To Shoot or Not to Shoot?

After weeks of resisting the temptation to take a picture of the traditional women and their llamas that make their living by posing for photos with tourists, today John caved in.  He was attracted to a particular elderly woman that was posing with several other family members.  This woman had a beautifully weathered face and it was very enticing to want to take a picture of her.  Against his better judgment, he took this picture.  The women were confused that we didn’t want to be in the picture with them.  The payment was “voluntario” but they weren’t satisfied with our contribution, leaving John feeling badly for having participated in such a sordid touristy encounter.

Do our readers agree that paying people for posing for photos is a bad practice?  What are the implications or ramifications of doing so?  Is this begging?  What is the difference between this and street performers asking for payment?

Savory & Spicy

Mayuree

Yesterday we went to San Pedro market to buy supplies for today’s Indian meal that one of our home stay mates, Mayuree, is preparing.  We also bought oranges and devoured them outside the market.  All of us are clearly craving fresh fruits.

We helped prepare the meal and enjoyed an excellent feast.  We must get the recipe for both dishes, chana masala and the chicken dish.  We can prepare the chicken one with seitan or tofu.  I hope they taste as good when we make them at home.

Not long ago we finally got our act together and bought cereal and milk to have with our white pancitos in the morning.  We can’t believe how good cereal tastes and how long it took us to buy it.  Now if we could only make it to the market on a regular basis to buy fresh fruit to include in our diet.

Outing to Ollantaytambo

We had an interesting colectivo ride to Urubamba on our way to visit the Incan ruins in Ollantaytambo.  There was a fiesta going on in the main part of Urubamba so we were sent on a wild goose chase detour on the back roads behind town.  Our colectivo driver didn’t know his way around. At one point the passengers were erroneously directing him.  Eventually he let a van pass us so he could follow it, only to run up against a huge bus coming the other way on a one-lane road.

The Sacred Valley is beautiful and we were thinking that we might be interested in studying Spanish in a smaller town, away from the city.  This unplanned tour of the back roads of Urubamba gave us an opportunity to check it out.  The town has a nice setting but it wasn’t a big turn on.  Perhaps we would feel different if we had seen the center.

Once through the traffic debacle in Urubamba, it was an easy ride to our destination, Ollantaytambo. Immediately upon arriving in town, we happened upon Hearts Café, whose profits are used to support vulnerable children and abandoned elderly adults in the highlands above the Sacred Valley.  After a pleasant lunch, we left with full bellies and a good feeling for supporting Living Hearts.

We hired a guide, Alberto, to teach us about Ollantaytambo and practice our Spanish.  We learned how the Incas transported tremendous rocks 8 km to this site using ropes, rivers and ramps.  All three of us love the large rocks and the interfaces between them.  We heard more about Incan astronomy, spiritual affinities, and fortress defense, but this site interested us most for its water elements, including several well-designed fountains.  We’re hankering to read more about the Incas.

From the top of the ramp that the Incans used to transport the multi-ton rocks, we watched several bullfights (no killing).  Festivities were in full swing in Ollantaytambo, with lots of parades.  This was a really fun town to visit.

See the Inca profile?

Well Situated with Spanish

After changing schools and getting to know the teachers at our new school, we feel like we have finally nailed down our ideal situation in Cusco.  We are happy with our teachers, the class length and the times of day.  The three of us have two hours of grammar together in the morning. In between class we have time for lunch (at the homestay or at a restaurant) and homework.  In the late afternoon we return to school for two hours of conversation class.  John and Eydie are together and Brook has a private session. Brook’s instructor, Amauta, is young, upbeat and friendly.  He is no longer hesitant to do private lessons.

We are going to delay our Salkantay trek for another week to stick with this Spanish schedule.  By waiting, we hope it won’t be too cold when we are camping.  Winter is approaching. The past two days it has been colder, not as sunny during the days.  In fact we had hail today.

A little more about the weather in this city…

Masaje Madam?

With so many offers for massages, how can one resist? At this point it’s easy.  Everyday, I get at least two offers each time we walk to Spanish class.  After a slimy, oily massage in India and after seeing people get massages through sheer curtains on the streets of Phuket, the thought of a massage is less than desirable.  Having some serious bodywork done by professionals in CO or VT, well that’s another story.
- Eydie

Strays on the Streets

There are so many stray dogs on the streets of Cusco, far too many.  Virtually all of them seem to ignore people on the streets.  You see some of them scoping out last nights trash, some are crossing the streets at very inopportune times, others are napping in doorways soaking up the sun.  With this large population comes the challenge of walking the streets without stepping in dog poop.  This annoyance could have an adverse impact on people’s desire to extend their stay in this city.

