June 20, 2010:

3:00AM – Wake up after only getting two-hours max of sleep
3:45AM – Leave the hotel in bus
6:00AM – Arrive at the train station, get some tea from the café that overcharged us.
7:00AM – Get on the train, fell asleep
8:30AM – Arrive in the downtown area below Machu Picchu
9:00AM – Finally arrive at the base of Machu Picchu!

Glad I got those awful, early six hours out of the way as quickly as possible.

Once we were there everyone was exhausted, but really excited for what the day was going to be comprised of. We all met our tour guide in front of the entrance and began onto the upward, steep stone stairway, which at the top overlooked the urban city ruins of Machu Picchu. In complete awe pictures were immediately snapped and everyone posed with each other on the hill that overlooked its beauty. Here was the classic picture that has been published all over the Internet, National Geographic, and every single travel agency in Peru. It was so warm, sunny, and green; absolutely beautiful. From the top you could see miles and miles of clear sky and green forest, and the Urubamba River.

Machu Picchu was a stone-built city by the Incans during the mid-fifteenth century located 2,430 meters above sea level that was used for agriculture, religious ceremonies, and possibly built as an estate for the first Inca emperor, Pachacuti, or even a military base. Some characteristics that this city has are terraces built into the walls for growing crops like corn, potatoes, and grains; irrigation canals; watchtowers; granaries that held double purpose of storage and a natural refrigerator; as well as houses for farmers to live in and a giant courtyard where llamas were grazing. Although this was city was abandoned shortly after the Spanish invaded and destroyed the Inca Empire, Machu Picchu was left untouched.

In a few places where small, carved stone sculptures in the same shape of the mountains and glaciers behind them. To the Incas, mountains and glaciers were very important; they represented strength and life (with ice comes water, with water comes irrigation, etc.). From what I remember, there were four of these sculptures and the “Lost City of the Incas” was located in the middle. These stones were all supposed to align and point directly to the sun on the Winter Solstice. After a little while of exploring, we approached the Intihuatana stone, which was in a very strange shape and also used for rituals and possible even as an astronomical calendar. The stone was believed to have had the powers of the sun, in which it absorbed all the energy from it and if you rubbed your hands together and put it near the stone, you could feel its positive energy. Later on we also came upon the Temple of the Sun and the Room of Three Windows, which were also in dedication to the Sun God, Inti, and later the Temple of the Condor, the god of the heavens.

After our tour was over, Jeremy and I saw two chinchillas, native to the Andes, in the rocks of some of the ruins. After lunch, Lincoln, Jeremy, Colgan, Lauren and I decided that we wanted to climb to the top of Machu Picchu, the mountain that overlooks the city and named after it. Our tour guide said that it would take us 2.5 hours roundtrip, but it didn’t take us that long. The last bus wasn’t leaving Machu Picchu until 5:30PM so we had a lot of extra time on our hands and decided to begin our ascent.

It was 12:45 when we started and made it to the sign-in hut at 1:15PM, where you sign your name so they can make sure that no one is left behind after all the buses leave. Nobody wants to be stuck on that mountain when the sun goes down at around 5:30PM, and when the temperature drops. We inch our way higher and higher to the top. Our trail was literally stone steps that were not even or straight. Parts got extremely hairy and we needed to take quite a few water breaks and breathers. It was hot and we were getting tired, but we still had probably another 45 minutes or so to go.

Then out of nowhere while taking a break we heard Mike and Mateo. Apparently they started a half hour after us and just booked up the mountain while we were taking our breathers. Closer and closer. Water availability was running low. We could see the top but it just kept taking longer. But we finally made it after a long, exhausting and difficult hour and 45 minutes and my god it was worth it. The view was absolutely breath taking and just being there was a spiritual experience. We took off our shoes and sat on the very furthest tip of the peak that overlooked the entire city of Machu Picchu and just soaked it all up. It was single-handedly the best part of this trip to Peru. I felt accomplished and amazed.

After soaking up the sun and sights and appreciating the cool breeze, we began our descent at 3:30PM and on our way saw Miguel walking up by himself. He still had about 45 minutes to go to the top and he looked exhausted. But he seemed like he was persistent in his goal and was dedicated to making it to the top. On our way down, my legs were shaking uncontrollably and I was becoming dizzy and dehydrated. As we reached the bottom at 4:45PM we realized that the last bus was leaving at 5:30 and we didn’t know where Miguel was, or even if he was alright. We tried calling, but no answer. It was 5PM and no sign. 5:15PM – Mike, Mateo and Lilly decided to hitch a bus down to visit the hot springs in Aguas Calientes. 5:25PM – Miguel is nowhere to be seen and the sun is going down. We’re all nervous. 5:35PM – the last bus arrives so we decide to take the bus into town while Lincoln and Cristina stayed behind for Miguel.

Jeremy and I ate dinner at this place that was really cool and had really great, but expensive appetizers, while Molly, Colgan and Lauren ate at another restaurant. It’s now 8PM and we finally get word from Lincoln that they were with Miguel and getting a ride down. As we waited at the bus station for them, they all arrived in a truck at 8:30 and as Miguel came out of the passenger side, his legs collapsed. He said that once he finally got down from the mountain, his legs were really weak and was really difficult to walk. Jeremy, Colgan and Lincoln had to take turns escorting him from the bus station to the train station, but he seemed to be doing better after food, water and some pain medication. MAZ is a champ.

From here on out we were on a train or bus from 9:30PM until 1:45AM and it was awful. But the trip was so worth it!!

June 18, 2010:

After resting, recovering from and adjusting to the altitude, today we set off on our Cuzco city-tour. Cuzco was the original capital of the Inca Empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533, and the oldest city in the Western hemisphere. The word “q’usquo” in Quechan, the native language of Peru, means “the heart.” It would only be appropriate to name the capital of their empire this.

Our first stop was the Basilica Cathedral in downtown in Cuzco. As we arrived we were approached by our tour-guide for the day, Eric. The cathedral was first an Inca temple that the Spanish claimed as their own, a common trend in the conquest of Peru by conquistadors, which consists of three different temples all dedicated to the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph. These temples were made out of a special type of wood to keep away termites and are coated in 22kt gold leaf.

The Great Cathedral consists of over 300 paintings done by locals hired by the Spaniards. Even though they were forced to practice, praise, and worship figures of Catholicism, the local artists incorporated their own Inca culture into the paintings to make it their own. For example: in a few of the paintings, the wings of angels are not white like it most traditional Catholic portrayals, instead they are red, yellow and blue like the macaws and hummingbirds indigenous to Peru. These birds held high significance and symbolism in Peruvian culture.

One particular representation of a Christian painting that I found very intriguing was The Last Supper. Painted during the eighteenth-century by Sapata (Miguel’s long-lost ancestor), it includes many Peruvian foods on the table. For example: on the table is cuy (a roasted guinea-pig), many Amazonian fruits (i.e. pomegranate, papaya), maize (corn), and chicha morada (purple corn drink) instead of the traditional red wine. But aside from these changes, one last addition struck me the most and that was the representation of Judas. At the opposite end of the table form Jesus is traditionally Judas turned around with an evil look, but instead of Judas is the face of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro who was responsible for the conquering and destruction of the Inca Empire, the founding of Lima and converting many Incas to Catholicism. Just like the Mona Lisa, Pizarro’s eyes follow you wherever you go in the church.

Next we came to Cristo Negro, the Black Christ. Like in most or all churches, this portrayal of Christ on the crucifix was in the altar of Saint James. Made out of indigenous wood to Peru, this statue was originally white, however, due to all of the smoke and soot expelled from the candles in the cathedral, it eventually caused the wood to become black. Aside for the name Cristo Negro, Jesus was called by another name, the Lord of Earthquakes. Since Peru is on fault lines they were prone to earthquakes. In the earthquake of 1950, the people of the church brought Jesus outside of the church, and according to them, the earthquake stopped. This has happened twice in history.

After we finished seeing the cathedral, we moved onto the main temple of Cuzco, Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun). Here I learned about the Incan cross that looks like a compass and represents the four different parts of the sun along with the powers of the condor, puma, and snake deities. There are many different temples at Qorikancha assigned to different gods (i.e. Temple of the Rainbow, Stars, Rain, Lightning, Thunder, etc.). Inca religion consists of over eight hundred different gods. All of these temples were aligned by a trapezoid window built at a 13° angle to sustain earthquakes; this architectural technique can be seen in every single remaining Inca ruin. Every year Incas sacrifice the blackest and youngest llama to the Sun god as ritual.

And finally to end the day, we proceeded onto Q’enqo and Saqsayhuaman. Q’enqo is an assortment of giant boulders, which appears to be completely random, however on the Winter Solstice (June 21st), the rocks cast the shadow of a puma’s head. To some archaeologists the shadow represents more that of an Inca mummy wrapped in fabrics.

Even though Q’enqo was really cool, and was disappointed that we were only two days away from witnessing the cast shadows, Saqsayhuaman was so much more breathtaking. It looked like a giant stone fortress in a wide-open field. Gorgeous. Here we walked up many flights of terraces built into the hillside, to get to the even plain where the main central stone was set into the wall. This particular stone was very large and made of white quartz that represented and expelled great amounts of positive energy. Just by being there you could feel it. This temple consisted of three different levels, each representing a particular world, worshipping a particular deity. The highest level represented the condor – god of the heavens that brings balance and connects you with the afterlife. The middle level represented the puma – the god of strength and related to the strength of the Incas. The final, bottom level represented the god of wisdom and knowledge, the snake, which connected Incas with the earth. When the Spanish came to Peru, they took stones from Saqsayhuaman to build the Basilica Catedral in downtown Cuzco. On June 24th, thousands of Peruvians all gather here drunk to celebrate Inti Romni, the festival of the sun god.

One thing I noticed quickly was the zigzag wall arrangement of Saqsayhuaman. I later learned that it was to represent the teeth of the puma. Eric also pointed out in the stone arrangement of the walls that there were pictures of animals created by stone size. He pointed out to us that there were two presentations of llamas sitting (which were sacrificed to Inti, the sun god) and a giant snake, which trailed across at least five of the zigzagged walls. I think that it is really awesome that the Incas worshipped their environment, the animals, and everything about the earth. If only people were more concerned about preserving it today.

What an amazing and long day jam-packed full of awesome sites and historical knowledge. I really wish that I were around before the Spanish conquest to see its complete glory.

-GT

June 16, 2010:

Today was my last day in Lima for the next week. Tonight will consist of packing up everything in the room and ciphering through the rubble of clothing to throw into my duffle bag. I’m packing light for this trip even though we’ll be gone for six days. One pair of pants (two max) and two shirts, that’s all. I haven’t done laundry yet. All my clothes from Iquitos are in a giant garbage bag. They’re staying there.

I’m relieved to be entering a new part of the country. A part that is more what I was expecting of Peru and way farther from the coast and Western influence, I guess you could say. I’m excited to experience the culture and enjoy the highlands. A change of scenery will be pleasant, and they have sun there!

Sangria is delicious.

-GT

June 15, 2010:

Class in the hotel from 1:00-3:30pm.
Went out to lunch.
Nothing.
Ate dinner with Mike and Jeremy.
Talked about 9/11.
Downloaded the instrumental MGMT – “Kids”.
Saw Iron Man 2 (sucked).

-GT

June 14, 2010:

Today was our first day of class since last Tuesday. It was a short day to discuss selected poems together so we could prepare for Antonio Cisneros poetry reading back at our hotel. Antonio Cisneros is a well-known Peruvian, Lima-born poet who has traveled all around the world either living, teaching, or studying.

However, before leaving UAP to meet Antonio, a few things were brought to our attention that were occurring in Peru that could and have changed our plans for this week:

(1.) The farmer’s strike in Cuzco has apparently been shortened to only 17th, instead of the 17th-19th like originally planned. We are planning to arrive in Cuzco the 17th which is going to be our adjustment day anyway, so we’ll most likely end up going to Machu Picchu on the 18th as originally planned. Hopefully, nothing crazy will happen and the strike will be short lived and our stay in Cuzco will be awesome. I’m really starting to get sick of Lima and Miraflores.

(2.) We also learned today of a small tourist airplane that had disappeared in Nazca a few days ago. As of now, the plane is nowhere to be found. Miguel informed us that UAP is postponing our trip to Nazca because of this. Once the plane has been found or more information surfaces, only then will be allowed to go there. Everyone’s spirits are pretty dampened by this news. Sure the 5.5 hour bus ride there and then back would have sucked, but we could be (A.) seeing more of Peru by bus, and (B.) getting free transportation to see the Nazca Lines which would otherwise cost around $300.

However, we tried to stay optimistic and all looked forward to Cisneros’ reading. We all met on the 11th floor of Angola in a meeting room where we all took turns reading the poems in English, followed by his reading in Spanish, ending with an open Q&A section. Some of his poems that we read which I would strongly recommend are:

“In the Waters off Conchan (Summer of 1978),” “Poem on Jonah and the Disalienated” and the “Appendix to the Poem,” “The Cemetery at Vilcashuaman,” “The Dead Conquerors,” “Three Testimonies of Ayacucho,” “Third Movement (Affettuosso) Against the Cinnamon Flower,” and “Loneliness II—Paris 5e.”

The rest of the night consisted of Jeremy, Colgan, and I watched 40-Year-Old Virgin with Spanish subtitles and eating vegetarian paella. Tomorrow will just be another day of class, I suppose. I’m having a hard time getting “Party in the USA” out of my head. Jeremy and I are going to cover MGMT’s “Kids”, a Ke$ha song, Nelly Furtado, and most definitely some blink-182 songs.

-GT

NOTE: There are entries in between. I will post soon. Trying to play catch-up. Been a busy boy! The internet’s over-rated sometimes.

June 13, 2010:

This morning we walked up and down the streets of Miraflores for about 1.5 hours searching for a bike rental place to ride around the city for the day. Unfortunately, it’s Sunday and nothing is open. It’s a ghost town, but, thankfully, it was the nicest day that we’ve had in a long time: the sky was as clear as it could be and it was warm. Walking down towards Larcomar we stumbled upon on street that did, in fact, have bike rentals open except they were closing in an hour. As we were walking and discussing how Lima/Miraflores is getting old and expressing our excitement for Cuzco and Machu Picchu, the couple walking in front of us overheard our conversation.

They were both in their late-20s or early-30s and had just spent the past week in Cuzco. They advised us that while they were there, the farmers in Cuzco were holding strikes because since after the terrible storms and landslides that happened earlier this year, flooding their fields and farms, the Peruvian government hasn’t been giving them much or any funding to help rebuild. So with this, farmers are blocking off the roads and railroad tracks that lead up to Machu Picchu as retaliation to hurt Peru’s tourism economy. They were kept in their hotel the entire day because people were throwing rocks at taxicabs and tour buses. Unfortunately, there is another three-day strike planned from the 17th-19th, the first three days that we will be in Cuzco.

Since we had no luck with bikes Mike, Matt, Lauren, Cristina and I decided to go paragliding down by the coast over the Pacific Ocean. Thought it was only for about fifteen minutes, it was so awesome to be high above the beautiful ocean and along the steep green coasts; to be flying over all of the parks and hotels/apartments (which all had hot-tubs on their roofs).

Tonight we also went to a comedy club called Satchmo that is two blocks over form our hotel where the owner invited us to attend for free (aside from the $10 drink minimum, which most of us only pay $5 for). We went to the show at 8pm that ended up being basically an “adult-humored puppet show” called Choppets. I was expecting something totally different than what it was. All the actors were just wearing black and had giant Muppet puppets on their hands, not hiding themselves at all. Very high voices, for two hours. Can I have them back, please?

Tuesday we’re going to the Nazca Lines, which is super awesome! We’re leaving at 6am since it’s about a five-hour bus ride both ways and is going to be a whole day thing. I’m going to be really upset if I can’t go to Machu Picchu! Hopefully everything will go well this weekend.

-GT

June 2, 2010:

As class ended, Matt wandered around the school and started talking to Grace who worked at UAP as an administrator and also taught environmental studies. When she found out that Matt, Colgan, Lincoln, Mike and I were studying Spanish at her university she got really excited and told us how her eldest daughter was working on a cruise ship in Miami and immediately she wanted our contact information. I think that she really missed her daughter and wanted to know more about the USA. She was so sweet! She gave us hugs and kisses and without further hesitation took us into her office and proceeded to give us complimentary UAP pens, rulers and a giant bag of candy which we threw out to people on the streets waiting for the buses from our own bus. Matt was throwing some to these two kids who were playing in the street and pushed each other into traffic once they saw he was giving away candy.

After coming back from class Jeremy, Colgan and I went out for a stroll in Miraflores to find new places to eat and a supermarket to buy groceries. At Hipermercados Metro two baguettes, two large avocado, and a bag of whole wheat bread for S/.8.39 (just under $3)! As hunger than struck from lack of food, a daily occurrence, we set out in search of a restaurant that had vegetarian options. In our favor we found a vegetarian restaurant called Las Orquideas that was dirt cheap and by far better than any of the other higher scale places we’ve been to while here. I got the Cuban rice and a pitcher of mixed berry and banana smoothie all for S/.6.75. My dish was full of white rice with a side of fried plantains and soy meat topped with a fried egg. Hands down the best tasting food I’ve had in Lima and for $4.50 (including a 20% tip) it was an outstanding deal. We’re definitely going there for lunch from now on.

The amount of stray cats in the park never cease to amaze me. I’m a sucker. They’re just so cute! Cat, after cat, after endless cats! It’s torture not to be able to pet them. The dogs are also really adorable.

-GT

June 1, 2010:

After class Katty brought us to a traditional Peruvian market. The fruits and vegetables section was absolutely breathtaking. All the different kinds of colors were so vibrant and overwhelming. So many exotic and tropical peppers, melons, squashes, and so many types of potatoes in different shapes and sizes. However, the meat section was another story… Sheep heads, blood sausage, hanging chickens, pork-butts and tails, along with liver, lungs and heart everywhere, dripping blood and juices all over the counters. The smell was so putrid and overwhelming that it almost made me sick to my stomach. Others in the group felt the same way, but still managed to go to Bembo’s (the South American equivalent to Burger King, though they do have Burger King here) shortly after leaving for lunch. Jeremy and I instead found a cafe Arabe, Tierra Santa, around the corner and got falafel sandwiches.

Matt, Lili, Cristina and I later booked our trip to Iquitos this weekend. We’re leaving Friday morning at 4:30AM to take a taxi to the airport for the 6:20AM flight from Lima to Iquitos where a shuttle will take us from the airport to the lodge. There we are staying three days and two nights, leaving on Sunday night at 7:30PM. So excited!! The roundtrip airfare was $125 and the trip cost was $318. Expensive but it will totally be worth it! I’m so stoked; started taking my malaria medicine this morning. Finally going to make one of my dreams come true.

Today was also Colgan’s 20th birthday. We all got him a cake which he enjoyed very much and went out to dinner with the group and Miguel. Dinner was descent but we were there for three hours. I got chicha morada (drink made from purple corn), sopa de zappella (squash soup), ravioli con pesto and maracuya (sweet passion fruit) mousse. Later we realized that it took so long because they made everything fresh for us. It was a pleasant and chill night. And of course, Colgan got a free pisco sour for his birthday.

-GT

May 31, 2010:

Today was our first day of class at UAP. I woke up at 9:30 and made breakfast which consisted of PBJ and pineapple juice. I think that at all the places we go to make their own freshly squeezed/pressed fruit juice. We later left the hotel around 10:45 and arrived at the university around 11:15 and had class until 3pm.

Class was mostly just a review of everything that we would be going over while here and a brief introduction into Peruvian history and literature. Throughout our stay they had two hurricane drills which was the ringing consistent ringing of a bell for eight minutes and everyone gathering in the center courtyard. The school is made completely out of concrete, the walls and the floor with giant sliding glass windows, so noise from inside and outside of the class room fills the room. What’s interesting about the school is that the actual class rooms are the only part which is enclosed or “inside,” everything else is outside.

After class ended we took the bus back to the hotel and Jeremy and I got lunch at Restaurant el Vegetariano down the street. We got jugo de tuna (prickly pear juice), papas de haucaína (sliced boiled potatoes with a yellow chile pepper cream sauce), and a large piece of fried seitan with rice and a sweet creamy basil/cilantro dipping sauce.

-GT

May 28, 2010:

Today we left at 10am on the bus to meet with the Provost and Chancellor of Universidad Alas Peruanas where we will be having our summer classes. The school buildings and campus is really awesome. They loved us so much that they are offering us a free trip to the Nazca Lines in their own private airplane one weekend while here! There we also met Katty who is a English teacher at UAP and currently getting her Master’s in administration. She was telling us how she wants to eventually make her own new bilingual university for music and the arts. At this school she also wants to have Americans come down to Peru to teach English to students.

Tonight we met up with Miguel’s sister-in-law Marta and her mother to go out to dinner. At first we were set on Chifa (Chinese-Peruvian fusion) but she then offered to take us to Club de Regatas Lima (country-club) that she belongs to on the beach in Chorillos. Score!! The gang split up into three cars, so Jeremy, Colgan and I split a taxi with our new good friend Oscar the driver. On our way there we talked about pisco sours, whiskey and Coca-Cola, and at a stop sign there was eight years old doing handstands and cartwheels in traffic for money. We made him do it at least four times before he came up to us for money where Jeremy and Colgan him 11 céntimos (S/. 0.11). $1.00 is equivalent to S/. 2.58. After the extensive math, what that little boy took home from us was about four cents. The look on his face when he was finally payed for his hard work and asked to smile after risking his life for four cents was so pathetic. He was so defeated, but in Jeremy’s defense, he thought he was giving him one sol (35 cents).

We finally rolled up to the club’s gates to find that their security was stricter than Peru’s customs and immigration process of examinations at the airport. Here we had a Chinese-style buffet but Jeremy and I had two orders of tofu with steamed vegetables since everything had meat in it. After dinner we all walked along the beach where we saw a pelican out on the pier and then waited in front of the country club for about two hours for a taxi to come and drive us. Although it was a bit chilly down by the shore and it was late, time was well spent: Lili taught Matt how to sing “Party in the U.S.A.” en Espanol, Jeremy almost killed himself trying to jump over some railings, while others and myself conversed with Marta and her mother in Spanish about vegetarian/veganism. One thing I learned here is that if you say that you are vegetarian, many don’t consider chicken or fish to be “animals”. At every meal it’s necessary to clarify, “No carne, leche, queso, o mantequija,” or simply “solomente” (“only” or “by itself”). Then the night was concluded with fireworks over the ocean and a terrified stray dog.

As for the weather, the days are in the low 70s but it is also about 60-70% humidity at times since we’re on the coast, caught between the ocean and the Andes Mountains. Since it doesn’t rain here much at all during the fall (southern-hemisphere), the ground is very dry so Peru has many “maintenance” people sweeping the streets, collecting all the the dirt and dust. Lima is also making a strong effort to attract more tourists, so they’re doing construction all over town, and unfortunately outside our hotel. We wake up every morning at 7am to jack-hammers and car-horns. I think that all the cars run on diesel fuel and the exhaust is really killing me. My allergies have been awful and the air quality is going to take getting used to.

-GT