Peru « Flowin’ Prose

Peru

September 13, 2010 — Rachel

This is my first trip to Latin America that has not been off the beaten path. I mean who goes to Paraguay or Panama? (Yep I’m trying to cross all the “P” Latin American destinations before tackling anything else.)

Anyway, I’ll be honest the last week or so before we flew off to Lima was more than a little stressful. Just too many things to take care of before being away for a whole 2 weeks. I was not really looking forward to being unable to communicate very effectively, trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B, being an obvious foreigner, staying out of dangerous situations, and worrying about what I can and cannot eat and drink, sleeping or trying to sleep in uncomfortable beds in loud hostels. Put it this way, my first trip to South America was to Paraguay where I definitely suffered huuuge culture shock, and I feel like I’m pretty open-minded. And as for the Panama trip with my friend Kat last December, I felt like every day was an adventure in trying to get to our next stop. Which by being the only Gringos around was confusing and exhausting. Not that I would trade either experience for anything (especially in hindsight!), I just was kind of wanting something less mentally exhausting. I write this section of my blog on Day 3 in Peru and it’s been a different experience. Everywhere we’ve been (Cusco, Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu) has been cleaner, seemingly safer, and definitely reliant on tourism (which is probably why). I don’t think this is necessarily a good or bad thing; just different.

My fellow travelers (Monika, Coy, Lan, Ian, Becky) and I met up at the Lima airport and flew off to Cusco together. Wow flying over the Andes in a puddle jumper was exciting and a little scary. Barely below us were the most jagged and steep cliffs I’d ever seen. I’m pretty sure I could see some small villages in the valleys of the mountains.

Cusco is at 3326m and this altitude is no joke. I’ll admit it may have partially been nerves, but I felt out of breath upon stepping off the plane. Climbing one flight of stairs at our hotel had me feeling like I’d just run a set of suicide lines at practice. Whew… And man did I feel loopy. To remedy altitude sickness, a popular drink is coca mate, an herbal tea that you cannot get in the US (more on this later). You can get this tea in loose leaf form really anywhere in the Cusco/Machu Picchu/Lake Titicaca region. Needless to say, conversation at dinner was pretty nonexistent, as it was tough to put more than three coherent sentences together.

But back to Cusco… This is the oldest continuously inhabited city in all of South America. The center of the city (where we stayed and where all the tourist stuff is) is surrounded by massive Inca-built walls. The streets are all cobble-stoned and super narrow. Really fun to explore. In it’s heyday it was the foremost city of the Inca empire. Now it relies very heavily on international tourism. Which is probably why it seemed so much nicer and cleaner than say Panama City. On our second go-around in Cusco we stayed at Casa de la Gringa in the San Blas neighborhood. (this is another hostel I highly recommend; very zen-like and with eclectic decor). San Blas is a super artsy and charming neighborhood. Has a very Euro feel; kind of looks like how I’d imagine Spain to be.

The famous 12-Sided Stone, dating back to Incan times. This was found in the side of an old alleyway in the city and is an example of the simple yet extraordinary mortarless masonry skills of the Incas.

1. Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Rainbow flag represents Inca territory, not what it does for the rest of the world (and natives are none too pleased with the confusions).

3. Three Peruvian ladies dressed in local indigenous attire.

4. San Blas neighborhood

5. Woman selling oranges at the local market

After spending the better part of two days exploring Cusco, we took an all-night bus ride to Puno, a town outside of Lake Titicaca. Went on an all day boat tour of the lake…rather, a fraction of it. Lake Titicaca is huge! About a half hour ride from shore are the Islas de los Uros, which are man-made floating islands made strictly of reeds. The Uros, a group of indigenous people live out there. Our guide told us that they rely on hunting and fishing for food and used to make trips out to the bay from the main land to do so. Once they realized they could create floating islands from the reed plants, well why bother going back and forth. Lonely Planet writes that the Uros moved out onto the floating islands to avoid the more violent indigenous tribes in the area. I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in between. Anyway, not only are the islands made of reed, but so is everything else. Huts, boats, etc; and with intricate designs. While the people on the island we visited rely heavily on tourists visiting and buying their handmade goods, there are some floating islands that never see foreigners and just do their own thing to survive. Very fascinating.