Home Stay Politics

We arranged and paid for our home stay through our first school, Amigos.  Amigos is only one of several schools that our host Berta works with.  In the process of changing schools, we learned more than we wanted to know about the business relations between the schools and the host families. Generally the host families get paid half of what students pay the school for their stay.  We have mixed feelings about this arrangement. The host family is certainly doing more work than the school but the school is responsible for finding the students.  Next time perhaps we will try to find a host family directly.
- Eydie

Anxious to grow up!

The Sacred Valley

We took our first trip to the Sacred Valley.  It is an exquisite valley with a combination of impressive terracing on steep slopes and mind blowing Incan stonework.  The mountains are truly the Himalayas of the Southern Hemisphere.

Chicha!

We enjoyed people watching at the market in Pisac.  Lots of color.  Women drinking fruity chicha, a fermented corn drink the Peruvians have been making and imbibing since before the Incas.  We had a frustrating lunch where the service was slow, the food less than desirable, the day light diminishing and the view of where we wanted to go calling our name.

The Incan citadel sits perched on the peak above Pisac.  The guidebook said it would take 3 hours round trip on the trail/steps. There is also a longer 7k road that goes to the site.  Guideless, we started walking just before 4 pm and decided to walk until 5 pm.  At that time we would evaluate whether or not we would find a taxi to get a ride down in the dark.  We climbed the steps at a steady pace, using the climb to continue to acclimatize for Salkantay, a higher altitude trek we're planning to do later.  By 5 pm, we could see other people and knew that there must be vehicles to take them down.

Sure enough, we were able to squeeze into a car with a French guy and a Hungarian woman. They had been on a day tour of many sights in the Sacred Valley. We agreed to pay them a small amount for the ride down.  What a fuss we caused when the driver dropped them off at their hotel. He wanted 50 soles from us, we walked away, he parked his car and chased us on foot.  The French guy and the Hungarian women could have left us to our own devices but they stuck around to assist us.  The driver threatened to call the police, which we knew was a false threat, as we felt we were in the right.  He was angry and eventually stomped away with the 10 soles we had given our new friends. Similar to West Africa, we are always amazed when people don’t negotiate what they want before they provide services.

Despite the late start hiking and the taxi incidence, we had a very pleasant day.  But afterwards we realized that hiring a guide would have given us a better understanding of the ruins and a more satisfying experience.

A friend just reconnected us with an old acquaintance, Bill Mosely and his family, who are also traveling around the world this year.  Too bad we just found out that they are on their way to Arequipa from Cusco.  It would have been fun to hang out with them here or to explore Colca Canyon with them.

Our First Inca Ruins

We had a big day today.  We hiked up above Cusco to see four Inca sites and then took a combi back to town.

On our way to the first site, Saksayhuaman, we came across the South American Explorer’s Clubhouse and stopped briefly. We were looking for assistance in selecting a reputable tour company for the Salkantay Trek. Salkantay is an alternative to the Inca Trail, which doesn’t require significant advance reservation. So far, none of the resources with recommendations jive and there are countless companies willing to take us.  At the Clubhouse, we got a rough price breakdown for the Trek.  Not surprising, the lowest priced tours can’t provide decent food or pay their staff well if they are going to make money.

We were impressed and amazed by the precise stonework especially at Saksayhuaman.  It is mind boggling that the Incas could cut, move and piece together these tremendous rocks with minimal tools and without mortar.  Those darn Spaniards! It is incomprehensible that they could destroy such outstanding craftsmanship for their churches in Cusco.  Despite the devastation, what remains is remarkable.

At the second site, Qenko, we hired a guide, Fabricio, who took us on a trail to the third and fourth Inca sites.  Fabricio started talking to us in both Spanish and English.  Eventually he was only speaking Spanish.  We were excited that we could understand him in Spanish. Until Fabricio joined us, we were admiring the natural beauty.  But it was more satisfying to have him provide us with a greater understanding of the Incas and to lead us through the labyrinth at Qenko.  We saw where the Incas would make mummies out of dead important people.  They would cut the tendons in the legs so they could be placed in the fetal position. The insides were taken out, cremated, put into a gold urn, and placed inside the body.

The mountain vistas were picturesque on the walk from Qenko to Puka Pukara, the third site.  We learned that llamas are bigger and have longer noses than alpacas. Fabricio pointed out medicinal plants.  John tried one of them and despite Fabricio saying that it was sweet he spit it out.  This reminded us of the cola nuts that were recommended by Albert, our guide at Wli Falls, Ghana.  We spit those out too. Fabricio identified the grass that was braided and used for suspension bridges by the Incas.

