Spanish to do some bartering. Of course, things probably still cost too much, but its a fun game with neat prizes. The souvenir-sellers in Cusco are the most aggressive element of Peru that I have encountered. Starving artists will follow you for several blocks, all the while trying their best to guilt trip you into purchasing one of their paintings. Overall though, the pace of Peru is so laidback that one really can't do anything but go with the flow, and mostly everything turns out all right.
So, as noted, one of the slightly annoying things about Cusco is something called the "boleto turistico", which is a ticket that includes entry over a 10-day period to a variety of impressive to hole-in-the-wall destinations in and around Cusco. We purchased them during our tour of the Sacred Valley, but we were determined to make the most of them, so spent a few days looking in the museums that were listed. They weren't the most exciting, one of them had some archaeological artifacts of past cultures (probably the most interesting out of them), a popular art museum, and a native art museum that turned out to be more of a market for handicrafts. There was also a really cool dance presentation that we went to one evening in which traditional live music was played while dances from the surrounding area were performed.
Last Tuesday we checked out some of the ruins above Cusco on horseback. The horses were pretty chill, so there weren't any near death experiences. We clambered through the hills surrounding Cusco, with some really epic landscapes. Our guide followed us by foot, playing his flute periodically, which lent a sort of mystical quality to the venture. The first stop was near a couple of ruins, Pukapukara and Tambomachay. We had to leave the horses momentarily as it was down the major highway, hence not a good place for horses. Pukapukara is a really cool Inca station that reminds me of Amon Sul, where Frodo gets stabbed by the Witch King (+10 nerd points). But really, its a kind of ruined tower on a small hilltop overlooking the surrounding countryside, with all of the impressive Inca stonework intact. Tambomachay was interesting, being most notable for its fountains, although we had to quench our thirst with a bottle of water purchased from una mujer since the fountains were blocked off. Returning to our horses, we continued along the hills to the Temple of the Moon, which seemed to be carved straight out of a huge boulder. We finished our riding tour shortly thereafter near a field of potatoes, and continued on foot to the ruins of Q'enko. Also carved into a boulder, this was apparently the site of some manner of sacrifice. Our last stop was actually a return to Sacsayhuaman, to take a look at the grand Inca structure, which was the site of the battle that was the last significant chance the Inca had at resisting the Spanish invasion. The stonework there is incredible. Many of the stones were pillaged by the Spaniards for the construction of their own houses, but many were so large that they could not be moved.
Otherwise we have been continuing to practice our Spanish. I think the Spanish I do know is becoming more intuitive, but I've been having some trouble with vocab building. Poco a poco, I guess. It's been fun shopping at all the various markets, stores, blankets-at-the-side-of-the-road, etc. I even have been able to use enough Spanish to do some bartering. Of course, things probably still cost too much, but its a fun game with neat prizes. The souvenir-sellers in Cusco are the most aggressive element of Peru that I have encountered. Starving artists will follow you for several blocks, all the while trying their best to guilt trip you into purchasing one of their paintings. Overall though, the pace of Peru is so laidback that one really can't do anything but go with the flow, and mostly everything turns out all right.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Chocolate
I forgot to mention something particularly splendid. At the beginning of last week (aka la semana de las fiestas), we signed ourselves up for a Tuesday afternoon workshop at the Choco-museo, a small museum/kitchen/cafe dedicated to chocolate. Now, there's apparently no evidence that indigenous peoples of Peru (including the Inca) cultivated chocolate, and it was more the fare of Central American cultures such as the Maya and Inca. However, in recent times, given the problems with coca cultivation for the purposes of making cocaine, there has been an effort to shift towards cacao instead.Peruvian cacao is on the increase. Cacao trees are pretty short, and grow best in the shade of other trees. If I recall correctly, they can only be grown 20 degrees north and south of the equator. The cacao beans actually come from the center of a colorful fruit. Wildlife, such as monkeys (New World Monkeys, distinguished by their prehensile tails) consume the fruit, but leave the horridly bitter seeds. Indeed, there is a rather complex process that allows cacao to become delicious chocolate. First, the beans must be fermented in boxes lined with banana leaves. Though fermented, the husks can not even be separated from the useful chocolate material in the medullary aspect of the bean. So, the next step is to dry, and then roast the beans. This slightly mellows out the flavor, but the beans still taste extremely bitter and astringent, which lingers in your mouth. The roasting also allows for winnowing, the separation of the husks from the 'nibs'. The husks can be used to make a nice tea, with a light but noticeably chocolate flavor. Once you've got your nibs, you can grind them up into a chocolatey paste. Doing it the old fashioned way, a la mortar and pestle, is an energy intensive process due to having to apply sufficient friction to produce the paste rather than the more easily achievable powder. Once we got to this step in the workshop, we tried making some Mayan-style hot chocolate. This includes the paste, chili, and no sugar. To make it a little bit frothy (a somewhat difficult process, because it is water-based rather than the European milk-based formula), we poured the mix from one jug to another with increasing vertical distance, only spilling a little. It is a bitter but tasty beverage that the Maya held in high religious esteem. The next experiment we tried was with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. It was rich and tasty, a more fruity flavor than I'm used to. The next step is more mechanical, involving grinding , mixing, and refining. We didn't do that during the workshop, and only discussed it briefly. After that, some serious wizardry occurs via the tempering process. Again, we discussed rather that did, because it takes a while. Basically, chocolate has to be cooled down in a particular way and at a particular rate in order for it to have a shiny appearance, rather than a white, powdery marble color. You might have seen this in a chocolate bar you left in your hot car, for example, and then opened up later. We received pre-tempered dark chocolate to make our own chocolates out of, utilizing other ingredients such as Oreos, espresso beans, chili, nuts, and many other spices to make a wide palate of flavors. All in all, an extremely fun couple of hours.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Riding Through the Andes
This story starts two days ago, on Monday, when Alex and I were walking through the central plaza, taking pictures of the amazingly beautiful day, with all of its colors, flags, and bright blue sky, when suddenly Alex hears "caballos." I totally missed it, but this fellow standing about 4 feet away from us was handing out cards detailing horseback riding adventures through the Andes. After a few seconds of consideration (mostly me saying "please, please, please" and Alex grimacing because he is slightly horse-phobic) we decided to talk to Umberto. He took us into his office, we discussed the condition of the horses, where we would go, and how these things work out. Conveniently, we had just one more day left on our 10-day tourist ticket (remember, the one that cost us 140 soles?), and on this horseback riding journey we could visit 3 of the places remaining on the ticket! That convinced Alex and we signed up.
So, yesterday we suited up, met Umberto at 9 a.m. sharp, and were chauffeured (in a very nice car) to the stables, just outside of Cusco, and near Sacsayhuaman (where the Inti Raymi festival was held). We were met by a fellow wearing sweatpants, Converses, and a baseball hat, who told us that he was our "horse man." He asked us about our horse experience (mine being a lot, Alex's being none) and picked out horses for us. I inspected them--looking at their feet, their muscles, etc. and decided that they were well cared for and quite healthy (you hear stories about shabby, unhealthy horses for tourists--but these horses were obviously loved). My horse was a white horse called Rosie, and Alex's was a sorrel horse,with a shiny, spiky mane, named Percio. Our horse man, interestingly, did not ride a horse. Instead, he chose to follow us, having a very friendly conversation in Spanish, and playing traditional Peruvian music on his wooden flute.
The first hour was straight up the side of a mountain, winding through tall grasses, navigating over bumpy terrain, and sidestepping large rocks. The higher we went, the more we could see of the surrounding towns, of Cusco, and of the mountains extending forever into the distance. Once we arrived to the top, we dismounted, and walked down a winding, rural road to visit the first set of ruins. These were Puca Pucara, formerly an Incan fortress and check-in site, and Tambomachay, which apparently was an Incan ritual bath house. Puca Pucara was pretty amazing--anchored to the side of a cliff and looming up over the mountainside. While we were there there was an older man and his grandson (presumably). The man was so adorable! He was taking pictures of everything and having his grandson record him walking around the ruins. He asked us if we wanted him to take a picture of Alex and me standing near the edge of the ruins, and then afterward, he asked me to be in a picture with him so he could remember us. Tambomachay was not quite as interesting as Puca Pucara, it was simply a short road with ruins to the left side. There were, however, some very stately alpacas hanging out there. After this, we hiked back down the rural road, to the site where our horses were waiting.
