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Jun 13, 2004
June 10 9:00am
Machu Picchu, Peru
Although these ruins are full of tourists now, its still something to behold. We´ve all seen the pictures of the ruins before, but what you don´t see are the incredible views of the surrounding mountains and valleys from the ruins themselves. Hopefully my pictures come out well.
I was here on the first bus at 6:20 am, in time for sunrise at 7:20, but much too late for first light (the sunrise is so late because it has to climb a tall mountain in the east before you see the first real rays). Of course it was nice, but not that much more incredible than yesterday afternoon.
I´ll save you all the boring details about the ruins...there are hundreds of places to read the history if you want to.
I tried the vibrantly yellow and famous Inka Cola ("El sabor del Peru!") here for $3, which is highway robbery, quite appropriate for this busy of a tourist site. Anyway it tastes just like a carbonated bananna popcicle. Not good.
Oh, speaking of robbery. I just found out that a bus of 21 Italian and Dutch tourists was hijacked and robbed at gunpoint in the Colca Valley 2 days ago, 2 hours after we passed through. I guess that makes me sound a little brave for having gone there, but to be honest, if I would have heard that beforehand there´s no way I would have gone. Hearing about a place that´s a little dangerous sounds cool before you get there: Once you´re there and confronted with it, you really start to long for security and there´s nothing exciting about it.
Posted at 10:36 pm by davidraske
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June 6 4:00pm
2 hours from Cusco, Peru .... aboard PeruRail "Inka Class"
By any standards this first-class part of the train is top-notch and for Peru its like rolling with Patrick Ewing to the Gold Club. Except for the sex part. Ok bad analogy.
Moving on...
I only boarded the train with $4, and having not eaten breakfast. Pretty smart for a 10-hour ride where they charge American prices. At least lunch was free. Its kind of weird riding first-class but not being able to afford anything except 1 bottled water.
Im the only person here under 40 years old, and one of the few non-Germans. You gotta love them though....there was a group of 10 German grandpas drinking neat whiskies with beer chasers at 8am. I was tempted to join them but I only had money for 1 bottled water. Probably for the best anyway.
So the best thing, other than the amazing mountain scenery we pass by, is watching little kids literally run from the fields of their little farms to wave at the train. Some were coming home from school in their uniforms, but others were helping the famlies harvest potatoes or grain, and all of them had HUGE smiles and were so excited. The pure joy in their faces made my day...maybe my whole vacation. I know it sounds cheezy as hell but it was true. Of course there were some boys throwing rocks and alpaca shit at the train also, but I think its more of a 10-year-old-boy thing than a political statement.
This train runs right through a wide fertile valley filled with tiny farming villages, none bigger than one acre. Livestock everywhere, but only a few for each family...3 hens, 2 pigs, 1 cow. Maybe a few llamas or donkeys or a goat. I dont know why its so interesting to me, since I´ve been around all this stuff before and its not exotic. Maybe because its on such a small scale. I know it must be an extremely rough life, but from the slowly passing train, it looks idyllic. Vibrant green squares broken up by thatch-roof ancient stone huts and tall wind-blown trees, with a gourgous little river running through the middle of the valley. As we approach Cusco, this valley looks like it belongs in more southern Oregon than in someplace 3 hours from Machu Picchu.
Posted at 10:25 pm by davidraske
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June 5 6:00 pm
Arequipa, Peru
We spent all day touring the Colca canyon and valley, and as you´ll see from the pictures, its filled with terraces in 100 shades of green, all constructed by pre-Inka tribes 800 years ago and still used today. At the condor point we saw three of them flying...pretty impressive to see them so close and with such a backdrop, but I expected them to be much bigger. There was the usual array of 15 indiginous women selling exactly the same wares, but this time I actually bought something: gloves, a scarf, and a sweater, all handmade from alpaca wool for $12. I dont know how they survive and sell seriously exactly the same things next to each other. I see a possible MBA case-study project waiting for me here.
