Sorry about the delay in posting this note. Life’s been pretty hectic. This corresponds roughly to the week of the 8th-15th of February, and I wrote it then.

Things I could not do in Peru if I was taller

1)      Stand (or sometimes fit) in a combi

2)      Duck under a futbol flying at my face

3)      Not smack my head in doorways

4)      Get mistaken for a local… until I talk… but then I get asked if I’m Brazilian...

5)      Start awesome conversations by saying I’m from India rather than the US

Realizations this week:

1)      Fried (as opposed to baked) tortilla chips are worth the heart attack.

2)      Abhishek, if you could mail me pani puri, I would mail you Machu Picchu… and Mommy will you bring me bhertha and roti at the airport when I get back? And chai?

3)      Every time I see giant rocks, I imagine an Inca hauling it while getting shot at by Spaniards

4)      I love chocolate. I really do.

5)      Apparently I can get sunburned… at least I think that’s what this painful red stuff on my cheeks is…

6)      Dogs are now scary.

7)      There is no better way to spend an afternoon than wandering around the hills north of Cusco, especially with an all-access pass to the ruins there.

The 11th was spent in class. Quite literally. 9-12 and then 3-7. On the plus side, we did get to watch V for Vendetta which I wish I’d seen before now. It looked kind of ridiculous from the previews/commercials, but it was actually really good. The choice of the 1812 overture and Beethoven’s Vth were quite clever, as was the ‘pun’ between V the letter and V the number. Now I have to write a 2-page composition on ‘development, ethics, and something’ aka an exercise in mierda unsurpassed since IB. The highlight of the day was discovering a candy bar that is cheaper than American candy here (as much as 4 soles or about $1.50 for a twix) but still contains real chocolate and lacks those weird wafers. Se llama ‘Princesa’ and is similar to but with more chocolate than a Reeses cup. I cannot put into words how amazing a bite of chocolate tastes after a month. I salute those of you who are planning to give up chocolate for Lent.

The weekend was pretty darn awesome. Friday, we went back to Oropesa (which you may remember is ‘el capital mundial del pan’ and which was practically underwater last time we were there). We built a wall out of giant rocks and cement in an orphanage, so that next time it rains for 40 days the place won’t flood. This includes mixing the cement by hand/shovel/pickax, carting it to where the wall was, laying giant rocks on top, and repeating.  I now have a new respect for people who do heavy physical labor day in day out… They also gave us this weird pig cheese stuff as a snack… I thought about taking a picture, but I’d really rather forget about it. I pretended to eat it while feeding it to a cat…

I also found myself missing India, like a LOT. Is that weird? To be homesick for a place that’s only kind of home? Do you ever have weird cravings like ‘man, if I could have a squishy mango right now…’ Actually, having now gone one full month without a glass of milk, I’d fly to India for a huge glass of cold coffee. No matter how much I made fun of the concept at first, I now believe that cold coffee, maggi, and squishy mangoes are perfectly acceptable staples for existence. And chai! *drifts off in a tea cup* Supposedly there’s a good Indian restaurant close to the Plaza de Armas here… part of me wonders if it’s Peruvianified or authentic,  part is worried about being disappointed and knows better than to eat Indian food in restaurants outside India, and part is sure it’ll cost several limbs.

Saturday we visited Sacsayhuaman for real. You may remember that I got lost last week and hiked up to the ruins. They are awesome, and the views of Cusco from there are some of the best I’ve seen so far. The ruins themselves are in 3 rows of 22 zigzags, supposedly representing the teeth of a puma, since Cusco is laid out like the body of a puma. It also has the added bonus of forcing any attacking army to expose flanks. We were only able to spend about an hour there… guided tours are cool because of the information, but they suck because of the time issues. Gah! Anyway, Ollantaytambo was brilliant also. It had granaries on the facing mountain also which I climbed up to, since the tour guide gave us an hour to mess around on our own. It was crazy though since you could tell that the Incas didn’t have time to finish the complex before the Spanish invasion in the 1530s. A huge stone is still on a ramp to be lifted up! I wish I’d had the time to sketch while I was there, but I guess photos will have to suffice.

