Monday, July 30, 2012
Sorochi
I wake up at dawn gasping for breath,my heart pounding. My first thought is "get me to sea level!". I try to relax but am still short of breath. I get dressed and go to the lobby for a cup of coca tea. I nurse my mate de coca, feeling hungover, and go back to bed. It seemed to have some effect, if only psychological. I go down to breakfast and then back to bed until noon. All my walking and drinking the last 2 days has caught up with me and I have developed a mild case of sorochi,altitude sickness. My symptoms are lack of energy and appetite. Around 2:30 I drag myself a couple of blocks to a restaurant for a bowl of vegetable soup. I have another cup of coca tea and spend the rest of the afternoon napping and watching Olympic soccer. Finally after dark I feel hungry and go to a nearby restaurant. I got a delicious plate of homemade ravioli. It hits the spot and I walk back up the hill feeling much better. I had another cup of tea by the fireplace in the lobby. I watched TV until midnite then had a great nites sleep, punctuated by weird dreams. I woke up this morning feeling fine
Parrillada
Saturday morning was my first full day in Cusco. I spent the morning and half the afternoon wandering aimlessly checking out the town. I run across a young boy in full ropa typica leading a llama. He says take my picture. I tell him I don´t have my camera but here´s 1 sol($.40) anyway. He asks me where I´m from and I tell him USA. He says that´s the biggest country in the world,right? I say no, the richest. Russia is the biggest. He seems puzzled. I went back to the room for a bit then left in search of lunch.
I walked a couple of blocks down the hill and heard music blaring from an open door and a sign that said parrillada $10sols. So I paid my 10 sols and went in. Inside was a primitive compound surounded by some 2 story houses that have to be at least 200 years old. A parrillada is like a BBQ and some women are cooking meat on a large griddle over a wood fire. s/10 buys a plate with a chicken leg, a pork chop and a scary sausage with a couple of potatos. I pull up a bench and sit down and they bring my plate. It´s pretty tasty and I buy a large beer to wash it down. Everyone here is a local and I am quite the curiosity. A middle aged woman keeps catching my eye and toasting me. Everyone is drinking from tiny 4 oz plastic cups. She invites me over to the table where she is sitting with 3 other women. Her name is Ampara and she is really friendly. And already fairly lit. She wants to fix me up with her aunt, Juanita, who is actually younger than her. I ask if this is a family or neighborhood party and she says no, it´s a fund raiser for their religious organization. They belong to a sect that worships an Andes version of Christ of the Mountain. Apparently it doesn´t prohibit drinking. I buy another beer. I meet her husband and 15 year old daughter. We drink more beer. I tell them I have never married but that I had a novia of 15 years. I said de instead of para so she thought I mean my girlfriend was 15. She starts telling me how much she loves her daughter. Much later this error comes to light. They buy more beer. The beers are 1.1 liter bottles and everyone constantly refills their little cups. I meet some more people. I am flirting with Juanita, a 43 yo widow of 8 years. Day turns to night. I dance with Ampara and Juanita. Ampara is getting really fucked up.We drink more beer. I love this stuff, partying with the locals. All the women are checking me out. Finally around 8 the party breaks up and I head back up the hill feeling pretty buzzed. A fun afternoon.
I must have eaten dinner but for some reason i can´t remember what it was. Then I went back to the rock club, London Town. I got there a little early and got a seat at the bar. The bar is where the dance floor should be. After about 15 minutes the band starts. They are a kick ass local band that plays rock/ska/latin. They are a 7 piece with drum,percussion,bass,guitar,keyboard,trumpet and lead singer. They are very high energy. The bar is full of hip,young , locals and very few tourists. Everybody smokes. After an hour my eyes start burning. During the second set I met a couple of locals who spoke English. I am sort of a novelty to them but they can tell I´m really into the music.
They wrapped up their set at around 1:30 and I am happy to have some fresh air. Outside is a guy in a giant guinea pig costume accompanied by a chick who looks like a refugee from Eeyore´s birthday party.They are handing out fliers for the local strip club. I walked a block to the Plaza de Armas where there are 2 hopping discos packed with people. There are actually some Peruvian hootchies in black dresses. I check out all the people coming and going from the discos and go into the one that says no one under 23 admitted. It´s packed to the rafters and I work my way towards the bar. The music is actually not obnoxious, kind of a latin beat electronica. Its now after 2 and after a small beer I split. There is a long line outside waiting to enter. A line of taxis is in the Plaza de Armas and I hop in one for a ride back.
