To Machu Picchu: Day One, Part One

Friday, May 25 8:30 pm PT

Please see my post Maps for more information about this image!

"I didn't have time to write yesterday! We left Cuzco around 9 am and began our drive towards Machu Picchu. The trip from Cuzco was really long, but was filled with amazing views. We totaled about nine or ten hours for the complete trip our first day, with a few stops along the way. Outside of Cuzco, there is a lot of hilly farmland with mountains off in the distance. The highway is well-paved but very curvy in some places. 

After about an hour and a half of driving, we reached a cliff and began a winding descent into the valley. At the bottom lay Urubamba, one short stop on our journey. 

A view of Urubamba from the top

On the descent we were able to see letters or words carved into the steep mountain adjacent to us on the other side of the valley. (I don't know what they meaning of these were, but many communities that were settled in a valley have this sort of writing on the surrounding mountains. Sort of like terrestrial graffiti or something? In Cuzco, it says "Viva Peru" so perhaps they are mostly patriotic or nationalist monuments.) The view on our descent was incredible: a main road through Urubamba cuts through two huge mountains, and a river runs perpendicular to them. The hill we were on ran parallel to this river, known as the Urubamba River. Once at the bottom, it was clear that Urubamba is very different from Cuzco. The streets and people appeared better kept, and since they are in a valley the roads are mostly flat (unlike Cuzco, which is Hill City). 

[I have to interject in my own story at this point (I wrote this in my journal) because something has been dying to get out all day: I HATE public toilets in Peru.]

We drove on and after another 30 minutes we began our ascent into a hilltop village known as Ollantaytambo (pronounced Oy-yan-tay-tam-bo), which was very quaint and reminded me somewhat of the "Old World" exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum with all the examples of housing from around the world, but the styles here were Peruvian. It was very clearly a tourist destination, and there was a very clean and orderly market full of souvenirs. 

Down in the valley, following the Urubamba river towards Ollantaytambo

The market in Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is home to a temple of the Incan Sun God. There is a huge compound on top of a hill, but we opted for distance photos instead of paying s/.70 each. (Travis and I later went on a tour where we got to go inside, which I will discuss later). We drove on and eventually ended up in a town called Santa Maria..."

Maps

      Here is a zoom-in map of where we spent the first leg of our trip. The first set show Southern Peru, followed by a zoom-in of the Cuzco area (all of the places are considered part of greater Cuzo despite the great distance; perhaps it is like a "state"?), and finally the Sacred Valley. I will be referring to many places throughout this blog, and thought this visual might help you figure out where we were! They have been color coded, so when I post a map in the future, you can reexamine this page and see which map I am using.

First Day in Peru: part two

Wednesday, May 23 4:50 pm PT

"Up in bed taking a break from the party (the wedding reception). I've felt better most of the day, but decided to take more ibuprofen and rest.

Marla's wedding took place in a municipal building about 20-30 minutes from her house. The groom, Ismael, had a friend drive us in his van. The trip was incredible, we got to see more of town and even a bit of countryside, which is built up in the mountains. The poverty in some parts if extremely apparent, as many people live in brick shacks and there are stray dogs and garbage everywhere. Along the winding roads up and down the hills, there were these overflowing garbage bins with dogs and people on top, scavenging. I can not imagine how many bags of poopy paper they run into! Much of Cuzco and the surrounding areas have the same architecture, most of which appears run-down on the outside, but who knows what the inside looks like!

The driver, Mildon, as all drivers here, is crazy on the streets. We nearly crashed into other vehicles, dogs, or people countless times (little did I know at this point some of the car rides I would be taking later in this trip...yikes!). Some of the views along the countryside were breathtaking, the dozens of curving hills folding into one another, the various farms and agricultural plots carved into them. It reminded me of driving to the mountains in California (I think I was referring to the grape vine here, although we weren't on a major highway, just a two-lane one. I wish I had taken a picture on this drive!) but the land on the hills are actually being used here. 

The municipal building's exterior contrasted with the surrounding town, and it looked like it was constructed more recently. However, it was not very busy for a municipal building! It was the middle of the week and we seemed to be the only people demanding anything from the building. We had the ceremony on the ground floor of the building. There was a big open room with pillars holding up the high ceilings and long blue curtains that kept out some of the daylight. In the center of the room, on the far end, was a platform. Marla and Ismael stood in front of this and the judge stood on the platform behind a counter. I took photos throughout the ceremony (although I won't be posting pictures of Marla, Anna or Ismael on this blog*) which only lasted 15 minutes or so. The entire ceremony was in Spanish, so I mostly just watched for the reactions of the Spanish-speakers instead of trying to understand his legal jargon. Once they gave the rings, they signed a marriage licence and gave a fingerprint next to their name. Their witnesses then signed, and we all went outside.