Sunday, was for Pisac. This site, sometimes compared with Machu Picchu for its size and comparatively obscure location, remains an enigma to archeologists. It’s located more or less at one end of the Sacred Valley and once guarded the road to Cusco from the Antis – ancient enemies of the Incas. For me, one of the most striking features of Pisac was the intricacy of the terracing. The Andes really are hand carved mountains. In India, every hill and mountain had a temple on it. You wouldn’t see a way up or down, but somehow a place of worship got to the top. The Andes are the same with farming. You won’t see a way up or down a mountain, but close to the peak there will be some kind of farming area and sometimes a cross.

If you’re ever in the Cusco area, there’s a thing called the Boleto Turistico del Cusco (BTC) which costs about USD $24 and which is good for 16 sites and museums in and around Cusco/ the Sacred Vlley. It’s only valid for 10 days, though it’s more than worth the money. As a result, most of my time off in the next week will be spent taking advantage of my ticket and said sites.

Monday we had class all morning and sorted clothes all afternoon. This weekend we’re going to another community (Anta) about an hour outside of Cusco to distribute clothes and help people unbury their homes like we did in Urubamba and Calca about 2 weeks ago. Apparently the better part of an entire town was wiped out by a series of mudslides too… but it hasn’t been raining nearly as much recently. Guillermo likes to tease me about Machu Picchu still being closed when we’re supposed to go in March, but from what I can gather the site opens to trekkers March 1, and the train will be back by April 1. 

Tuesday (the 16th) was great. I got up early and took a taxi with a couple friends to the farthest site within walking distance of Cusco– Tambomachay. It’s farther northeast of Sacsayhuaman. If I hadn’t been so lazy, I could easily have walked there in about an hour, but eh, it was 15 soles split between 3 people = about $1.75 each. We wandered from there to Pukapukara (which means lal qilla actually – red fort – isn’t that crazy! It’s also crazy that killa means ‘moon’ in quechua) Anyway, the coolest site that day was definitely Q’enqo ‘zig zag’ which was some kind of a shrine or place of worship with a throne inside a giant rock, and you could hear a river running beneath it. Pictures coming soon. After that, we ambled down about 200 feet into Cusco. Total walking distance was about 4 miles mostly downhill, and we got to visit 3 awesome sites, discover a cave, and see lots of grazing animals. We also got barked at… that was fun…

That afternoon I lunched (and MS word agrees that ‘lunched’ is a word) at the San Pedro Market. It might be infamous for pickpockets, and the market food might possibly kill me, but this does not change the fact that I love ceviche and being able to eat it for Sol./.5 is amazing. I also discovered that dried fruit generally runs roughly 10 soles per kg = about USD $1.50 per pound which is fantastic. I stocked up a bit for my excursions this weekend. It’s also much fresher (if that makes any sense at all) than the dried fruit we get in the US that’s been boxed and packaged for goodness knows how long. This stuff will definitely be coming with me on the Inca Trail, any excursions I make around Holy Week, and project days. I now have figs, raisins, dry apples and pears, peanuts, and prunes.

The contemporary art museum is brilliant. Major themes include the proximity of Earth and humanity, the Spanish conquest, and (of course) Christianity and Jesus. One of the most thought-provoking paintings was of Baby Jesus asleep on a cross, showered with 30 pieces of silver and surrounded by carpenters’ tools. I snuck some photos of my favorite pieces, though I couldn’t catch that one.

Hopefully I’ll be able to visit the other sites on the BTC before it expires on the 22nd but we’ll see. I’m planning to visit Tipon and another site south of Oropesa on Saturday, and go to Moray, Maras, and Chinchero on Sunday. I doubt we’ll have two days free at a time until Semana Santa (Holy Week before Easter), but I’d rather take advantage of the BTC while I can. I’m a little jealous of a couple students who decided to go to Puno this weekend, but there will be time soon enough.

Best wishes wherever you are at the moment! 

-Geeta

Sacsayhuaman/ollantaytambo

History of Pisaq

-         the female tour guide

-         boys/men throw water primarily at women during carnaval