Uros

To give you an idea of the sheer magnitude of Lake Titicaca, our second stop was an island 2.5 hours away, but probably about an eighth of the way to the opposite shore. Learned about the Quechua (descendants of the Inca) who live on Isla de Tequile (see above map). And had an amazing lunch right on the edge of a hill over looking the lake, which really looked like the Pacific Ocean. Incredible views. I think today was my favorite day so far.

1. View of Lake Titicaca from Tequile.

2. Tequile

3. Lan, Becky and I on the boat ride back to Puno.

Machu Picchu

Not too too much to say on Machu Picchu, but what Peru travel blog would be complete without touching on this World Wonder. It is pretty incredible to see the remains of an entire community so high up in the side of a mountain. And so amazing that the architecture was so strong as to still be standing and in good shape hundreds of years after the fact. (As always, click on thumbnails to enlarge)

Miscellaneous observations

Will someone explain to me the lack of toilet seats on toilets. For every toilet that had a seat, I’d have to hover over 4 without one. It’s like toilet seats are endangered species. I feel like I just spent the last two weeks training for ski racing and now have quads of steel. Bring on winter.

Okay this isn’t really what the toilets looked like (this was actually in the Monasterio de Santa Catalina in Arequipa). But I practically feel like that is what I was using for two weeks.

If there was one thing I saw on several Peruvian souvenirs, second only to pictures of llamas and cute ski hats (chullos), it was the phrase “Coca is Not a Drug.” Our Lake Titicaca tour guide explained to us that while outside of the Andean culture, the word “coca” has illegal connotations, the coca plant actually has several medicinal uses. The chemical composition of coca leaves is more complete and rich in calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibre, ash, minerals (calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium, ascorbic acid, etc.) and vitamins A, C and E than other food plants. Traditionally coca is used as a stimulant to overcome fatigue, hunger, and thirst. It is also considered to be particularly effective against altitude sickness, which I can vouch for. Based on past experiences hiking and snowboarding in Colorado (which is like half elevation of Lake Titicaca, Cusco, Machu Picchu), I was more than a little nervous about how the altitude would affect me. But save for sucking wind climbing a single flight of stairs, I was totally fine and I think that had a lot to do with the coca leaf tea I had daily with my breakfast. Anyway, according to wikipedia, indigenous use of coca has also been reported as a treatment for malaria, ulcers, asthma, to improve digestion, to guard against bowel laxity, as an aphrodisiac, and credited with improving longevity. Modern studies have supported a number of these medical applications. And several elder Quechua men can read the leaves. In short, coca is a pretty amazing plant; and the list of alternative uses (ie besides ingesting in the form of a narcotic substance) reminded me of the various uses for hemp. Interesting stuff.

One thing I noticed in pretty much every town (except Lima) was that most houses tended to look half-built, with re-bar sticking up. I never figured out why that was. Maybe it’s an ongoing process that you never really finish? Kind of like how I always talk about organizing my bookshelf and it only ever gets half done.

Scenes from Puno. Also note the glass “barbed wire” which we saw in quite a few towns.

If you are into outdoor adventures, head to Arequipa. (Arequipa is a beautiful and old city, known as the “white city” for it’s grand colonial buildings, built from light-colored volcanic rock called ‘sillar’.) Lots of hiking and climbing on nearby mountains. Rafting a mere 20 minutes outside of the city, which we took advantage of. A little different than any rafting I’ve done in the states. The river (Rio Chile) was really shallow and so so rocky and narrow. At one point, our guide, a young hippie guy from Chile, told us we could NOT fall out on a particular set of rapids basically because it was so rocky and shallow. Talk about pressure. I did fall in at one point; first time in five rafting trips. Which wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be; though I did get a little nervous when I got pinned between the boat and the rock wall of the canyon. It was all good; those life jackets are pretty strong.

Really I just wanted an excuse to include this picture of Lan’s face (back, right). PLEASE click to enlarge.

Misellaneous Pictures

El Monastario de Santa Catalina in Arequipa. Occupying a whole city block and surrounded by high walls, this huge convent is practically a city within a city. Founded in 1580 by a wealthy Spanish widow who chose her nuns from the richest Spanish families. The nuns generally lived it up in the style they had always been accustomed to. After about three centuries of these hedonistic goings-on (Lonely Planet’s words not mine), a strict Dominican nun arrived to straighten things out. From this point, the vast majority of the 450 people who once lived here never ventured outside of the convent’s “imposing high walls and the convent was shrouded in mystery until it finally opened to the public in 1970.”