I walked a couple of blocks down the hill and heard music blaring from an open door and a sign that said parrillada $10sols. So I paid my 10 sols and went in. Inside was a primitive compound surounded by some 2 story houses that have to be at least 200 years old. A parrillada is like a BBQ and some women are cooking meat on a large griddle over a wood fire. s/10 buys a plate with a chicken leg, a pork chop and a scary sausage with a couple of potatos. I pull up a bench and sit down and they bring my plate. It´s pretty tasty and I buy a large beer to wash it down. Everyone here is a local and I am quite the curiosity. A middle aged woman keeps catching my eye and toasting me. Everyone is drinking from tiny 4 oz plastic cups. She invites me over to the table where she is sitting with 3 other women. Her name is Ampara and she is really friendly. And already fairly lit. She wants to fix me up with her aunt, Juanita, who is actually younger than her. I ask if this is a family or neighborhood party and she says no, it´s a fund raiser for their religious organization. They belong to a sect that worships an Andes version of Christ of the Mountain. Apparently it doesn´t prohibit drinking. I buy another beer. I meet her husband and 15 year old daughter. We drink more beer. I tell them I have never married but that I had a novia of 15 years. I said de instead of para so she thought I mean my girlfriend was 15. She starts telling me how much she loves her daughter. Much later this error comes to light. They buy more beer. The beers are 1.1 liter bottles and everyone constantly refills their little cups. I meet some more people. I am flirting with Juanita, a 43 yo widow of 8 years. Day turns to night. I dance with Ampara and Juanita. Ampara is getting really fucked up.We drink more beer. I love this stuff, partying with the locals. All the women are checking me out. Finally around 8 the party breaks up and I head back up the hill feeling pretty buzzed. A fun afternoon.
I must have eaten dinner but for some reason i can´t remember what it was. Then I went back to the rock club, London Town. I got there a little early and got a seat at the bar. The bar is where the dance floor should be. After about 15 minutes the band starts. They are a kick ass local band that plays rock/ska/latin. They are a 7 piece with drum,percussion,bass,guitar,keyboard,trumpet and lead singer. They are very high energy. The bar is full of hip,young , locals and very few tourists. Everybody smokes. After an hour my eyes start burning. During the second set I met a couple of locals who spoke English. I am sort of a novelty to them but they can tell I´m really into the music.
They wrapped up their set at around 1:30 and I am happy to have some fresh air. Outside is a guy in a giant guinea pig costume accompanied by a chick who looks like a refugee from Eeyore´s birthday party.They are handing out fliers for the local strip club. I walked a block to the Plaza de Armas where there are 2 hopping discos packed with people. There are actually some Peruvian hootchies in black dresses. I check out all the people coming and going from the discos and go into the one that says no one under 23 admitted. It´s packed to the rafters and I work my way towards the bar. The music is actually not obnoxious, kind of a latin beat electronica. Its now after 2 and after a small beer I split. There is a long line outside waiting to enter. A line of taxis is in the Plaza de Armas and I hop in one for a ride back.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Cusco
Friday morning I got up and got a cab to Cusco. It took about 1 1/2 hr to get to the edge of town. My driver tries to make an illegal left turn right in front of 2 policewomen. They turn him around and pull him over. He pleads with them for 10 minutes to no avail. Finally we are back on the road driving in circles as this guy doesn´t really know where the fuck he is going. An hour after getting to town I am dumped off 100 yards short of my hotel. What a dumb ass.
The hotel is really nice. Its on a one lane dead end cobble stone street overlooking the city. My room is beautiful,with large windows offering a panaramic view of the city. The modern decor has a color scheme of white and orange and the room has a bright and airy feel.There´s even a small flat screen TV with 100 channels mounted in the corner.
The neighborhood, San Blas, climbs a hillside above the colonial part of town. It´s a maze of stairways,narrow alleys and one lane cobblestone streets with 2 way traffic. It´s the oldest part of town,dating back to the Incan era. A ten minute walk brings you down to the colonial center, the Plaza de Armas. After a relaxing lunch on a little patio a few blocks from the hotel I head down the hill.