I was scared when I learned we had to return to Arequipa over the same 14,600 ft pass that had put me in hell most of yesterday. So I came prepared, having drank 2 litres of water, popped 2 aspirin, and already chewing triple the recommended dosage of coca leaves (guess I´m one of those first time addicts? ) before we got anywhere near that altitude. Well I passed the summit feeling great, although it could have been the coca or just the aclimitazation from the day before.
Now I´m off to Puno, the city on Lake Titicaca for the night before I head up to Cusco, the major tourist center of Peru.
Posted at 10:08 pm by davidraske
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June 4 5:15pm
Chivay, Peru (inside the Colca Valley)
I´m lying on my bed with a pounding headache and its the best I´ve felt in 6 hours.
It turns out altitude sickness is real, and it really sucks. At least it doesnt involve diarrhea (yet). Also, the local remedies look like contraband siezed from a 8th-grade druggie party: Massive amounts of coca leaves (reminds me of kids that bury weed in wet ground for hallucinogenic effects) and cotton swabs soaked in corn-moonshine for huffing. If this stuff doesnt work, I half-expect an offer from the secret stash of Peruvian payote.
Note to self: 2 nights at 8000 ft. is not enough time to aclimatize for an ascent to 14,600 ft and back down to 11,000 in one day. When we crossed 12,000 ft. in the bus today, I really started to feel a headache. Before the trip I read altitude sickness can be fatal. After 1 minute above 14000 ft, I was wondering what the hell was taking it so long.
I was in a cold sweat, seeing stars, with my skin hurting everywhere (Did you know this was possible???) and sprawled out over my bus seat while EVERYONE else was totally fine, getting out to take pictures at viewpoints and, quite embarassingly, being extra nice to me. Now I know how Goines must have felt that night he drank 6 Red-Bulls in 2 hours.
Outside the bus window, the mountains were magestic and larger than life. Inside the bus, in semi-fetal position on my bus seat, I was trying to think of any way to go unconscious and escape the pain, seriously contemplating if the big German guy behind me could knock me out with one punch like in the movies. I hadn´t heard of strangle-mugging yet or I would have considered that also. Eventually my koala instincts kicked in and I passed-out.
Now back down at 11,000 ft I feel totally normal and so much better. How weird. This village where we´re spending the night in the valley is really great: There are locals walking their herds of alpacas and sheep in the streets, using donkeys to carry straw, and there are pigs wandering around too. Lots of stone walls and houses with corregated aluminum roofs with rocks holding down the sheet metal so the wind doesnt blow it off. Some houses are drying corn on the roof so they dont need the rocks. Pretty cool stuff. Also, the people really wear the traditional indian clothing here, although the really flashy colors are only used for ceremonial things like dances. What´s strange is to see the mix of old and new clothes: I walked by a farmer wearing indian clothes and a yankees baseball cap, and a little boy walking sheep wearing a yellow "Maui !" t-shirt.
.... Update: 5:00 am ....
Turns out I celebrated too early: altitude sickness can reappear. A skull-splitting headache pounded me into submission only one our after I declared my triumph. Very Greek. I went to reception to beg for aspirin, but I looked so bad the woman suggested that I needed some oxygen. The only other time I´ve taken O2 was in a trendy oxygen bar in SF: They "scent" the 02 and you´re supposed to get a natural high, but you´re really just sitting around for the 20 minutes wondering what kind of secret handshake or codeword it takes for them to ditch the O2 and hook up the good stuff you KNOW they have hiding in back. This time it was more enjoyable, but not apple-scented.
It was a 5 minute experience among the most soothing and comforting of my life. There´s just something about being taken care by a woman speaking another language. I wasnt sure if the gas was working at first...and I felt a little weird lying on my bed with the hotel receptionist sitting in a chair bedside with a massive gas tank. But then the magic happened: she told me to close my eyes, and still speaking in soothing spanish, proceeded to give me a temple and forehead massage for the duration of the treatment. Now THAT´S service. This single experience has totally altered the qualities I´m looking for in a wife, or at least the priority. Gives temple massages when I have a debilitating headache? Required.
