Dancing on top of the world

The Colca Canyon was "discovered" in 1934 and considered to be the deepest canyon in the world, until a short time ago when nearby Cotahuasi Canyon was determined to be all of 168 meters deeper. Even though I can´t claim to have visited the world´s deepest canyon, my two-day trip to the Colca Canyon was full of other superlatives. The journey took our tour group 3-4 hours out of Arequipa where we had spectacular views of the several volcanoes that surround the city. (Having recently visited two of the human sacrifices found on these mountains which were mummified by the extreme cold, it was interesting to consider the living aspects given to the volcanoes by the ancient civilizations as we drove past or over them.) We stopped at a national reserve where we saw herds of vicuñas, a never-domesticated member of the llama family; we also passed many fields of alpaca, llama, and sheep, though by now this has become old hat. The highest stop of our trip was at 4,800 meters, at which point the landscape resembled the surface of the moon. There were no plants or animals about, but rocks and rocks and rocks covering the dramatic dips and sharp swells of earth. The only anachronism in my lunar vista was the issue of a tower of rocks, stacked one on top of the other. This was repeated hundreds and hundreds of times both at that high place and throughout much of the canyon. The towers, containing 3-10 rocks (maximum 2 feet high or so) were built as some sort of homage to the living mountain or god or something like that.
Unfortunately, I was placed on a tour with a guide who spoke no English so while I was able to pick up the context of many explanations and conversations around me I´m afraid some of the facts I left with may be questionable. Case in point: we stayed the night in the Colca Valley town of Chivay, which is a Quechua word meaning the town where you make the...something. Looking around me, I saw a lot of rocks (okay, so that applies to all of Peru - no wonder they were so prolific with the temples; what else do you do with all of the rock?), adobe buildings, and crops which led me to think that Chivay was the place where they made gravel or bricks or food or something along those lines. It was many hours later when I learned that Chivay is the "place where you make the love" and there´s a sensible story attached about a nearby town with few females, the beauty of the Chivay women, and the exploits of their male neighbors. I could obviously benefit from more Spanish classes.
Only two other members in my group spoke any English at all and both were very nice and helpful - the man from Brazil was fun to talk with because he sounded exactly like that huge guy in The Princess Bride (Andre the Giant?) would if he had a Portuguese accent. We went to a restaurant that evening in Chivay where they had a group of men playing Peruvian, Bolivian, and other South American music on panflutes and drums. This was a nice improvement to the Simon & Garfunkle tunes you generally hear played on the panflute here. There were also some traditional dancers in their crazy costumes who successfully got the onlookers to participate. After dancing there for a couple of hours, I went with a few people from my group to a disco for more. I stumbled along to the salsa and merengue - luckily my partner had enjoyed two Pisco sours earlier in the evening and was amenable to me trodding his feet - but was lost on all of the contemporary dances. Apparently the macarena was not a fluke, because most of the songs that were played have specific dances that go along with specific moves (one involved a modified "cabbage patch" - scary!) that must be done in specific directions at specific times... It was more than my altitude-addled mind could process in the strobe light and smoke, but still fun to try.
(Nik: could´ve used some help!)
After three and a half hours of sleep, I left for the Cruz del Condor where we watched the massive birds circle overhead. Inka and pre-Inka civilizations revered these birds as symbols of heaven and sky and afterlife. Seeing the creatures coast and swerve in the updrafts from the canyon gave this observer a tremendous respect for the power and grace of these somewhat ugly birds.
We stopped a number of times on our way back to Arequipa to collect more photographs of cacti and burros and mountains. I was so glad to get back in one piece: at least half of the road we were on was unpaved and maybe 1 1/2 lanes wide with a steep cliff to one side. In addition, there were often rocks, animals or people in the road, so our driver was constantly swerving at a scary speed. Passing other vehicles, or far worse, having a large tour bus coming straight at us as we were both trying to avoid the same cavernous pothole in one side of the road, was hair-raising.
I have one more adventure left in Peru. After a night-long bus ride, I´m going on a tour of the national reserves in the Ballestas Islands (referred to as "the poor man´s Galapagos") and the Paracas Peninsula. Then I hope to make it to Lima despite a nation-wide transportation strike in order to catch my plane home. Thanks for following my emails; I´ll look forward to sharing my
photos with you in person (slide show at the beach?) once I sell my kidney or otherwise raise the funds to have the truckload of film developed.

Full moon over Lake Titicaca

I´ve just returned from a two-day tour of some of the islands on Lake Titicaca. Before I go any further, titi is the Quechua word for puma and caca means gray - therefore, Lake Titicaca is the gray puma and you can all stop tittering now.
It was lovely to leave Puno and spend hours in the middle of this huge lake which is shared by Peru and Bolivia. In fact, a number of the people in my group were continuing on to Copacobana Bolivia and I´ve not been able to get that song out of my head since yesterday morning.
We first went to two of the Uros floating islands which are made entirely of reeds from the lake. The island itself is pile upon pile of reed and those same plants are used to make their houses and boats. We next went to Amantani where we hiked around quite a bit (my entire Peruvian tour can be summed up by: 'I´m supposed to climb WHERE?´) and then spent the night with a local family. I lucked out and was assigned to the same family as a woman from Lima who was able to
communicate with the family much better than I. The family speaks Quechua and a little Spanish, Carmen speaks Spanish and a little English, and I speak a little tiny bit of Spanish, so we had some interesting conversations.
The altitude of the lake and Amantani are so high that the moon is roughly three feet above the ground. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch the moonrise, plus there was an eclipse last night that I felt I had a front row seat for. There is no electricity on the island (also no running water, toilets, etc), so nothing impeded our view of the amazing night sky.
On our way back to Puno today we stopped by Taquile, another island involving quite a hike. We had to climb up and down 580 steps to reach the main plaza from our boat. The people on Taquile still wear traditional dress which includes distinctive costumes to denote your marital status. Married men have a hat of a single color while single men have a two-color hat; married women wear dark skirts while single women wear brightly colored skirts (unless they´re in mourning). Our
guide had a great time pointing out all of the single people on the island to us, and my Limeña friend, recently spurned by a German boyfriend, had to get her picture taken with one of the unattached men on the island.
By the by, I tried a Pisco sour a few nights ago; it´s a cocktail containing brandy made in Pisco Peru, egg white, soda water and ...? It tasted fine but one drink was a little bit more than I could
handle. Luckily I was at dinner with a group of people I´d met on my tour to Sillustani and three of them were staying at my same hostel, so I knew I ´d get home safely (and had taken that into consideration when ordering my drink). I´ll be happy to stick with my vino blanco from now on. Other things I´ve now tried include ceviche (good, but the trout tasted like it hadn´t been cleaned), alpaca (cook anything with enough garlic and it´s bound to taste good), tumbo (a mucous-y
fruit picked from the Amantani family´s yard), fried homemade cheese, quinoa soup, and lately lots of saltines. I got a bit dehydrated a couple of days ago and have been nauseous at the thought of most food; I´m going to give my stomach a break for a bit.

