Pensamientos en Perú, día 8

5/27/2011

We took today as a rest day. After breakfast I walked into our courtyard and saw Nefisa and Pete relaxing... the same couple who had camped next to us on our second night of the trek and chatted with over coffee on the next day. The 5 of us all seemed to need a slow day, and we ended up chatting away the morning... about travels, London, Boulder, running, ski/snowboarding, etc. They're biking from Patagonia north on a 6 month trip, after having done a similar sabbatical adventure through India and southeast Asia... seems like something I should look into. We grabbed a good lunch together and then parted ways.

The 3 of us walked Cuzco for the rest of the day. Part of our adventure included a stop in the grocery store... we found super cheap prices on everything and I jokingly thought that this is where we should have been shopping the whole time. We also walked through the Mercado Central.... wow. I think we were the only tourists there. I saw café con leche for S/.1.50 (roughly $.45) so I sat down for a cup. I received a cup filled 95% of the way with curdling and boiling milk. I filled the rest with very good coffee and drank my cup, pretending I wasn't drinking curdled milk fat. Quite the experience. At one point what looked like string cheese stuck to my lips and hung from my mouth after taking a sip... Tony and Shelly laughed. I couldn't finish the bottom of the cup with all the stuff floating in there. Afterwards we walked past vendors selling cow noses... it looked like they had used an axe and chopped right in front of the eyes ( teeth, skin, nose, bone, and lower jaw were all left on). I guess you would add that to a soup?? Pig heads were for sale on the next table... eyelashes included. The pigs seemed to have a content look on their decapitated faces... very strange. I had to block it out and keep walking. I have a much better appreciation for our sources of food after this. I also have a greater desire to alter my diet towards vegetarianism. Quite the market. So much of this experience is foreign to me, but great to have seen in person and done.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 7

5/26/2011

We're on the train heading to Ollantaytambo, where we will de-board and take a shuttle van back to Cusco, after seeing Machu Picchu this morning. It's a fairly sunny day and we have a cool breeze coming in the window. In short, it's a much more comfortable day than yesterday. 4:40am came too soon, but I slept well. A pillow and a mattress were greatly appreciated. We were some of the first people in the archeological site after waiting in line for a bus ride up in the dark. Saulo gave us a 2 hour tour, after which we said our goodbyes and took a second pass to just take everything in. I also needed a second pass through the site because my camera batteries died 5 minutes into the tour!! I knew they were low, but didn't worry because they were just the second of 3 pairs of rechargeable AAs I brought... I thought I had only burned through 1 so far but my third pair was dead, so I had to leave and re-enter the site after buying new batteries in the gift shop. Problem solved.

Regardless of how much or how little you know about the Inkas, nothing can prepare you for seeing Machu Picchu in person. It's nearly impossible to believe what was accomplished so long ago, and that such an advanced culture fell so quickly... it makes you wonder what else they could have taught us. The forethought, wisdom, and preparation required to create Machu Picchu is simply incredible. Tony and I decided that the theory that the Inkas only lasted 100 years as a civilization was not accurate, because it would have taken over 100 years to build Machu Picchu. We also struggled to believe some of the things Saulo told us, which has prompted me to buy a book about Machu Picchu when I get home.

Tony, Shelly and I sat on a series of terraces with a vantage point looking down on the rest of the site just to absorb our surroundings. The place moves you to reverence. I tried to bring my imagination to its most vivid and actually picture what it might have looked like with the Inkas surrounding me. We sat in silence, pondering. We talked quietly about the legacy modern man will leave in comparison... destruction, holes in the earth, and piles of rubble. We, who have the tools and technology to build wonders like Machu Picchu far easier, choose instead to build dams and nuclear power plants while living in homes that fall apart after just 20 years of negligence... sad. We discussed the following hypothetical situation:

What if you could travel back in time to the same exact place 1000 years ago (pre-Inkas) with all the PHDs, anthropologists, geologists, engineers, and visitors to the current ruins that you cared to bring with you.... given the same tools (rocks, wheels, trees, rope made from organic materials, water, time, etc.) and limitations, and even when provided blueprints to the expected outcome, how long would it take to replicate the site for this theoretical group of modern-day masters and sages?

