Leaving on a Jet Plane

6/19/16

Today was our last day to explore Cusco and Peru, the morning started around 9:30, as we had to check out at 10 sharp. Breakfast, pictures, and plans were done quickly as we all had 4 hours till we had to leave for the airport. Keeping up with my usually goal to eat some of the weirdest things, I wanted to gather enough people to buy some Cuy (guinea pig) before we left. In the end we got a group of 14 people, and two vegetarians, to split two plates at the Inka Grill each a whopping 67 soles, definitely the most expensive lunch we have had while here. I half to say it has the texture of chicken and the way it was served to us, in cubes, made it pretty boney. Would I try it again, probably, would I try it again there, probably not.

Our last fleeting hours many of us took another run around the San Pedro market for some last minute gifts before we embarked on our 24-hour travel back to Boston.

Free day in Cusco

6/18/16

I woke up today ready and refreshed for an exciting day in Cusco. It’s hard to top yesterday but for every day of excitement I think there needs a day of relaxation. Doing just that, Hassan and I woke up around 10:30 and by 11 everyone was gathering in the lobby. Plans ranged from horse back riding in the afternoon, going to the famous San Pedro market, or getting breakfast at a crepes and waffles restaurant. I chose the market, with plans to get lunch later with Anna and Rebecca.

The San Pedro market, for anyone visiting Cusco, is a must see attraction. It is easily said the center of commercial business with everything on sale. The market is housed in a giant warehouse filled with stands creating aisles, branching off of a main street down the middle. On the edges of the building there the general tourist goods that we have seen almost everywhere throughout Peru. Once one breached the outer circle there were a collection of produce stands with every type of food one could ever need at a very affordable cost. On the right there are a collection of butchers counters, I swear on one of my passes I saw a whole pigs head hanging by a hook, next to a pile of chicken feet. There were also stalls for kitchen supplies like rolling pins, pots, and utensils. In the far back there were counters to purchase food. Now I’m always one for trying new things and doing as the locals do, but a bunch of the counters were cramped together and definitely lacked some of the cleanliness that my stomach would have needed to feel comfortable. By the end of the day I had bought a bunch of gifts and useful things for myself including a cutting board, alpaca socks, and a wooden spoon.

So I have been dying to try Chifa this trip because usually I’m a fan of Chinese food and chifa is a Peruvian-Chinese fusion, which has been a crowd favorite by almost everyone we have run into so far. My host mom had served me some take out and I did go to Chinatown but my thirst to eat real chifa had not been quenched yet. So for lunch Anna, Rebecca, and I headed out on a quest for the best Chifa in all of Cusco. Coincidentally it wasn’t very far from Hotel Prisma as it turned out, we had walked by it multiples times on the way to La Plaza de Armas, named Chifa Sipan. We arrived about 11:30 however it was not open yet so to kill the time we got pedicures. On a scale of one to ten this would be about a seven and probably the best pedicure in my life so far (one of two). Taking about 40 minutes for all three of us it really was relaxing. Mental note to self, get more pedicures in Boston.

Lunch was exactly what I had been hoping for. I got a mixed platter of sweet chicken, chicken noodles, fried rice (choufa) and wonton soup. At this point it was about 1:30pm and I was starving. Oh, I can’t forget the spring rolls, essentially just balls of meat rolled into a shell accompanied by a sweet brown dipping sauce. In the background we watched as Spain played Argentina in the American cup. I can’t say that I was enthralled by soccer but I understand the appeal. I kind of wish I was more into it like the rest of the world because I think it’s a great way to make bonding and friendly competition between groups. Even though I can acknowledge that America has soccer teams, when was the last time I even watched one, or heard how Philadelphia Union team was doing. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to catching up on blogs and homework. If you are reading this relatively soon after I posted it you’ll find that none of my blogs have pictures and almost all are poorly written. This is my own fault and laziness but I will put in photos before I’m done I swear. That being the goal I will go back and add them and correct my writing, if for nothing but my own personal records.

Dinner that night was at The Hotel Monestaria, an old Monastery that has since been converted into a hotel and restaurant. We arrived at the Monastery around 7:30pm and were seated at a collection of six tables with six people at each. We dinned in a large hall with a giant chefs prep table at one end and the diners at the other. In the middle was a grand fireplace and slightly to the left were about three instrumentalists playing a couple of lovely pieces. Servers brought an assortment of breads to us quickly along with water and the menus for the night. On the menu was the largest variety of foods yet with about 10 options for starters, main courses, and about 6 desserts. This blog will not justify how amazingly beautiful dinner was and how rich it felt being able to enjoy just a lovely dinner with each other. I made a couple rounds to all the tables, taking pictures and having some small talk. Some tables were talking about superlatives of what were the best parts of the trip, I’ll save mine for a different blog post. For me, my starter was a mango and trout salad which was a little plain with no dressing but was almost like eating a perfectly prepared slice of sushi. My dinner was a medium-rare chateaubriand and a potato gratin, accompanied by a bearnaise sauce. Literally the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my life. It was a two course meal so I split it with Daria. Annie and Vicky got the same as well. Feeling particularly decadent I accompanied my steal with a lovely red Malbec vine. Dessert was probably the most underwhelming, just a collection of cooked strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. In the end I was fully stuffed and a little tipsy from the vine and ready to hit the hay at home to rest through the digestion of the meal.