Cusco sits in a high valley at 11,150 ft. The town of 450,000 sprawls down the valley and up the surrounding hillsides. It was the capital of the Incan empire. The Spanish came an razed the town down to the foundations. Here they had to stop as the stones were much too large for them to move. The whole old part of town is built on gigantic boulders,pieced together perfectly without mortar and still as solid as the day they were built. I arrived a the square just as another procession appeared. This is a group of elementary aged kids accompanied by adults all dressed in costume. The band is laying down a funky Brazilian rythem and I follow then to the middle of the plaza where they circle up. Its a group of underpriveliged children and their adult mentors. The separate groups take turns performing little skits. One group names off animals and gets the crowd to join them in imitating their sounds. When dog comes up I give my best Chihuahua bark, much to the amusement of the crowd. After about 1/2 hour the cops run them out of the plaza and I continue exploring downtown. Its the Friday evening of the Fiestas Patrias and the streets are packed with people strolling around. The colonial area is beautiful, with whitewashed houses topped by red tile roofs. There are little squares and churches scattered every few blocks. I found a little cafe and had a delicios meal of pork chop covered in elderberry sauce mixed with the local hot pepper riccoto. Elderberry tastes like a cross between blueberry and cranberry and is so purple it´s almost black. The spicyness of the pepper blends with the sweetness of the berry to make a very delicious taste. Most of the bars are around the Plaza de Armas and a few alleys behind it. I go into one that has English beer on tap and watch the torch lighting. Then I had a little pub crawl . One of the bars is "El Duende" the elf. My friend Duane, whose idea this trip was, is nicknamed Duende so I have to stop here. It´s right by a cool bar with live music so I stay and watch the band. They are kind of generic rock but I haven´ t seen any live music, aside from hippies beating bongos, since I arrived in Peru.
The hotel is really nice. Its on a one lane dead end cobble stone street overlooking the city. My room is beautiful,with large windows offering a panaramic view of the city. The modern decor has a color scheme of white and orange and the room has a bright and airy feel.There´s even a small flat screen TV with 100 channels mounted in the corner.
The neighborhood, San Blas, climbs a hillside above the colonial part of town. It´s a maze of stairways,narrow alleys and one lane cobblestone streets with 2 way traffic. It´s the oldest part of town,dating back to the Incan era. A ten minute walk brings you down to the colonial center, the Plaza de Armas. After a relaxing lunch on a little patio a few blocks from the hotel I head down the hill.
Cusco sits in a high valley at 11,150 ft. The town of 450,000 sprawls down the valley and up the surrounding hillsides. It was the capital of the Incan empire. The Spanish came an razed the town down to the foundations. Here they had to stop as the stones were much too large for them to move. The whole old part of town is built on gigantic boulders,pieced together perfectly without mortar and still as solid as the day they were built. I arrived a the square just as another procession appeared. This is a group of elementary aged kids accompanied by adults all dressed in costume. The band is laying down a funky Brazilian rythem and I follow then to the middle of the plaza where they circle up. Its a group of underpriveliged children and their adult mentors. The separate groups take turns performing little skits. One group names off animals and gets the crowd to join them in imitating their sounds. When dog comes up I give my best Chihuahua bark, much to the amusement of the crowd. After about 1/2 hour the cops run them out of the plaza and I continue exploring downtown. Its the Friday evening of the Fiestas Patrias and the streets are packed with people strolling around. The colonial area is beautiful, with whitewashed houses topped by red tile roofs. There are little squares and churches scattered every few blocks. I found a little cafe and had a delicios meal of pork chop covered in elderberry sauce mixed with the local hot pepper riccoto. Elderberry tastes like a cross between blueberry and cranberry and is so purple it´s almost black. The spicyness of the pepper blends with the sweetness of the berry to make a very delicious taste. Most of the bars are around the Plaza de Armas and a few alleys behind it. I go into one that has English beer on tap and watch the torch lighting. Then I had a little pub crawl . One of the bars is "El Duende" the elf. My friend Duane, whose idea this trip was, is nicknamed Duende so I have to stop here. It´s right by a cool bar with live music so I stay and watch the band. They are kind of generic rock but I haven´ t seen any live music, aside from hippies beating bongos, since I arrived in Peru.
Cuy
I woke up Thursday with my hips sore and my quads killing me. It hurts to go up and down the stairs of the hotel. I have no energy either. That hike kicked my ass. I had breakfast at the cafe next door. I have been going here everyday for breakfast and ordering the same thing: oatmeal with a cup of the best hot chocolate I have had in a while. Returning to the hotel I got on line and started posting on the blog.