I don't think we're in Cusco any more, Tito

I arrived in Puno last night after a bus trip from Cusco. The trip itself included some amazing scenery and stops at an old adobe temple, the oldest church in Peru, a museum of Pukara (a pre-Inkan civilization) artifacts and lunch at Casa del Tuna or something like that. Our bus had a flat along the way, so we had an opportunity to get out and snap photos of flamingoes (!!) in a nearby lagoon.
Puno is a little...different from Cusco. The guidebooks describe it as 'seedy' or 'rough around the edges', which is appropriate. There is much less evidence of tourism here than Cusco. In fact, Puno makes Cusco look very artificial; here you get a sense of a very vibrant, youthful, and crowded community.
It certainly isn't as picturesque or fun to explore as Cusco, but Puno is interesting in its own little way. Wandering around this morning, it appears that many of the streets in the main part of town are filled with market stalls selling everything from freshly squeezed juice to butcher knives. There were plenty of coca leaves, dried corn, and all sorts of prepared food for sale as well. I actually saw people sitting at one of these stalls eating ceviche (raw fish and shellfish 'cooked' in acidic juices) at 9 in the morning. Bleah.
After my $12 a night room in Cusco, I was determined to find cheaper lodging here and am staying in a hostel (Hostel Illampu, Dad) for 10 soles a night - which is approximately $3. Surprisingly there isn't a big difference in cleanliness or scariness, but I have a feeling I'm not enjoying all of the amenities that one might if they were staying in a Motel 6, for example.
A word about the food: so far, I haven't eaten anything that didn't come from a restaurant, bakery or a package marked 'Cliff Bar'. The markets are a little scary and I don't know that I could buy even a piece of bread when it's less than 10 feet from some big flabby piece of raw meat.
There is fruit galore here. In the Urubamba Valley especially, there's a different climate every time you move a foot, which the Inkas capitalized on by engineering their crops to grow in particular climates (which is why there are 170 varieties of corn and over 300 types of potato in this one little county). Fruit juice is always fresh squeezed and you can find delicious smoothies on any street. I've had a lot of fresh fruit with yogurt in the morning - yummy. Fruit is incorporated in many of the main hot and cold courses (you would die, Amber - lots of bananas). You name the fruit, they grow it here: apple, cherry, strawberry, mango, pineapple, coconut (lots of coconut on lots of things), and so on. There are also lots of pizza places around, which is strange, but the pizzas are excellent as well. They have thin crusts and are baked in clay ovens, which give the most delicious aromas. I had a pizza con trucha (tout)that was heavenly while in Cusco. Seafood is huge here, but I haven't ventured beyond trout yet. I'll wait until I'm closer to the coast to try the ceviche.
Meat dishes are generally some type of meat in some type of gravy served with some type of rice and are all hit-or-miss as far as I'm concerned. I haven't tried alpaca or cuy (guinea pig) yet, but they are on my list. I also haven't tried a Pisco sour yet, but may tonight. I've tried to stick with beverages from clearly marked bottles - water, Cusqueña beer, vino blanco. You can tell Patti that the wine here isn't much to write home about - it's mouth-puckeringly sweet.
This afternoon I'm going to look at some Pre-Inkan funeral towers at Sillustani, near Puno and tomorrow I go out to the islands on Lake Titicaca. The trip to the islands should be interesting. We'll go to three of the five islands on the Peruvian side of the lake and I'll stay overnight with a family on one of them before coming back to Puno (Tour agency: Edgar Adventures).
I plan to get the heck out of dodge then and move on to Arequipa, the intellectual capital of Peru and jumping-off point for trips to the deepest canyon in the world.

Llamaramadingdong!

After exploring a great deal of the Urubamba (Sacred) Valley yesterday, I took the two-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu Mountain. It was dark by the time I got on the train (nightfall is around 6 here), but I could make out the Urubamba River which flows through the valley, around three sides of Mount Machu Picchu and then into the Amazon.
Apparently the Inkas believed that everything had a natural pair - man, woman; earth, sky and so on. The natural pair, or reflection of the Urubamba River is the Milky Way, which was a beautiful thought to hold on to as Klaus, my German seatmate talked the entire way to Aguas Callientes (the answer to your questionNortso: no).
I was up before dawn and took a bus to Machu Picchu, arriving before 7 am. It really is amazing and better than the pictures you see. It's also huge. I had a good two hours before many other tourists arrived to take lots of pictures and wander around all of the baths and temples and terraces; it felt like I was the only person there.
Once the tourists began appearing in earnest, I followed a trail along the back of the site which leads to an old Inka drawbridge. I'll spare you the bridge details now; the hike was amazing. Unlike the rest of the hot, dry, cactus-y places I've been in, Machu Picchu is in a cloud forest which means vegetation galore, birds, lizards, orchids, etc. About half-way down the path to the bridge, I turned a corner and came face-to-face with a bear. It was Bennet- sized (but stockier) and about twenty feet from me. Considering my options (right: steep cliff up, left: sharp cliff down, forward: bear) I decided to move back along the trail, hoping that the bear would go away so I could finish my walk. My plan worked well, until the bear started FOLLOWING me. I would take three steps backwards and the bear would move forward another foot and this continued for at least 5 minutes. I didn't have food in my backpack, aside from a packaged cliff bar, maybe he liked the smell of my sunscreen?
I was snapping pictures, but didn't have my telephoto lens on my camera and couldn't exactly start digging around my pack just then ('tourist eaten by bear while snapping photos...'). He finally hopped up the cliff to my left, but I heard an ominous crunch-crunching as he continued to walk in my direction. I finally did gather my resolve and go on to the bridge. On the way back, the
bear was at the top of the steep cliff rummaging around, so I could at least keep my eyes on him.
The other remarkable thing I did today was a climb to the top of Huyna Picchu, the huge, steep, monstrous (and did I mention big?) rock that you seen behind the ruins in all of the pictures of Machu Picchu. It was straight up some very treacherous steps and took me quite a while (on my way back, a guy was jogging up, the jerk). At the tippy-top, you perch precariously on large rocks for a spectacular view of the valley and an okay view of the ruins, which are quite far away at that point. I think a few to many cocoa leaves were involved in the decision to climb to that point, but put a feather in my cap; I'm glad I didn't miss the opportunity.
Tomorrow I'm on a bus to Puno in SE Peru, leaving Cusco and the Sacred Valley. The trip should be great - the scenery is supposed to be spectacular and we'll stop along the way at villages and viewpoints and so forth. I'm actually taking a day off from my vacation in Puno before a two-day tour in Lake Titicaca.

Incas with thighs of steel

I took it easy yesterday and wandered around Cusco. This town is so beautiful and unexpected clean - I've seen many shopkeepers out sweeping the cobblestone street in front of their stores - that it's delightful to walk in. I spent at least an hour going from alpaca store to alpaca store - pashmina anyone? The light is very interesting her as well; there's a mist or fog that makes everything gray and fuzzy in the morning which burns off by midday for clear and spectacular views, setting it up for a lovely pink and orange sunset. I crashed in bed early and got a full 12 hours of sleep, which I couldn't be more grateful for.
This morning I went to the Inka Museum to see the mummies and pottery shards and so on. There was a section of the museum devoted to the Spanish conquest where they showed, among other things, pottery that had been broken and statues that were defaced by the invaders. I'd read a bit about the fall of the Inka empire which was astonishing for the speed with which it was carried out and the disproportion between Spanish and Inca fighters and so on (not at all like Westside Story, Am). Tragic. Yet this morning I began thinking about how much I would like to begin a campaign to take over Cusco, if not all of Peru - it's so wonderful here! Not that I would displace people or destroy culture or anything, plus I couldn't possibly be successful. I would probably be better off just opening another Irish bar here.
I also hiked up to Sacsayhuaman, an old Inka fortress at the top of the hill that Cusco is perched on. Seriously, straight up. I don't know if there's a sidewalk in this town that doesn't have steps incorporated in it due to the steep pitch and to get to Sacsayhuaman you walk up the steepest road to the top of the town and then keep going. (I don't have thighs of steel but I do have knees of jelly.) It was all well worth it as the fortress (rather, what remains of it) is huge and affords great views of the entire valley. The name is pronounced 'sexy woman' which was pretty funny when I heard a frenchman at the Museo Inka repeat the name a few times.
I'm exploring more Inka ruins tomorrow in the Sacred Valley and staying in Aguas Callientes tomorrow night so I can catch the first bus to Machu Picchu on Monday. Right now I'm off to the Temple the Sun slash a really big cathedral (gotta love those catholic invaders).

Would you like to take a ride on my moustache?

I've arrived in Cusco safe and sound after three plane rides and much time sipping cappucino in the Lima airport. I was able to keep myself entertained on my long day cataloging the effects of my altitude sickness medication - it causes your heart to pump faster so that you breathe more frequently and it also expels water from your body, so I've had tingling fingers and toes, a weird numbness in my mouth, and have had to pee practically every 20 minutes. The flight from Lima to Cusco was advertised as spectacular and it didn't disappoint. Flying directly over the Andes, it seemed as though the plane were skipping from peak to peak, much like stepping stones across a river. As we descended into Cusco there were great views of the entire Sacred Valley. I was looking for signs of Machu Picchu, but couldn't tell if I actually saw it or not. There are huge stone fortresses and other structures all over the valley and we weren't close enough to pick up distinguishing characteristics.
At the airport there were a bevy of taxi drivers, bus drivers, tour drivers - you get the idea. They follow you around: "lady, where are you going?" "Lady, Plaza des Armes, 5 soles". They were incredibly persistant, but luckily the driver from my hostel was there to pick me up. Once we got there (The Hostal Amaru, Dad) he sat me down, poured me a cup of coca tea and proceded to tell me all about the things I needed to see and do while in this area, complete with a hand-drawn calendar for the following week that I am supposed to use to plan my time here. "Not today, you rest today, drink coca tea. Tomorrow you plan."
It was great; apparently 80 percent of the people working in this town are in the tourist business and it shows. If you stop for a minute to snap a picture, you'll be approached by a postcard vendor, tour operator, and a little girl who wants you to pay her to take her picture with a baby llama. Cusco's been a mecca for tourists since Inka times, when all good Qechuas made a pilgrimage here; I'll bet that the only thing that's changed with the times are the number of internet cafes.
It's beautiful and sunny outside, so enough of this internet cafe for me.