But alas, the night was not over. An hour later at 11:15 I was rudely awakened by Gaby announcing that a group was going out to the resident discoteca in the plaza de Armas, Momma Africa. The dance floor was located on the third floor of the building with a DJ booth and a full bar. By the time we arrived the place was in full swing with a couple hundred dancing and even a man doing black light face paint. My last drink in Cusco was a Maracuya Sour, a combination of passion fruit and pisco. Nick, Caroline, and I ended up leaving about 1am calling it a night to sleep off the alcohol and get packed to leave the next day.

The World, From Above

6/16/16

Today started at early at 4:30 am as all of us had to get up early to make sure we made it to the world wonder of Machu Picchu. The lot of us climbed into the bus by 5am snacked up for the long day ahead. 90 minutes later we disembarked at the station, where a train would take us further through the mountains. Despite it being about 7:30 am now all of us were still pretty asleep. The train ride however was just enough to get one excited for whatever view was to lay ahead. The rails traced along side a river and ran directly between two giant mountains covered in some deep forest.

The train ride took about 2.5 hours, after which we got off in Machu Picchu Pueblo, the small town bellow Machu Picchu, no doubt used to help the locals manage the massive influx of tourists that come to view the great Inca city. From here we had to take a bus about 20 minutes up the side of one of the mountains to a trail. It was there at the top of the trail we got to see the iconic picturesque view of the City of Machu Picchu. 

The view itself was amazing not to mention the addition of the city itself. No wonder the Incas felt this was a great place to have a temple to dedicate to the gods of the heavens. It looked like the Avatar (the blue people) where masses of land popped up into the sky and the ground was so far down it was out of site. We learned that Machu Picchu is actually the name of the mountain, which the historic town was built on. Machu in Quechua is mountain while Picchu is old.

The town is spread out across the mountain with a variety of buildings. All of the roofs and doors have been lost over the years but some important features like a sundial, courtyard, and temples remain. They say the whole area has a magic energy to it, stemming from the sun. In fact that’s very easy to as the whole complex is lush with greenery. From the highest point one can see several llamas grazing on the grass in a courtyard. Our tour took us around the whole town from the highest house where someone of high prestige lived to rooms dedicated to the creation of pottery and other works. The guide told us about 500 to 600 people lived there at its peak, and that the village was abandoned due to a war within the Incan nation and therefore never completed. On the backside of the town there was a closed off section to the new mountain (in contrast to the old mountain). The tour of the back mountain only allows for 400 people per day and we were not on the list so we only heart about the amazing trails, caves, and moon temple that were behind the blocked off gate. Also the village of Machu Picchu has the image of the condor, a very important animal in their theology. The Incans believed in three worlds, a heaven, a medium, and a hell; an animal represented each world a condor, a puma, and a snake respectively.

One of the most interesting ways the builders dedicated their village to the world around them was that on occasion there were flat slabs of rock that when seen from a certain angle perfectly mirrored the mountains in the background. Also, much of the city had windows facing towards specific portions of other mountains. Many of the big rocks that made up the village were brought down and carved from higher on the mountain. Much of the construction was built by cutting odd shaped rocks so that each would fit into the others like a puzzle. Some of the more interesting parts of the village included monuments dedicated to dead kings, and a single tree that was brought up and planted by one of the earliest explorers. Underneath the tree researchers had discovered a solid block of gold about the size of a deck of cards.

After the tour our group split up with some of us going back to Machu Picchu Pueblo, I went up to the Incan sun gate higher up on Machu Picchu Mountain. To get there we had to hike back up to the top of the city, and even further by about 40 minutes on the legendary Incan trail. The hike was amazing and definitely my favorite part of the day. The sun was shinning on us the whole way as we walked along the side of the mountain. Every couple of hundred feet there would be a small construction of an ancient civilization. At the top the view was even more spectacular. It was kind of hard to see the village but it was easy to take in the whole mountainous region in one view. We ended the day with a slow climb down the mountain all the way back, past Machu Picchu, and to the bus station, then to the train, then back on the bus, and finally coming to rest at in Cusco at around 10:30pm.

We found ourselves in the Lost Valley.

