Pisac adventure

August 31 2006
(by Andrew)

Instead of going to a restaurant we wandered into a local market and tested the limits of what Leigh felt comfortable eating. We had "Loma saltando" (Jumping hill? I think is the loose translation), some tasty rice, french fries, stewed meat with vegetables, topped with a fried egg, all for 2.25 Soles per each (Breakfast total for both of us $1.60) The state of the digestive tract (now 35 hours later) is still fine.

We wandered down towards the bus station and stopped by the Koricancha museum. Some interesting examples of the kinds of trepanation http://www.perou.net/ala/fr/MusArcTrepdouble.jpg (hole in head drilling), mummification http://www.photoseek.com/peru/03PER-41-26-Mummy.jpg and skull shaping http://www.anthroarcheart.org/grfx/i6bf.JPG that the Incas did. The museum was actually below ground and as we climbed up Leigh snapped a pretty cool stairwell shot in primary colors.

At the bus station we caught a collectivo to Pisac (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisac). The Market was truly the most overwhleming collection of crafts that I have ever seen. More Alpaca than you could shake a stick at! http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/destinations/cusco/pisac.html The climb up to the ruins was INCREDIBLE! one of the most amazing valleys that I have ever seen. Certainly easily in league with Yosemite, Glacier, Zion or any of the other parks I have seen in the US. What really sets it apart are the truly unreal terraces that were built by the pre-Incan civilizations and Incas. See the pics of us on our climb and then at some of the ruins.

On the way up we ran into a couple coming down. They had taken a taxi up. Huh? say what? The last 1000 feet of stairmaster that I just did could have been avoided? Turns out there is a road up the backside. . . oh well. At the top we started briskly walking by the taxis and down the road back to town. The haggling (in spanish) went something like this.

Taxi guy #1: Hey mister you want a taxi?
Andrew: No, were going to walk down.
Taxi guy #2: But its only 15 Soles.
Andrew: no, were not in any rush
Taxi guy #1: But its almost 8 kilometers
Andrew: Then it should be 8 Soles.
Taxi guy #2: How about 10?
Andrew: No, we need the exercise, well walk. . . begin walking down the hill
Taxi guy #2: ok, ok . . . 8 soles.
Andrew and Leigh: ok.

Finally a successful haggling moment!

As we walked back through the market in Pisac ¿or Pisaq? we ran into the same couple (Katie and Tim). Turns out that she grew up in Allendale, NJ! Less than a mile from Leigh. He does some really pretty interesting music/video installation art that uses biological systems as its source of inspiration. We wound up splitting a cab with them back to Cusco and having a delightful dinner.

Hurrah!

Andrew

A Day in Cusco (aka The Day We Were Attacked By Natives)

30 August 2006 (Dylan Needleman´s 5th B-day!)

After somewhat acclimatizing to the altitude (11.5K feet), we decided to go for a hike to the Inkan ruins overlooking the city of Cusco. So huffing and puffing, we headed off uphill to the ruins of Sacsayhuaman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacsayhuaman From Sacsayhuaman, you can see a beautiful view of the 300,000 person city of Cusco below. From the ruins, we just sat back and listened to the noises of the city - a man on a megaphone shouting "papaya, plantanos...", dogs barking, cars honking... The rocks are unspeakably large - it´s quite a mystery exactly how they were brought to the sites and carved to fit together so elegantly.

Never accuse us of doing things the easy way... We hiked to two more sites, not nearly as impressive as the first. Driving ourselves almost to altitude sickness, we hoofed it back to town and crashed out by, yes, 7:30PM!

-LN AF

PS. Cusco has many many staircased walkways in the city. It reminds me a little of San Francisco, but much more steep and many more staircases. I also like this picture because it shows the typical South American dogs just lying around.

from Lima to Cusco

August 29th, 2006 (by Andrew)

We woke up early in the AM and grabbed a cab to the airport. 15 Soles (or about US $4.50) Cabs here are generally very cheap when you remember to haggle. . . anyway, the flight from Lima to Cusco (or Cuzco) (or Cusqo) (or Qusqo) (or Qosqo) was absolutely gorgeous. There is a dense fog bank that permeates inland from the coast of Peru about 15 miles (think Seattle) for 9 months of the year. This is why Lima is such a foggy-smoggy place most of the time. Anyway, this fog bank makes for pretty incredible scenery once you climb up out of it in an airplane and start banking inland towards the mountains, some of which are snow-capped peaks. We flew through them (actually above them, but many of them were so big it felt as though we were down in among them). After some pretty tricky banking and swooping into an amazing mountain valley the plane came to rest safely on the tarmac in Cusco.

Leigh and I exited the plane, and were promptly winded from the climb up the exit ramp. Cusco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cusco is at the insane altitude of over 11,000 feet, and you feel it IMMEDIATELY! At least when you have been living in Rhode Island for the last 6 years. There are a variety of different remedies that are suggested to deal with the altitude. Altitude sickness is called soroche and you can walk into just about any little store and buy pills called soroche which claim to treat it. In fact there are incredible looking ads for the pills showing someone puking while his (smarter because they took soroche pills) friends look on with a combination of amusement and disgust. If you do choose to take the pills. . . you just can´t be entirely sure what is in them. . . Mate de Coca http://static.flickr.com/25/48920585_17e5aaa6a1_m.jpg or tea made with Coca leaves is ubiquitously served and drunk everywhere. As you wander around you see many "coca shops" and in most restaurants you can order mate de coca with whole leaves. http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/06/bb/7a/b4_10.JPG In addition people wander the streets selling small bags of coca leaves. It seems that it is all a matter of dosage, I avoid all stimulants anyway (especially caffeine) so I wasn´t too excited to see what cocaine would do to me. We haven´t seen anyone walk up to us and try to sell refined cocaine, but then that only happens in certain neighborhoods in the US as well. . .

Anyway, we spent most of the day walking v...e...r...y s...l...o...w...l...y becuase any quick movements resulted in a racign heart, gasping for breath, and spinning/headrush sensations. (good times!) However, in order to avoid the altitude sickness, we have employed a variety of tactics - hydration, tylenol/ibuprofren, gatorade, and walking slowly. It took a few days, but has gradually proven effective. Running up stairs, even a few steps, is certainly not yet a possibility but we were able slowly and steadily make progress and have done some pretty ambitious day hikes.

ok. so we made it to Cusco and arrived at our "hostal" basically a good sized bed and breakfast. For 50 soles (about $15) we get a prvate room with double bed, private bath, and access to the kitchen. Its about a 4 minute walk to the center of Cusco, not a bad deal.

We settled in and decided to eat the last of the food that we had bought in Lima. A couple different sized and shaped bananas and a "grenadilla" which we had no idea how to eat and probably ate well before it was ripe. . . still delicious if a bit sour.

After a nap/head-swirling lie down on the bed, we drifted out into Cusco and found a restaurant where we grabbed a lunch and then wandered down to the Plaza de Armas (the center of the city) where Leigh napped in between the unending approaches by people trying to sell postcards, watercolors, coca leaves, shoeshines, etc. Quite by accident we wandered by the famous 12 sided stone (nearly 6 feet tall) and part of the foundation of a building, original Inca stonework that is pretty damn amazing. We then went into La Catedral where you can see inordinate quantities of gold and silver and carved wood. Crazy stuff.

Anyway, there I blow,
Andrew