If I haven´t convinced you how seriously bad I felt by now, just know that I skipped dinner. Actually I slept through it last night, going to bed at 7:30pm, waking up this morning at 2am and trying to fall asleep for the past 3 hours in bed. I´ve only skipped dinner 4 or 5 times in my life (I even ate when I had scarlet fever for 5 days when I was 12), which I´m sure is apparent from all the photos of me in tight jeans, the only kind I wear now.
We leave in 1 hour, 6am, to go see the condors at sunrise and the rest of the Colca Canyon. We´ve already driven past some really different, some just extremely rural and poor, indian villages.
Posted at 09:52 pm by davidraske
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June 3 4:30pm
Arequipa, Peru: Deja Vu rooftop bar
I just finished a full day of sightseeing in central Arequipa. Went on two different museum tours: One of a huge monestary/convent (Santa Catalina), and the other, a privately guided tour through an Inka museum, complete with its own Mummy, "the beautiful Juanita." I know Peruvian girls are no where near as cute as Argentinian ones, but if this is their standard for hot (well, she did have nice long hair), all you men in San Jose can feel a little bit better about whats available at Toons and Mission Male House.
The private museum tour was great, but the funny thing was that I wasnt allowed alone in the museum. So this whirlwind tour by the guide was all I got, but I had this massive rush of seratonin radiating off the back of my head for 20 minutes... I guess because I really love personalized service and also this Indiana Jones shit. Seriously, the only time that I´ve felt like this, well sober anyway, is the first time I drove my car alone to the gas station for a fillup and the guy washed my windows too (Self-service is illegal in Oregon, along with U-turns).
So I had an incredible lunch at a top-notch Turkish resturant here. Of course, I had diarrhea, but it was worth it. I eat any kind of exotic food I can find while I´m on vacation because I´m dying without spicy food in Argentina (More likely, I´m dying because of all the beef I´m eating, but that´s a different story).
The city is beautiful and clean. Reminds me of Mendoza, Argentina...except for that thing about 500 year old women being held as a local standard of beauty. I realized I love colonial architecture: bold and simple colors, set against stark white, often amazingly carved, stone buildings with black wrought-iron fixures, contrasted by a bright blue sky above. I hope my pictures can capture the feel. The insides of some of these churches are spectacular with tons of gaudy statues, huge domed cielings, and gold-painted wood carvings that are 30ft wide and 100ft tall, with inset statues...kind of like a life-size Christmas advent calendar.
The main square is really nice, but suffers from an overpopulation of pushy shoeshine-boys who, every one of them, insist that they can shine the tan suede Timberlands I´m wearing. I replied with 10 firm "No quiero"´s because, while my Spanish is certainly improving, I don´t really know how to explain that the shoes are not really suede and that I´ve just sprayed them with a special chemical compound designed to be water-resistant. Some spoke some broken English to me....but I didnt fall for that shit, just kept on using my broken Spanish. I need to learn a few lines of Finnish or Greek, just to see if I can stump them. Just because I´m pale, sunburned, and over 5´7" shouldnt mean that I automatically speak English.
Posted at 09:08 pm by davidraske
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June 2 2:50pm
Lima, Peru: Jorge Chavez Aeropuerto Internacional
I´ve just arrived from BA and have been sitting here at the gate for 30 minutes, with over 3 hours remaining until my flight to Arequipa...and I´m bored out of my mind. Thank God for the annoying little boy who´s playing on the floor and rolling coins into my feet, like a 1-pin bowling alley. We´re both having fun with it.
I have the kind of dull headache one expects in the afternoon when running on 5 hours of sleep and having travelled since 7am that morning, combined with various delays, two doses of airline food, and recurring diarrhea. I´m dying to read something, but every time I begin, I feel slightly nausiated or completely distracted, pretty much like anyone playing defense for the Lakers right now.
Excuse me...potty break....
(10 min later)
Well that´s something fun to do every 5 hours. It may have been precipitated by the weird sandwhich I just ate but its mostly likely from yesterday´s adventure with 5-day-old homemade clam chowder. I made it for the family I teach with here, and it was absolutely buttkickin´. It was really exotic for them but they loved it: The had looks of suprise on their face as they tried it and actually liked it. They probably were a little scared of my cooking ability too.