Once again I hear drums and trumpets. This time its the Independence Day Ceremony in the town square. All the local politicos and bureaucrats are there, marching behind the Peruvian flag. They march up to a small stage they have set up and begin speechifying. The mayor gives an impassioned political speech about how they are being constantly fucked around by the central government. Then there is a parade of just about every branch of government in town down to the street sweepers and mototaxistas, followed by the campesino organzations from outlying villages dressed in colorful regional garb. Finally the police and National Police come goose stepping thru. It looks like half the town has been in the parade, some marching thru 2 or 3 times
Around mid afternoon I drag myself out to lunch. I have decided this is my day to try cuy,guinea pig, a local delicacy. So I went to a nearby restaurant that advertised cuy al horno, roast guinea pig. It´s terrible.
It has tough leathery skin and very little meat. What meat it does have is intensely gamey. The side dishes are little better. So an hour later I was back at the breakfast cafe for lunch pt 2. A bowl of quinoa soup and a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich hits the spot. Then back for a nap. A little before dark I finally snap out of it and go for a beer at one of the 2 bars in town that cater to tourists, Quechua Bar. There are a few primitive local bars but none of them have cold beer. In their defense, it is cool here, so the beer is not totally hot, but room temperature is not very appealing . Quechua Bar is almost always dead. The bar maid is a cute young Quechua girl named Ada. We have been chatting and watching bad Peruvian TV almost every early evening, as the other bar, Ganso´s, doesn´t get going until later. She says they have a strict no local hippie policy. A large tour group of 15 with guide had been there one night drinking upstairs when a hippie came in and tried to sell them dope. The guide flipped out and said "What kind of place are you running here?"so no more hippies. Peruvian hippies are total hippies. There is no half way. They all have huge dreadlocks, walk around barefoot or in sandals, and are filthy. There are little clusters of them everywhere I have been, supplimented by dreadlocked foreign girls sitting in the square selling crappy handmade jewelry. After a couple of beers I´m off to Ganso´s. This bar is a hole in the wall. The far wall is dominated by a wood burning oven with a fantastical sculptured hood. To the left is a couch contantly occuppied by one or two hippies playing the large bongo drums there. The drums also double as a rolling surface and they are not shy about firing it up right here. Up a sketchy stairway is the upstairs room. Its a real hippie haven with all the benches suspended from the ceiling with a rope. Colorful paintings and posters adorn the walls. A wooden fireman´s pole in the corner provides a quick alternative to the stairs. Last nite I was up here and a hippie pulled a huge chunk of weed out of his bag. It was pretty good. Tonite there is a group of 5 American girls having a going away party for one of them. More people join the party and people start piling in until the place is packed, upstairs and down. Its the day before independance day so everyone is out partying. My friend Arturo from Monday is there with his younger brother and his friends. Its a very lively crowd and we drink and bullshit for hours. The young Peruvian guys ask me about buffalo soldiers. They play Marley here constantly and that is one of his better known songs. They are really interested in American Indians, since they are indigenous people themselves. I name of most of the tribes I know and where they are located. They really like the part about the Custer Massacre and know about Geronimo. A tall red head at the bar has been hit on and danced with by almost evey guy in the bar. She asks me to dance and claims she is German and doesn´t speak a word of English. I´m not buying it and start saying some nasty shit to her in English but she doesn´t bat an eyelash. She danced with a few more guys and left alone. I christened her "The Red Baron"-80 men tried and 80 men died. Arturo tells me he lives in Cusco and gives me his email. I still haven´t heard from him. By now the crowd has thinned out after drinking almost every beer in the bar. I head back to the hotel. It´s 3:30 when I ring the bell and wake the owner.
Once again I hear drums and trumpets. This time its the Independence Day Ceremony in the town square. All the local politicos and bureaucrats are there, marching behind the Peruvian flag. They march up to a small stage they have set up and begin speechifying. The mayor gives an impassioned political speech about how they are being constantly fucked around by the central government. Then there is a parade of just about every branch of government in town down to the street sweepers and mototaxistas, followed by the campesino organzations from outlying villages dressed in colorful regional garb. Finally the police and National Police come goose stepping thru. It looks like half the town has been in the parade, some marching thru 2 or 3 times
Around mid afternoon I drag myself out to lunch. I have decided this is my day to try cuy,guinea pig, a local delicacy. So I went to a nearby restaurant that advertised cuy al horno, roast guinea pig. It´s terrible.