I honestly don't think it could be done... it would take generations, and even then would be extremely unlikely.

We were all very happy with our morning and eager to get back to Cuzco for the next phase of our trip when yet another bad memorable experience took place... buying bus tickets to get back to Aguas Calientes. This part of the story frustrates me so much to write... after having such a terrific morning our moods were immediately switched to the complete opposite. Perú makes me feel bi-polar. I feel like there are only high highs and low lows, but nothing in between. Anyways, here's what happened -- I don't know why, but our trekking company only supplied one-way tickets for the bus. There's no ATM at the site and they don't take credit cards at the bus stop, so if you have no cash, you walk down. ($8 for a 12 minute bus ride is a complete rip off. Whey they don't just include the round-trip bus fare in the price of the entrance fee is beyond me. There are plenty of issues with the US national parks, but I think Peru could benefit from some friendly advice in this regard. Also, for $15, you would expect the road to be nice. Not so. Anyways...) We were told there was an ATM at the site so we weren't concerned that we couldn't find one in Aguas Calientes despite looking and asking. (... which also makes no sense given that the singular purpose of that town seems to be taking heaps of cash from citizens of the developed world...) Because of all this, we needed to come up with $24 to get down to town but were low on cash. It's almost too bad I didn't think to tip Saulo with my "bad" $20 bills because all my $20s were rejected by the bus ticket vendor. I don't like being a disgruntled traveler, but I am really tired of pulling $20 bills from Peruvian ATMs only to have them rejected by Peruvians. All you get is, "I can't change this..." and the money slides back to you. I don't know who started this paranoia about counterfeit or imperfect dollars, but seriously, a note to all travelers to Peru: do not try to use USD in Perú. Avoid at all costs, even when amounts are posted in USD, pay in Soles.

Long story short, we were able to "make bail" with a mix of Soles and $1 bills (thank God we had 6 singles)... otherwise we would have been the ones begging. Afterwards we grabbed lunch at the same place we ate dinner the night before (partly because we had to pick up our train tickets from them, but also because we knew we wouldn't be pleaded to death to come in and dine there). I had the tropical fruit pizza, which had bananas, papaya, mango and pineapple on it.... excellent! The waitress literally built a pile of wood, tore a cardboard box to pieces and added them, then used a wooden match to make the fire in the oven which cooked our food. After lunch we picked up our bags from the hostel and caught the train.

...later in the day, back in Cuzco...

In

Ollantaytambo we loaded into a van and made our way past Inka ruins and the high plateau with giant glacial peaks in the distance. There's no doubt the Sacred Valley is worth exploring. On the bus were two Colombian girls sitting in front of me; one from Calí and one from Bogotá.

They were nice and even curious to know whether they spoke like Nelly.

Colombians are easy for me to pick out now; they seem to be the only ones I can follow 100% in a conversation. I can definitely follow other native Spanish speakers, but I drop words and phrases when listening to them. For this reason, not to mention several others, I think Colombia is my next new country (let's be honest, the thirst for travel is insatiable... there will be more...).

We were dropped off in a plaza a few blocks from Renacimiento, and had a short walk uphill before reaching "home sweet home" again. We collected the luggage we left behind from Maria and proceeded to create a laundry explosion... wet socks, pants, and several other kinds of clothing hung throughout our apartment after doing 3 loads of laundry in the kitchen sink. My hiking clothes are still foul, but are a marked improvement from yesterday. We can only hope they dry before we fly back to Lima... t

ime to call it a day.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 6

5/25/2011

Saulo partied hard last night (after a 4 hour game of soccer while we lounged and chatted), and had a hard time getting going this morning. We knew it would be a long day, but got started about an hour behind schedule (about 6:45). Coca tea and pan, our typical breakfast, were ready long before Saulo got up... I think Enrique had to go back to our tent 3 times to get Saulo up. Once we did get going, the going was quite touch. Llactapata is on top of a ridge and Sahuayaco is on the river at least 2500' below... maybe 4000'. As a joke from the coffee incident yesterday, we kept telling ourselves that we only had 10 minutes to go... 10 minutes passed many many times. The views on the way up were great though. Llactapata was somewhat underwhelming, but the view of Machu Picchu (pronounced peek-choo instead of pea-choo like everybody pronounces it in the US) was spectacular. On a clear day it would be a terrific vantage point. The descent back down to the river was hellacious and challenging, requiring total concentration. The ground (again, despite being the "dry" season) was so wet and the trail so steep that we all slipped, but thankfully never enough to get hurt. Tony's knee gave him terrible pain... all of us were approaching our physical limits. It was ungodly humid and hot. We set a fast pace to get to lunch as fast as humanly possible. Views across the river on the way down were nice, but the bridge to cross the river was sketchy!! I honestly fear somebody will die on that soon.

