whims

The trip.

i'm back! 9ish days of vacation and now, i'm back in lima, living a more vacation like life than before. tired, though...im tired. i think im going ot start saying soy cansada instead of estoy cansada

So, the trip. Day by day. Here we go.

Oh, for pictures go to http://mcgill.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008102&l=31d69&id=48101631

Wednesday, the 8.
I got up hella early in order to finish packing and return my teaching materials to the institute. My class had ended the night before. Three students failed. They're in advanced and don't understand and can't speak. They needed to fail but each of them was unhappy and felt that they didn't deserve to fail. ONe said that she'd have to pay for the course (which is definitely not cheap) because her company pays for it...unless she fails. They said that the other professors had been more understanding (had changed the grades) but I really didn't feel there was anything I could do. I said I'd talk to my boss because if that's what the institute does (just pass the students) then that's what I'd do. So, I had to deal with that mess before I left. I got all my stuff done and headed to Erika's house (not close) (she's the girl I went with) but she wasn't ready. Of course. :) Waited a bit and then, finally, we headed to teh bus station with our backpacks, bag of food, and thermos full of Mate de Coca which helps prevent altitude sickness (we were heading for the mountains.)

We were first going to go to Pisco (the home of the famous liquour Pisco) in order to go to the Islas Bellezas which are kind of like a smaller version of the Galapagos Islands. We took the bus. It was about 5 hrs. I think. Wow, I had no idea but the coast of Peru is desert!! Dunes and all. I was completely shocked. Peru is suppper diverse ecologically. WHen we arrived, we go out of the bus at the "Cruce", which is a couple of km from Pisco and were ATTACKED by taxi driver. Erika then realized what she had gotten herself into...she was taking a vaction to tourist land with a tall blonde gringissima. Well, we found a taxi driver who's hair was a straight-from-the-80's curly mullet (just lacked glitter gel) and headed into town. Our taxista kindly explained to us that it was too late to see the islands that day because the boats only saidl in the morning because the in the afternoon it's too windy and it was already past noon. Hm. Without even getting out of the taxi we dropped off the woman who was sharing our taxi, picked up another passanger, and headed straight back to the Cruce to catch a bus to Ica, a city which Erika assured me was veyr cool, vowing to go back the next day to see teh islands.

Upon arrival in Ica, we were again bombarded with taxi request. They think if your blonde you know nothing....seems to be a theme world wide. hm. :) WE found one and asked him to take us to some cheap hostels (that wash Erika's tactic for finding a hostel we made 0 reservations ahead of time apart from buying our plane tickets) He said there were a bunch and dropped us off int he center plaza. Right there we found a tour company and decided to buy a tour of ICa for 35 soles. We had about .5 hrs before it started so we headed off to find a hostel, which we did with no problems (see, Peruvians live with their parents until they get married...so if they want some privacy before marriage, they go to one of the very very numerous hostels) it was ridiculously cheap 25 for the both of us. And then the tour. Yes, this was all the first day.

