cusco

first day
i arrived cusco at 6:30am after a 10 hour bus trip. no hostel. no map. no plan. i just knew i was not going to machu pichu, been there. right before leaving my hostel in arequipa, the awesome lady at the front desk gave me an address for a hostel, and that worked.
there is a free walking tour. walking, remember i just came from colca? well, this tour was 3 1/2 hours of walking, getting an idea of how to walk the city, getting free stuff and having people try to convince you to buy stuff. i sat in plaza regocijo for about an hour, waiting for the tour, coffee in hand, watching the people. the sun started to come out and there was some blue in the sky. thankfully, raining season does not mean that it rains every day. there was blue, and i was glad.

we were taken to learn about alpahaca and llama wool.


 we went to the chocolate museum. peru is one of the biggest exporter of cacao (supposedly a quechua word). we got to try some choco and some tea made up of the nip of the cacao seed. de.li.cious. :)

at the fine arts school i learned some inca history. about how both men and women were warriors. about how Mamahuca, a woman, kicked a priest on the chest, took out his lung with her bare hands, earned respect (or fear) for the incas and conquered cusco. badass and scary.

then we ate some causa. mashed potatoes, chicken, mayo, avocado,chile and an egg half. the women in Lima used to sell it for "the cause", hence the name. la causa was helping the bolivian and peruvian soldiers during the war against chile.

after the tour i kept walking around and ended up in barrio san blás, the artisans barrio, overlooks the city of cusco, where, appart from the view, i found some interesting fence protection. ;)

second day
i woke up early(ish) to visit the cathedral becuase people have told me how amazing it was, so despite being reluctant to visit churches, after 6months in europe, i went.  here is a picture of the outside, with me covering it... they didn't let me in because i didn't want to pay 25soles. no sir.

i spent the day visiting inca ruins ouside cusco (another post) and ended up back in town. i am amazed at how many people are out on the plazas and the streets. walking, playing, eating. people are out! on a thursday!!!

i had been trying to visit the san pedro market but both times i get there too late. so, this time I tried some anticuchos. pinchos (in puertorrican). instead of a bread, they have a potato on top! 2 soles = less than $1 for some little deliciousnessss.

third day
lazy day. i-just-want-to-chill day. but i am in cusco... and i have to do something.

so i tried, i went to the market to get some fruit and breakfast. i met lucy, older peruvian lady from the valley that thaught me what a granadilla is.

 it is like passion fruit, but sweeter. good stuff. we talked for like 20 minutes, lucy is my friend now. we talked about the pope quitting, the meteorite that didn´t kill us, peruvian celebrities gossip, her story, about her son and my own story.. i went back to talk to lucy three times . yes, she was my friend. :)  i was supposed to leave to puno on a night bus, so she gave me oranges and bannanas for the road. sweet lucy.

still hungry, i kept walking, looking for some breakfast... and either i was late or people eat chicken [especifically hen in this case] soup for breakfast. shady looking spot, but such a nice lady. whatever, i said to myself, it smells delicious and i am eating this. chicken soup, well made.

later i went to two museums, bought a book about peruvian socialism, walked in the rain, got lost around the city and found my wat back with no map, went back to talk to lucy and eat more 4soles goodness.

like i said, i was supposed to get on a bus to puno, and of course, i made some friends... and ended up missing my bus. fun stuff. ;) i ended up doing some more hiking and eating and sleeping, chill cusco. about three days later, i must say, it is what was supposed to happen. you will agree when i share what is going on.

i like this. the sharing with you. :)

inka ruins: aroung cusco and sacred valley

no tour this day. there are a million tours to visit the inka ruins around cusco and the sacred valley... and of course, i wanted to do it on my own. you know, to take my time, get lost, freak out, get some rain, calm down, walk more than the rest and have fun.

pisac:
i took a taxi, that took me to a bus that took me to the town of pisac, where i would later take another taxi to take me to the ruins. pisac is famous for its market, and guess what, same as all the markets in cusco, but over-prized. 18soles for lunch!? no thanks, where is the real market?

for 4soles (less than $2) i ate soup and frijoles (beans), rice and ribs. :)

up in the ruins, i had no map of the citadel but a police officer offered to be my guide! david, yes, read it in english, that is how he introduced himself. the citadel had many terraces for agriculture where on the bottom they would plant corn and on the top, potatoes. the temperature difference was that much.



these are inka showers or baths

the nicer buildings were for the royalty or important people and for sacred places. (look at the difference between these two.)



at this point, david had to go back. he said that the trail would take me directly into the city of pisac so i kept walking. of course there were many trails, and i started following my instinct. i walked downhill for about 20 minutes until i reached a dead end. it was raining and i was 2970m above sea level (masl), so going back up was not very appealing. but i did, i started walking. after about 15 minutes, when i was already out of breath and freaking out, the inka gods sent a young couple that was heading to pisac. (yay!) 

 so we walked for about an hour, downhill, my knee screaming for help (remember colca?) but i was so happy for not being lost!

so happy, even if it was raining, even crossing the little bridge, even going down the ladder on a terrace,dear friend, i was happy.

tambomachay:
the rain kept coming, more intensely, but hey, i need to maximize the use of my time and i am here already! tambomachay is two quechua words that mean temple of water. here, the inka had their baths stricted to noble people. i could not keep up to the pool because of the rain. :(

but i ran into some llamas, or alpahacas?

 

puka pukara:
the name of this place means red fort... but there are different theories whether it was a castle, a sacred place or a hunting lodge. 