After crossing the bridge we walked past an enormous waterfall created in part by the electric plant we were near, and a trout hatchery. The electric plant was where we entered the national park, but the park was effectively unsigned. I have to say, that was terribly confusing, and Peru should be ashamed on 2 counts;

1. What is this monstrosity of an electric plant doing within a national park boundary containing one of the earth's Wonders of the World?
2. What kind of an entrance to a national park goes essentially unidentified?

There were electrical safety signs everywhere but no signs pointing the way to the ruins or indicating park boundary. Totally famished, hot, and exhausted, we ate our final lunch made by Enrique and said our goodbye. We felt much better but were still sore and soaking wet. Personally, I believe I set some kind of sweating record today. My clothes smell awful and my backpack was drenched.

After lunch we walked along a train track for what felt like an eternity... perhaps 7 miles. I would guess today was a 14 mile day... very long. Despite being tired, the views of the river beside us and Machu Picchu above were phenomenal. It truly looked like an Indiana Jones movie; a huge river flowing fast with house and truck sized boulders in it, dense jungle on all sides, and 2000' cliffs on all sides. Machu Picchu is in a truly stunning setting. I'm excited to learn more about the Inkas tomorrow. The signage to indicate our progress was poor at best... a single handwritten sign pointed the way to Aguas Calientes from the train tracks, 6 miles from town. Later we saw "Aguas Calientes --->" scratched into the sand beside the train tracks. (Again, what's up with that, Peru??) I was disappointed.

When we finally made it to our hostel, I was given a room with a faulty lock. At 5:15 it would be fixed in 10 minutes. I waited to shower and at 5:30 went back down to the desk to get an update. "10 minutes." I showered and re-packed my bag. Feeling a ton better, in dry and clean clothes, I rested until 6:45 when we needed to meet for dinner. Saulo was talking to the same man at the desk, who then told us both for the second time that a man would arrive in..... 10 minutes to fix the lock. I nearly lost it. It had already been 90 minutes, and we needed to leave to eat dinner, so I voiced my disappointment in the most cordial Spanish I could muster. I don't know whether "10 minutes" is Peruvian speak for "leave me alone" but I was tired, hungry, and not happy to hear that nonsense again. To make it worse, he claimed there were no vacant rooms I could switch to. Saulo worked it out so I am in a 3 bed room with a nice bathroom and working lock. Major upgrade. This town kind of pisses me off... if the Inkas could see it! Even when walking to dinner with Saulo (an obvious local) and talking to him en route, the 3 of us were constantly bombarded with people shoving menus in our faces and pleading us to eat at their restaurant. 4-for-1 happy hours, discounts, etc. It's a desperate gimmick and frankly pathetic. I don't think these people appreciate the gravity of Machu Picchu... the park managers, the town of Aguas Calientes, maybe the whole country. It's sad. Although I have had a tremendous and eye-opening, fantastic trip, I feel a "what's wrong with Peru" segment coming on. I need to be at breakfast at 5:00am sharp, so that will have to wait. I'm hoping my mood has changed by then.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 5

5/24/2011

We slept in this morning, but after breakfast bid farewell to the remote village we called home for the night. Today we descended from roughly 11,000' to 6500' at the town of Sahuayaco (also called Playa), several miles upstream from Santa Teresa. This is a legitimate town with a school, electricity (last night a single solar panel powered the only light), and even TV. We're camping in the front yard of a family that has a TV with satellite, a bathroom with a flushing toilet and a tiled shower. They're fairly well off compared to others we've seen lately; their 14 year old daughter is wearing earrings and has a brand new Nike jacket on... allegedly going to Rio with her high school in September. She was quite flirty when we showed up, so I seemed to get more info from her than most would. I asked her what she wanted to be when she was done with school - a singer in Cuzco. She had no interest in continuing her parents' business and said most of the kids in town move to Cuzco when they finish school. It sounds like they don't really care to stay in a rural setting.

Before we arrived, we continued to follow the river past primitive homes... thatch rooftops, no electricity, "bathrooms" which are actually just holes in the earth that flow into the river, "showers" made of a hose fed by a line from the nearest creek surrounded by plastic tarp offering minimal privacy, etc. This is a hard life. I almost can't imagine it, and doubt these folks could imagine my life. It's really hard to put into words, yet part of me wants to move here and try it out for a while. Farm a mixed-use acre or two... bananas, grenadillas, cacao, avocados, lemons, coffee... we walked past those and more on the trail today. At the same time, it's hard to think about how one lives that way. It's such a different life than my current one. In addition to the plants, we've also passed chickens, pigs, alpacas, cattle, turkeys... these people live off the land.

My thoughts are scattered tonight.... so much to write down. We caught a glimpse of Salkantay upon departure this morning. What a stark contrast! If this is the dry season, I can't imagine the wet one here. Water rages downhill all around us. We walked 7-10 miles today, and it was whitewater the whole time next to us. I told Tony and Shelly I had never seen such a continuous set of rapids like this... class III - V water for miles...

It was a short day today; when we stopped for lunch we had arrived here and thus were finished hiking for the day. We spent a large part of the afternoon talking to a couple who are doing the trail sans guide. She's Canadian, he's from New Jersey. They're living in London but taking a 6 month sabbatical. I ordered a coffee from our host mother before we started chatting. "10 minutes, ok?" 10 minutes became 30, but it was worth waiting for. Excellent coffee, the best 2 cups of my life, drip-made from the beans grown organically on the nearest hillside. I keep saying this, but what a beautiful and interesting setting this is. It's such a different way of life and existence than the one I know. I really can't do it justice... time to call it a night.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 4

5/23/2011

It's almost lunch time on day 2 of our hike. Enrique, our cook, is surely churning out another masterpiece. Yesterday we had asparagus soup and lomo saltado for lunch. Dinner was chicken noodle soup from scratch (probably the best chicken noodle I've ever had) and rice + chicken. Dessert was Mazamorra... simple but delicious. Immediately after dinner we went to bed, with a strong rain outside that lasted most of the night. I had a hard time getting to sleep because my heart was racing... I thought it was because of all the coca tea, but maybe it was altitude. At roughly 5am this morning we woke up. The rain at camp was snow higher up, so we saw the surrounding peaks in a different way, which was neat. Getting to our campsight on day 1 is also quite the story...

We woke up yesterday before 5 and were picked up by a van to leave Cuzco. I wish there had been time to take pictures along the way. Heading north out of town, the city is built onto the sides of cliffs nobody would try to build homes on in the States. Out of town, we began to descend and saw locals running, working, even playing volleyball... at 5:30 on a Saturday morning! Winding our way down the valley it began to become apparent the scale of the terrain was like nothing I've ever seen. Rivers have carved out relief here the likes of which simply don't exist in the lower 48. Hillsides so steep they wouldn't be farmed in the US were bursting with produce. When creeks joined and turned into a river, we turned onto a dirt road and ascended to Mollepata, where we had breakfast and I had the pleasure of using a seatless toilet (also lacking TP or paper towel, which seems to be the norm). After breakfast we hopped in a truck for 30 minutes to the start of our trek. The driver and I saw a gato salvaje run across the road... 25 pounds, looked like a leopard. We basically hiked the road to Salkantaypampa, but I enjoyed the experience. (After today's hike, I'm glad we started easy; we're all sore.) The day's hike was basically following a drainage to its source, stopping halfway for lunch. The magnitude of relief from river to surrounding peaks is unmatched outside of Alaska in the US. Literally thousands of feet above the river was the road, and the peaks higher still. We got to camp a few minutes after passing the Mountain Lodge House, which was waaaay out of place in its surroundings.... the Vail of the Salkantay trek. With hot showers even. Anyways, we got to camp with a stunning backdrop. A peak whose name I now forget was dominated by a massive glacier on its south face. I've never seen anything like it. Saulo, our guide, said he's seen it shrink dramatically even in 5 years... sad.

This morning Enrique served me coca tea in bed as I woke up, then we had a pancake breakfast before starting the hike. It was nearly 7 miles to our lunch site, which involved about 700 meters of climbing. Shelly, Tony and I all hiked well, and even ended up passing (nearly or ) all groups who started before us. Many people needed to actually ride horses to get to our highest point, over 15,000' - a new altitude record for us. Once again, it's difficult to find words for how big these mountains are. Unfortunately, Salkantay (and us) was shrouded in clouds, so we only caught glimpses of the glaciers on its side, but based on the enormous alluvial fans, house-sized boulders in the glacier's channels, and the booming avalanches around us, it was clear there was a "wild mountain" 5000' above us even from the high pass.

After stopping only briefly for photos and an Inka coca leaf ceremony to thank Salkantay or safe passage (we each buried 3 leaves under a rock; 1 for the world of gods above, 1 for the human world, and 1 for the underworld where humans passed to), we descended. It was still very cold and drizzly until we stopped for lunch. Clouds rose up valley (from where we were headed and are now), but when they broke, you could see massive glaciers above us.

It seems I need to get used to immediate and dramatic changes on this trip, because right after lunch we found ourselves in a dense jungle. In a single day we passed through fresh snow, cloudy grassy highland reminding me of Scotland or New Zealand, and finally to jungle with orchids and bamboo lining the trail. It is currently the dry season but water is everywhere, cascading enormous and incredibly steep mountains.

I almost don't want to try to write about my current location, because words will fall short. We're on the precipice above the convergence of 3 rivers which apparently form one. The gorge below is almost like an inverted pyramid, which steep peaks on all sides rising from the water. The first 2 rivers form a Y, then another branch comes in before flowing on as a continuous stretch of rapids for miles. Upon our arrival at camp, close to sunset, the cutest little girl (Marina) walked up to me and started playing with my camera. I taught her how to turn it on and how to shoot. She had seen a camera before but didn't know how to work mine. Then she wanted to know how all the buckles and straps worked on my pack. When that got old (i.e. she discovered the candy we brought for this exact event in my pack), she put on a somersault / spin / jump show for me. Adorable. I'm glad my Spanish has improved because I'm sure she doesn't speak English. I doubt anybody in this village does.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 2

5/21/2011

Saturday night in Cuzco. This navel city is hard to describe. I feel like you could stay here 2 weeks and not have seen much... or had the time to properly digest your surroundings at least. Let me first catch up on yesterday.

Yesterday

After finishing writing yesterday's installment, we ate a fairly simple breakfast, took fairly adventurous showers (the water temperature was constantly in flux), and ventured out into our new surroundings in daylight... still gray as can be, but daylight Lima style nonetheless. Our first stop was the Inka Market, and we were not disappointed. Most of the people were selling fairly similar items, but there were definitely stands with unique items. It was fun chatting to the vendors and getting a glimpse into what Cuzco might have in store for us. All the people were amicable and the prices reasonable. For lunch we took an amazingly cheap cab to an expensive but outstanding cebichería called Pescados Capitales. It came highly recommended from our cab driver the night before... we were not disappointed. Local elite businessmen and women (nice watches, make-up, expensive purses, new phones...) dined all around us. The food was incredible and it was clear our trip was off to a fantastic start. After lunch we decided to head to the ocean and catch a glimpse of the Pacific. We wandered south through a string of parks that eventually led us to Larcomar, a mall with apparently some of the finest shopping in all of Peru. I admit to being disappointed to see chain restaurants and hotels from the US in the area, but there was enough local flare to keep it interesting. The parks were more enjoyable though... the perfect way to spend a relaxing day in Lima.

As sunset (what sun?) approached, we headed back towards home base to drop off bags and get ready for our flight to Cuzco in the morning. We had an incident where we couldn't print our boarding passes after being checked in online by the Star Perú office (not to mention only receiving 1 of the 3 boarding passes via email), so we thankfully were able to drop in again and get everything sorted out before they closed. Afterwards, we walked the Kennedy Park area and had a drink or two at a Cuban bar. We were the first in the bar, but by the time we left the place was packed. Instead of eating there, we went to a very nice restaurant closer to Larcomar for a late dinner and then walked back to the hotel for an early flight across the Andes.

