Sundays.

Sundays are my favorite days in Cusco; I like the volunteering the best each day but that’s only for a few hours, so Sunday takes the blue ribbon for days. Each Sunday I down my breakfast of fresh juice, fruit, bread & one fried egg before I head out to walk about a mile up the valley hills to San Cristobal Church. No, I’m not heading to mass, I got my time in during Easter, this Church only services weekday masses. Like every other church in Cusco, it’s old, built of brick & stone, a rusty bell tower & aged crosses that signal the faith is still strong here in Peru. As far as churches go, this is one of the least impressive ones in Cusco, but to rest on the grass slopes that protect it, suits my purposes perfectly.

I typically am up there before 9am so I can hear the city wake up; the bells from the various churches start to ring in the believers, or wake the heathens, while there is barely a taxi horn in earshot. I love hearing the organ from the main cathedral as I read, watching the procession of students who march the streets each Sunday (I’ve seen 17 parades so far), a friendly soccer game being played in the square next to me, and eventually the tourist all coming to walk the ruins; I see it all unfold each Sunday.

This past Sunday was especially wonderful, after I flew through a few chapters of East of Eden, I returned home to meet a couple housemates, Connor & Ryan, as we were heading out to Pisac. This town is in the heart of the Sacred Valley, 45m from Cusco, which is where Quechuan people are found after the Spanish settled the area once they destroyed the Inca Empire. For Gringos, it houses an incredible market on Sundays; every exotic vegetable you can imagine, jewelry, pottery, clothes, art, antiques; if it is found or produced in the Andes, you will be able to find it here. We strolled the market for a while & then decided to head to see some ruin of the Incas.

There are two things I figured out this week; one I will not becoming a painter when I return (our incredible project manager on the site, told me in Spanish today I paint like I’m drunk) & I don’t think my lungs are made for anything over 12,000ft…10,000ft…the second level of Dodger Stadium. Seriously, the work of climbing these mountains is no joke; my legs are fine, but its stifling trying to catch my breath. I’m not going to let a little thing like oxygen depravation hold me back, so we pressed on, and made the summit where the ruins of The Citadel laid. The amount of effort it took to construct such a display is rightfully mind-boggling, but I can’t take my eyes from the view. The lush mountains stretched to the clouds on either side of us & left the narrow cranny for Pisac to be born, while on one side a river ran & kilometers of fields helped shape its fame. I sat on the edge of an ancient Incan room of worship, read, and relaxed as the sun set over the ridgeline while my mates kept exploring the complex.

We returned a few hours later, a sense of accomplishment, but a greater sense of hunger. Luckily there was a café open with balcony seating, as we munched on Alpaca Cheeseburgers & watched as the market shut down for the day. A taxi home lead us to staying up way to late, as we sipped on Pisco & Coca Cola Lites while we played cards with one of our Quechuan house attendants. Niyda, made up a game, that was news to Connor & I, until we figured out she could speak enough English to explain that she was cheating the whole time. Hustled in another language; I told her I’d teacher her poker next week!!!

Like I said - I love Sundays (aka Domingos). I’ll see what next weekend brings…

The Work.

With the past first couple weeks in Cusco behind me there is plenty to like; the food, the house I am able to stay in, the historic architecture, the prices of everything, but top prize has to be the work. Its only for a few hours a day, but I really enjoy the time outside building. Not to mention, it’s incredible to see what there is before we begin a project, nothing but barren land, and then to think how the ninos will use what we put together.

I first worked on a project that was nearing completion; 2 classrooms & adjoining bathrooms. From my understanding the crew began this project with only the aforementioned land, but they were able to level out the hill, grade it, put in electricity, walls, running water, etc. I came in on the flooring & plaster portions; let’s just say I am fair with a hammer, but I don’t think the newly laid hardwood floor was supposed to be covered with plaster. My favorite thing about working on this project were the “tools” and seeing what can be done with a little imagination. To build to fully functional classrooms, literally from the ground up, we had:

2 “shovels” but I didn’t know the metal face was suppose to be flexible
1 hatchet to shape the wood
3 hammers
1 bag of rusty nails
1 hand saw that would have difficultly cutting crust from a sandwich
3 buckets, each with holes in them
Some plastering equipment

If we needed anything else we used rocks, railroad ties, or anything else we could find. The crew of volunteers (usually b/w 4-7 volunteers & then 1-2 foremen) just loved what we were asked to do, and each day we thought, “there’s no way” and almost to the minute we would finish the project as designed and it looks great.