Well that was 5 days ago...so learn my lesson: Don´t take risks with 5-day-old seafood and dairy products.
So more about my first impressons of Peru from the airport here. They have Dunkin Donuts here so it can´t be all bad. And Doritos & Pringles. That being said, so far its conforming to all my negative prejudices. The weather is absolutely miserable...perfect visibility for 50 yards, then just a wall of white fog everywhere. Its like living in a cloud...and if you thought that would be cool, its not. Its like this over half the year here.
The domestic terminal here, all 8 gates of it, smells like dirty butchershop or slaughterhouse. It especially smells like old dead chicken. I´ve switched seats 3 times trying to escape the odor, finally settling here next to a group of 4 college-girls in college sweatshirts, who are even more casually annoying and tomboyish than I remember. Maybe I´m just a macho asshole now. Sometimes its fun to try and guess whether groups of American-looking&sounding people are Canadian or not, but since their backpacks are in plain view (sans maple-leaf patches) its not even a challenge. (Its required by law in Canada that backpacks come with a prominently-placed Canadian Flag patch)
So this being my first day in Peru, Im a little apprehensive about getting altitude sickness. The symptoms sound like what I felt like 30 minutes ago, except altitude sickness can also kill you, or just make you want to stay in bed all day. Sounds like a bad hangover minus the bar tab, good times, and the 3:30am call to your ex-girlfriend that you dont find out you made until a Christmas party 3 months later.
The plus side is that I have a legit reason to injest cocaine, by chewing coca leaves, as it is a known remedy for altitude sickness. (And if I have any loyal readers at the DEA: it takes 2 kilos of coca leaves to equal the high from 1 gram of the white lady, so dont waste your time with me.) Incidentally, the other 2 legit reasons are, A) If I was ever in the presence of a Scarface-sized mountain of yayo, or B) Peer pressure.
Now I´m heading to Arequipa as my first destination in Peru, as its only 8000 ft, so being there some days will help me aclimate before heading to Cusco at 11000 ft. From there I´ll do a 2-day tour of the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, before heading to Cusco, stopping for one night in Lake Titicaca along the way. And no, you perverts, that name is not Spanish for one of those weird sex moves you read about on the internet.
...
Just talked to a Peruvian guy who´s in the specialty lumber business (read "rainforest") and does deals with America and Europe. He says he works with a group of 33 local producers in the Amazon that are now working with the WWF for a stamp of approval on operations. Its good to see the WWF taking a realistic approach and working with a business group that actually wants to adapt to more earth-friendly (and lets face it, ultimately business-friendly) practices, instead of pouting and holding out for stone-age level of environmental perfection. The guy was cool: He talked about how conservation was in their interests, but the poor people who live there also have the right to have the forest be their lifeblood.
I told the guy I´m from Oregon and he gave me all his contact information, in case I know someone who want´s to do business. Weird.
Posted at 08:28 pm by davidraske
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Jun 10, 2004
Since I just had a $.87 haircut at a local salon (whose entrance looked like a Trainspotting toilet), I thought I`d share a few other interesting facts about Peru and its history.
There are over 500 different types of corn here, but only one kind of popcorn...disturbing.
In some of the pre-Inka tribes, they hadnt learned to domesticate animals yet, so the men had to work the land with primitive tools. The cool part is that they made women plant the seed, hoping that the fertility of women would lead to better crops. It kind of makes sense, but isnt planting a seed tradionally men`s work? (To quote Spinal Tap´s "Sex Farm": "I'm scretching in your pea patch / Plowing through your beanfield / Planting my seed ....")
In the biggest cathedral in Cusco, an absolutely massive and stunning building with over 300 oil paintings inside, the most famous work is a huge painting of The Last Supper, with Jesus about to carve up some fried ginea pig, Peru`s most traditional dish.
Strangle-mugging is the most popular form of robbing tourists here. A group of men will accost the tourist: One will put him in a sleeper hold while the others pick up his legs and shake him until unconscious.