Along the way we met up with a decently large white dog with brown patches who was incredibly friendly. We petted him and he decided that he was going to lead us back to the horse spot. Whenever he got too far ahead of us, he would stop and wait until we caught up. It was adorable. When we came back to our horses, there were suddenly like 35 more horses, where groups of tourists had made their way up the mountain too. Luckily, we were way ahead of them and didn't encounter them again. Anyway, with our new dog pal in tow, we got back on our horses and rode down the mountain. My horse was pretty opposed to going down, so I ended up taking an interesting, very windy path to the bottom of the mountain. Once there, I found myself in between two people riding their horses for leisure. One of these people was set on getting his horse to go full speed, and my horse was set on making sure she was constantly in the lead. Thus, I had a fun jaunt around the bottom of the mountain (it really was pretty fun), racing this fellow (unintentionally), until we arrived at a small stream, where our horses hopped over and promptly decided it was time for a break. I waited a good few minutes before Alex and our guide made it down the mountain, and then we dismounted again to explore the Temple of the Moon.
The Temple of the Moon is basically a large rock with two caves in it and some ritual ruins in front of it. Alex and I climbed to the top to look out over the valley. There we were harassed by a hipster-looking fellow who asked if we needed a guide (which, of course, we said no). We then climbed down the face of this very large rock and discovered an entrance to one of the caves. It was basically a narrow crack, with not much inside, but regardless, it was still exciting to explore. After our adventures here, we found our horses again and pursued the last leg of our ride.
This part was the most amazing. Our guide was playing his wooden flute, the wind was lightly blowing, and if you looked, you could see the valley all the way to the horizon. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I've had in my life. We rode down a dusty road, next to some large farms, through a tiny, rural village, and finally dismounted right before we reached a small town near Sacsayhuaman. We thanked our guide and tipped him, then proceeded to hike through a cedar-like forest until we reached the two remaining Incan ruin sites that were on our tourist ticket. We meandered through them, hiked back down to Cusco, and had amazing bbq veggie burgers for lunch. It really was one of the most perfect days ever.
So, yesterday we suited up, met Umberto at 9 a.m. sharp, and were chauffeured (in a very nice car) to the stables, just outside of Cusco, and near Sacsayhuaman (where the Inti Raymi festival was held). We were met by a fellow wearing sweatpants, Converses, and a baseball hat, who told us that he was our "horse man." He asked us about our horse experience (mine being a lot, Alex's being none) and picked out horses for us. I inspected them--looking at their feet, their muscles, etc. and decided that they were well cared for and quite healthy (you hear stories about shabby, unhealthy horses for tourists--but these horses were obviously loved). My horse was a white horse called Rosie, and Alex's was a sorrel horse,with a shiny, spiky mane, named Percio. Our horse man, interestingly, did not ride a horse. Instead, he chose to follow us, having a very friendly conversation in Spanish, and playing traditional Peruvian music on his wooden flute.
The first hour was straight up the side of a mountain, winding through tall grasses, navigating over bumpy terrain, and sidestepping large rocks. The higher we went, the more we could see of the surrounding towns, of Cusco, and of the mountains extending forever into the distance. Once we arrived to the top, we dismounted, and walked down a winding, rural road to visit the first set of ruins. These were Puca Pucara, formerly an Incan fortress and check-in site, and Tambomachay, which apparently was an Incan ritual bath house. Puca Pucara was pretty amazing--anchored to the side of a cliff and looming up over the mountainside. While we were there there was an older man and his grandson (presumably). The man was so adorable! He was taking pictures of everything and having his grandson record him walking around the ruins. He asked us if we wanted him to take a picture of Alex and me standing near the edge of the ruins, and then afterward, he asked me to be in a picture with him so he could remember us. Tambomachay was not quite as interesting as Puca Pucara, it was simply a short road with ruins to the left side. There were, however, some very stately alpacas hanging out there. After this, we hiked back down the rural road, to the site where our horses were waiting.
Along the way we met up with a decently large white dog with brown patches who was incredibly friendly. We petted him and he decided that he was going to lead us back to the horse spot. Whenever he got too far ahead of us, he would stop and wait until we caught up. It was adorable. When we came back to our horses, there were suddenly like 35 more horses, where groups of tourists had made their way up the mountain too. Luckily, we were way ahead of them and didn't encounter them again. Anyway, with our new dog pal in tow, we got back on our horses and rode down the mountain. My horse was pretty opposed to going down, so I ended up taking an interesting, very windy path to the bottom of the mountain. Once there, I found myself in between two people riding their horses for leisure. One of these people was set on getting his horse to go full speed, and my horse was set on making sure she was constantly in the lead. Thus, I had a fun jaunt around the bottom of the mountain (it really was pretty fun), racing this fellow (unintentionally), until we arrived at a small stream, where our horses hopped over and promptly decided it was time for a break. I waited a good few minutes before Alex and our guide made it down the mountain, and then we dismounted again to explore the Temple of the Moon.
The Temple of the Moon is basically a large rock with two caves in it and some ritual ruins in front of it. Alex and I climbed to the top to look out over the valley. There we were harassed by a hipster-looking fellow who asked if we needed a guide (which, of course, we said no). We then climbed down the face of this very large rock and discovered an entrance to one of the caves. It was basically a narrow crack, with not much inside, but regardless, it was still exciting to explore. After our adventures here, we found our horses again and pursued the last leg of our ride.
This part was the most amazing. Our guide was playing his wooden flute, the wind was lightly blowing, and if you looked, you could see the valley all the way to the horizon. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I've had in my life. We rode down a dusty road, next to some large farms, through a tiny, rural village, and finally dismounted right before we reached a small town near Sacsayhuaman. We thanked our guide and tipped him, then proceeded to hike through a cedar-like forest until we reached the two remaining Incan ruin sites that were on our tourist ticket. We meandered through them, hiked back down to Cusco, and had amazing bbq veggie burgers for lunch. It really was one of the most perfect days ever.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Inti Raymi
It has been quite a week...I've felt slightly ill, but I believe I'm on the mend now, so no worries. I did some work in the hospital this week, but as mentioned, I think my time will be better spent concentrating on learning and practicing Spanish with an emphasis on medical terminology. The hospitals are odd, all large and drafty with no manner of temperature control. They had taken me to general surgery to begin with, but a fellow wearing jeans with hair sticking up every way, who was presumably the chief of the department, declared it to be 'far too complicated', and off I went to the ED. In the emergency department, rooms are organized in specialty, so I was in the internal medicine room. 'Room' perhaps is not the best word, as they were just areas separated by curtains that patients and staff would just bust into while another patient was being seen. I think 90% of what I saw ended up being classified as acute gastritis. Nothing too exciting.
Elsewhere in Cusco, it has been a nonstop party this entire week. On Monday night, there was a big public concert in the Plaza de Armas. It was packed full, and served as a preview for the rest of the week's difficulty in navigating through the city. The party-goers were interspersed with an absurd amount of people selling everything to beer and cigarettes to blinky knick-knacks. Yep, the streets have had a distinctly urine-y smell the last few days. Thursday's Corpus Christi only increased the cerveza intake, with a huge party surrounding the parade of various Catholic images around the Plaza. The hospedaje (hostel sort of thing) where Veronica and Heidi have their Spanish lessons have a really good view of the Plaza, and I spent a good while watching Corpus Christi from there, as well as the rest of the city. The valley of Cusco is a little bowl of civilization stuck in the middle of semi-green Andean hills. One wonders how anyone can get up some of the steep roads that are nearer to the edges of this bowl. The sky varies from cloudy to complete sun, but it never rains since its the dry season. Far in the distance, there is the snow-capped peak of Salkantay, where I imagine the Dark Lord lives in his secret fortress, plotting all manner of plots. Luckily, Friday was Inti Raymi, the biggest Cusco festival that is a reenactment of the Inca asking the Sun to reheat the Earth. Sacsayhuaman, the Incan ruins that lie behind the Cristo Blanco statue on the Northwest edge of town, serve as the venue. It is quite a walk, and there a ridiculous amount of people that crowd up there. It is quite a sight to see, and not necessarily because of the ritual, which can be better seen on DVD or youtube I'm sure. There are all manner of folk picnicing, hanging out, selling stuff, etc. etc. Though there is a constantly huge crowd up in the park, there is a constant crowd moving in and out. And they are all throwing trash everywhere. I do not envy whoever has to clean that up.