Lima, at least Miraflores, is very nice. If all of Lima were like this, it would be way better than people give it credit.

Today

In short, yesterday was a relaxing scene from any city in the developed world. Today, however, was uniquely Peruvian in every sense. This, dear friends, is another world. It was obvious from the minute we sat down in our cab and left the airport. The streets are different... the people are different... the food is different... If wealthy Miraflores in Lima is your only frame of reference for defining Perú, you would not be faulted for questioning whether this were even still Perú. I believe, however, that this is more the Peruvian norm. Speaking specifically of the Quechua women in town, I think even the average Limeñan would have a difficult time finding common ground. This is definitely not Kansas, Toto. Cuzco is a very old town; even the current buildings (built on top of Inka stonework) are centuries old. The topography kind of reminds me of San Francisco orMontmartre in Paris. But again, they're not very similar beyond that. Lots of things are very small here. The streets are steep and narrow. The people are short - the beds are too. The cars are tiny... Anyways, you just basically need to see it for yourself.

We flew into Cuzco early. The Andes are truly stunning from above. Our flight was uneventful and calm; it was just nice to see the sun again. As mentioned above, it was obvious from the start that Cuzco had very little in common with Lima. As our taxi passed the San Pedro market, we knew where we had to go as soon as we got settled in. After unloading at Renacimiento and drinking a cup of mate de coca, we headed down to the Plaza de Armas en route to lunch only to discover the Plaza is no place to lollygag. It is full of people desperate to sell art, shine shoes, or solicit donations from tourists in a feverish and horribly annoying way. It was one of our first glimpses into "the opposite end of the spectrum" if you will. Tourist police were arresting solicitors for bothering tourists as we walked past. I felt accosted but didn't think it necessarily warranted jail time... sad. We left the plaza for a light lunch and were serenaded by a mobile Trident commercial; a guy singing Oasis, Coldplay and Guns 'n' Roses songs while playing guitar on the sidewalk. I definitely did not fly thousands of miles to hear 20-year-old Patience (which is apparently making a comeback as a trance/pop song in Lima), but I guess that's one interpretation of good ol' gringo marketing in South America.

After lunch we had to make a quick stop back at the hotel for our trek introduction and to finalize payment. What should have been a 15 minute simple introduction, "see you at 5:15am..." and exchange of money turned into a painful event lasting at least an hour and a half. There was confusion over how much we had already paid, how much we had left to pay, and how many days we wanted to spend on the hike. The conversation went something like:

Them: Ok, we have you down for 4 days/ 3 nights

Us: No, we want to do 5 days/ 4 nights

Them: Ok, that will be $70 more per person than the 4d/3n

Us: No, you already told us it was only $40 more per person for the extra day. Here is the email that says so.

Them: You have paid $190 per person so far.

Us: This PayPal receipt says $615, not $570.

Them: You paid half of the 4 days/ 3 nights trip, for 3 people; $190.

Us: What is this extra $45 for, then?

Them: Let me call the office.

Us: How can you possibly have this wrong? We emailed back and forth 10 times about this already. Look at this email.

...repeat...

When we finally did agree on a duration and balance due, all of use were beyond frustrated. With the end of this torture in sight, we began unloading a massive pile of twenty dollar bills onto a table for counting, assuming the worst was behind us. The lady accepting payment then starting making a separate pile of rejected $20... and I about lost it. She told us she couldn't accept those bills (that we had withdrawn from an ATM just down the hill) because she couldn't exchange them if they weren't perfect. The slightest fold, tear, or writing on a bill earned it a place in the rejected pile. We literally had zero remaining "perfect" $20's remaining when she was done, despite pulling out more than enough money beforehand. I have since discovered this is a Peruvian norm... and a horrible, horrible experience to have to go through. Honestly, this experience (repeated multiple times throughout the trip) became the single most infuriating part of any vacation I've ever been on. Let this be your warning, fellow Peruvian traveler.