Katie in front of the platform/podium

Outside, we opened some champagne and had some cookies that are similar to those wafer cakes we used to have as kids, but these were quite good. We then drove back with Mildon in order to prepare for the party, but Marla went with Ismael and his parents to pick up the roast. They didn't actually show up to their own reception for about two hours, so we started the hors d'ouerves without them and got to know some of the wedding guests. It was a small gathering, about 15 of us.

hors d'ouerves

In Marla's courtyard

It's custom here that the bride serve everyone before she eats, so Marla and her mother-in-law served us (thank god there were only 13 mouths to feed!) They served the pig roast, bread, tamales, and a spaghetti dish created by Ismael's mom. 

I should get back to the party, just waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in."

The rest of the party was pretty tame, with a cutting of the cake and some dancing. I tried to explain that they should each take a piece of cake and feed it to one another, but Ismael's mom had other plans and shoved one huge piece into both of their mouths for our photo op. It was my first inter-cultural wedding, and it was clear that we were at a Peruvian wedding.

Marla and Ismael went to a fancy hotel for their wedding night, and the rest of us crashed around 9 pm. The sun was setting around 6 pm, and the altitude made us all tired, so it wasn't unheard of. The next day we hit the road on our four-day journey to Machu Picchu...

*If you are family or friends of mine, please let me know if you would like to see more pictures from the trip that include everyone. I have no problem sharing them with you, I just don't want to post them on the internet!

First Day in Peru

Here is my entry our first full day in Peru! But first, a bit of background information.

We went to Peru because Travis' best friend's mom, Marla, recently moved to Cuzco and wanted us to come visit. His best friend is Derek, who just exited the military, and he and Travis' sister Katie joined us. Marla also just adopted a five-year-old girl, Anna. And got married to Ismael.

Wednesday, May 23 2012 8:45 am PT

"Great start to our trip: I woke up with a fever, headache, sinus pressure, and chest pain!

Yesterday went fairly well, we were told to drink lots of water to combat the altitude sickness, so I had about 300 ml (maybe more) over the day. Time seemed to drag, since we were tired and got in so early in the day. We went to bed around 9 pm, but it felt like after midnight.

A few hours after getting to Marla's, we walked to pick up Anna from school. The streets of Cuzco are nothing like anywhere I've been, but similar to places and people I have studied. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned, many of them one-way. That aspect reminds me of some streets I've seen in Florence and London, where the buildings are squashed together along a narrow road with thin sidewalks. The biggest difference is the appearance of most of the buildings and the people walking along. Many buildings have simple fronts, and often look old and abandoned. Inside the shops along the way to Anna's school, however, the stores inside gleam as if they were in a regular shopping mall. The stark contrast between the interior and exterior leads me to believe this city hold many more secrets for us to discover.

A typical street in Cuzco, with mountains in the background.

The city does not appear to be in a grid form, but I have not seen any maps. (It is actually laid out almost like an asterisk, with lots of streets leading to one place and intersecting or ending there. It turns out that this was planned out by the Incas, who used the lines as a sort of calendar and a way to follow celestial movements. At the center is a historical site known as Coricancha, and ancient observatory and holy place taken over by the Spanish, which we visited and I will discuss later). The shops and houses are mixed, so there is no real distinct shopping or housing district. There are hundreds of people out during the day, which reminded me of India and the example my professor Erica Bornstein once gave; there are always so many people out that once you get back to Milwaukee it seems eerily vacant and quiet. It is interesting to think how private and unfriendly our lives have been become, which I imagine has to do with the bountiful amount of in-home entertainment, something people didn't used to have and still don't in various parts of the world.

The streets are not just full of people, but vendors and dogs. That is not to say that vendors are not people, but dogs are not, in fact, people. Apparently there is a huge stray dog population, but they seem to mostly keep to themselves. (I later learned that many people get dogs as pets, then let them out and don't feed them, and often they don't come home. Along with this, the dogs are all mutts, and we saw some of the strangest mixes you can imagine.) There are street vendors EVERYWHERE, selling anything from food products (grains, vegetables, meat, etc.) to clothing and home items, and lots of "junk". Yesterday I saw a toilet paper vendor, he seemed to be going well. We have yet to go to the market, but drove through a sort of street-market where people had small doorway shops filled with various items. The things that struck me most were the meat products: full featherless chickens (with feet and head), big slabs of meat and buckets of fish all out in the open. The germophobe in me shrank from seeing these items not being kept cold. The meat must have been out all day, but if you leave meat out at home for more than two hours you are supposed to throw it away.

The streets are similar to Milwaukee in that there are always roads closed down for repairs. The cab taking us from the airport got into an argument with Marla about how to get to her house, and he turned out to be right in saying the road she wanted to take would be closed, although it had been open for her earlier in the morning! One intersection was completely torn up and muddy (it rained a lot a few days prior) and we saw a man using a pick ax, manually working on it. (This intersection was under construction for the three weeks we were there, and one of the streets it crossed. It looked like they were pretty close to maybe starting to lay some bricks/stones sometime soon. Haha.) 