For Inkas, deformed babies and people were considered special because it was believed the Rainbow or Thunder&Lightning gods "touched" them in the womb. They were so special that they were often the first to be sacrificed. So if you`re a deformed baby in a primitive society, you`re kind of up shit creek no matter what culture you`re in (in other primitive cultures, and even recent ones, deformities were seen as work of devils and got you killed also).
Speaking of deformities, South America`s fascination with cosmetic surgery probably had its birth in the Inka empire. There`s no evidence of fake tits, although like I say about Argentina`s boob jobs, its really hard to tell what`s fake if they`re tastefully done. In any case, babies of noble famlies or sons destined to be priests often had "head sqeezers" from birth until age 6, shaping their head into a half-ass Conehead or a double-bump head, just like the profile of a double-hump camel. I think there was a character in the Cantina bar from Star Wars who had a head just like this. Seriously. And you thought Chinese foot-binders and the BonsaiKitten.com guy had cornered the market on post-birth deformation!
Posted at 05:13 pm by davidraske
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Jun 9, 2004
I took a city tour through Cusco yesterday, mostly because I was too lazy to walk to half the historical sites 15 minutes out of town. There are probably 100 travel agencies that offer these type of tours, so I found one that looked interesting, and what follows are the fruits of that experience. Although the tour, (como se dice?)"sucked ass," I was thoroughly entertained by two different characters: Wilbur, the English-speaking guide, and the fat Australian lady with swollen ankles (she gets her own section at a later date).
Wilbur talked in hushed tones and was so melodramatic it was laughable. For some reason, Indian words can only be pronounced with wide-open eyes and a breathy voice. The amusement with his style quickly turned to annoyance: His voice was overpowered by other guides in the area, while his competency was overshadowed by the interesting things they had to say. Wilbur`s was a Sesame Street lesson of Indian vs Spanish words ("Sand... is ´tio´!" ) compared to other guides` National Geographic and History Channel education.
Wilbur often gave misinformation, left out accepted alternative explanations, or downright lied about history, officially qualifying him to teach it in all of America`s 50 state school systems. When pressed on his contradictions or confusing legend with reality by those of use who had other information, he replied (3 different occasions in 3 hours) "Well...this history is difficult". I was happy I had visited two different historical museums that morning, both with a personal guided tour, which had at least taught me that the legend of the first two Inkas emerging from Lake Titicaca, walking on water, and finally arriving at Cusco was not exactly historically accurate.
Wilber went to great lengths to explain methods employed by the Spaniards in changing Inka society. While he skipped over the most obvious way, slaughtering a shit-load of people, he spent significant time explaining how Spaniards tried to convert Inkas to Christianity. He was particularly insensed that Spanish churches were built upon Inka churches and that Spaniards triangulated, to steal a political term, elements of Inka religion like the sun and moon and weaved them into their explanations to the natives. And lastly, at the end of his sermon to us, we learned that the Spanish used the cross symbol in the churches because the Inkas worshiped the cross also (the southern cross constellation), not because it was also the primary symbol of the Christian religion.
His best quote about conquest... "The Spainards did it....(4 second pause)...to chaaaannnge...(4 second pause)..their MIND!" It immediately reminded me of Joe Protester`s catch-phrase, "Think about it...Fucking THINK about it!"
I didnt want to embarass him, but someone seriously needs to explain how religious conquest works to this guy! Maybe also explain why Christmas is when it is, why Easter is when it is, and why we have christmas trees. And to top it off, maybe ask what religions and cultures the Inkas wiped out on their way to empire?
Wilbur`s insistence on legend while completely ignoring historical explanation, his fetish for explaining simple objects in the Indian language, and his total failure to explain any facts of historical interest about the ultra-famous archeological sites we were seeing reminds me of some stereotypical PhD in multi-cultural studies who knows nothing of real history nor is really interested in different cultures, but is an expert on Kwanza, an afficionado on the exploitation of Columbus, offended by the stars and stripes, and whose thesis was "The History of Snaps: How white oppressors inspired self-ego-abuse in the afro-american comunity."