We went with one Peruvian guy (the guide) and a couple from France who didn't really speak Spanish. First we went to a local wine tasting/selling area. In Ica, wine and grape growing is a big deal. They have a huge festival every fall to celebrate the harvest. THe thing is, the wine is incredibly sweet because of the heat. Soooo, I didn't like the majority of it. But, we sampled some wines and Piscos and I found myself translating for the French couple and feeling pretty damn cool. No, we didn't sample that much. After, we went to a bigger winery. It looked just like the one in the movie about a ...mmmm well just like that one movie. It's amazing how big the machines/areas for making the Pisco and wine are. I was very impressed. We bought a box of Sangria. We couldn't buy anything else: too early on the trip, but a glass bottle didn't seem like a great thing to tote along. AFter, we went to a desert paradise, a lagoon called Huacachina. It used to be natural but now is supplemented by an artifical water source. Still, it was gorgeous palm tress and the opportunity to climb into a auto of some sort and scale the immense dunes. We decided to save some money (and the environment for heaven's sake) and just go sand boarding. Hehe. It's like snow boarding except on sand. The first few times we went down sitting but finally we got up the nerve to try it standing. Btw, we seemed to be the only girls trying it that way. THis society is quite well defined when it come to gender. Veryy very fun! Gotta say it's hella hard to walk up a dune, though. After our 45 mins (oh yes, no time at all) we went to the Land of the Witches. I didn't totally understand the storythe guide told but there was a witch who lived there until the 80's who enchanted the trees. THere are palm trees there that grow as if they're drunk, like snakes. It's incredible, really. AFter, we had our palms read by a semi famous male peruvian mystic. He told me I'd have 2 kids, that I'm smart, that I'm going to have a very long courting period (like 8 or 9 years), that travel is in my future, that I have a connectoin with the moon, and to be careful with adventure sports...interesting. That was it. We returned to Ica and decided not to eat anything except the food we had an avocado. On our search we walked through the very busy streets of Ica. It felt very different than Lima. Smaller, less dangerous, more authentic, perhaps more chaotic, and totally exciting. We went back to our hotel room and ended up talking the whooollleee night. WHich meant....

The next morning we slept until 10, way too late to try to go see the islands. I was bummed. We packed up our stuff, tried to cash my travellers checks (managed 2 of the three...the other was ripped from when I had put it in my shoe to protect it) got a strawberry juice and headed for Nazca. Before the Incans were many others, including the Nazcans. Nazca is still in the desert but it's on or near a pampa [The Pampas (from Quechua, meaning "plain") are the fertile South American lowlands], , an very delicate area that retains impressions veyr well. This is important because the Nazcan people created extraordinarily huge images, images of all sorts of things but mostly animals. Nobody knows exactly why they created the images. Some think that they were landing strips for aliens, mesages from aliens, messages to the gods, and - my personal favorite - meditational walking paths: that the Nazcans walked the lines of the images and meditated on the energy of the animal/form they were creating. The flight was 55 bucks (our flight from Cusco to Lima was 48 haha) and lasted about 20 mins. Quite expensive, but the views were great. Unfortunately for Erika, sh edidn´t get to see many of the figures because she was trying to keep her lunch down. The pressure in the cabin was horrendous and with every turn, I felt my brain compressing into a penny. We were happy to land. After, we headed into Nazca to see the sights for a bit with a Scottish girl we had met on the plane. She's here teaching English in the Andes. She's an investment banker in Scotland. See? It's never too late to do an amazing project. 1 fanta later and we were off ot the bus station to catch our bus to Cusco. Pretty comfy. THey gave us food. BUT...they played "Balads en ingels" the whole time! Oh jeez. I had "I said I loved you but I lied. THis is more than love I feel inside..." stuck in my head for days.

viernes 10
I woke early (duh, on a bus you don't sleep too well) and climbed into the free seat at the front of the bus on the second level. Wow! I instantly fell in love with the scenery. It was soo green! We had come from the desert and entered a mix of Tuscany and Lord of the RIngs. Amazing. We'd climb a mountain and then see immense valleys and little villages for miles. Incredible. I tried to take some pics from the window. :) We'd drive through villages and the children would stop and stare. It's like were were photo-shopped into image. SUch a culture clash. Here we were,on our leather seats, 90 soles a pop, and those kids without enough to eat starting and wondering who those strange blondes beasts inside were and why our lives wer so different. HOnestly, I found myself thinking the same thing. Anyway, we arrived in Cusco,and were,surprisingly, not attacked by taxi drivers. Phew. We left with a couple from Holland who I'd met on the bus, to find a hostel, sending Erika ahead to find a taxi in order to get a fair price. AFter some searching we settled on Girasoles, a hostal a few blocks from the center on a quiet, somewhat sketchy, pedestrain walkway. We dropped off our stuff and set out to setlte all the business there was to be settled: tourist ticket to get into the ruins and museums of Cusco and surrounding area: 35 soles (student price), choclo (corn) from a trash can pot on the street (delicious!) 1 sol, my train ticket to Macchu Picchu 58 dolars, Erika's 30 soles...she took the'local train', which only Peruvians can take. I had to take tha 'backpacker'for gringos...This was good for her wallet, but proved to be a slight problem on Tudesdya, when we went to Macchu Picchu. Yea, after al the business was settled, we ate our first tourist menu in Cusco (very good) and headed off to a traditional dance show. It was very cool and interesting, but of course, there was an annoying and rude AMerican behind us who kept making smart ass remarks. Gotta love it...
We didn't go out Friday, even though we had hurried ourselves a lot to get there by Friday because Cusco supposedly has the best nightlife in Peru, because we were simply too exhausted form all the hurrying. :)