Elsewhere in Cusco, it has been a nonstop party this entire week. On Monday night, there was a big public concert in the Plaza de Armas. It was packed full, and served as a preview for the rest of the week's difficulty in navigating through the city. The party-goers were interspersed with an absurd amount of people selling everything to beer and cigarettes to blinky knick-knacks. Yep, the streets have had a distinctly urine-y smell the last few days. Thursday's Corpus Christi only increased the cerveza intake, with a huge party surrounding the parade of various Catholic images around the Plaza. The hospedaje (hostel sort of thing) where Veronica and Heidi have their Spanish lessons have a really good view of the Plaza, and I spent a good while watching Corpus Christi from there, as well as the rest of the city. The valley of Cusco is a little bowl of civilization stuck in the middle of semi-green Andean hills. One wonders how anyone can get up some of the steep roads that are nearer to the edges of this bowl. The sky varies from cloudy to complete sun, but it never rains since its the dry season. Far in the distance, there is the snow-capped peak of Salkantay, where I imagine the Dark Lord lives in his secret fortress, plotting all manner of plots. Luckily, Friday was Inti Raymi, the biggest Cusco festival that is a reenactment of the Inca asking the Sun to reheat the Earth. Sacsayhuaman, the Incan ruins that lie behind the Cristo Blanco statue on the Northwest edge of town, serve as the venue. It is quite a walk, and there a ridiculous amount of people that crowd up there. It is quite a sight to see, and not necessarily because of the ritual, which can be better seen on DVD or youtube I'm sure. There are all manner of folk picnicing, hanging out, selling stuff, etc. etc. Though there is a constantly huge crowd up in the park, there is a constant crowd moving in and out. And they are all throwing trash everywhere. I do not envy whoever has to clean that up.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Walk Like an Incan
Last Sunday, after a full and wonderfully festive week in the very beautiful (at times) Cusco, we hopped on a bus (okay, it wasn't as nonchalant as that: Pablo planned very well for us to take an ecologically friendly tour through a very highly rated tour company), and we headed to the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley is an area near Cusco that houses cities with various Inca ruins and still maintains many traditional cultural activities. We mainly visited three cities: Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero.
Let me begin this, though, by articulating the...erm...squabble that Alex and I had with the tourist officers. Okay, so having a student ID is supposed to get you half off the price of 140 soles, right? That means it will only cost students 70 soles for the trip. So, Alex and I make our way to the ticket-buying counter, we present our student IDs, and start digging out 70 soles. The woman behind the desk then informs us that our student IDs don't count. Say what? Apparently because ETSU does not issue a new ID EVERY SINGLE YEAR (with the date on it) it means that our IDs are not valid for the student ID discount. So, I proceeded to read the back of our ID cards (in English, Spanish, and Spanglish) over and over, stressing the part about "this ID is not valid unless this person is currently a student," etc. Finally, another woman came over to argue with us solely in English. I politely (well, as politely as my offended self could) gave her our cards, and asked her to read it. Out loud. I wasn't taking no for an answer. Half an hour later, with lots of sorries on the part of the officers, Alex and I trudged back to the bus, out of 140 soles each. Seriously. This ruined a good 45 minutes of the trip for me. Alex, however, while upset by the situation, was entirely amused by my display. So that out of the way, let's move on.
The first site was Pisac, which has lots of agricultural terracing and a winding path through a small village at the very top of a mountain. If you are brave enough (as in you are prepared to sweat a little, breathe a lot, and strain your legs), you can make it all the way to the top of the mountain to the highest located little thatched-roof house at the top. It's quite a breathtaking view from there. This village was apparently host to several hundred Incan farmers during the Incan reign, and provided a good deal of the food that all Incas consumed.
Afterward, we drove an hour through the countryside (mountainside?), examining various cultural traditions of house building and decorating, agricultural terracing, and the basic lifestyles of the peoples who made their homes here. It was quite rustic and beautiful. It reminded me a lot of rural India, with traditional music filtering out of adobe windows, brightly colored clothes hung out on lines, small farms with cows, sheep, dogs, and alpacas wandering about, and little storefronts with brightly painted signs beaming from here and there. Also, an interesting thing about Peru is that political advertisements are painted on the sides of houses. I'm not sure who does this or how it works, but every other house has the name of a political candidate from the past election (which took place on June 5) in brightly colored letters on a stark white background. Even out here, in this very rural setting, the houses were awash with political advertising. It made for some interesting scenery.
Anyway, an hour later we stopped at La Jacaranda buffet, where we had cinnamon and clove tea and ate a lunch that mainly consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, and frijoles (not that there wasn't other food, but the majority of it had lamb, pollo, or carne, so you know...off limits for us). After another long drive and tour of various rural villages we arrived at Ollantaytambo about another hour later.
Ollantaytambo is a medium sized city built on the original Inca foundation. Most of the houses still have walls made by the Incas! This place is AMAZING. Grain storage facilities were built on the sides of cliffs (quite literally) and we got a glimpse of where the Incas discovered the imagery for their primary god. Here is where the Earth temple is located--but only halfway built, because during its construction the Incas had to stop in order to fight the Spanish. Anyway, after a daunting climb of who knows how many stairs straight up the side of this mountain (which is even higher than Cusco!), we arrived at the top of a very beautiful architectural site. Below we could see the farms that we had just spent an hour driving through, stretching across the valley below as far as you would be inclined to look. In the city below the local people were beginning a cultural festival, and we could hear the music and see them in their brightly colored, traditional outfits. Ollantaytambo is, by far, one of the most beautiful places I've seen.
However, Chinchero was quite an amazing site as well. Unlike the previous two cities, Chinchero did not require walking straight up the side of a cliff. Rather, it was a leisurely walk through a small town, out onto a plateau. The only word that I could think to describe this place is: tranquil. The mountains surrounded us, the sun was falling, shadows drifted lazily across the valley as clouds passed overhead. Children played with their puppies, women sat weaving, the men had gathered to celebrate Father's Day with some local beers...it was so perfect. On the ground were tiny, shriveled potatoes (which I at first mistook for Alpaca droppings). Our guide explained to us that this was the seed saving technique of Andean peoples. During the winter in the Andes the nights and mornings are very cold, which makes the potatoes freeze and literally turn to ice. In the warmer afternoons the potatoes melt. This process, during the winter, causes the potatoes to dry from the inside out, preserving their reproductive abilities and ensuring a plentiful potato harvest for the next year. Pretty incredible, no? Chinchero is also host to the oldest remaining church in Peru, which still has the original frescoes painted in the early 1600s. It was kind of creepy, but also quite intriguing. The most notable thing about Chinchero, though, is its textiles. The people of Chinchero still wear traditional clothing, always, and maintain traditional weaving and dying techniques. We actually got to see how these clothes were made, from the wool of the Alpaca, to the process that makes it into thread, to how to dye the thread a variety of different colors (black, red purple, yellow, etc.). Afterward, we were enticed by the local market with various sellers promising good prices, only for us. Alex and I did manage to buy some high quality chompas for a little bit of a deal. Thinking about Chinchero now leaves such a peaceful taste in my mouth. It was such a wonderful place.
Afterwards, we headed back to Cusco, passing by Salkantay and seeing the outline of Veronica (yes!) in the distance. I can't really remember what we did afterward--I was entirely exhausted, but the day was quite amazing.
Let me begin this, though, by articulating the...erm...squabble that Alex and I had with the tourist officers. Okay, so having a student ID is supposed to get you half off the price of 140 soles, right? That means it will only cost students 70 soles for the trip. So, Alex and I make our way to the ticket-buying counter, we present our student IDs, and start digging out 70 soles. The woman behind the desk then informs us that our student IDs don't count. Say what? Apparently because ETSU does not issue a new ID EVERY SINGLE YEAR (with the date on it) it means that our IDs are not valid for the student ID discount. So, I proceeded to read the back of our ID cards (in English, Spanish, and Spanglish) over and over, stressing the part about "this ID is not valid unless this person is currently a student," etc. Finally, another woman came over to argue with us solely in English. I politely (well, as politely as my offended self could) gave her our cards, and asked her to read it. Out loud. I wasn't taking no for an answer. Half an hour later, with lots of sorries on the part of the officers, Alex and I trudged back to the bus, out of 140 soles each. Seriously. This ruined a good 45 minutes of the trip for me. Alex, however, while upset by the situation, was entirely amused by my display. So that out of the way, let's move on.
The first site was Pisac, which has lots of agricultural terracing and a winding path through a small village at the very top of a mountain. If you are brave enough (as in you are prepared to sweat a little, breathe a lot, and strain your legs), you can make it all the way to the top of the mountain to the highest located little thatched-roof house at the top. It's quite a breathtaking view from there. This village was apparently host to several hundred Incan farmers during the Incan reign, and provided a good deal of the food that all Incas consumed.