Back in Cusco, Fabricio showed us the Incan twelve-angled rock that is on our regular route from class to one of our favorite restaurants, Jack's.  We’ve seen many groups gathered around this spot but we didn’t know the significance of this particular rock. There are other Incan rocks with more angles\so it’s unclear why the local beer, Cusqueña, chose it for its label.

Starting at 11,000 feet and going up from there should provide good training for the 15,000-foot Salkantay Pass.  Other than getting winded a bit more easily, we are no longer feeling any adverse impacts from the altitude.  We were proud of Brook today, he started off under the weather and rose to the occasion to hike and listen to a guide in Spanish.

Speaking of training, the other evening, Brook went to his first spinning class with us.  He said it was similar to a cyclocross race.  It was interesting to have a better sense of how hard those races can be.

- Eydie

Adios, Amigos

Today was our last day at Amigos Spanish School.  I have been appreciating Josse more and more each day so I was wondering how I would feel about leaving Amigos for Mundo Antiguo.  After everyone was disappointed with yesterday’s class, we were divided into two groups.  Brook is a bit more advanced than one group and not as advanced as the other.  He ended up in the advanced class. Despite voicing our concerns, Jesus was sure he was in the right group.  Sure enough he fell through the crack. Today’s class was rough on John and Brook.  We spent four hours learning gobs of irregular verbs.  This has made it easier to move on tomorrow.
- Eydie

Actively Acquiring

On the shopping front, Cusco is similar to Kathmandu but on a smaller scale.  You can find cheaply made outdoor clothing and gear for a reasonable price.  Today we went to El Molino market to look for warm clothes that are knockoffs of well known brands.  In the market we found used outdoor clothes from the U.S. that make their way here via Chile. We are wishing we had our down jackets from Nepal with us.  In an effort to travel light, we left them in Colorado.  Even at reasonable prices, how many winter jackets do we need? It looks like at least one more!

Our Home Stay

This is our second true home stay.  Our first one was in Koforidua, Ghana (see blog entry September 5). It is the first home stay where we have been forced to speak a language other than English.  This is a good challenge but not fun when you are tired or you don’t feel well.  It forces us to listen and speak in Spanish more than we would if we stayed in a hotel.

Three generations live at this house.  Victor and Berta are my parents’ age.  Even though they are the same age, Berta and Victor act far older than my parents.  Two of their three sons also live in the house, which is fairly common in Cusco.  Carlos, 30, is married to Indira and they have a son that is fifteen months old. Fernando, 25, works at the fanciest hotel in Cusco.  Leo is the housekeeper and cooks for the family.  She is old and tiny but has a very large presence in the household.  It's a lot of people in one house but at times it doesn't seem like they are all living together.

There are also two other Americans staying with us.  Their names are Robin and Mayuree from California and Boston.  The guests have a section of the house that is separated from the family's quarters by a courtyard.  We share a small bathroom with Mayuree.

In Peru, generally people eat their biggest meal at lunch with a very small breakfast and leftovers for dinner.  For breakfast, generally we get stale pancito, a type of white, sweet pita bread that seems to be everywhere here, some not very good jam, and hot water for making tea or coffee from concentrate.  Lunch is normally a pretty bad egg drop soup and a main dish of rice, potatoes, and some kind of stew.   Lunch is really the only meal that the family eats together.  Victor comes home from work for it. Dinner is a small portion of the same main course we had at lunch.  We normally go out for either lunch or dinner because they are the same.

At night we have to bundle up because it's very cold and there isn't any heat in the house.
- Brook

Living High

It’s our fourth day living at nearly 11,000 feet. Yesterday I finally woke up without a headache but by evening it had returned.  We went to a restaurant for the first time since we arrived.  Great to eat a salad!

In search of a great teacher in Cusco, like Nelly in Tulum, we had a 30-minute sample Spanish lesson at the school where our two home stay mates go.  The teacher suggested that Brook have a one on one private lesson.  We think it's a good idea.  He's reluctant but willing to give it a try for two of the four-hour lessons.
- Eydie

Happy Birthday, Amigo!

We had our first Spanish class at Amigos Spanish School.  All three of us are in one class together in the mornings for four hours with our teacher Josse. Jesus, one of the founders of Amigos, runs an after school program for disadvantaged youth that is financed by the Spanish classes.  The kids learn English, get assistance with their homework, receive math tutoring when necessary and play games together.