With the trek debacle behind us, we walked back to the San Pedro market and apparently passed through a black hole en route... that place is an alter universe. You can find anything from handwoven clothing to fruits I'd never seen before to sculptures and wood carvings to cheeses, chocolates or candies, to a full on butchery with a turn down any aisle. The meat displays would not fly in the US for sure; entire pigs gutted and ready to cook, cuts of beef sitting out in the open air with flies flying around, whole chickens with their throats slit piled up on top of each other, pig heads and cow noses with hair on and teeth still in... and every vendor is a humble and kind 4 ft tall woman with the exact same wardrobe as the next. I probably looked shell-shocked to people who saw me... at a loss for words. I wanted to take pictures to record the memory but found myself unable to out of respect for the vendors. I'm sure they're used to it but I felt bad when I initially reached for my camera so I just put it away.

[

Market photos from other folks:

http://www.tonyrogers.com/images/2009_peru/index_sanpedro.htm

http://crashwilliams.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/the-other-side-of-cuzco/

]

We bought some fruit and coca candy for the hike. After the market, we headed towards the Plaza San Blas area and were the first ones to sit down for dinner at Pacha Papa. Eureka! Before we left, the restaurant had filled up completely (same as the Cuban bar), and for good reason. The meal was terrific. I had lomo saltado for the first time as well as an appetizer made of various (grassy!) cheeses and several kinds of potatoes I'd never seen before. Tony had alpaca anticuchos... we all ate very well.

Anyways, to sum this chaos up, yesterday was great in its own way, today was too, and tomorrow starts 5 days of a totally different experience. 3 very contrasting days. Today was probably the most I've ever stepped away from my everyday culture, but in a good and inviting way. It was beautiful yet uncomfortable, frustrating yet outstanding, exciting yet sad... the prototypical Latin American day as I've been told.

Pensamientos en Perú, día 1

5/20/2011

3 months ago to the day I was skiing Steamboat. Suffice it to say I'm not in Steamboat today, nor will there be any snow. The trip began yesterday when I boarded DIA>IAH headed south... more south than ever before. I took a window seat after the middle seat had been taken, and it was clear the woman in the middle was nervous about her English. I hadn't heard her speak yet (instead of standing up and getting out of the seat to let me pass, she just pulled her legs up into the seat) so I couldn't place her. When she said she was from Bogotá I switched to Spanish, and a weight lifted for her. Me too... somebody new to test my Spanish on. We spoke the majority of the 2 hour flight. She is a traveling brand manager for pharmaceutical items and had been to a lot of various places but never in the US before. The funniest part of our conversation was her asking me what elk were called; "They look like Bambi and are café all over except for their white butts..." (in Spanish). I was happy to have had a bit more Spanish practice with a stranger before getting to Peru.

Shelly and I sat together from Houston to Lima. After about 45 minutes out the window below us came the familiar site of thousands of 20,000' Cumulonimbus calvus clouds, which I've only ever seen form over warm, tropical water. I actually felt for a minute that we should just land and stay in Central America. Costa Rica to be exact... I really love that country, and I had just been thinking of how lucky I am to live in Boulder when this happened... thinking of running 6 miles the day before on the Mesa Trail in the rain. Anyways, I saw the clouds, and below them a beach. Then, halfway, dry and untrammeled mountains... almost void of any human imprint. Nicaragua? Later lots of stars, then a very large city. Quito? 45 minutes later we landed. The Lima airport is huge.

One of my bottles of hand sanitizer exploded while my backpack was transported as checked luggage... my pack was a bit wet, but no worries. Our hotel in Lima is very nice. Our room is on the top floor with a rooftop terrace outside. I believe if the skies were clearer (so you could see) and/or the air didn't smell of dank rotting fish, it would get a lot of use. Aside from the overwhelming fish smell, I believe you could probably place this setting in any big city in Latin America. The driving/honking, buildings, humidity, noises, etc. are very similar to San José, CR, at least. Last night we got settled in and then walked for a drink. We must stand out a lot because every empty taxi that drove by slowed down or honked at us; fairly annoying. 1 round of pisco later it was after 1am so we walked home. That scene sets this apart from San José: 1am and large groups of old men playing chess on public picnic tables with chess boards tiled into the table... 1am and people just sitting down for full-sized dinner. Miraflores stays up really late.

This is the warmest 65 degrees I've ever felt. It is unbelievably humid here. So far so good though. I believe things will get interesting after breakfast.