New Year's Eve!

After being violently ill for much of the day, I sucked it up enough to go outside for New Year's Eve. We grabbed some food and at about 11:45, made our way to the Plaza de Armas, the main square in Cusco. I bought a plastic lei from a kid (yellow for luck, remember) and we found a spot to stand on the edge of the square. The air was thick with gunpowder and the sounds of bottle rockets, M-80s, and general merriment. There are no "Safe and Sane" fireworks in Peru. They are all very much unsafe and insane, so your choices are to a) stay inside or b) enjoy yourself and hope that everyone has very good aim.

About five minutes to midnight, the volume went up to 11 and Chris pulled out our only time-telling instrument, a travel alarm clock, so we would know when it was midnight proper. Somewhere, at that exact moment, Dick Clark was ringing in a much more civilized new year from his hermetically sealed oxygen tank, but we felt more alive than anyone in Times Square possibly could have.

Right around midnight, a strange thing happened. Groups of people spontaneously began to run around the square, picking up more and more of a crowd as they went. From where we were, the whole procession seemed to be just a touch below riot status. We took some video, then I shut off the camera, grabbed Chris' hand, and we became part of the problem.

Here's the square at about 10:30.

And at about 12:15. (We were in the street, halfway around our circuit of the square at this point.)

I don't know who that lady is, but I'd like to thank her for making my New Year's picture a little more bizarre.

Fun at Sacsayhuaman

One of the interesting features at Sacsayhuaman is a series of large rocks that were originally formed in layers, then pushed on their sides by earthquakes and such. They've been worn smooth over the millenia, and the resulting grooves are PERFECT for little Peruvian butts to slide down. We saw lots of local families picnicking on the grass nearby, on account of it being a beautiful day and Sacsayhuaman being a cheap 'n' cheerful option for a day out. After watching the kids slide down this thing again and again, I just had to have a go. I got going really fast!

Other kids...

...And this kid. My favorite part about this picture is all the little kids laughing at the crazy gringa.

Also, there were llamas. I llove them.

Sacsayhuaman

Sacsayhuaman was not boring. In fact, Sacsayhuaman was stunning and incredibly impressive. When Cusco was built centuries ago, its planners envisioned it as a giant puma. The town was roughly built in that shape, and the fortress of Sacsayhuaman (Say "sexy woman" and you're very close. Giggle. Repeat.) was the head. The structure has giant walls made of some of the largest rocks I've ever seen -- one wall is done up in points, which serves as a great defense and also represents the teeth of the aforementioned puma. Never say I didn't teach you kids anything.

To get an idea of how big this is, you'd have to open up the picture and find the people. Then remind yourself that these ruins represent only 20% of the original structure.

This rock is estimated to weigh 300 tons. Wow.

Though we were not allowed to sit in it, we were still impressed by this seating carved from the living rock.

Quenko

Qenko was a little bit boring. It was small and though it had some interesting carved seats/altars underneath the rock it's made out of, it was still kind of boring.



The most interesting thing about these ruins were the ceremonial channels cut into the rock, which were supposedly used to receive offerings of chicha. Squiggly.

Puca Pucara

Second ruin along the road, Puca Pucara was used as a hunting lodge, according to our trusty LP. Have I mentioned how phenomenal the weather was that day? It was SO nice to spend the day outside the Diesel Cloud of Death that is Cusco (and even that is much better than the one in Lima).

Here's the ruins from across the road, but mostly the picture was for the beautiful countryside.

The name Puca Pucara means "red fort," and here you can see why. Also, here's a good example of a double-jamb doorway, which signified to the Incas that they were entering an especially sacred or special place.

Oh, we never got tired of doorway pictures. Imagine getting this big lintel up and in place.

View from the top.

After leaving Puca Pucara, we saw this along the side of the road. It's some manner of residential power station, with a power line coming from the main road. It is, in fact, made of mud bricks. Seriously. Half the damn country is also made from mud bricks. No wonder earthquakes are such a big deal here.

Tambo Machay

The plan on this day was to see a collection of four ruins that sit along a road just outside the city limits. If you're lame, you can give a cab driver US $20 to take you to each ruin and wait while you see them. If you're us, you look at the beautiful weather outside and take the LP's suggestion of paying the cab driver 10 soles (US $3) to drop you off at the farthest ruin, 8 km away from town. It's a lovely walk, all downhill through beautiful countryside that looks a lot like some pictures of Tuscany I've seen.

The farthest ruin, Tambo Machay, was likely a place of worship for an Incan water cult. After hundreds of years, the water still flows through the bath and channels. So pretty!