Afterward, we drove an hour through the countryside (mountainside?), examining various cultural traditions of house building and decorating, agricultural terracing, and the basic lifestyles of the peoples who made their homes here. It was quite rustic and beautiful. It reminded me a lot of rural India, with traditional music filtering out of adobe windows, brightly colored clothes hung out on lines, small farms with cows, sheep, dogs, and alpacas wandering about, and little storefronts with brightly painted signs beaming from here and there. Also, an interesting thing about Peru is that political advertisements are painted on the sides of houses. I'm not sure who does this or how it works, but every other house has the name of a political candidate from the past election (which took place on June 5) in brightly colored letters on a stark white background. Even out here, in this very rural setting, the houses were awash with political advertising. It made for some interesting scenery.
Anyway, an hour later we stopped at La Jacaranda buffet, where we had cinnamon and clove tea and ate a lunch that mainly consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, and frijoles (not that there wasn't other food, but the majority of it had lamb, pollo, or carne, so you know...off limits for us). After another long drive and tour of various rural villages we arrived at Ollantaytambo about another hour later.
Ollantaytambo is a medium sized city built on the original Inca foundation. Most of the houses still have walls made by the Incas! This place is AMAZING. Grain storage facilities were built on the sides of cliffs (quite literally) and we got a glimpse of where the Incas discovered the imagery for their primary god. Here is where the Earth temple is located--but only halfway built, because during its construction the Incas had to stop in order to fight the Spanish. Anyway, after a daunting climb of who knows how many stairs straight up the side of this mountain (which is even higher than Cusco!), we arrived at the top of a very beautiful architectural site. Below we could see the farms that we had just spent an hour driving through, stretching across the valley below as far as you would be inclined to look. In the city below the local people were beginning a cultural festival, and we could hear the music and see them in their brightly colored, traditional outfits. Ollantaytambo is, by far, one of the most beautiful places I've seen.
However, Chinchero was quite an amazing site as well. Unlike the previous two cities, Chinchero did not require walking straight up the side of a cliff. Rather, it was a leisurely walk through a small town, out onto a plateau. The only word that I could think to describe this place is: tranquil. The mountains surrounded us, the sun was falling, shadows drifted lazily across the valley as clouds passed overhead. Children played with their puppies, women sat weaving, the men had gathered to celebrate Father's Day with some local beers...it was so perfect. On the ground were tiny, shriveled potatoes (which I at first mistook for Alpaca droppings). Our guide explained to us that this was the seed saving technique of Andean peoples. During the winter in the Andes the nights and mornings are very cold, which makes the potatoes freeze and literally turn to ice. In the warmer afternoons the potatoes melt. This process, during the winter, causes the potatoes to dry from the inside out, preserving their reproductive abilities and ensuring a plentiful potato harvest for the next year. Pretty incredible, no? Chinchero is also host to the oldest remaining church in Peru, which still has the original frescoes painted in the early 1600s. It was kind of creepy, but also quite intriguing. The most notable thing about Chinchero, though, is its textiles. The people of Chinchero still wear traditional clothing, always, and maintain traditional weaving and dying techniques. We actually got to see how these clothes were made, from the wool of the Alpaca, to the process that makes it into thread, to how to dye the thread a variety of different colors (black, red purple, yellow, etc.). Afterward, we were enticed by the local market with various sellers promising good prices, only for us. Alex and I did manage to buy some high quality chompas for a little bit of a deal. Thinking about Chinchero now leaves such a peaceful taste in my mouth. It was such a wonderful place.
Afterwards, we headed back to Cusco, passing by Salkantay and seeing the outline of Veronica (yes!) in the distance. I can't really remember what we did afterward--I was entirely exhausted, but the day was quite amazing.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Endless fiestas
I forgot to indicate that I did in fact acquire my bag from the airport finally. I had gotten a ride with the apartment-keep, Javier, to the airport to attempt to get it, only to find that the Taca Airlines counter was closed. Taking a taxi there the next day, I found out that they had in fact left it with LAN, another airline. But alas, the end to that whole frustrating mess.
Otherwise, we have been continuing exploration of the grand ol' town of Cusco. There have been endless parades, starting last week. For every day, every possible permutation of combinations of cultural performances by any and all Cusco institutions have and will take place. Tomorrow, the quasi-Catholic celebration of Corpus Christi will take place, only to be outdone by the festival of Inti Raymi. This is the hugest party of the year, a sort of pageant that takes place at nearby Sacsayhuaman. It is an attempt to reenact the traditional Inca festival that asks the Sun to return towards the Earth to warm it again, obviously with some modern twists due to the multi-century Spanish imperial presence.
Indeed, Cusco strikes an interesting balance between cultural celebration and straight up party mayhem. There are a bijillion discotecas, bars, and restaurants to choose from when you get tired from the parade. One interesting one down the road from where I am staying is a multi-level lounge called the Frogs, which we have taken quite a liking to due to the decor and friendly staff. Happy hour is ubiquitous, and one can get a 2 for 1 on some standard and some local specialties. For example, the Macchu Picchu is a temping cocktail that is a 3-stripe rainbow experience that is quite delicious for the first red and yellow layers. All of a sudden, blam! Straight up mint liqueur, which I suppose leaves you with minty fresh breath, but is less than pleasant. Another local specialty called a Pisco Sour involves pisco, orange bitters, lime, and egg whites. Haven't tried the full version yet, but sans egg whites is quite tasty. I'm currently feeling kind of ill, nothing too serious, but I have absolutely no appetite.
Last Sunday, we had an excellent day-long whirlwind tour of the Sacred Valley near Cusco. We explored 3 different Incan ruins, which held religious, agricultural, and political significance for the Inca Empire, which was centered around Cusco. There is still a lot of Incan architecture present in much of Cusco, and many other towns as well in form of mortar-free lithic foundations in a variety of styles. The means by which they extracted, shaped, and transported such stones is quite impressive. For example, at Ollantytambo, there is an alter at the very top of a terraced hillside that makes the religious sector of town. The stones used there are enormous, and were dragged without the use of the wheel from a hillside quarry on the opposite side of the river that lies at the bottom of the valley. Indeed, the Inca were expert engineers, astronomers (or -ologers), and agriculturists. The terracing is quite impressive, as it enabled the growing of many different types of food along the stark change in elevation. The town of Ollantytambo beneath the ruins consists of 30% Inca structure. Many Inca settlements, particularly with religious significance, were designed in the shape of significant animals, such as llamas, condors, pumas, etc. On the hillside facing the temple-terrace area, there is a structure built onto the mountain that acted as a storehouse. Due to its placement, the wind would have assisted the already dry climate in preserving food. Any way the Inca went would have been uphill, so they must have been beastly fit. Pisac included a lot of small tombs in a hillside. The Inca had quite interesting cults around the mummies of their dead kings. They would parade them around, possibly representing different political factions, and treat them with great luxury. Considering how much trouble I have carrying my own self around these high mountains, the Inca must have been on some other kind of stuff.
I had 10 hours of Spanish lessons the first week, and a grand total of zero this week, but I'm still getting plenty of practice. I think I'm going to switch my program to just taking Spanish classes concentrating on medical vocabulary. I spent the previous week's mornings in the ED of one of Cusco's hospitals, but I had so much trouble with communication and not being allowed to do much of anything, that I think this would be a better alternative. The medical facilities are dark and cold, so I can't say I mind terribly. I'll find out at the beginning of next week what I'll be up to. The week after, we'll head out to the rainforest, and then its Machu Picchu!
Otherwise, we have been continuing exploration of the grand ol' town of Cusco. There have been endless parades, starting last week. For every day, every possible permutation of combinations of cultural performances by any and all Cusco institutions have and will take place. Tomorrow, the quasi-Catholic celebration of Corpus Christi will take place, only to be outdone by the festival of Inti Raymi. This is the hugest party of the year, a sort of pageant that takes place at nearby Sacsayhuaman. It is an attempt to reenact the traditional Inca festival that asks the Sun to return towards the Earth to warm it again, obviously with some modern twists due to the multi-century Spanish imperial presence.
Indeed, Cusco strikes an interesting balance between cultural celebration and straight up party mayhem. There are a bijillion discotecas, bars, and restaurants to choose from when you get tired from the parade. One interesting one down the road from where I am staying is a multi-level lounge called the Frogs, which we have taken quite a liking to due to the decor and friendly staff. Happy hour is ubiquitous, and one can get a 2 for 1 on some standard and some local specialties. For example, the Macchu Picchu is a temping cocktail that is a 3-stripe rainbow experience that is quite delicious for the first red and yellow layers. All of a sudden, blam! Straight up mint liqueur, which I suppose leaves you with minty fresh breath, but is less than pleasant. Another local specialty called a Pisco Sour involves pisco, orange bitters, lime, and egg whites. Haven't tried the full version yet, but sans egg whites is quite tasty. I'm currently feeling kind of ill, nothing too serious, but I have absolutely no appetite.
