EN ROUTE TO MACHU PICCHU – I’m using this train ride to get caught up on my diary. On our first night in Cusco, we strolled the plaza, enjoying it come to life at night. It’s a stunning and dramatic public place that is lit exquisitely at night. We came home and fell asleep by 8 pm.
Cusco at night is a very dramatic place.
Catedral at Night
Compania at NightI forgot to mention that the night prior we bought several inexpensive but beautiful religious paintings – rude replicas of the Cusco school masterpieces – in a shop near the City Hall. For around $160 Cathy and I purchased ten paintings.
Anyway, after our market sojourn, and not knowing where we were exactly, we hailed a cab to take us to the train station to purchase our tickets for the ride to Machu Picchu. The taxi drove us around the corner and down the block a couple hundred feet. The taxi driver was smiling and laughing as we got out. Good thing the taxis here charge a flat rate of 2 nuevo soles (about $0.70).
We strolled back toward the city center, walking the Avenida del Sol, where all the Cusqueños shop. The city seems relatively prosperous, thanks mainly to the tourist trade. We made our way to the plaza facing the San Francisco Convent. Vendors set up shop hawking toys, comic books, and snacks to the school boys milling around on their lunch break. Cathy and I bought a bag of popcorn for the equivalent of $0.03.
Miguel picked us up at the Catedral and drove us thirty minutes outside Cusco to a Cuyería – an adobe oven and a handful of dusty tables under a shelter – where we were treated to a feast of gigantic corn kernels, handmade linguine, yellow potatoes, a chili stuffed with fresh veggies, and an entire roasted guinea pig. The only way to eat it was to remove its head and dismember it limb by limb.
We ate and drank among the farm animals and a couple wild dogs, and a beautiful girl who stood silently with us; and we washed our hands with laundry detergent in the community sink.
Miguel invented a new drink, combining delicious Cuzqueña Beer and Coca Cola. Cathy called it a Cusco Libre – memorable because it was her first bilingual Spanish-English joke. Everyone laughed, and our inhibitions were loosened enough that we joked all the way back home. The jokes remained with us through the day. By the end of the day, we had taken to calling Miguel “Inca” after the great indigenous leaders whose title eventually became the name of the greatest pre-Columbian culture in America – a regnal name for which he was entitled.
After lunch, Cathy and I visted San Cristobal, perched high on a hill overlooking the Plaza de Armas. Despite our heavy lunch and the altitude, we didn’t have any trouble surmounting the hill. Maybe growing up in Salt Lake at 4,500 feet elevation had something to do with it. The Inca walls were impressive and the views of Cusco were out of this world.
We had coffee at the Monasterio, a magnificent hotel in the heart of Cusco run by the Orient Express. There we rested and enjoyed the fireplace. Near the Monasterio was a beautiful shop where Cathy purchased a crucifix of Jesus as a campesino. The vertical segment of the cross is a shovel; the horizontal a machete. Exquisitely carved and painted, and quite profound.
We returned to the café we visited the day before and bought those dulce de leche pastries for Inca Miguel, Deishy, Evita, Deishita, and Alegría. They all loved them.
We met some wonderful people yesterday. At the market, we met Roma and Robin, two jaded and relatively cantankerous friends traveling together. Robin dismissed Machu Picchu and Roma dismissed the folk painting that we liked so much. Who cares? They were friendly, funny, and very kind to us. They expressed a desire to keep in touch. I took their photos and I have their e-mail address.
12 MAY
AGUAS CALIENTES – Yesterday and today, we visited Machu Picchu. Whatever I can say about it will not capture the awe I felt at seeing it for the first time. It is a magnificent ruin in a spectacular setting. Cathy took the lead and guided me through the ruins as though she were a professional. She studied the ruins and was able to answer every question I threw at her. It was like having my own personal tour guide.
The site was massive, and it took two days to absorb it all. Architecturally, Machu Picchu is genius. The ruins sit on a ledge that juts out over a canyon surrounded by tall peaks with extraordinary relief – the peaks were thousands of feet above us, and the canyon floor thousands of feet below. Rooflines, terraces, and sculpted rocks were designed to echo the mountains that surround it. The condor, an assemblage of boulders, is a masterful piece of abstract art. I could go on and on, and perhaps I will later. But for now, I’m out of superlatives.
14 MAY
CUSCO - LIMA– I like Lima more than I thought I would. Sure it’s dirty, noisy, polluted, and out of control. But it also has a nice life to it. Alejandro Venero lives in a working class neighborhood near the Panamericana highway. Despite the fact that he’s 78 years old and barely knows us, Alejandro has opened his home and heart to us.
We started today in Cusco. Last night, Miguel picked us up from the train station after a very odd train ride from Aguas Calientes. It took us three hours to get from Aguas Calientes to the outskirts of Cusco, and another forty-five minutes to descend into the valley floor, with the train switching back and forth over manual switches. It seemed like it would never end. We were treated with a spectacular view of La Victoria, a massive Andean peak, and a full moon.
Anyway, we recuperated while Miguel made his appearance on Deportivo Vision, Cusco’s weekly sports commentary TV program. The man is crazy for football.
Deishy and Miguel made us a magnificent dinner of potatoes, cheese, toasted corn, ceviche, and chicken in soy sauce. Miguel and I drank an entire bottle of wine, and with each glass, understood each other better. He declared that my Spanish had improved, and I could have sworn that his English improved as well.
This morning, we collected our tickets on LANPeru from a nice travel agent in town. We then met Miguel and Deishy at the preschool where we observed a presentation the kids were giving for Mother’s Day. As much as I regret not getting to see the Sacred Valley or some of Cusco’s art museums, seeing the kids dance and sing was priceless.
And then we said good bye. Miguel drove us to the airport, and when I hugged him I wanted to cry. I felt like I had experienced and seen so much – at once I knew I would miss him, but I also wanted to go home and enjoy a real bed and a decent shower. Alas, a few more days on the trip! As we waited for our plane to Lima (delayed four hours, with an itinerary that one point included a stop in Arequipa, and whose departure was moved from gate 3 to gate 2 and back again to gate 3) I reflected on how emotionally exhausted I was. This trip was a series of exciting and profound experiences, and I am verging on sensory overload. God bless Cathy, though. She’s been a wonderful traveling companion and why she hasn’t shoved me off a cliff yet – I don’t know.
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