Last week we moved to a new location, where we were starting a bathroom facility at a futbol field that would also service as a bathroom for the school. We started a ditch that was 45ft in length, 3ft in depth at the high end and 9ft+ at the deep end. Five of us dug this with a couple picks and the famous flexible shovels. It was incredible fun; I don’t think I have ever been so dirty in my life. The main portions of the crew are Marcos (the foreman), my housemate Travis who as been working for 2mns already and 2 girls from Indiana - my girls, Jenny & Jenelle. We worked our asses off last week, laid the pipe (insert joke here) and then found out the funding wasn’t in for the actual bathrooms, we were just there to get the plumbing prepped.

Everyone’s favorite part of the work day is the transportation. We all meet at the language center and have to take a “bus” about 30m to the worksite. Well, these buses are old VW buses basically (not sure the brand but you can get a visual)…how many people if you really tried to fit in there could you squeeze in? 12? 16? What’s that…18.…if there is only 18 I am happy. We are usually b/w 22-28ppl…now, the crew loves seeing me in these buses b/c they just aren’t made for people my size. The Peruvians give me the endearing ‘gordito’ typically, I have been stuck twice, had 3 old ladies on my lap once, and once laid across the top of the seats b/c there was no room for me to stand. Everyone gets the best laugh each day, twice actually (coming and going); next time I am going to Hungry where bulk is built into the culture.

Not sure what our project will be this week and I don’t care. We are outside, banging out a sweat, and leaving a very real impact here in Cusco. I’m sure it will go un-noticed the work that is completed by the crew, but we all talk about how with just a few hours a day there’s running water, shelter from the weather, and a safe environment for all these kids now. And plus we get to play in the mud.

The Real World - Cusco!!

This is the true story... Of [eleven] strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World.

On Sunday I felt as though I was the newest member of the Real World; I was walking down the main avenue of Cusco, Peru on Palm Sunday with my oversized hiking pack on, going against the flood of Catholics in town for Semana Santa (Holy Week). I reached the language learning center, Maximo Nivel, that is the hub for my work here in Peru, where I met my first roommate, Jane, a 20yr old intellectual from New Hampshire. After a few minutes of getting to know each other, we hopped in a cab and were taken to the Arcopata Casa, my new home for the next 6wks.

The house is nothing what I expected; it is amazing and was only finished with a remodel six weeks ago. I am incredibly lucky as we have a comfortable sitting room, a reading nook, a fabulous kitchen that comes with the incredible accessory of 2 chefs, four bathrooms, and a patio that I sit on tonight. I naturally roamed around the house in astonishment and then met some of my housemates who were eating lunch. (we get three incredible meals a day; all prepared directly with from our chefs with all natural and organic Peruvian foods. The baker drops fresh bread off each morning for us, there’s baskets of fruit everywhere; only downside is we get all carbs and rarely protein; there are 3000 types of potatoes here and they are trying to get me to try them all I suppose.)

The first of the housemates I met were a lovely family from Australian, actually they are South African, but moved down-under 9yrs ago. The father, Daniel, who I have spent wonderful conversation with, sold his ice cream business and is taking the family around the world for one year. The mother, and two daughters (Jeanne-Marie & Karien) are volunteering with abused girls as they are staying in Cusco for one month. Soon after filling us in on the house, more mates returned from class (everyone is taking Spanish lessons and/or studying to teach English in foreign countries…hmmm):

Kate - a recent college grad who is from DC; has been traveling for a few months already, and volunteering at an orphanage for approx 6mns.
Leonnie - Australian in her early 30s who is traveling the world for a year, and is working at the zoo
Stewart - 30s Englishmen who loves the States (well NYC actually). He’s been here the longest & is about to receive his certificate for teaching
Travis - mid 20s who will be in Peru for 6mns and then the rest of South/Central America for another 6mns; he’s from Alabama
Lindsey - she’s great & our project of construction but is returning to Alberta, Canada soon

Its quite the collection; everyone speaks English and only a couple are on an intermediate Spanish level; that’s nice on one hand as I can really get to know everyone, but it’d be nice if we spoke more Spanish in the house for practice. I feel fortunate for being in this volunteer-house, everyone except Jane has been here for a least 3wks if not 6wks, so I am able to get a lot of survival guidance like which bus to take, where cold beer is sold, how to get your iPod back one its stolen (side note: Kate had raw chicken thrown at her, when she went to wipe it away kids stole her iPod out of her jacket. Students of hers told her about the Nergo Mercado (yes the black market is called the Black Market) so she went there, found her iPod and bought it back for $20), etc. There is a lot of me that also realizes these people have already formed a huge bond as they have been together so that awkwardness is very dense these first few days, but as people move in and out of the house we will get a continued new flock to get to know & there are about 40 other volunteers in Cusco with different housing situations; not to mention Maximo has 1200 students so its easy to meet people.