 

i smiled a lot here. it has an awesome view of the valley, there were birds singing (they are everywhere), wild flowers... i don't know what this place was, but i smiled a lot here... it is as if i need to keep reminding myself that this is real, that i am doing this, because let me tell you, this kind of freedom and excitement, it feels unreal.

so, to add more cheesyness and a bad picture to the story, as i hopped on a bus all wet and cold and smiley, a rainbow showed up by the ruins. let's talk about happy sandrita ;)

saqsayhuamán:
the bus was taking me to cusco, until i realized that the sun was coming out and saqsayhuamán was on the way. "hey chofer! can you stop by the ruins!?" we had already past them, so i walked uphill just for about 15minutes. let me tell you, it was worth it. like many inka complex, saqsayhuamán is built with rock from 15 to 30 km away, and they are huge! they were built with only natural rope, stone hammers and bronze chisels.

  

i walked for about an hour, slowly but steady. while walking, i found a flower. what a flower, because almost every men that walked by me, asked me if someone gave it to me, or if i give flowers to myself. ...well, of course i give flowers to myself, and pretty ones. 

it was a great tour-less day. a really great one, rain and all.

colca canyon

this three day trip made me so happy i went to REI and spend lord-knows-how-much- moneys in geeky hiking stuff. so happy, that the only shoes i brought were my hiking shoes. geeky hiking stuff ftw.

day 1: downhill
wake up at 3am to take a 4hr bus to colca canyon? sure! at about 4000masl it was cloudy, not foggy, cloudy. we were in the clouds. we were supposed to see the bottom of the canyon from here, but it was white. like the clouds. we were dropped off at a random spot where the trail began. 4 hours, 11km to go 1200m down to the bottom of the canyon. downhill is easy right? no, not easy, not for me. i admit it, i struggled, same motion for 4 hours in the sun, (yes, the sun came out) was a bit hard for me. but oh so beautiful!

  after four hours and crossing a scary bridge, we arrived at our place. food, warm shower, the sound of the river and good advice to check the cieling for scorpions before going to bed.

day 2: fruity
the next morning, this was the view. crisp fresh air, birds singing, the river still loud, oh, it was like being on tv, but better.

my legs were in pain... no shame, i never reaaally hike, so yes, i was in pain. pepe, our awesome guide, gave me a bamboo stick to walk. i need to tell you, that bamboo stick, it saved me. ;) this walk was easier, shadow, pepe stopped along the way to get us fruit and explain the plants around us. yes, there are places where people can just walk around and get awesome fruit.

we walked up again through small towns and then back to the bottom of the canyon. rollercoaster i tell you...

the walk ended in oasis. little cabins made up of bamboo and wood, by the river, pool that gets filled with the water that comes down from the mountain. yes, oasis. 

day 3: mule it.

the last day consists of a 3hr walk up to the top of the canyon. 1000m up, rocky, slippery, and i am in pain. so, i muled it. no shame. my friend the mule took me up. because my friend, i was in too much pain, and in this altitude, my lungs were not working properly either. so, i muled it.

this is our group, with pepe. :)

 corn fields, keeping the tradition of the pre-inca/inca terraces.

way back: out of the canyon
we stopped at some hot springs place. maybe it would have been good for my muscles, but i decided to have some laying-in-the-grass-under-the-sun time.

remember that first picture, above the clouds? this is the same place, cloud-less. :)

breathing was not very easy at 4910masl.

pictures are better than words right? so, forgive the crazy writing... not much time to proof read. i have cuzco to explore. :)

arequipa

i need to tell you... it is very complicated to write in a spanish keyboard, especially if i am writing in english. but hey, i can breathe spanish, and you have no idea how happy that makes me. i can breathe spanish in the streets of arequipa, perú. i hear it, along with the hundreds of cars around plaza de armas, that honk their horns non-stop. i am telling you, it is non-stop. it is almost impossible to cross the street, so i team up with the person next to me and say ´vamos!?´ ´vamos!´and then we go. it does not matter, because i am making a friend in each corner right? a friend in spanish, and i am no longer ´sandrita ESL´ (well, until i start writing here...) ;)

after sleeping for about three hours i needed food, and i discovered the amazing rocoto relleno. oh lord, pepper stuffed with meat, raisins, potatoes and cheese (i think). amazing. 

so, i walked around the city and of course, like mr. bourdain thaught me, hit the local market. mercado san camilo. yes, the one that all the websites and the book i am carrying said not to go, that one. the one with the amazing fruit, dozen kinds of potatoes, vegetables i have never seen, random people singing around, delicious food and stinky raw meat. walking around i hear a ´gringo´singing cuando tenga la tierra (mercedes sosa) with a charango. i smiled, my friend, because music like this moved me to come here. 

´casera! a cuajada with papaya, maracuyá (passion fruit) and naranja (orange), no water please!´delicious fruit in a glass. :)

tratemos

so, this is me trying. figuring out the blogging and maybe having an audience thing. writing in english. having too much time before boarding time. writing this post for the sencond time. oh geez.

check out this video. big motivation for me to choose my destinations. to ignore my 30-countries-before-i-am-30 goal, and go to countries little sandrita visited about 10 years ago. to feel like there is something there i MUST go get or learn or live...? so, whatever that is, whenever i find it, if i do, i will let you know. :)

this is me trying. the traveling-and-being-on-my-own-with-no-real-plan thing. ill keep you posted.

if the link does not work, google calle 13 latinoamerica subtitles ;)

xo