It has tough leathery skin and very little meat. What meat it does have is intensely gamey. The side dishes are little better. So an hour later I was back at the breakfast cafe for lunch pt 2. A bowl of quinoa soup and a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich hits the spot. Then back for a nap. A little before dark I finally snap out of it and go for a beer at one of the 2 bars in town that cater to tourists, Quechua Bar. There are a few primitive local bars but none of them have cold beer. In their defense, it is cool here, so the beer is not totally hot, but room temperature is not very appealing . Quechua Bar is almost always dead. The bar maid is a cute young Quechua girl named Ada. We have been chatting and watching bad Peruvian TV almost every early evening, as the other bar, Ganso´s, doesn´t get going until later. She says they have a strict no local hippie policy. A large tour group of 15 with guide had been there one night drinking upstairs when a hippie came in and tried to sell them dope. The guide flipped out and said "What kind of place are you running here?"so no more hippies. Peruvian hippies are total hippies. There is no half way. They all have huge dreadlocks, walk around barefoot or in sandals, and are filthy. There are little clusters of them everywhere I have been, supplimented by dreadlocked foreign girls sitting in the square selling crappy handmade jewelry. After a couple of beers I´m off to Ganso´s. This bar is a hole in the wall. The far wall is dominated by a wood burning oven with a fantastical sculptured hood. To the left is a couch contantly occuppied by one or two hippies playing the large bongo drums there. The drums also double as a rolling surface and they are not shy about firing it up right here. Up a sketchy stairway is the upstairs room. Its a real hippie haven with all the benches suspended from the ceiling with a rope. Colorful paintings and posters adorn the walls. A wooden fireman´s pole in the corner provides a quick alternative to the stairs. Last nite I was up here and a hippie pulled a huge chunk of weed out of his bag. It was pretty good. Tonite there is a group of 5 American girls having a going away party for one of them. More people join the party and people start piling in until the place is packed, upstairs and down. Its the day before independance day so everyone is out partying. My friend Arturo from Monday is there with his younger brother and his friends. Its a very lively crowd and we drink and bullshit for hours. The young Peruvian guys ask me about buffalo soldiers. They play Marley here constantly and that is one of his better known songs. They are really interested in American Indians, since they are indigenous people themselves. I name of most of the tribes I know and where they are located. They really like the part about the Custer Massacre and know about Geronimo. A tall red head at the bar has been hit on and danced with by almost evey guy in the bar. She asks me to dance and claims she is German and doesn´t speak a word of English. I´m not buying it and start saying some nasty shit to her in English but she doesn´t bat an eyelash. She danced with a few more guys and left alone. I christened her "The Red Baron"-80 men tried and 80 men died. Arturo tells me he lives in Cusco and gives me his email. I still haven´t heard from him. By now the crowd has thinned out after drinking almost every beer in the bar. I head back to the hotel. It´s 3:30 when I ring the bell and wake the owner.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Como Tu Eres, Yo Fui
Wednesday I went for a long hike up the mountain to the old Inca quarry, where the stones for the local ruin came from. Its about a 2 hr hike on a steadily climbing trail along the mountainside. I stop in one of the few shady spots for a lunch break. Then its an hour up a steep switchbacking trail to another quarry. This is on a grassy bench high on the mountainside with stunning views of the valley below and the snow capped Andes, capped by the glacier covered Mt Veronica. The whole area is terraced and there are little stairways and other signs of Inca occupation. This area is a high desert with few trees. I have climbed out of the desert zone into a weird montane ecosystem There are lots of strange succulent type plants and 2 really weird tree type plants with large floral blooms. My guidebook says to look for the boulder with painting on it.Check. Then look for a rocky trail ascending just to the left. Check. Head up this trail and look for the skeleton under a large boulder. WTF? The whole place is covered in large boulders, that´s why they quarried stone here. I figure I´m already here , might as well check it out. Following the rocky trail for about 50 yard I crested a small rise and there he was, not 20 feet from me. An intact skeleton, sitting upright with his knees up by his chest. He is sitting in the entrance to a small cave formed under the boulder. Peering inside I see a large pile of bones with a couple more skulls on top. Creapy! The skeleton is arranged so he is facing Mt Veronica across the valley. The Incas worshiped mountain Gods called apu and this is obviously a religious burial. Has to have been there at least 600 years. If there was ever a spot for joint break this is it. Nothing makes you contemplate your own mortality like staring into the face of a skeleton. He had a message: "Como tu eres,Yo fui"-As you are, I was.Heavy. I hung out here a little longer and by then it was 3 PM, 2 1/2 hours of daylight left to descend. Hasher that I am I don´t want to retrace my steps. I spotted a faint trail leading down. There was some horse shit there, and wherever a horse can go a man can go.