Last Sunday, we had an excellent day-long whirlwind tour of the Sacred Valley near Cusco. We explored 3 different Incan ruins, which held religious, agricultural, and political significance for the Inca Empire, which was centered around Cusco. There is still a lot of Incan architecture present in much of Cusco, and many other towns as well in form of mortar-free lithic foundations in a variety of styles. The means by which they extracted, shaped, and transported such stones is quite impressive. For example, at Ollantytambo, there is an alter at the very top of a terraced hillside that makes the religious sector of town. The stones used there are enormous, and were dragged without the use of the wheel from a hillside quarry on the opposite side of the river that lies at the bottom of the valley. Indeed, the Inca were expert engineers, astronomers (or -ologers), and agriculturists. The terracing is quite impressive, as it enabled the growing of many different types of food along the stark change in elevation. The town of Ollantytambo beneath the ruins consists of 30% Inca structure. Many Inca settlements, particularly with religious significance, were designed in the shape of significant animals, such as llamas, condors, pumas, etc. On the hillside facing the temple-terrace area, there is a structure built onto the mountain that acted as a storehouse. Due to its placement, the wind would have assisted the already dry climate in preserving food. Any way the Inca went would have been uphill, so they must have been beastly fit. Pisac included a lot of small tombs in a hillside. The Inca had quite interesting cults around the mummies of their dead kings. They would parade them around, possibly representing different political factions, and treat them with great luxury. Considering how much trouble I have carrying my own self around these high mountains, the Inca must have been on some other kind of stuff.
I had 10 hours of Spanish lessons the first week, and a grand total of zero this week, but I'm still getting plenty of practice. I think I'm going to switch my program to just taking Spanish classes concentrating on medical vocabulary. I spent the previous week's mornings in the ED of one of Cusco's hospitals, but I had so much trouble with communication and not being allowed to do much of anything, that I think this would be a better alternative. The medical facilities are dark and cold, so I can't say I mind terribly. I'll find out at the beginning of next week what I'll be up to. The week after, we'll head out to the rainforest, and then its Machu Picchu!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Más y Menos
Cusco is an interesting city. Walking down the street will introduce you to many many different smells, colors, sights, sounds, people, etc. It's not quite like India--you won't see ANYTHING possible, but you will see a lot. For instance, women in trajes tipicos (traditional wear) holding adorable baby sheep and other animales--yesterday I walked past a woman walking her alpaca up the street, for example--also there are children offering a variety of services--shoe shining, hair braiding, etc.--Daewoos of all different colors, all from the early 90s zooming everywhere, nearly running you over on the 1 foot or less wide sidewalks, etc. etc. Friendly waitstaff wait outside of restaurant doors to entice you in, women sit on the side of the street selling their amazingly beautiful wares, artists (mostly men, but we did talk to one woman today) walk around offering their paintings, and musicians are set up everywhere playing all sorts of live music. It's sort of like a festival everyday, as Doris says--siempre, siempre, siempre fiestas! On the weekends, at least for this month, there are huge festivals. On Sunday last week, after we arrived, Heidi and I ended up in the midst of a crazy festival with thousands of people (literally). We couldn't even walk through the Plaza del Armas for the crowd. But it was beautiful. Inti Raymi will be June 24, and from what I hear-tell, it's CRAZAY. So, I'm looking forward to it. Also, there is a Pink Floyd cover band that night at a fancy discoteca y restaurante called "The Frogs."
Today however, Heidi and I spent the evening walking through the local market. It was something. Pig heads and slabs of half cut, uncut, or freshly cut meat laying around everywhere. Vegetables of every assortment. Fruits beautifully arranged. Medicinal herbs that smelled so pungent it was difficult not to become ill walking past them. Restaurants, cakes, and nata (milk fat). Ponchos, chompas, y mas ropas. Venders shouting in the universal intonation of the market seller (verduras, verduuuras, verdurraaaaaaass). Quite wonderful, really. After our Spanish class and market adventure we went to meet Alex at our nightly meeting spot (McDonald's of all places) and were harassed by several shoe-shining children. It started with "Quiero McPollo Jr. en mi estomagoooooooo por favooooor." After having a decently long conversation with them about the shoe shining industry, about what they did during the day, where they were from, etc. and after they pulled out some fake crying (while simultaneously laughing), Heidi and I bought them tres McPollo Jrs, tres papas fritas regulares, y tres Inka Colas. They were quite happy and told us that we are good people, which completely made it worth it. Afterward, we had pizza with Alex. In Cusco, just so you know, pizza is an extravagant meal. If you want to take your lady out somewhere fancy here you take her for pizza and wine. For the record, pizza is pretty expensive here. When we told our Spanish teacher that you could get pizza in the US for only $5 she was completely amazed. ALSO the pizza place we went was so fancy it actually had heating (it is one of the like...6 places in all of Cusco that is warm at night). Anyway, it was pretty good. Also, I discovered that there is a chocolate museum here!!! You can even make your own chocolate AND tour an organic, fair trade chocolate farm!!! So sometime in the next week I plan to indulge in such adventures.
Anyway, the original point of this post was to make a list of the pros and cons of Cusco. So, here's what I have discovered so far (we'll start with cons):
Cons:
Pros:
So, yeah. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. Hasta luego for now!
Today however, Heidi and I spent the evening walking through the local market. It was something. Pig heads and slabs of half cut, uncut, or freshly cut meat laying around everywhere. Vegetables of every assortment. Fruits beautifully arranged. Medicinal herbs that smelled so pungent it was difficult not to become ill walking past them. Restaurants, cakes, and nata (milk fat). Ponchos, chompas, y mas ropas. Venders shouting in the universal intonation of the market seller (verduras, verduuuras, verdurraaaaaaass). Quite wonderful, really. After our Spanish class and market adventure we went to meet Alex at our nightly meeting spot (McDonald's of all places) and were harassed by several shoe-shining children. It started with "Quiero McPollo Jr. en mi estomagoooooooo por favooooor." After having a decently long conversation with them about the shoe shining industry, about what they did during the day, where they were from, etc. and after they pulled out some fake crying (while simultaneously laughing), Heidi and I bought them tres McPollo Jrs, tres papas fritas regulares, y tres Inka Colas. They were quite happy and told us that we are good people, which completely made it worth it. Afterward, we had pizza with Alex. In Cusco, just so you know, pizza is an extravagant meal. If you want to take your lady out somewhere fancy here you take her for pizza and wine. For the record, pizza is pretty expensive here. When we told our Spanish teacher that you could get pizza in the US for only $5 she was completely amazed. ALSO the pizza place we went was so fancy it actually had heating (it is one of the like...6 places in all of Cusco that is warm at night). Anyway, it was pretty good. Also, I discovered that there is a chocolate museum here!!! You can even make your own chocolate AND tour an organic, fair trade chocolate farm!!! So sometime in the next week I plan to indulge in such adventures.
Anyway, the original point of this post was to make a list of the pros and cons of Cusco. So, here's what I have discovered so far (we'll start with cons):
Cons:
- Either absolutely no hot water for showers or water so hot it burns your skin off. But, hot water is rare. AND if you want hot water in one of the rare showers where you can find it, then you can only turn the water up to a bare trickle. Which requires lots of maneuvering to even get wet. So yeah. Freezing cold showers 90% of the time.
- Everything is uphill somehow. EVERYTHING. And by uphill I mean 45 degree angles of steepness...both ways. I can walk maybe 10 minutes at a time before having to stop from complete cardiac exhaustion. And I am pretty freaking fit.
- The sidewalks are 1 foot or less wide. This is not helpful when light poles the size of the sidewalk are placed in the middle of said sidewalks. Also not helpful when hordes of tourists are all trying to make it both ways down the street at the same time. Just sayin'
- There is no heat in Cusco (except the maybe 6 places as mentioned before). Seriously. No heat. And it's winter. I mean, yeah, it's hot during the day but it gets down to like 28 degrees at night! Interestingly, all restaurants have wood-fired stoves. Why do people not have these in their houses for heat?
- Diesel. All cars are run on diesel here. Diesel makes the already-thin 11,000 ft altitude air even harder to breathe. This, in turn, makes walking up those hills (cliffs?) that much harder. Thank you diesel Daewoos.