Peru isn’t all smooth though; there is a huge water crisis here so we only can get running water between 6-8am daily; so there’s a line that forms starting at 540am for the warm showers; if you sleep in to 7am, you get treated with shivers of the dripping shower. Also, Peru is on its own time schedule here, difficult for my planning-self; for instance on Monday there was a procession of a crucifix (a black Jesus) who in 1650 started to be paraded around the city as a prayer to stop the earthquakes. This happens the Monday before Easter every year and was suppose to begin around 3pm; it started around 8pm. The Gringos learned our lesson, as 12,000 Peruvians showed up hours after we had but it was an amazing site nonetheless. The Plaza was filled shoulder to shoulder as the crucifix came through, illuminated by red lights, taken into the Cathedral and then a prayer was given. I can’t say it was worth the 5hours we sat around, but special to witness the power of faith at work.

Eleven world strangers, sharing bathrooms with 2hrs worth of water, living at nearly 12,000ft (which is very challenging) learning what the Real Cusco is all about. This is going to be fun. Adios.

Flight of the Condors

Finally I got the chance to get out of a city & head to the mountains; in this case Colca Canyon, which is not as wide but deeper (that’s what she said) than the Grand Canyon in the States. Colca is a 4hr bus ride from Arequipa, half of that spent of smooth asphalt that allows you to rest yourself before your trek, yet the second half was over what only one can assume was recently littered with roadside mines. It didn’t slow our bus driver down any, he had a schedule to meet, and seeing we departed Arequipa at 3am, we pulled into our first location, the Condor Crossing, by 7am.

We were approx 10,000ft in elevation and the warm air current that cut through the edgy peaks that formed the Colca Canyon are the perfect location for the condors to stretch their incredible wingspans and glide amongst the clouds. We were fortunate to have to showoffs on our visit; they put a show on that the Ringling Brothers would’ve paid to see. Continual swoops over the audience clinging to the cliffs’ edges to snap that perfect memory for their friends and families.

This seems like a great time to mention my first travel travesty; I captured the best pictures of the condors in flight & perch, not to mention memorable photos of my trek, sadly, my files are corrupted & seem lost for good. No visuals to tags along on this journey, sorry.

Once we were full of condor vanity, we started down the mountains; myself, four Germans, two English & our Peruvian guide. I informed the group first thing that I would gladly take the caboose role of the trip; I like my own pace. We started out looking to the bottom of the canyon with a tame river running through it, the opposite mountain wall cluttered with villages, and a sun that had risen to a crest directly above us and leaving no room for shade. Our decent sounded easy in Arequipa, but once we hit the 3hr mark, my quads strongly disagreed. We were nearly at the bottom, first of three suspended bridges, when I realized the beauty we were walking through. Although the path itself was cluttered with nothing more than loose gravel, gray rocks and mule shit, the walls we were carving our way down were filled with greens lush to the eye. The blue of the sky was blinding and the calm of the waters we were approaching made that moment of sweat and fatigue worth the trip. I was far removed from not only home but now Peru as I known it in cities, historical building and lost translations. Sitting on a boulder, with my feet in the river cooling, I realized this is why I came on this trip.

We collected our things, made our way to a small village, seven families, who served us lunch of soup & potatoes. We continued on with conversations of Europe vs. The U.S. and talk of the “oasis” that awaited us for our sleep. Another 4hrs later we finally made our way over all passes, crossed the river twice, cleared 3 villages, and logged more miles than I care to remember. The sun was setting & it was beginning to chill some, but that stopped none of us from getting into our trunks and diving into the fresh water pool the lodging had set up. This was an abandoned village with no electricity, adobe huts with straw roofs, but it had manageable plumbing. None of us cared where or what we slept on seeing we were exhausted; somehow myself & two of the Germans found enough strength to stay up a bit later than everyone (a whopping 830pm) to finish off the community beer. Up at 4am and back on the trail by 5am!!

