One month in Cusco...
Spending a month in Cusco is a lot like spending a month at home. You can have pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, a vegetarian sandwich for lunch, and a chicken curry with a beer for dinner. I’m not going to say that’s the entire reason I spent a month there (Jess 2 weeks), but it has a lot to do with it, I admit.
So what did I do for a month in Cusco? I took Spanish classes for 4 hours per day: 2 weeks of one-on-one intensive grammar classes and one week of literature classes, giving me a decent bibliography of pre-colonial and colonial Peruvian literature. I learned a lot about Peru not only from the lit classes but also from learning about the Spanish language a bit more: there are actually so many levels of pessimism you can express simply by employing different combinations of verb tenses in a sentence – that says something about the culture of Spanish speakers, doesn’t it?
Once Jess arrived, we began to take in the sites together. A highlight was renting mopeds and riding through the sacred valley of the Incas to the town and ruins of Pisaq and back to Cusco. That was a blast!
We also met a very interesting American anthropologist, Dr. Gail Silverman, who has lived in Cusco for the last 25 years. She has something like 4 doctorates in anthropology and is an expert in Andean textiles. For those of you who know Jess, you’ll realize that this is right up her alley. Dr. Gail has a really interesting and quite successful development project involving working in indigenous communities and promoting tradition textile production using natural dyes and traditional designs, producing some of the most authentically local textiles in the area and, according to some, some of the most magnificent textiles in Latin America.
To make a long story short, we’ll be heading back to Cusco in March to volunteer with Dr. Gail for a month, selling the textiles to rich tourists and actually visiting the communities where they are made. Jess will probably also be teaching them how to spin thicker yarn than they are used to. I, on the other hand, have been forced by Dr. Gail to renounce my political tendencies for the duration of my time with her (she’s afraid of me ruining her reputation or something).
Machu Picchu…
Like all tourists to Peru, we went to Machu Picchu. It was my second time, but I was still genuinely amazed by it. From Cusco, we took a collective taxi to Ollantaytambo with 3 Peruvians. After an afternoon of exploring the ruins at Ollantay – which are totally amazing because they still have functioning irrigation systems and running bathing areas – we got on the train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo). The train is the only way to get there, besides the 4 day Inca Trail hike ($$$).
We arrived in Aguas Calientes in the evening, where the population was holding a demonstration outside the mayor’s house, trying to force him to resign for some reason or another. The Latin American protest scene was getting a little tired, so we went to bed.
At 4AM, we got up. By 4:30am, we were walking along the road up the mountain to the site. In the case of Machu Picchu, the early birds get to the site before the masses of tourists, who usually take the bus up to the site. We walked in the dark.
By 6am, we reached the park gates, just in time to be among the first to enter the site for the day. There were about 10 other people with us, all fixated on the mist rising from the valley below, revealing it’s treasure, Machu Picchu.
The location and surroundings of the site are the most spectacular aspect of the site. Of course, the site itself is amazing, but the agricultural terraces running down the sides of the mountain, the lush green vegetation, and the rising mist really make it a place you have to see in person to fully appreciate. Honestly, that famous view of Machu Picchu seen in all the postcards is a disservice to the reality of the place: it’s so much better with a 360 degree angle.
Death in the Andes…
To get a different view of Machu Picchu, we decided to head up the adjacent mountain, Huayna Picchu, a one hour hike and a welcome escape from the newly-arrived “foreign legions” at the actual site. From the top, you can see a 360 degree view of the valley below and an outstretched view of MP. After a few hours up and down Huayna Picchu, clouds began to cover the sky, and we heard thunder bouncing off the mountains of the valley. It was awesome, and our senses were heightened as we took in our surroundings while Mother Nature reminded us of her presence. At the time, we remarked how we were glad to not be at the top of Huayna Picchu for the impending thunder and lightening show.
On the train the next day, Jess say two men loading a stretcher with a body on it onto the train back to Cusco. We found out later that a Russian tourist had been hit by lightening while on Huayna Picchu, the place we had just come down from, and died. What a crazy thing to happen to someone! What a strange way to go… poor fellow.
Choquequirao…
Upon returning to Cusco from MP, still not having done any significant trekking in South America yet, we began planning a hike to a new, rarely-visited site that is just becoming a good, cheap alternative to the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. If the Machu Picchu hike is the Inca Trail, let’s just say that the Choquequirao hike is the Inca Trial.
The site has only been 20% excavated so far, so it is still shrouded in mystery and as yet unrecognized by the aforementioned “foreign legion.” I’ll avoid major descriptions of the Choquequirao leg of our trip for now; I’m preparing a more detailed article about the trek for the Edmonton Journal’s Travel section, which I’ll post here soon.
New update soon....
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