Blog #5

Andean Women, Explorations, and Adventures

Since my weeks tend to be less than interesting and I discussed museums, kind of, last time, I’ll start with this weekend. It was completely ridiculous but totally exciting. I’ve done a lot of ridiculous things… but racing the sun to get home without knowing exactly how to do it is not generally one of them. 

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So on Friday we went to a community near Anta, about an hour from Cusco, to help the women who live in the pueblo reconstruct two roads that were destroyed during the rains. We divided into two groups, one used pickaxes to dig channels next to sidewalks so the water would drain smoothly next time, and the other group used burlap sacks and wheelbarrows to cart rocks and pebbles from a wall-like heap to the middle of the roads to build them up, so that the water would drain into the channels and down into a nearby tributary.

More than 90% of the people working were women. During one of our breaks, I jokingly asked where all the men were, and Xiomi, one of the women working with us, said (trnsld. From Spanish) ‘They’re doing other work. While we are here, they are watching the children and cooking so we can eat lunch later. They also do errands if we ask.’

Gender and ‘development’: discuss.

It’s interesting that westerners generally associate ‘women’s liberation’ or ‘equality’ with economic sophistication and technological development. In a word, ‘progress’. However, in the US, not only is it far more likely for a man to make the above statement, but it is also likely for the statement to contain some form of contempt, belittlement, or disrespect for ‘women’s work’. (Hell, once when I told a friend how much my brother helps out around the house – without being asked thank you – and that Brandie, my sister-in-law, kept her last name, I was laughed at and asked ‘who wears the pants in that relationship anyway’ Needless to say, that friend and I are no longer on speaking terms) Women as old as 60 were carrying loads twice as heavy as I could even think about lifting without even quickening their breath. And if you know me well, you know that my stubbornness more than makes up for my size. Again, ponder, evaluate, discuss.

Ironically, we were discussing property rights and ‘women’s liberation’ in Development the previous day… it was compete and total crap… no further comments.

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Friday night was, well, Friday night… Anyway, Saturday a group of us were supposed to leave for Tipon, a pretty awesome site about 40 minutes southeast of Cusco, at around 3pm, spend the night there, and then bus early enough to catch a morning ride to Chinchero (more ruins, but in the opposite direction) and do sightseeing around there. Around 12pm, I got a phone call saying plans changed for some reason or the other, and that they were now leaving later and not returning to Cusco until late the next day. This was a problem, so glancing at my watch, I figured that I had just enough time to catch a bus on my own and be on my way back to Cusco before nightfall. Yes, I was bussing around on my own, no it was not scary, yes it was safe, and yes, my Spanish is good enough that I didn’t have any issues.

So, from my place, I hopped a combi to the bus stop to Oropesa, which is further along on the same road south east of Cusco, caught the bus, and dropped off about 2km before Oropesa in Tipon. From the town, a taxi costs about $1.50 to the ruins, which saved me about a 1.5 hour exhausting hike several hundred feet up a mountain. I wouldn’t have minded doing it if I’d had the time, but considering what I had to do in about 5 hours before sunset, it was worth it. but anyway, in Tipon (again, lo siento, but pictures are coming soon) I met a group of people from all over the place (Holland, Iceland, England, Germany, Australia, Bulgaria, Belgium) who were studying in Cusco and spending 2 days visiting sites around. They planned to visit the same sites I wanted to the next day, so we planned to meet up. I also hiked mostly up a mountain north of the ruins following this wicked channel that ascends at least 500 meters from the main ruins, and which appeared to lead up to a watch tower or something. I’m not sure because I ran out of time and had 2 other sites to visit that day, but I consoled myself by saying that Pisac was and Machu Picchu will be better. It was also kind of precarious climbing the stairs (or not stairs) next to the channel, and possibly illegal. Not that it helped much knowing that if I’d left an hour or two earlier I would have been fine.

Anyway, then I descended this 600-year-old stairwell cut into the mountainside north west of the ruins to walk back to the main road and catch the next available transport onwards. Another bus of course. To Pikillacta, a Huari (also spelled Wari) ruin about 8km further along the same road. In retrospect, it wasn’t really worth the time or energy to visit other than to see and understand the scale and sheer size of this complex. After India, I think I might also be hard to impress. Not sure. A guide told me that it was never completely dismantled or built over because the Inca were afraid of it, apparently the entire city died out in a short time period due to droughts, because spirits got pissed off and jinxed it, but information from guides is normally some mix of local folklore, what interests tourists the most, questionable archeology, and maybe a grain of truth somewhere if you look hard enough.

On my way out, I asked where Rumicolca was. It wasn’t included in my ticket, but I’d read about it and knew it was close, so why not ask? The men working at the gate of Pikillacta pointed out the right road, and as I was walking off one jogged after me and asked if he could come along and show me. Sure, why not? So we went off and he pointed out the bus stop to get back to Cusco on the way (good to know, that was kind of important… especially since by now it was 5pm…) Rumicolca was probably a Wari aqueduct, since you can still see a channel carved into the top of the structure and the stone work isn’t as sophisticated as that of the Incas, but now it’s this brilliant double-gateway to Cusco. I think it might have been a watchtower too since there are stones built into the gate to go up. I’m not sure if you’re technically allowed to climb to the top, but the guy told me I could, so I did. If you ever do, don’t look down.

Ran back to catch the last bus back to Cusco that night. I made it back to the terrestrial station, which was fun since I had no idea where that was, but I asked a woman who worked there and she pointed out a combi stop for home. Total time for the trip was about 6 hours.

I was supposed to go out with a group Saturday night, but I was out by 8:15pm. I guess considering I’d gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before I needed lots that day. Mom and Dad, I only vaguely remember our conversation at 9… I hope I didn’t  say anything too ridiculous.

So Saturday morning, up at 6:30am to meet Sean the Aussie’s group ‘as early as possible’ in Chinchero. The site opens at 8am though, so there wasn’t too much rush. Once again, I had no idea how to get there or how I was going to find a way back, but it all works out in the end especially if you have time to spare. So I made it to the bus station (different from yesterday) by 7:30, and bought a ticket to Urubamba via Chinchero, to get off there. Unfortunately, they’d left earlier, so I didn’t get a chance to see the ruins at this point, but they were offering me a ride to Moray Maras, Pichingoto (a site not on the BTC but supposedly awesome), on to Urubamba, and then back to Cusco. There’s normally not public transport to Moray or Maras except in taxis which cost an arm and a leg if you can get them at all. Normally you have to book the excursion through a tour agency, but they were renting a van as a group and were nice enough to let me tag along for the day for half-price since I only wanted to see half the sites they were visiting (I’d already seen the others). I paid about as much for the bus as I would have for taxis/other transport, and it was definitely safer and more fun to travel with other people. Plus, the guides were awesome, and lots of fun to talk to in Spanish.

Anyway, so the moral of that is that backpackers and international budget travelers really have their own standards for safety, sketchiness, and ‘cheap’. All in all, I love it. I actually fell asleep on the bus to Chinchero, missed my stop, got dropped off between Chinchero and Maras, and got picked up by the side of the road….

Right, so Moray was the first stop. We reached around 9:45am. If you’re reading this before I got a chance to post pictures, look it up. It’s basically an ancient horticulture lab. It’s a bunch of circular terraces that descend into the earth and were used to develop different strains of crops to cultivate in the different climates around. Supposedly the bottom levels are Huari and the upper Inka. A temperature difference of 15C has been recorded between the uppermost and lowermost levels. That’s INSANE. There are 4 pits total, and just across from the largest is a 3-peaked mountain, hill, thing. If you climb it, you can catch sight of all 4, though the area is still too big for a photo.

On to the Salineras of Maras. Not included in the ticket, and not mentioned in my guidebook whose advice is ‘if you get lost in the Valley, don’t worry, you’re bound to see a bus or truck heading somewhere at some point’, I’m really not sure how I would have gotten here from Moray without some help. Anyway, the Salineras are salt mines, literally hundreds if not thousands of foot-deep pans dug into terraces on the side of a mountain. It’s mindboggling to see. It smells like home (salt of the beach) and kala pani (sulfur hotspring in northern India) because of the sulphur, which apparently turns all the rocks around this weird yellowish-red-orange ridiculousness. They were built about 600 years ago, and are still used today. The bus couldn’t take us all the way down because a landslide wiped out part of the road, but going on foot was fine.

We descended from the other end of the canyon, just by the Urubamba river. There’s a place called Pichingoto on the other side of the mountain (to the right if you’re facing the salineras from across the way) but the access bridges were destroyed by the rain. It’s really a pity because it’s a church carved into the rock of a cave in the mountainside, which would have been awesome, but I guess I’ll have to wait until I can get to Ajanta Ellora for that. (Abhishek, that means I’m kidnapping you for about 5 days next time I’m in India)

On to Urubamba! We lunched there in a place that gave you about 3 meals worth of food for a price that was worth it, but still too high. Honestly, I could live on bakeries and market fruit here… that’s probably what I’ll end up doing during my 10 days off anyway. From there, I hopped a bus back to Chinchero, since I didn’t get to see the place in the morning, while the others continued to Ollantaytambo. As much as I loved Ollantaytambo, the ticket only gets you into each site once, and there were other places to explore. They promised to pick me up on their way back to Cusco, since it’s on the same road. It might have been easier logistically to catch another bus, but (1) they’re awesome people and (2) I didn’t want to lose my leftover lunch. It’ll be at least one dinner and (3) they offered to drop me off at a combi stop to get home as opposed to the sketch bus station.

Chinchero was small, but fun. My favorite was climbing up this giant random boulder in this field. It actually wasn’t random at all! It was kind of similar to Q’enqo last week, and was intricately carved. I’m not sure if I was actually allowed to climb it, but I saw some stairs farther up, and did my normal ‘hmm.. I want to do that… is it a good idea? Am I capable of it? Lets find out… oh crap… if I fall…’ It wasn’t really that high. but it certainly would have been painful. Anyway, I think it was limestone or something because the top was intricately channeled by water or something. It was also carved with all kinds of seats. I guess it was a huaca (holy place) and was used for ceremonies or some such. I also got to climb up the hill opposite the ruins and look at some small caves and tombs.

They caught me on the way back and dropped me off close to a stop where I caught a combi to get home. Total duration = 12 hours. I got home, ate a full meal, caught up here and in my journal (which is right on schedule with about 100 pages so far), and started sorting photos on my computer.

I have two sites left on my BTC. One is just a statue of Pachacutec, to be able to enter into it (wish me luck crossing the busy roads to get there… not as bad as India in general, but in India I rarely had to cross roads alone) and the second is a series of dances every night at a local native art theater. Both will be completed tonight J

I also found out that Susie, a young women from Australia traveling around the Cusco area, might be interested in going with me to Puno if we have the time this weekend. That would be brilliant.

Hope you are doing as well as I am, and sleeping as soundly :-)

-Geeta