Wilbur also had bad breath.
Although he had some legitimate reasons to be upset with Spaniards (of 500 years ago), Wilbur seemed to have misdirected anger towards them: He really should be pissed at Anglo-Saxons just for the existence of his ridiculous name, and at Hollywood-types for popularizing it with Mr. Ed; It was probably his parents` favorite show & playing while they concieved him, thus inspiring his name (and Wilber`s about the right age)
Of course, Spaniards have done plenty of bad things in South America, not least of which is their legacy of flan offered in every dessert menu on the continent.
So.... Saludos a Wilbur!!!
Posted at 11:11 pm by davidraske
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Machu Picchu?...ITS FABULOUS! (oooh geeth!!)
So there are gay flags all over the little town of Machu Picchu. Or is the new label LGBT or NAMBLA or METROSEXUAL or BI-CURIOUS or FLAMING-PROVINCETOWN-PUNCH? .... Im so confused as to what the current correct name is...Its like my old grandma that still calls negros "colered".
So this little town is the stopping-over point for tours to Machu Picchu and only has hotels, massage parlors, and pizza resturants (20 of the 34 resturants here are pizzerias), although now I highly suspect a hidden enclave of antiques shops and showtune recordstores. Assaulted with all the gay flags, I feel like I`m in the middle of a gayfest, like maybe South Beach on Babs birthday or Castro on any day ending in "y". Well, except for the suspiciously large percentage of Peruvians here. And no guys making out.
Ok so the rainbow flag really is the Inca flag and the gay movement "stole" it. Or is that just what they want us to think? Truth will be told tonight...
On a very non-gay note, I was just in the thermal baths here and witnessed something kind of funny.
The other name of this town is Aguas Calientes, and the locals and tourists alike take a dip in the pools. As I was halfway done with my beer and looking down the andean valley, two average (by San Jose standards, not BsAs) 20something German girls stolled along the edge of the hot pool, and EVERYBODY rubbernecked...Im talking local men, little girls, old Japanese guys, the fat austrailian lady with swollen ankles (more about her later). Weird phenomenon. I thought they were really into white people with curves, so on my way out I took a little extra time and swayed the hips a little....you know, for the fans.
Oh so I was up at Machu Picchu today and its spectacular. Im going again in the morning.
Ive been keeping a journal on paper and when Im back in BsAs I`ll give the full highlights of the trip with pictures. Also, more to come soon about my favourite tour partner, the fat australian lady with swollen ankles.
Posted at 08:28 pm by davidraske
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Jun 3, 2004
First day in Peru: Breakfast in Arequipa
So Im on a 11 day whirlwind tour through Peru, starting in Arequipa, a one night stopover in Lake Titicaca, and then up to Machu Piccu for a few days.
So Arequipa is at a medium altitude (7000 ft), and Im here to view all the colonial arquetecture as well as do a 2 day tour to the 2nd deepest canyon in the world tomorrow. The weather is absoutely beatiful here, but it cant be more than 40 degrees this morning.
As last night was completely uneventful, except for watching Argentina lose to Brazil 3-1 (disapointing) and falling asleep at 10pm after a day of 13 hours of travelling, Im going to write about breakfast this morning.
First the positives....I was next to a table of 4 british lesbians who must be here on some sort of erotic sex holiday (thats half Columbo and half wishful thinking). Also, I had freshly squeezed, or whateverthehelltheycallit, papaya juice, and the breakfast hasnt given me diarhea (yet).
I guess the only thing I have to bitch about is the coffee. Every table had steaming cups of coffee while I was shivering at my table so much, I could tell the lesbians were thinking about throwing a couple self-adhesive sextoys on my forehead and playing "pony express". But that`s beside the point. Once I finally got my coffee, i spilled a heaping spoonful of sugar into the mother and took a healthy gulp. To my disgust, this sludge had a sickenly sweet taste not unlike warm prune juice, but with out the helpful side effect of regularity unheardof outside the Swiss railway system.
Hopefully lunch is better.
Posted at 11:19 am by davidraske
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