It's a tradition here that the birthday boy or girl get a face full of the cake

We went back to school in the late afternoon to celebrate the 13th birthday of a boy named Jordi, one of these kids.  Brook had fun playing chess with several of the boys.  When the math tutor didn’t show up, I thoroughly enjoyed helping two boys with their homework and picking up some Spanish math vocabulary.
- Eydie

Cusco!

Late Night in Lima

Since our flight arrived into Lima at 1:00 am, we arranged for a taxi through our hotel.  Getting through immigration and customs was fast and painless, especially since there is no visa or entry fee. A message from the hotel explicitly told us to look for a sign that had the hotel name and John’s name on it and not to leave the airport building.  There were lots of signs with names on them but none with John’s on it. As we repeatedly wondered up and down the aisles of signs, we kept getting appeals from taxi drivers to take us anywhere.  Just as we were coming up with Plan B, a man with the sign appeared out of nowhere. He didn’t offer to carry one of our bags.  As we walked out of the airport he mumbled that he was parked outside the airport gate.  John then recalled a TripAdvisor review of our hotel that he had read about how taxi drivers make more money on a fixed fare by not entering the airport and having you walk a good distance of the very short drive to the hotel.  Sure enough, a three-minute drive later we were at the hotel.  This was all fine, but funny that we experienced the exact thing we were warned against by someone on TripAdvisor.

Our flight from Lima to Cusco was easy.  John met a character of a guide on the plane that we may get together with in Cusco. After settling into our homestay, we made an afternoon excursion to the cell phone provider.  We had to buy our 4th phone of the trip.  This time we didn’t lose the phone we’re replacing.  It is broken and we were never very happy with it.  We also had another successful session getting our modem set up.  As in all of the previous countries, it took a combination of the provider’s knowledge of their system and Eydie’s understanding of our Ghanaian modem software.  It wasn’t sold as a universal modem so we’re amazed each time that we’re able to make it work in a new country.

Cenote Snorkeling, Dos Ojos

Today we went to a cenote called Dos Ojos on our way to Playa del Carmen. We had been there last time we were in the area but I can’t remember anything from that visit. A cenote is basically a pond resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock. They tend to have very clear water but very few fish. Dos Ojos is particularly interesting because it really looks like it has sunk deep into the earth and it’s also connected to a huge flooded cave system. This makes it really cool to snorkel in. It’s like exploring a cave and snorkeling at the same time! With strong flashlights, you can see bizarre rock formations everywhere, above and below the surface. We almost didn’t go but I’m very glad we did.

- Brook 

It felt adventurous to snorkel in tight cavern spaces where we needed to be careful not to scrape or bump our heads. Also fun was watching the scuba divers lighting up areas further away from us and coming through narrow cave passages. We could have stayed in there longer but the cold water temperatures forced us to stop.

- John

Cruising Around Cobá

Mayan ball court

Today we went to Cobá.  Cobá is an ancient Mayan city that is over 75 square kilometers and has what was the tallest structure on the Yucatan peninsula.  It takes about an hour to get to Cobá and there are three ways to do it, by taxi, ADO bus, or colectivo. Colectivos here are like tro-tro's in Ghana except that they are much newer and often have air conditioning.  Last night when looking into how to get there we found out that taxis have a pretty much standardized really high price.  The first ADO leaves at 10 but we wanted to leave earlier so that it wouldn't be quite the full heat of the day when we were there.  That left us trying to  figure out where we should look for a colectivo that would take us there.

Bike taxis

This morning we found a colectivo that would take us to Cobá and we had it practically to ourselves.  Our driver even said he would wait for us at the ruins and drive us back.  In the ruins the first thing we did was rent bikes.  The place that you can rent from has tons of bikes.  Even with all those bikes it was really hard to find any that we would be okay with riding for an hour and a half to two hours.  The bikes that we chose were still uncomfortable and not the right size for us.  For those that prefer not to bike or walk around Cobá there is a bike taxi service.  They have converted the tricycles that you see everywhere in town into make shift taxis, very much like the cyclos in Vietnam and Cambodia.

When we were there, we read that Cobá was once a Mayan city of 50,000 people. Since there was very little trace of structures where people could actually live, this was really hard for me to imagine.  It’s also very hard to believe that such a big city with so many big pyramids culd just be abandoned and forgotten.

As we were leaving the ruins we found our colectivo driver looking for us just inside the gate.  He told us something about not being able to take us back to Tulum that I will never understand.  That was okay because there was a bus going back to Tulum just late enough for us to have lunch first.  The bus was more comfortable than the colectivo anyway.
- Brook