Saturday 11
We went out to the museums of Cusco with our Dutch friends. Went to 4 musems, the first of which was the Monastary of Saint Catalina, which, I believe, was the Cuscainan (my adj. for things from Cusco) school of painting for a long time. Before the Spanish arrived, the Incans had their own school of art right there, inthe very spot where hte monastary stands today. THe SPainards, of course, conquered the area, and to reinforce their power, built their new monastary/school of right on top of that of the Incans. They began to teach the Incans (and then the mestisos) how to paint in SPanish styel. THere are some interesting mixes of Incan and SPanish culture. For example, the local Virgen looks like an Andean woman facially. Also, her form is that of a mountain, seriously, she a big hill. :) We spent the rest of the day wandering around musuems, looking at artifacts and art objects and in the afternoon, it rained!!! I was soo happy. I really miss the rain. We also went to a museums that was exibiting stuff from the oh my...i can't remember. Another society form Peru, but much much older. THe oldest in S. America, Ithink. THe problem is, by this point my head was a little too overloaded with info because everything was new and and Spanish. Damn, can't remember. Well, their center is aabout 3 hrs. from LIma. It's possible I'll go. THat night we did go out, to a club called Mama Africa. No african music and lots of tourists, but a good time was had by all.

domingo 12
Heading to the 'far-away' places of tourist ticket, again with our Dutch friends. First we went to Chinchero. Wow. THat may have been the coolest town we went to. There's a market there every SUnday where teh local people trade their goods. The people of the Andes seem to have few options when it comes to employment, so a grand number because entrepeneurs and make/sell their produce and handicrafts. There are at least 2 or three at every tourist stop selling amazing thngs and dirt cheap prices. That's competition for you, I guess. I was shocked, though. They still wear thier traditional clothing! I had no idea...I kindof thought the people I had seen in LIma dressed like that were just trying to look more authentic to sell more things. Nope, the Andean people still speak the language of the Incan and make thier own clothes. The women wear tall hats and beautiful skirts, a couple of sweater, and always have a blanket tied around their back, in which their carrying a baby or a bunch of lettuce or somthings to sell. There were tons of people int he village too because there wa a big political debate/demonstration for the elections which were just 1week and 1 day away. SO MANY PEOPLE. Wow, I entered the marketand started searhcing. Spent a good hour there. Found yarn of Alpaca, which my mom had specifiaclly askedme to get for her, but I didn't know which color she'd want, so I grabbedmy telephone card (which I had luckily brought along) and headed to the public telephone to find out. Amazing. Blue and just 1. :) THen, went up to the church (which was the reason we had gone in the first place) which was pretty cool and then we passed some time staring at the imensity of the mountains. So so gorgeous. AFter, we went back down to the market/demonstration, totally intoxicated by the culture, and waited ofr our Dutch friends to reappear. Then, we headed to Pisaq.