6/15/16

I believe that each day this week the attractions we see keep getting bigger and bigger. Today we explored the ruins that speckle the Sacred Valley. Named for its agriculturally rich history, the Incans turned the mountainous region into a cornucopia of biodiversity via their usage of aqueducts and terraces. But before we even go to our first scheduled stop we took three breaks. The first was at a collection of stops on the side of the road. These stops are common here in Peru. The guide explained to us that much of Peru’s economic fortune is derived from tourism, and while it isn’t the base of their culture there is no way that any it can be avoided in their modern day lives. Each shop has the same general things a collection of alpaca cloth-stuffs, necklaces, stone pipes, stuffed alpaca and cuy (guinea pigs), backpacks and bags. Our next stop was Awana Kancha, a llama and alpaca sanctuary. It was small but man were people excited to get close to the animals. There was also free ruffage that we could use to feed them. Who knew LL/A’s were so big, if there wasn’t a fence one of them would have trampled Vicky. I got a few glamor shots with my favorite whose name was Chompa (sweater in Quechua). Our last was a pit stop for pictures overlooking the Sacred Valley and the town of Pisac.

Our first official stop was the ruins of Pisac. Like many of the ruins prior to today this was a small coupling of houses made of stone, atop a large terrace system. We were told that those with social power, which were usually priests, or those with a close relationship with god used the highest houses. There was a hike up to the highest part of the town that overlooked the valley. This was followed by an hour bus ride to our lunch buffet. Lunch was at Tunupa a giant buffet that is clearly made for the satisfaction of travelers. It was a beautiful house and garden in the back that ran along a river. There were about 4 huge tables covered in food from soup, to salad, chifa, a ceviche bar, and two whole tables of deserts. After lunch we all lied down by the river and rested up for the rest of the afternoon ahead of us.

Our next stop was Ollantaytambo, another collection of ruins and terraces built into mountainsides in the sacred valley. The ruins overlook the town bellow. About 15 floors of terraces and at the top I could see the way the sunlight cut the valley in half. Running through the middle of the town was a river, which separated the land between normal, and holy land. On the mirroring mountainside there were more houses and paths. If one looks hard you can see the face of an alpaca. We ended our day at a yawn demo. The women there showed us how they turned an alpaca into a sweater. First the wool is combed and spooled into a thin string. Then the string is dyed using natural coloring ingredients from the surrounding area. Examples of coloring ingredients were limes, cactus insects crushed, leaves, and even the salt from the salt ponds we visited yesterday. From there the yard is then weaved into designs on a loom. For those of you who do not know a loom works by weaving a piece of strong on a shuttle through interlocking pieces of string and is then beat down with a comb. The instructor joked with us saying that the bone was that of a tourist who didn't buy anything, I still question if it was a joke. At the end of the demo we were invited to buy any of the products they had in their store, I bought some yard for my dad to use as he loves knitting.

Today I chose to be salty

6/14/16

The headache persisted today upon waking up. I hate to be such a downer in the morning but the headache made even walking difficult. However it was really helpful as we drove out of Cusco to get to our two destinations today and in doing so I got to take a nice long nap, lulled to sleep by the rumbling of the bus.  We made one pit stop along the way to take a photo and to look at all the amazing mountains that make of the Andean Highlands. The high of these mountains are in the north of Peru but from outside of Cusco we could see about 6 snowcaps on three sides of us.

Our first stop was the collection of Salt Ponds at Maras used by farmers to evaporate natural hill water and farm salt. The ponds were on a mountainside and were filled by an aqueduct starting from inside the mountain. It was said that all of Peru used to be covered in a giant salt ocean, however when it receded, much of it was trapped within the mountain. We got to explore the farm by tightrope talking the small barriers of salt deposits that separated each pond from the next. There were a couple farmers working hard and being the inquisitive person that I am really wanted to see if I could get the experience of what they were doing. After walking for 15 minutes across the mountainside and almost falling in two salt ponds, I finally made it to a lovely women hacking away at a dried up salt flat. She was find enough to show me how to use her hoe to hack at the salt remains to help clear her bed for another flooding. She told me that she has been working in Kachi Wasi for years to support her 5 children. She works everyday from 10a-4p and it takes about 3 days for the ponds to dry out before you can harvest them. At this point I got to try out hoeing, which while fun, was hard work especially on the back and under the sun. On our way out we went to buy some of the salt for super cheap. Apparently rose salt is the finest top layer of salt, which can go for $20 in the US, but was about $2 here.

Our next and last stop was Chinchero a collection of circular cut depressions into the mountains. The depressions were within each other looking like an inverted circular pyramid. It was said that this area was specially because the pre-incan society’s recognized that each level was its own microclimate which allows for the growth of multiple different types of crops. We walked the perimeter of the whole base and even got to play around inside one of the shallower ones in the back. I’ll be sure to post photos!

We ended the day with a nice drive back to Lima, with me feeling much better as my headache faded and I was able to zone out for the bus ride back.