- I can't work the keys in this city. No matter how much I practice, I cannot open a door with a key. Maybe that's me, but I'm blaming it on Cusco.
- Disorganization. It's perfectly okay to say something but mean something else, not show up on time, not communicate important information (such as, say, when we start volunteering or where), etc. etc. It's making me a little crazy. However, I'm pretending its good for my character and a test for my patience.
Pros:
- The people here are extremely friendly. Anyone will have a conversation with you, help you go where you need to be, tell you what's good to eat, what's good to buy, etc. etc.
- The city is amazingly beautiful. At night the lights illuminate the mountains as far as you can see. It's amazing. And the architecture is so incredibly intricate!!
- The food here is pretty delicious. Also, it's very interesting. Not to mention, it's incredibly easy being vegetarian here.
- The market!! The market is AMAZING! I mean, real food produced by real people who actually freaking care. It's wonderful.
- Bartering. You can get things for cheaper than their given price.
- Juices! Mango juice, peach juice, pineapple juice...all freshly made and readily available. It's pretty fantastic.
- Alpacas, puppies, and baby sheep in the street. I mean, it's constant cuteness.
- Festivals! Colorful, amazing festivals with tons of music, tons of food, traditional dancing all day and night long, parades, men dressed as Incan warriors, etc.--it's good for the soul!
So, yeah. It will be interesting to see how this progresses. Hasta luego for now!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tandoori Cuy
I'm sitting in my rather cold Cusco apartment which I have inhabited for the last few days. Thus far, I think it may be one of the more stressful adventures I have partaken in, but I think that is improving steadily in that regard. Starting from Knoxville, the Megabus ride up was fine and uneventful, although our driver seemed to be somewhere on the edge of sanity. D.C. was toasty, and our hostel was not air conditioned. It was a nifty spot though, all bedazzled in myriad trinkets left by expatriates past. Due to the heat, we departed for the airport something like 5 hours early. The airline counter, however, did not open until after we had waited some 2 hours. It was a pretty nice flight though, except that arrival in Lima via Bogota revealed that my backpack had not made it. Not the nicest thing to deal with at 1 in the morning after a long day of traveling, but it made going through customs easy. After waiting several hours for the airline counter for the flight to Cusco to open, we finally departed for our destination. Arrival in Cusco was accompanied by a horde of aggressive leafleting by a variety of the (seemingly infinite) tourist companies. Outside the airport, we found Doris, the host of Veronica and Heidi's home stay, to take us to her house. At that point, due to sleep deprivation, everything had become rather surreal, and upon arrival, proceeded to sleep for some 6 hours or so. We ate some lunch and drank coca tea (a local treatment for altitude sickness) afterwards, with some language difficulty from lack of Spanish practice and decent rest. We needed to speak with the organizer of our programs while in Cusco, but up to that point, he did not make an appearance. In fact, on several occasions we expected him, but he did not show up until the day after. This, combined with my lack of baggage contributed to the stressful nature of the journey's start. I was moved to an apartment up the street in the evening, which is quite nicely furnished and comfortable minus the coldness. We finally talked to Pablo, the organizer, on Sunday, where he said he would track down my bag and get us set up for Spanish lessons in the morning. He's an extremely enthusiastic and nice fellow, however, it seems that he is quite disorganized or overwhelmed in the operation of the program. The next day, we had Spanish lessons in the evening, starting at 5. I've had 2 hours a day, which have been decent, though I've yet to get much of any medically-related Spanish. So, the program itself seems a bit flakey, but I think if we stay on top of it, it should turn out fine.
Exploring the city has been extremely fun, and I can't wait to explore more of it and the surrounding countryside. There are so many restaurants, tourist companies, souvenir shops, and street vendors, its ridiculous. Everything is centered around La Plaza de las Armas, where a bunch of colonial buildings encircle a never-ending fiesta, which will apparently culminate on June 24 for a huge festival for the sun. My Spanish has been steadily improving, and some exploration has revealed the vastly more economic options of eating away from the Plaza. Indeed, prices for things in and very near the Plaza are comparable if not more than those at home. Of course, leaving the Plaza also eliminates the convenience of guaranteed access to a small child to shine your shoes, but alas. The first day, I felt a little guilty for eating at an Indian buffet for lunch and pizza for dinner (although both with a local sort of spin). Yesterday I was able to find a huge meal for lunch in a small hole-in-the-wall sort of place for a grand total of 3 soles (around $1.25), and an even huger dinner for 10 soles ($4). The trick is ordering from el menu, which is a list of preset items that can be ordered far more economically than individual entres. Indeed, this is often so economic, that apparently most locals eat out regularly since the cost of buying your own groceries is so comparable that convenience trumps cooking. There are a lot of vegetarian options, and we even found one where I ate vegetarian chicharron, a typical sort of fried meat dish (soy in my case). Also, they make a fine lemonade in Cusco. If you're in the mood for fusion cuisine, the place we ate at tonight (Korma Sutra) serves up a Tandoori Cuy. Cuy is the local specialty of guinea pig roasted with the head left on. We, of course, did not go with that, but a delicious veggie vindaloo instead. Doubtless, eating is the best part of travel.
Exploring the city has been extremely fun, and I can't wait to explore more of it and the surrounding countryside. There are so many restaurants, tourist companies, souvenir shops, and street vendors, its ridiculous. Everything is centered around La Plaza de las Armas, where a bunch of colonial buildings encircle a never-ending fiesta, which will apparently culminate on June 24 for a huge festival for the sun. My Spanish has been steadily improving, and some exploration has revealed the vastly more economic options of eating away from the Plaza. Indeed, prices for things in and very near the Plaza are comparable if not more than those at home. Of course, leaving the Plaza also eliminates the convenience of guaranteed access to a small child to shine your shoes, but alas. The first day, I felt a little guilty for eating at an Indian buffet for lunch and pizza for dinner (although both with a local sort of spin). Yesterday I was able to find a huge meal for lunch in a small hole-in-the-wall sort of place for a grand total of 3 soles (around $1.25), and an even huger dinner for 10 soles ($4). The trick is ordering from el menu, which is a list of preset items that can be ordered far more economically than individual entres. Indeed, this is often so economic, that apparently most locals eat out regularly since the cost of buying your own groceries is so comparable that convenience trumps cooking. There are a lot of vegetarian options, and we even found one where I ate vegetarian chicharron, a typical sort of fried meat dish (soy in my case). Also, they make a fine lemonade in Cusco. If you're in the mood for fusion cuisine, the place we ate at tonight (Korma Sutra) serves up a Tandoori Cuy. Cuy is the local specialty of guinea pig roasted with the head left on. We, of course, did not go with that, but a delicious veggie vindaloo instead. Doubtless, eating is the best part of travel.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Harrowing Travels
Alright. So. I write this as I spend my first night in Cusco. It’s been quite some adventure getting here. Let’s backtrack. One day at a time:
Wednesday I spent most of the day working on homework so that I could be ahead to prepare for whatever internet disasters may occur whilst traveling/arriving. I typed up short papers, read articles, read books, and so on and so forth. We were expected in Kingsport Thursday evening at 7 so that Alex’s wonderful mother could take us to the bus stop on Friday morning. At around 3:30 or 4 I realized that…well...it was 3:30 or 4. And, of course I hadn’t packed. So I flew into a panicked frenzy of trying to gather what I needed, trying to organize it, trying to clean up after myself as I threw everything in the house here, there and beyond. Once it was arranged (rather, what I would call arranged and a normal human being would call a disastrous pile of ambiguity and mess) I attempted to pack it into my prepared bag: a medium sized backpacker bag that was ideal for my short and averagely small stature. Alas, it would not fit. No matter how many ways I tried to pack it. My ideal bag was useless. So, I moved onto one of Alex’s larger sized backpacks (one that suits his 6’1-ness). And still I could not efficiently get anything in there. While deciding whether or not to throw myself on the floor and cry in pathetic exasperation Alex came to my rescue (as he always does) and neatly arranged my things (arranged in an actually arranged manner this time) and packed them perfectly. (Once I unpack will I ever be able to get this stuff packed again? I don’t want to think about it). Anyway, so, packing fiasco over, I had to very quickly say goodbye to my beloved animals, hope with all of my soul that all of my house business was in order and head out. The Kingsport adventure was very relaxed, however. Alex’s mother made us an amazing vegetarian Mexican-style lasagna, then we had coffee and homemade blueberry muffins (which were made from fresh blueberries from her garden!) Then we slept (which as of right now, I can’t remember how that feels). So, day one conclusions: slightly rushed, a little neurotic, but not so bad.