Dropping down into a high steep basin I soon intersect another, larger trail and follow it to a jumble of ruins perched on a rocky ridge. This must be where the workers lived. The trail comes to a rocky promentory. I look over the edge and its a vertigo inducing 2000 ft drop to the river below. From here I can see my trail down, a series of short steep swithbacks. The trail then becomes a long steep sidehill across a near vertical slope. Its all quite awesome. After about 2 hours I am near the bottom. I pass a few primitive houses into a small village,then to a road to a slightly more modern village. A bridge crosses the Urubamba river and the way back is along a railroad track. Its like a hash, 8-9 mile trail ending in a deathmarch on a RR. As I return to town it dawns on me that in my descent I haved walked through a millenia of history. Seeing that skeleton has blown my mind! The woman from the bar Monday nite was all psyched about "walking in the footsteps of the ancients" Hell, I looked him in the face! I don´t need no stinking San Pedro ceremony to expand my mind. The trail led me right into the train station, where the workers wondered where the hell I had come from. I stopped ina nearby restaurant for a cold beer and bottle of water. It feels nice to sit down and is painful to start the last 200 yards back to my hotel. This has to be one of my top 3 day hikes of all time.
Dropping down into a high steep basin I soon intersect another, larger trail and follow it to a jumble of ruins perched on a rocky ridge. This must be where the workers lived. The trail comes to a rocky promentory. I look over the edge and its a vertigo inducing 2000 ft drop to the river below. From here I can see my trail down, a series of short steep swithbacks. The trail then becomes a long steep sidehill across a near vertical slope. Its all quite awesome. After about 2 hours I am near the bottom. I pass a few primitive houses into a small village,then to a road to a slightly more modern village. A bridge crosses the Urubamba river and the way back is along a railroad track. Its like a hash, 8-9 mile trail ending in a deathmarch on a RR. As I return to town it dawns on me that in my descent I haved walked through a millenia of history. Seeing that skeleton has blown my mind! The woman from the bar Monday nite was all psyched about "walking in the footsteps of the ancients" Hell, I looked him in the face! I don´t need no stinking San Pedro ceremony to expand my mind. The trail led me right into the train station, where the workers wondered where the hell I had come from. I stopped ina nearby restaurant for a cold beer and bottle of water. It feels nice to sit down and is painful to start the last 200 yards back to my hotel. This has to be one of my top 3 day hikes of all time.
Feliz Cumpliaños
I went to the train station to buy my train ticket to Machu Picchu. A sign there said check availability before buying train tickets. For once in my life I heeded this advice and went back to the hotel to check on line. Sure enough they were sold out for Thursday, my planned first day. And since I had hotel reservations in Cusco Friday I decided to go to Machu Picchu later and buy my tickets in Cusco. I had no energy, I guess from my action packed day yesterday so I just putzed around all afternoon. The owner of the hostal was having a birthday party for his 2 yo grandson and invited me to join them. I just missed the piñata but arrived in time to see the little kids having a great time playing with the confetti. There were about 12 pre-schoolers and a couple of older kids plus their moms. I take a seat and am soon served a slice of cake. Then they bring me a plate of food. Next its time for Sorpesas!(goody bags). All the kids line up for this. I get one too! Whoo-hoo! It has a toy car in it and some candy and popcorn.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Pumamarca
Monday I was going to go to a village high in the moutains to buy hand woven textiles but the trip left at 8 and I missed it. So I climbed up to the ruins right above town to check then out. Then walked to the entrance of town and followed the old Inca trail thru the entrance gate and down about 1k to the highway overlooking the river. On the way back I watched some guys making adobe bricks. Then went to the foot of town and crossed a bridge to check out the start of a future hike. Afterwards I went back to my room for a post breakfast nap. I was soon awakened by drums and trumpets. That means one thing:procession. I grab my camera and run up to the square in time to catch a small group of people carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary. They are accompanied by a group of pre-school children wearing masks. Soon the kids line up in two lines and begin dancing frantically. It´s just too cute.
After a lunch of wheat soup and beans and rice for $2 I decide to go on a hike. I started up a street in town that followed a small river into the countryside. I continued up the road for a couple of miles until the valley opened out into an area of small fields and orchards. Itis very beautiful and I continue climbing. Finally its getting late and time to turn back before sunset. I asked a woman I saw on the side of the road if there was a trail back down to the main road. She asks if I am going to the ruins of Pumamarca. I didn´even know there were ruins there.I´m only a few hundred yards below them but time is short so I have to skip it. Walking down a steep trail and across the river I come to a small village perched between the road and the river canyon. I thought I might find a cold beer there but there is no store. Turning back to head to town I see a house with a red burlap bag on a pole. That is the sign that they have chibcha there. Its a drink made of fermented corn. A little girl leads me down into a compound to her mother´s house. Her mother is shocked to see a gringo at her door but invites me in. The house has 1 room and no windows and inside are 5 women of various ages. They are quite bemused to see me and offer me a glass. Its a little sweet and a little bitter. But its non alchoholic, as it takes 3 days to ferment to that level. I drank a little as guinea pigs scurried across the floor. It was getting dark and cold soon so Ieft quickly.
Hiking back down the road I soon came to a construction area where a backhoe and several dump trucks are working to clear a landslide. A guy hanging out on the side of the road tells me to wait a minute and I can get a ride back down in the next dump truck . Sure enough the driver stops and gives me a ride. And just in time too,as all I am wearing is a tshirt and its already getting cold.
For dinner that nite I decided to try stuffed pepper at a restaurant next to the hotel. While I am there I met a black woman from Baltimore who was with a group of people fresh in from a conferece in the jungle at Iquitos. What kind of conference do you go to in Iquitos, I asked. Ayausca she responded.Another guy in her group, Allen, overheard me say I was trying all the regional dishes.He says I must visit Iquitos, where he has lived for 20 years. According to him there are 7 women born to every man, due to the high acidity of their diet killing off all the y chromosone sperm.He says I would be a God there. Note to self: go to Iquitos.
I then found one of the few bars there. I walk in and 2 hippies are beating on large bongos. Igo to the bar and order beer and the bartender asks if I smoke. I said yes and he pulls out the roach he was smoking and offers it to me. Have I come to the right place! The hippies playing the bongos proceed to smoke me up. One even has the kind. After scoring a small amount from the bartender I smoke up the hippies. One of them is extolling the virtues of the hallucinagenic cactus San Pedro.He has done a lot of tripping on various drugs and we compare notes. Twist my arm, I´ll try it. About that time an American woman from Pittsburg walks in. She has been a participant in their San Pedro ceremony is is still fried. She is into some sort of esoteric fire rituals I have never heard of. She is blown away by the whole experience. We end up drinking until 1 when I left to return to my hotel. All things considered a stellar day on the tourist trail
After a lunch of wheat soup and beans and rice for $2 I decide to go on a hike. I started up a street in town that followed a small river into the countryside. I continued up the road for a couple of miles until the valley opened out into an area of small fields and orchards. Itis very beautiful and I continue climbing. Finally its getting late and time to turn back before sunset. I asked a woman I saw on the side of the road if there was a trail back down to the main road. She asks if I am going to the ruins of Pumamarca. I didn´even know there were ruins there.I´m only a few hundred yards below them but time is short so I have to skip it. Walking down a steep trail and across the river I come to a small village perched between the road and the river canyon. I thought I might find a cold beer there but there is no store. Turning back to head to town I see a house with a red burlap bag on a pole. That is the sign that they have chibcha there. Its a drink made of fermented corn. A little girl leads me down into a compound to her mother´s house. Her mother is shocked to see a gringo at her door but invites me in. The house has 1 room and no windows and inside are 5 women of various ages. They are quite bemused to see me and offer me a glass. Its a little sweet and a little bitter. But its non alchoholic, as it takes 3 days to ferment to that level. I drank a little as guinea pigs scurried across the floor. It was getting dark and cold soon so Ieft quickly.
Hiking back down the road I soon came to a construction area where a backhoe and several dump trucks are working to clear a landslide. A guy hanging out on the side of the road tells me to wait a minute and I can get a ride back down in the next dump truck . Sure enough the driver stops and gives me a ride. And just in time too,as all I am wearing is a tshirt and its already getting cold.
For dinner that nite I decided to try stuffed pepper at a restaurant next to the hotel. While I am there I met a black woman from Baltimore who was with a group of people fresh in from a conferece in the jungle at Iquitos. What kind of conference do you go to in Iquitos, I asked. Ayausca she responded.Another guy in her group, Allen, overheard me say I was trying all the regional dishes.He says I must visit Iquitos, where he has lived for 20 years. According to him there are 7 women born to every man, due to the high acidity of their diet killing off all the y chromosone sperm.He says I would be a God there. Note to self: go to Iquitos.
I then found one of the few bars there. I walk in and 2 hippies are beating on large bongos. Igo to the bar and order beer and the bartender asks if I smoke. I said yes and he pulls out the roach he was smoking and offers it to me. Have I come to the right place! The hippies playing the bongos proceed to smoke me up. One even has the kind. After scoring a small amount from the bartender I smoke up the hippies. One of them is extolling the virtues of the hallucinagenic cactus San Pedro.He has done a lot of tripping on various drugs and we compare notes. Twist my arm, I´ll try it. About that time an American woman from Pittsburg walks in. She has been a participant in their San Pedro ceremony is is still fried. She is into some sort of esoteric fire rituals I have never heard of. She is blown away by the whole experience. We end up drinking until 1 when I left to return to my hotel. All things considered a stellar day on the tourist trail
Pisac
Sunday I took a combi then a bus to Pisac at the other end of the Sacred Valley. There is a huge handicraft market there.On the bus I met a cute college girl from Baizil,Maria Teresa. She is a volunteer English teacher at a rural school outside of Ollantaytambo. We got off the bus and went our seperate ways but then met a few minutes later at the market. She wants to go see the ruins outside of town but doesn´t know where they are. I consult my guidebook and find they are several kilometers out of town. I hadn´t planned on going there but the prospect of spending more time with a cute girl is enough to convince me.We split a cab which takes us up the mountain to the ruins. It consists of a large area of terraces with some ruins perched precariosly atop a ridge. The place is crawling with tourists and we join them in clamoring about the ruins. After about an hour we return to the entrance only to find our cab is not there.He was supposed to meet us in an hour. We walk around confused, wondering what to do next when Cluadio, our driver, returns. He was back in town eating lunch. We go back to town where she needs to pee and I need to eat. I went to a nice restaurant overlooking the market. It was full of American tourists. I order alpaca steak with elderberry sauce and a bowl of creme of pumpkin soup. A half hour later the soup arrives. After another long wait the alpaca arrives. It is delicious, kind of like a lean version of a NY strip. The whole operation takes 1 1/2 hours and eats the rest of my afternoon. I make a half hearted attempt to find Maria Teresa then return to catch the bus back. Its my day to dry out so on return to my hotel I sit out front and watch all the tourists walk by. There are far more women than men on the tourist trail, mostly in groups of 2-4.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Ollantaytambo
The flight to Cuzco went over a huge area of desert mountains almost devoid of human activity. Then we got to Cuzco. The approach and landing were hairy and I was glad when the plane touched down. The terminal was freezing but it was nice outside in the sun. A short taxi ride brought me to a combi(van) and I was soon crossing the altiplano to the Sacred Valley. This is one of the most fertile areas of Peru. Run off from glaciers feeds the Urubamba River, which is used for irrigation. Soon I was in Ollantaytambo. This is the best presrved Incan village in Peru. It´s an enchanted place. The town has been continually occupied since at least 1440, 100 years before the Spanish arrived. The old town is laid out in a grid in the shape of a trapezoid. The main streets are barely wide enough for a car and the cross streets are even more narrow. The is no vehicular traffic in this section. All the houses are built on ancient Inca walls,still solid 600 years later with no mortar holding the stones together. Unfortunately this is where the road to Machu Picchu ends and you catch a train for the final part. So there is a constant parade of tour buses and vans all day. The town is in a deep valley surrounded by glacier covered peaks. There is a large ruin second only to Machu Picchu on one edge of town which is a major tourist attraction itself. The town is very small; you can walk from one end to the other in 10 minutes.
The town is a mix of tourists from all over, the local people, and highland villagers in ropa typica (traditional outfits), plus a bunch of hippies, so of course I am right at home. My guest house is a 2 minute walk from the town square and is very clean with a flower filled courtyard. Its a deal at $20/nite.
There is not much nitelife as most bars close at 11. But there is a disco open sometimes. I ended up there Saturday nite. I was the only tourist there and half the people looked to be around 16. The weather is sunny and mild in the day but in the afternoon the wind kicks up and the temperature drops rapidly as soon as you lose the sun. Glad I brought my leather jacket.
The town is a mix of tourists from all over, the local people, and highland villagers in ropa typica (traditional outfits), plus a bunch of hippies, so of course I am right at home. My guest house is a 2 minute walk from the town square and is very clean with a flower filled courtyard. Its a deal at $20/nite.
There is not much nitelife as most bars close at 11. But there is a disco open sometimes. I ended up there Saturday nite. I was the only tourist there and half the people looked to be around 16. The weather is sunny and mild in the day but in the afternoon the wind kicks up and the temperature drops rapidly as soon as you lose the sun. Glad I brought my leather jacket.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Google sux
OK Since I m in Peru whereslyle works but whereswanks doesn t. So I ll email some of you to try it. You may not be able to access it from the US.
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