Going up was the perfect blend of man & nature; it was grueling & physically challenging but we saw a perfect sunrise as it broke the ridge & then valley after valley of agriculture the locals use to feed the entire region of villagers. (I am so pissed the pictures didn’t make it). Once we reached the top, we cut through a corn field to the village square in Cabanaconde, bought some eggs from a farmer and then we went on to get them fried and munched on them with some bread the guide had. A perfect breakfast to end our morning. The tour headed back to Arequipa, but we first stopped in a small town that had natural hot springs to refresh ourselves & clean up a bit.

My first trip into the mountains was what I had hoped for; an opportunity to be challenged, to reflect and to enjoy some beauty I wouldn’t otherwise be able to have experienced. I have wrapped up my first 10 days & I am excited to see the new phase of living with others vs. by myself, but I can say much as been enjoyed and learned thus far. Adios.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colca_Canyon

South

My escape from Lima began at dawn Sunday, on a double-decker bus & a dubbed version of Hitch playing; heading South already was taking on great aspirations. I was thankful for leaving Lima behind somewhat, but my anxiety was high seeing there wasn’t to be a Pedro in Ica City waiting to take me in. After four quick hours, I arrived in Ica City with no plans or any real understanding of what there was to do in this city other than a few bodegas that were listed in my guide book.

My good fortune would have it that spending a few extra soles on the tour bus trips pays off; not only is safety paramount, the company I ride with provides English speaking taxi drivers for lost Gringos like myself. After a few minutes of thinking about what I wanted to do, Jose, referred me to the Oasis town of Huacchina which is about 5k outside of Ica City. With the threat of Lima still in my mind, I slowly started to trust Jose & the people at my hotel; with each act of kindness I started to realize the Peruvian people respected tourism, as it is a main source of income for many & they wish no harm come to any travelers.

Huacachina is a town the size of a normal college campus, filled with restaurants, bars, travel agencies, cafes and hotels. There’s a decent lagoon in the center of town that allows its shops to wrap around it as the giant sand dunes hover above. When asked what there is to do here I only got one response; relax. Not one to disrespect the locals I made my way to the pool, cracked my book and just chilled out in the heat. As the afternoon wound up, I tempted to my adventurous side & signed up for a dune buggy & sand boarding trip.

I was pleased with my decision, as Ricardo, our driver, took great joy in trying to get us to lose our lunch with his driving exploits, and the eight different boarding runs we went on. Even for the avid boarding as my friends from Sweden would attest, standing up the whole way down was quite the accomplishment. Half the runs I attempted standing, the other half, like the entire group, we sledded on our bellies. The thrill was incredible as each dune grew in length & the laughs came after each run. Once the sun started to set, Ricardo raced over dune after dune to catch the final glimpse of light the incredible accompanying sunset. After the sunset, not much else mattered and I spent the remainder of my time just soaking up the sun on the dunes or at the pool as more tourist poured into tour.

Finally, late Monday evening I had an over-night bus to Arequipa, which is the 2nd largest town in Peru & thus far my favorite. Our bus was quite late, but that offered me an opportunity to have a splendid conversation with a New Yorker (although she travels the world 70% of the time). We started talking about what each of us wanted to do when we did return & it gave good insight from a fellow traveler; I was pleased to sit with Jackie for a couple hours. Once in Arequipa there is such historic charm on the cobblestone streets, ancient mansions & a monastery that was built in 1580 that is still in use today just on a smaller scale. The 1500 century architecture was breath taking & I chose to shoot it at night rather than the day to give an incredible means of life these nuns lived.

In Arequipa, I had my favorite meal thus far; rocoto relleno, which is rocoto pepper hollowed out & stuffed with beef, covered in a sauce & then cooked under an open flame; incredible. I was so impressed with my meal, the host took me back to meet the chefs, see how the meal was prepared & then allowed me to scale the ladder to the roof to take some pictures of the Plaza. I will send out a post just around food in the coming weeks, but for now I typically eat one Peruvian meal in a restaurant per day, and the rest of my meals are that of the locals; pan & fruta.

The vibe in Arequipa was so welcoming & warm, although much of the center of town is now dedicated to tourism so it’s lost a little bit of its authentic flavor I am assuming. I was witness to two different marches in protests of wages for laborers and a political rally, plus my hotel was next to two schools (one of culinary arts & the second for English teaching) so I was able to chat with some of the youth & they seemed to have many more goals & better outlook than other Peruvians I’d met.

I am off on a two day trek into Colca Canyon; I’m sure there will be much to discuss from that adventure & then I head east to Cusco to begin my work. Adios.