Thursday we woke up at the bright, early hour of 7 a.m., showered and headed to Knoxville. There we had coffee at a quaint little coffee shop in the downtown square and then caught the Megabus (at the right time, on the right sidewalk). The next 9 or 10 hours were spent curled up, bumping around and sleeping in the most awkward and uncomfortable positions imaginable. But we made it.
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| Alex and Heidi take a break right after we disembark from the Megabus |
Amazingly, the trek through DC was incredibly simple. We caught a trolley to the metro, rode the metro to our hostel stop, trekked a good 45 feet to a 7-11 and up some stairs to our hostel, and then immediately disposed of our luggage. How uneventful and nice! The hostel was quite interesting, though. It must have formerly been some Victorian mansion or some such, as it was incredibly huge, but no one room was particularly large—rather, there were many rooms which were of average or small size. There was a courtyard in the back with a hammock, tables, a swing, and a very large cat. Throughout the hostel were winding, narrow staircases. Some inside, some outside--all going every which way. It was really quite architecturally intriguing. The very big, blaring downside was that there was no AC and it was literally in the 90s of degrees of hotness. Our room, with three bunk-beds—a total of 6 beds, two of which housed some Scandinavian women, one of which housed a late-night drinking basketball –loving bro, the rest housed us—had one little window fan. We ignored it at first, because our hunger outweighed the hotness. So we trekked (without our bags) to our favorite 24/7 falafel “stand” in DC and had the most amazing hummus you can find in DC, enjoyed some sit-down time, and relaxed for a few minutes. With the impending threat of rain, and the complete exhaustion we were suffering, though, we headed back to the hostel pretty quickly.
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| Miserably hot in the hostel |
Where we then realized how miserably hot it was. Despite only having thin sheets on the bed and wearing the most measly, scant amount of pajama clothing I could get away with, I still couldn’t sleep. The heat and humidity were suffocating. So, I mostly just lay there, tossing around and listening to the random screams, yells, hoots and hollers from the various other hostel guests who were partying downstairs and/or watching basketball. At about 3 am basketball drinking fellow, who was sleeping under me, came in. He was surprisingly polite and was as quiet as an intoxicated partying fellow can be, but his clumsiness kept knocking the bed around and kept me awake even longer. At 7 am we were up and at 9 we were out.
Friday and Saturday really count as one day. Though I think it is still Saturday, I can’t be sure. The haze of this long, long, long day hasn’t cleared up just yet. So, Friday. We trek through the insane DC heat (at 9 am!) with our bags to the metro (you know…all 45 feet away that it is and what-not), ride to meet the bus that will take us to the Dulles (pronounced like Dallas, or like a piece of furniture a Georgia southern belle would own in 1827) Airport. We paid the extremely overpriced $6 per person fare and rode the glorious 45 minutes to the not-so-crowded airport. But don’t let this fool you. The lack of crowds did not make up for the fact that we couldn’t check in for a good two hours after we arrived. Our checkout counter was open—but lacked any staff.
So, we sat on our bags, at the front of an imaginary line for two hours, dreaming of the pizza we would find in the food court on the “other side” once we went through security. Two hours later, we successfully navigated the checking-in system and rushed to find pizza. After passing through security/customs/etc etc (who were surprisingly friendly) we ordered a freaking whole large cheese pizza. Somehow it was magically perfect. Like eating from a pizza stand in New York City. The boarding process for our plane was smooth. AND the plane was entirely on time! (This is the first time I’ve encountered this). ALSO, they gave us heated hand towels, pillows, blankets, two meals and a snack for our 5 hour flight. So if you need to go to South America, Avianca is the way to go. So, 5 hours later and two movies down (Just Go With It and Old Dogs, if you must know), we arrived in the surprisingly warm Bogota, Colombia airport. We were instantly greeted with dozens of adorable labs serving as drug dogs, who were constantly walking around with their quite terrifyingly suited human partners, sniffing around every person, bag, and chair. We were directed down a long hallway, which was unnecessary, as we ended up taking the exact same plane we arrived on, but anyway. We were there for a grand total of 45 minutes (maybe less). So, hola and adios Bogota! We got back on the same plane we arrived on, received more warm hand towels, more food, I ordered some peach juice, and it was pretty spectacular. Two hours later, and only one movie (Due Date) afterwards, we landed in Lima. It was slightly chilly here, but not cold enough to notice. What we did notice, however, was that Alex’s backpack did not make it. Which is interesting, considering that we were on the exact same plane the whole time. Anyway, Alex isn’t me, so he didn’t freak out, roll around in the floor, scream obscenities at people, or act like a fool in any sort of way. I, however, was quite stressed out for him. I suppose he’s only missing clothes and our hiking poles, but it still is a rather unfortunate situation. He’s riding with a fellow tomorrow to the Cusco airport to see if he can find out any new information, and if they don’t have his bag, I may be likely to have a panic attacking, but I think everything will ultimately work out. But anyway, onto Cusco.
So, we sat on our bags, at the front of an imaginary line for two hours, dreaming of the pizza we would find in the food court on the “other side” once we went through security. Two hours later, we successfully navigated the checking-in system and rushed to find pizza. After passing through security/customs/etc etc (who were surprisingly friendly) we ordered a freaking whole large cheese pizza. Somehow it was magically perfect. Like eating from a pizza stand in New York City. The boarding process for our plane was smooth. AND the plane was entirely on time! (This is the first time I’ve encountered this). ALSO, they gave us heated hand towels, pillows, blankets, two meals and a snack for our 5 hour flight. So if you need to go to South America, Avianca is the way to go. So, 5 hours later and two movies down (Just Go With It and Old Dogs, if you must know), we arrived in the surprisingly warm Bogota, Colombia airport. We were instantly greeted with dozens of adorable labs serving as drug dogs, who were constantly walking around with their quite terrifyingly suited human partners, sniffing around every person, bag, and chair. We were directed down a long hallway, which was unnecessary, as we ended up taking the exact same plane we arrived on, but anyway. We were there for a grand total of 45 minutes (maybe less). So, hola and adios Bogota! We got back on the same plane we arrived on, received more warm hand towels, more food, I ordered some peach juice, and it was pretty spectacular. Two hours later, and only one movie (Due Date) afterwards, we landed in Lima. It was slightly chilly here, but not cold enough to notice. What we did notice, however, was that Alex’s backpack did not make it. Which is interesting, considering that we were on the exact same plane the whole time. Anyway, Alex isn’t me, so he didn’t freak out, roll around in the floor, scream obscenities at people, or act like a fool in any sort of way. I, however, was quite stressed out for him. I suppose he’s only missing clothes and our hiking poles, but it still is a rather unfortunate situation. He’s riding with a fellow tomorrow to the Cusco airport to see if he can find out any new information, and if they don’t have his bag, I may be likely to have a panic attacking, but I think everything will ultimately work out. But anyway, onto Cusco. By this time we had been wake for well over 24 hours, and once again, we had to sit and wait in the check-in line for several hours before anyone decided to show up. Then once they showed up they had to set up the ridiculous rope maze that I suppose you’re required to walk through just to make it to the front counter. So, we had to wait for them to very very very slowly arrange their little maze, until some woman who appeared to have some ambition and sense decided it would be easier if we just went in a straight line to the counters, and made them dismantled the maze. So, anyway, we checked in, hung out in some very small waiting room with 17 different overhead announcements occurring simultaneously at all times (in Spanish), until we could board our plane. The flight to Cusco was pretty amazing, though. The sun was up by this point and you could see the Andes Mountains breaking through the barrier of clouds under us. Their sharp, jagged ridges capped in snow and screaming majestic the whole way there. And then we landed in freezing cold Cusco. Freezing cold. The airport was much more authentic though, with shady taxi drivers following us around asking “taxi?taxi?” and vendors everywhere shoving their flyers into our hands and begging us to buy their wares…it was really quite comforting. Then we met Doris, who at this point I assume is the head of Heidi and mine’s host family, who picked us up and carted us through the very India-like streets of Cusco to her very adorable apartment. The buildings are all brightly colored with faded patches, construction is half finished everywhere, the streets are narrow mazes of cobblestone with tiny cars zooming every which way around them. Dogs wander about, looking at you with their sad eyes, begging for scraps. Women have set up blanket-shops on the sidewalks and offer their hand-woven hats and sweaters. It’s quite intriguing and there are several breathtaking images. But, anyway, we arrived at the apartment—Alex still with us—drank some Coca tea for the altitude (we’re at 11,000 feet here!) and immediately passed out for a beautiful 6 hours. More on our adventures here later.
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| Cusco! |
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Finalizing Details!
Alright! So, Megabus tickets are booked! Before I proceed, let me back up and explain about this Megabus process. The Megabus is this intriguing little (big) bus that shows up at a certain hour at a certain sidewalk in Knoxville (and other towns). You book online for really cheap (sometimes as low as $1) and you can go to a lot of really cool places. Anyway, it will be taking us to a shady little parking lot somewhere in Washington D.C., drop us off, and leave us to our city wisdom to figure out what to do. But don't worry! I've done this before. And, as travelers, we are not frightened off by mafia-like instructions and transportation. Also, Megabus, as I mentioned before is CHEAP. So, I'll deal with it being a little shady solely based on the fact that it's cheaper than any other means of transportation to DC.
Alright, so Megabus explained, let's move on. Maybe I should explain why going to DC has anything to do with Peru. Well, as I mentioned, we like being cheap, and as it turns out, flying from DC to Cuzco happened to be the absolute cheapest flight we could find. So yes, it may take 10 hours of extra travel time, being dropped off in the middle-of-nowhere DC to wander around with all of our luggage for hours and miles of exhausting podiatric torture, etc etc, BUT we will save $1200 each! That is one thousand and two hundred big fat George Washingtons per person that will be saved. So, is it worth the exhaustion and hassle? That's a big resounding YES.
Moving on. Once we arrive to DC, in order to evade complete exhaustion and unending pain, we have decided to stay in a hostel for one night. That way, we'll suffer the hassle of the bus ride, we'll suffer the pain of hiking the length of DC to get to a metro, and we'll suffer the back pain that 50 pounds of backpacking and travel gear is sure to cause (let's keep in mind, I'm 5'2 and only weigh 110 pounds...miles of walking with a 50 pound backpack is practically superhuman for me...also gives me the most amazingly strong back you've ever seen, I'm practically She-Hulk)--all for only one day. THEN we'll get an amazing break. Hot showers, nice beds, etc. Doesn't the hostel seem like such a nice idea? The hostel we're staying at in DC (of course, the cheapest one) is the Hilltop Hostel--"Housed in a converted Victorian hostel in a suburban area of parks and gardens, we have comfortable dormitory accommodation. Lockers and linen are provided and facilities include wireless internet access, satellite television, a fames room, a kitchen, laundry and a back yard with a BBQ area, outdoor games and hammocks," doesn't it sound just lovely? Also, it is directly across the street from the metro. That's only like 300 feet to walk once we get off the rail (you have to think about these things, you know). Then we get to repeat said travel hassles for day two. Only this time it will involve customs, delays, layovers, and more. Less back pain, more headache.
Then, we will fly from the Dulles International Airport to Bogota, Colombia, from Colombia to Lima, Peru and from Lima, over the Andes mountains, to Cuzco!
Now, let's hope our host family will be there to meet us in the airport.
Only 3 1/2 weeks left! That's so soon!
¡Ahí Los Vidrios!
-Veronica
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| Look how friendly! |
Alright, so Megabus explained, let's move on. Maybe I should explain why going to DC has anything to do with Peru. Well, as I mentioned, we like being cheap, and as it turns out, flying from DC to Cuzco happened to be the absolute cheapest flight we could find. So yes, it may take 10 hours of extra travel time, being dropped off in the middle-of-nowhere DC to wander around with all of our luggage for hours and miles of exhausting podiatric torture, etc etc, BUT we will save $1200 each! That is one thousand and two hundred big fat George Washingtons per person that will be saved. So, is it worth the exhaustion and hassle? That's a big resounding YES.
Moving on. Once we arrive to DC, in order to evade complete exhaustion and unending pain, we have decided to stay in a hostel for one night. That way, we'll suffer the hassle of the bus ride, we'll suffer the pain of hiking the length of DC to get to a metro, and we'll suffer the back pain that 50 pounds of backpacking and travel gear is sure to cause (let's keep in mind, I'm 5'2 and only weigh 110 pounds...miles of walking with a 50 pound backpack is practically superhuman for me...also gives me the most amazingly strong back you've ever seen, I'm practically She-Hulk)--all for only one day. THEN we'll get an amazing break. Hot showers, nice beds, etc. Doesn't the hostel seem like such a nice idea? The hostel we're staying at in DC (of course, the cheapest one) is the Hilltop Hostel--"Housed in a converted Victorian hostel in a suburban area of parks and gardens, we have comfortable dormitory accommodation. Lockers and linen are provided and facilities include wireless internet access, satellite television, a fames room, a kitchen, laundry and a back yard with a BBQ area, outdoor games and hammocks," doesn't it sound just lovely? Also, it is directly across the street from the metro. That's only like 300 feet to walk once we get off the rail (you have to think about these things, you know). Then we get to repeat said travel hassles for day two. Only this time it will involve customs, delays, layovers, and more. Less back pain, more headache.
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| Mmm! Look at those nice, comfy beds waiting for us! |
Then, we will fly from the Dulles International Airport to Bogota, Colombia, from Colombia to Lima, Peru and from Lima, over the Andes mountains, to Cuzco!
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| Washington DC (step 1) |
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| Bogota, Colombia (step 2) |
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| Lima, Peru (step 3) |
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| Cuzco! Final destination! |
Now, let's hope our host family will be there to meet us in the airport.
Only 3 1/2 weeks left! That's so soon!
¡Ahí Los Vidrios!
-Veronica
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Getting Ready for Peru!
I hiked about 7-8 miles today! It was awesome. On the way down I stopped in at Toby's Rock Creek Cafe. Not so vegetarian friendly, but they have super yummy grilled cheese sandwhiches. I am planning to hike on my days off so I'll be ready for the hiking in Peru! We've got about a month before we go. Till then check out the pictures of my FAVORITE park and hiking area.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
¡Ahí Los Vidrios!
Beginning June 9, myself (Veronica), Alexander and Heidi will embark on an adventure to Cuzco, Peru. Alexander and I will be staying until July 17; Heidi will be leaving us during the first week of the month.
What will we be doing, you ask? Well, Heidi and I will be attending Mundo Verde Spanish School for 40 hours a week, with one on one tutoring sessions, as well as living with a Peruvian host family in the city, and taking various cultural immersion classes (weaving, cooking, dancing, etc). We will volunteer with the school (teaching English to children, performing environmental clean up, and whatever else they ask of us) and our final week of classes will culminate in learning about Andean medicinal plants! This will lead us up into rural villages of the Andes where we will meet with local healers and learn about their plant healing wisdom. Additionally, I will embark on a journey to El Parque de la Papa, where I will learn about biodiverse, sustainable farming practices performed through community work.
Alexander, being the brilliant medical student that he is, will pursue Mundo Verde's Medical Elective Program, where he will spend his time working in large hospitals and small, rural community clinics around Cuzco--including clinics deep in the Peruvian jungle.
Finally, Alexander and I will take a breathtaking hike on the Salkantay Trek--which will take us 36 miles over the course of 5 days--through the Andes mountains (including peaks as high as 13,450 feet)--to reach our ultimate destination at Machu Picchu.
So, lots of exciting times to come! Keep track of our adventures here, at this blog.
And as they say in Peru--¡Ahí Los Vidrios! (there are the glasses--aka: see you later!)
--Veronica
What will we be doing, you ask? Well, Heidi and I will be attending Mundo Verde Spanish School for 40 hours a week, with one on one tutoring sessions, as well as living with a Peruvian host family in the city, and taking various cultural immersion classes (weaving, cooking, dancing, etc). We will volunteer with the school (teaching English to children, performing environmental clean up, and whatever else they ask of us) and our final week of classes will culminate in learning about Andean medicinal plants! This will lead us up into rural villages of the Andes where we will meet with local healers and learn about their plant healing wisdom. Additionally, I will embark on a journey to El Parque de la Papa, where I will learn about biodiverse, sustainable farming practices performed through community work.
Alexander, being the brilliant medical student that he is, will pursue Mundo Verde's Medical Elective Program, where he will spend his time working in large hospitals and small, rural community clinics around Cuzco--including clinics deep in the Peruvian jungle.
Finally, Alexander and I will take a breathtaking hike on the Salkantay Trek--which will take us 36 miles over the course of 5 days--through the Andes mountains (including peaks as high as 13,450 feet)--to reach our ultimate destination at Machu Picchu.
So, lots of exciting times to come! Keep track of our adventures here, at this blog.
And as they say in Peru--¡Ahí Los Vidrios! (there are the glasses--aka: see you later!)
--Veronica
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