There are great stone churches and buildings from the Spanish era, which I was told were built with the bricks of Incan temples. On the walk to Anna's school, we passed by a big park in the middle of town full of people. It was built with ledges along a hill, and there are stone shapes along the edge (decorative?) People were walking through and kids were playing. It is not what I picture when I think "park" but that is exactly what it is.

Marla's apartment is located through a courtyard of a school, and it is part of a set of three apartments. Once down the narrow alley, there is a huge wooden door. This opens into a small courtyard with and empty stone fountain. Marla rents two of them. They both have and upstairs with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bath and a living area. We are sleeping in the "extra" with Katie and Derek.

Katie in Marla's courtyard

Showering is a bit of a hassle, because if you want it hot it has to come out at a trickle, but if you want more pressure you lose the heat. Since it is cool here (60F) taking cold showers is out of the question, especially since the tile in the shower is like ice.

Using the toilet is also different, because you can't flush paper down it! We have to throw it in a small trash can. It's not so bad, just something to get used to. The amount of water we are drinking makes me pee every hour, which leads to more TP use. No wonder the toilet paper street vendor is doing well!"

Peru

I realize I never finished my California trip posts from this past January, but now that I am a graduate, I will have the free time to finish my stories this summer! However, I would like to renew my blog with a few dozen posts from my trip to Peru.

I kept a journal while I was there for three weeks. I will simply be posting my journal entries, with some embellishments where I didn't have enough time to write down all the details. With these entries, I will include the associated photos. If you are interested in reading each time I post, please send me an e-mail and I will add you to the list.

Now...May 21st, 2012 1:00 pm CST

"We are on our way to Peru! our current flight takes us to Atlanta from Milwaukee, then we fly to Miami. Once there, we will find our bags and check-in with American Airlines (we are currently on Delta) and wait four hours until our flight to Lima. We have a five hour layover in Lima before getting to Cuzco tomorrow morning.

We are in the last row of seats, right by the lavatories. Yuck. It is very loud and has no window. Luckily, this flight is only 1 1/2 hours.

Travis is eagerly awaiting the drink/snack cart, but by the time we get it, we will be in Atlanta! The pilot just said we are flying over Indianapolis with one hour and three minutes to go!

5:50 pm EST

We are descending into Miami as I write this! Travis has been chatting with out seat mate, and it turns out she is Peruvian! Sounds like she lives in Europe now. I'm excited to get off the plane and have dinner. We quickly grabbed a sandwich to share in Atlanta, but we were in a rush to catch the plane. I hope we find a good place to eat!

Dinner in Miami

5:30 am Peru Time (PT)

We are finally in Lima and are waiting to go to our gate. Travis and I are both exhausted I took out s./100 (one hundred soles [pronounced "sew-lays"], Peruvian currency) and the ATM gave me a s./100 bill that the airport food places can't break. I bought a water with my card :( (I found out later that each time I used my card in Peru, I was charged and international fee. The charge on my $1 water was $0.04.) There are "typical" food places, like Dunkin Donuts, which I will have to tell Ben about. Travis just went there to grab some breakfast, actually.

We have to wait almost four hours until our flight to Cuzco. Travis did not sleep at all on the last flight (I did) so he may nap while we wait.

7:30 am PT

We just had our first encounter as awkward tourists! At the airport coffee shop, Travis had a cup of coffee. (This was a place where you could sit down and have a waiter take your order and bring it to you. This is what Travis did) But when it came time to pay, we were at a loss for how to do it. The shop had gotten really busy and it was difficult to attract the attention of the Spanish-speaking waiters. We watched other tables but couldn't see how they were paying or if they were tipping. People seemed to hand off money in a "secret" fashion to waiters (was this a payment? was it a tip? we had no idea.) Eventually we were able to communicate that we wanted the bill, and Travis gave the guy s./10 for a s./6 bill. We waited for a bit and watched the waiter hurry around other tables, taking orders, and figured we should just leave, not knowing if we had any change coming! We will have to ask Marla how restaurants and tipping work. (We did ask, and typically you don't tip, unless you are at a nice place. When you tip, it is no more than 10%).

At the coffee shop

9:30 am PT

We are on our final flight to Cuzco! I was laying when I wrote my last post- ended up sleeping in the airport for about an hour. We are sitting next to a Japanese man who lives in Toronto and is backpacking in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile alone with little knowledge of Spanish! He says many Japanese people do the hike he is, and is hoping we will run into some on his adventures.

My Spanish-speaking abilities are slowly poking out, and I am becoming more comfortable using Spanish with airport/airline employees. Travis seems to be nervous and stumbling yet, but I think that is because he is tired."

We landed in Cuzco, found our bags, and were greeted by Marla and her fiance, Ismael (pronounced Ish-male). We took a bumpy cab ride through Cuzco and made it safely to Marla's house, where we had lunch: