Peru, 2011, Feb-March

This is my first post on this blog since ending my central american work in march of 2009. I have not been out of the country since then. I came to Peru with a friend from Seattle and her sister. This is the first time I have been in Latin America as a tourist. I knew when leaving it wouldn´t be easy for me to be a tourist and because my friend and I have different interests. My interests are in the people, how they live, the politics of the country, the history including AFTER the pre-colonial period. I like ruins okay, but after a while, they look similar. Reading about the live of the indigenous people precolonial is interesting to me and after too, but just roaming around ruins all day, not so much. Also, my friends like to shop, shop, shop and I don´t have any use for it. So, it is challenging. But I go along to see the countryside and to chat with people and to see the people.

So, arriving in Cuzco at almost 11,000 feet with no sleep for well over 24 hours, it was exhausting. But we had a little hotel reserved in the center of Cuszco and it was fine, if cold and a bit more expensive than necessary. Because of snoring on my friends´part, I found another place that cost less than the triple for a double and a single and right off the plaza de las armas, the center of cultural Cuzco, so we are good. Also it is hard to sleep for several nights I think because of the altitude. My friends bought the general boleta that you need to get into several sites in and around Cuzco and in the Sacred Valley but I did not. I decided to pick the places to go, although some you cannot enter without the general boleta. But it is not a big deal to me. I feel as if I will come back here anyhow, probably with Pat and Dorcas, my friends from DC.

Impressions now are that Cuzco is a much safer city than Antigua. People are out at all hours and it feels okay. Sure, probably if I were coming home and not taking care very late, especially alone, it might not be okay, but so far, we have felt great about it. Also, it is easy to walk just about anywhere in town. After you leave the center, it gets more hectic and more polluted, but the cultural center is quite civilized. of course you have to be careful not to get hit crossing the street.

The weather has been like Seattle only warmer most of the time. Betwee 40s and low 60s in Cuzco, with rain mostly at night. We went out by van to Ollanta last Wed. with this little agency where I met Julio, who owns it. Very cute. And then onto Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu city) by Peru rail, which was a wonderful ride, all along the Urubamba river, which is roiling and full of mud because of the rainy season we are in. Every now and then the trains have to stop to clear slides from the way or shore up the tracks, but we were able to proceed as planned. Unfortunately, the day we chose to go to MP, it rained all day. We had about a half hour of dry, visible time at the ruins and that was it. It costs a lot of money to go there, get in, the bus, the train, etc. and we got rained out, but at least we saw a small part of it. There are of course so many inka ruins around here that it is no great loss, I guess. And a lot of the fun is going down on the train and viewing the countryside, which is absolutely spectacular. On the way back, we stopped in the Sacred Valley and stayed two nights in Ollantaytambo (Ollanta), which is just spectacular. A small village with beautiful stone walls and inka ruins going straight up behind the little town and all around, really. it is closed in by massive peaks littered with inka ruins. I would go back to Ollanta and spend a lot more time hiking around and outside of it. Then we went on to Chincero, a small village between Ollanta and Cuzco, and we were fortunate to see the year´s Carnaval in progress, with the whole Quecha village in traditional dress and performing traditional dances all day. We stopped in a textile coop that Carol knew of from a prior trip and she knows the diretor who has set up these coops all over Peru to benefit the indigenous women who do wonderful work. She and Judy her sister bought tons of things all day, and every day they buy things either in Cuzco or in the Sacred Valley.

The scenery in Chicero is equally gorgeous and of course there are inka ruins there, too. I cannot describe how beautiful the landscape is here in the highlands. The landscape is very open with broad fertile valleys growing maize, papas (80 plus varieties), peas, squash, you name it, and dotted with sheep, llamas, alpacas, cows, horses, and people in traditional and not so traditional dress (the older ones more traditional of course) wandering around in the landscape living their lives, driving sheep herds, etc.

The artinsenary of the people is amazing. Using and carving calabeza with intricate inka designs, and using and weaving alpaca, sheeps wool, etc into everything imaginable. Also beautiful water color paintings are sold by students in the streets of Cuzco. Every manner of textiles made into hats, scarves, gloves, pants, shirts, belts, sweaters, shawls. So gorgeous it boggles the mind. For me, just to look, see and appreciate is enough. I don´t want to possess them, although I realize that buying helps the people. I can´t carry these things on my back already I have a heavy load. So I invite you to come and see for yourself! Especially my sister in law who weaves and anyone else who is a weaver would so love to see, feel, appreciate this work.

We also took a day to go to Maras and Moray and the Salineras there. Only a ruin and some salt flats, but again a nice ride in the countryside with a lovely young man from Urubamba with a wife and two children making a living driving a taxi around the valley. He was so kind, patient, and a great driver, very honest, etc. I have to say that I have not met or interacted with anyone here who is not kind, fun, patient, and just simply lovely. It is a contrast with experience in Guatemala and Nicaragua. That was okay, but really, I am just knocked out by the Peruvians so far.

Today I will do laundry, look for a book store, take a walk up to a very important ruin, go to the bank to get change to pay my debts, and I hope meet again Julio, our driver from Wednesday, who is adorable and fun to talk to. Then I hope we go up to Pisca in the sacred valley in the next couple of days. Plans are to go to Arequipa next, after Carol´s sister goes home, and then to Lima and the beach perhaps before coming home. We might stop in Puno for a night on the way to Arequipa so I can see the Lake (Titicaca).

I love hearing the folks in the country mixing Quecha and spanish and even english. It is a kick. And I am SO enjoying using the Spànish on a daily basis. So much fun to joke with people. I have not done anything about learning about politics so far and I am not sure if I will have time or not . . . . But one could always return to Peru and work for several months. I would like to get some basic health clinic volunteering under my belt. Perhaps back in Seattle in preparation for further work here in the future? There are opportunities, especially in the countryside. ANYhow, all for now. So glad I came here. The people, especially the indigenous people in the country, are gorgeous in every way.