Pisaq is a town near a ruin of a huge Incan town in the mountains. We arrived (on bus after I apparently yelled Chancha (which means fund or sow) instead of cancha (which means popcorn) from the window of the bus, trying ot help our dutch friends) in Pisaq hungry and ready for lunch. So after a refreshing break, and a much less impressive market, we headed in taxi for the ruins. On the way up we made a dealwithour taxi driver that he would take us to our next location too. Very good. He dropped us off and we started hiking. God! SOOO beautiful! In the mountains, near the tops (no snow) and this amazingly ancient, well built, pretty well intact Incan city appears. There are aquaducts and rooms and I don't know what else. It's so amazing and the views are absolutely incredible. We spent a good hour or two wandering around, but then it was starting to get dark and we still had 2 places on our list, so we headed back to the taxi driver and headed on. Erika imediately fell asleep (understandable) and I was left as the #1 Spanish speaker....which always makes me feel good. hehe. The driver took us to Pikillacta, assuring us that we could get in and that it was illuminated at night....the ride was as gorgeous as every but when we arrived, it was so dark, we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces. Lier. Oh well, he tried to make it up to us by shining his headlights on soem ruins outside of the park, but honestly we couldn't see anytihg. Oh well, we headed to Cusco, in his cab and paid him a total of 75soles. Damn damn cheap. It had been a good hour or two in the car with him by that point. He has to pay his gas out of that. It's incredible how little they make...and, I'm sure, this was a good day becuse he had paying passengers for the majoriyt of the day. Bought a couple beers and played some card games witht he Dutch when we got back. That was it. Too tired to go out.

Monday 13
The last circuit on our tourist ticket, the close places. You're supposed to be able to walk to 4 sites which are at most 7 km from Cusco, but as weeklings, we didn´t. Before anything, we headed to a museum whihc had been an Incan temple, the most important. A taxi driver had told us it was 70 soles...it was 3. Hehe. So we ran through, seeing what we could see. Of course, the Spanish took it over as well, so there's a nice mix of Incan workmanship and Cuscainan (which, by definition is an example of "cultural fusion") art. Then, we headed to the ruins. Took a combi up the hill to Cristo Blanco. It's a huge white statue of Jesus, with his arms wide spread, so that he forms a cross. It's totally visible at night, as you can imagine. There are lots of these crosses in Peru. The Incans believed the hills were connections to the Gods, so by putting the Christian symbol at the peak of the hill, the Spainards took advantage of a prexisting believe to further thier own religion. We went to Saqaywaman and without a guide learned little. :) Everywhere, though, in these ruins are figures of Condors, Pumas, and Snakes, which were the central gods for the Incans. The COndor was the messenger to the Gods, becuase of how it rises in the sky. The Puma was the God of the world becaus of its ability to dominate over other animals. The Serpent was the God of the dead/world because it lives int he earth andt he water. At the bathrooms of Saqsaywaman, we were presented with the opportunity to continue our tour on horseback. 20 soles. 2 hours. All the places, plus 2 more on our tourist tickets. We took it! We went with our young, 16 year old guide, to his farm and met our skkkiiiinnnnyy horses. Santiago was the name of mine, a sort of bully really. Poor horses. So skinny, and they had to carry us (Erika's horse was a bit luckier in the draw.) up and up and up. Well it was fun. Our guide walked the whole time. His name was Angel and was so very vrey calm. He says he walks/rides through the mountains often. He seemed to have the peace of his land in his soul. He was 16, though and not in school, even though it was Monday. So, we went to some caves with him, to Pukapukara (a fortress), where we found our Dutch friends who were walking everywhere), to Tambomachay (neat examples of aquaducts), where we just missed an apparently insane American preaching about the water and cancer, and then to the Temple of the Moon. The Moon was the wife of teh SUn, the #1 God. A little girl who was just chillin' there with her family (not in school either...) showed us around. The table for sacrifices (human and llama), the area for storing arms, and the little hole where she said women gave birth. I didn't know, but in Spanish, "give birth" is "dar la luz", "give the light" I was totally confused, "Light? What? huh?" But, it's cool, I relaly like how they say it. AFter that, we went to another ruin, quickly, as it was starting to get dark, Q'enqo, which is a laberinth like temple. They made a lot of sacrifices there and there are canals for the blood to run down the rocks in. Then, we hopped into a combi and ran off to Tipon, which is supposed to be one of the most impressive ruins, and the one which were were going to see after Pikillacta the day before. We arrived and the sun was setting. We weren't sup`posed to be let in, but they let us and we ran around. It's huge set of terraces and impressive aquaducts. The Incas were so advanced. Very pretty. As we were leaving, the workers who are reconstructing a part of the ruins asked us to give them a lift downt he mountain. Sure we sid, so they piled in. Pretty fun.

martes 14.
Macchu Picchu!! In order to get to Macchu Picchu in one day, you have to get up super super early because the trip there is about 3 or 4 hours. We took a bus to Ollantaytambo because 1)there's a neat ruin there and 2)the train for me is about 10 bucks cheaper, which is 30 soles, which is three big meals. We arrived in Ollantaytambo and I lost my glasses, so started searching in all the combis. Luckily, we found them. Bought a cap to protect my very burnt and sore scalp and had a juice int he market. Then, we headed down tot the trian station. Like I said, Erika took a different train than I did. So, I left. I was surrounded my Germans or Dutch people in trian and fell asleep. But the scenery fromt he trian is phenominal! Near Macchu Picchu, the terrain changes. It starts to become jungle. Wow. I arrived in Aguas Calientes, and to wait. Went to buy my ticket, had a coffee, and walked arond the thermal baths (hence, aguas calientes...hot waters) Erika was supposd to arrive at 1130, but wrote a message and said she was coming at 1230. Went to wait for her...the local train doesn't arrive in a station, but just on the street and everyone told me the local train had already passed. Out of money on my cellphone, I didn't know what to do, so i decided to head up to Macchu Picchu and wait fro her there...I figured she was alreayd there. She wasn't. (apparently, she had missed her trian and had taken another) but I was waiting waiting wiatng and then this group of teenagers from the highlands approached me and asked if they could take a photo with me. At first i thought they wanted me to take the pic...but no. They're from parts where few gringos go and wanted to document me, like I want to document the people int he villiages. I thought it was strange until I remembered how I've snapped shots of people working on farms and in buses. BUT I'M NORMAL...right. She finally arrived adn we finally headed in. Wow. It really looks like that. Wow. It's huge and super high up in the mountains. I can't really explain it (except to say that it amazing and always filled to the max with tons of people and there are llamas in teh center) You'll have to see the pics. Very very cool. We stayed for about 3 hours, when I had to go back. I got on my train, took my seat, and realized that I was surorunded by a group of Spanish guys who had just finished the Inca Trail. They were talking tlaking talking and at one point, one said,¨"But she doesn't understand"...I just turned to him and smiled. We talked the rest of the way to Ollantaytambo, where we were going to get off...but couldn't. Because of contruction or something, we had to head 2 km farther, into the middle of nowhere (which meant I didn't get tos ee the ruins, oh well). They had a personal van which was going ot take them back to Cusco and I asked for a ride, as I really didn't have other options. Lucky. They took me and that was that. Erika arrived later and went out again. We were pretty lame really int he night...too tired to really take advantage of Cusco's nightlife. But, because there are sooo many tourists there, you'll find the discos packed everyday. That's why they say the nightlife is great. It's okay in my opinion. Not many options. But Cusco itself is a gorgeous city: small stone cobbled streets, a gorgeous center square, churches and much less pollution and noise than in Lima. And, it rains. Ah.

Wed. 15.
To Puno! (Lake Titikaka) We didn't get up as early as we would have liked (neither of us are good at getting up) but we managed and headed tothe bus terminal to buy our tickets. Luckily, we found one, ate some fish for 2 soles and jumped on our bus. Another beautiful ride! 7 hrs. Very pleasant. We arrived in Puno at night, found a taxi driver who took us to a hotel and offered us a tour of the islands the next day. Checked in, and went out to explore Puno a bit. Had some food and returned to sleep.

jueves 16
Got up early ot go on our tour of Los Uros (the islands of Lake Titikaka) The lake, near the marina, is totally covered in algea. It's gross looking, really. Our tour boat drove us slowly to the islands, which aren't natural...they're made of a plant from the lake called tortora, which I dont' know how to say in English. THye make their islands! The look like big mats of straw, with little straw teepees (tipis?) sitting on top. It's incredible. Very yellow. The people who live there are the original indigenous peoples of the islands, and htey still live somewhat like before. They're very poor. Very poor. But,t hey seem to live off of tourism, with the tours and selling hteir crafts. I don't know about it. It seemed like they had to live in Disneyland everyday, working in the hot Goofy suit, or something. THey dont' live as before, but neither as a average person in the modern world. Life seemed hard and boring. But, I didn't get to see much because the tour was short and not designed to give the tourist an insight into the lives of the people, really. They do have solar panels, which the government have them. Aobut 8 of the islands have them. Some have radio now and a way to warm water electrically. It also means they cna stay up late working on their handicrafts. OH, I ate tortora! Thye eat it. Apparently, it's high in potassium and calcium and very good for you. It's not sweet, it's not salty, just juicy and refreshing. Wow, those islands were unlike anything I'd ever seen before. SO yellow. SO soft. So small. Wow. on once, I called my dad from a phone powered by solar power. hehe. After, we returned to Puno and headed to the bus station to go back to Cusco. We went out agian that night in Cusco....and then next morning...

Friday 17
THat was it. We headed to the airport and stood in line for ever behind a couple nice AMerican doctors who had just finished a few days operating on poor kids in Cusco. They ahd come with an organization called Healing the CHildren. Fascinating. Upon boarding we took some silly pictures and then crashed. Tiiiireeed. I did wake to eat my breakfast but after, I was completely out. And then we landed. There was 0 notice...and yes, my seat was still in its reclined position. Oh my.

In the airport, I asked a taxi driver how much he'd charge me to my house. He asked me for the direction and i told him. THen he told me 25 soles, when it should be about 5 and I laughe din his face. If I know how to get where I'm going, I also know the rates. Dummmy. Luckily, Erika's sister showed up complete with 5 month old daughter, servant, and two dogs and she gave me a lift home.

ONce at home...I can't remember what I did. It was Friday monring and I was tired. Oh yes, I found aunt Lucky, frying chicken so that Gaby could go sell it. We talked and then I slept. I was going to go get my pay (because at that point I was totttaaally broke) but I slept too long. I went to see my boys later (yay!!) and then I went to Villa ElSalvador to Florian's goodbye party. It was more of an improv show than a party. Very fun. Stayed up until 7 playing truth or dare with a bunch of adults. How funny. After, said goodbye to Florian and bought a beer with a few of his friends at 10 in the morning. It was the election period, and in Peru supposedly no one is supposed to sell alcohol for the days surrounding the election, but we found some and drank them on the street. 2 hrs later (2 hrs. in th bus later) I was in my house and ready to sleeeepp. Yea, the next day ERika called me, begging me to come to her house to help her with her ENglish because her exam (the reason that she took my ENglish class in the first place) was the next day. I went but about 10 mins after I got there my SPanish friends called and told me they wer ein Lima because of flight problems and that I should come see them. I went. Yes, I abandoned Erika but I promised to come back the next morning (which I did) Yes, and then it was Monday and my vacation, which I though would end on Friday was officially done. Phew. And then I slept some more.

This weke has been pretty chill. I've slept a lot. ON Wednesday I went to an improv. show, which was quite funny. Today, my family is hosting a pollada, which is a party where they sell chicken adn dance a lot. It's a very Peruvian thing. Our house is filled the noise of a pollada almost every weekend because they have them in the playground of the school across the street very veyr often. It'll be my first one. A must-do in Peru, apparently.

posted by Marielly @ 8:05 AM