Hola de Peru!

We´ve only been on the ground in Peru for a few days and have already seen so many aspects of the culture and the differences between Lima and Cusco. Lima is every bit as dirty and nasty as I had expected. I am sure there are some nice bits, but I don´t feel too bad for leaving it behind after just one night. We caught a morning flight to Cusco on the 28th and spent the day getting our bearings, marveling at the number of Inca-period walls that are still quite literally holding the city together. In many places, the 500-year-old stone walls are in better shape than buildings made from more modern materials. People-watching is priceless, too. There are grips of women, young and old, who go about their business in traditional Andean clothes -- broad brimmed hats, colorful shawls, and full skirts with lots of petticoats. Pictures to come later, I´m sure. Some of them dress like this to better sell tchotchkes (aka "shit-knacks") to gringos, but some of them just dress like that because that´s the way they and their ancestors have always dressed.

Speaking of shit-knacks, I will be buying the most awesomest t-shirt ever later tonight. It says, simply, "No Gracias." You see, Peru is a very poor country, and Cusco is full of rich white tourists. Therefore, walking from one end of the Plaza de Armas to the other we are likely to be accosted by at least five or seven women, teenagers, and children, each trying to sell us dog-eared postcards, dolls in Quechua dress, and other crap. They are fairly persistent, and all one can really do is repeat "No gracias" until one is blue in the face.

Last night, we discovered the perfect solution. At this Irish pub we went to, they were selling the aforementioned t-shirts, so now all I have to do is point. Never mind that some of these people may not be able to read, and I´ll still probably have to say "No gracias" -- it´s still funny as hell.

This morning, the 29th, we sorted out our train tickets to Machu Picchu, where we´ll be traveling in a few days. As with most things in South America, this was no easy task. First, we walked to the train station that the Machu Picchu train station leaves from. It was located in the middle of the biggest street market I have ever personally seen. We could have bought anything from freshly killed chickens to whole hogs, coca leaves, and every manner of foodstuff or household product known to man. It was pure chaos and smelled strongly of the aroma I´ve come to call "charmingly rustic." Most of the rest of Cusco smells of urine or diesel. I think I prefer urine -- at least it doesn´t hurt my eyes.

Anyway, the train station was all closed up. Apparently, after all the morning trains leave for Machu Picchu, there´s no reason for it to open until they return in the evening. We asked a guard where we could buy tickets, and before we knew it we were being ushered into a taxi that magically appeared next to us. "Boletos, si, si." The driver seemed fairly confident that he could take us somewhere to buy tickets. We took deep breaths and trusted him. That´s not usually the best decision in this part of the world, but sometimes you have to take a chance that someone else knows better than you, especially when you are but one or two of the many thousands of retarded tourists that try to buy train tickets to Machu Picchu each year. Luckily, it worked out and we got tickets with no real problems.

After that, we went and toured the ruins of Coricancha, the main Incan temple dating from the 1500s when Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire. The remaining walls are simply stunning and in fantastic shape. After the Spanish conquistador Pizarro took over Cusco, he donated Coricancha to the Dominican friars, who built a beautiful building over the ruins and still live there today. The current building houses a moderate collection of religious art done by the Cusco School of Colonial Artists, a group of Andean artists who combined the aesthetics of Spanish European art and Andean sensibilities. One of the most famous paintings from this school is a version of the Last Supper that features cuy, or guinea pig, as the main dish. So awesome. That particular painting is in the cathedral, which we haven´t seen yet.

Well, Chris is finally hooked up to be able to post to this blog, so I won´t hog it all. Hasta luego.

Here's your damn Incas.

I know it's what everyone came to see. We didn't have to go far to find Incan ruins -- there are some right within the city limits of Cusco. Back in the day, Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire, and Coricancha the main temple within Cusco -- so you can see that it was something special. At the height of the civilization, the walls of Coricancha were almost completely covered in sheets of gold, and placed in the central courtyard was an entire gold "farm," complete with solid gold stalks of corn, trees, and I think maybe even llamas. When the Spanish came, Coricancha was stripped of its riches and a colonial church was built upon the foundation.

See? Look at them stones. Built by people with nothing more than bronze tools, they were.

This is another cool set of walls near the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Both walls are still in perfect condition -- we never got tired of walking down this alley.

THIS WEEKEND: Stay tuned. If you're lucky I might get to New Year's Eve, for which I have video. Aw yeah.

More New Stuff

This time it's Inca Kola, a soft drink that's VERY popular in Peru. We put on our chullpas (nearly unpronounceable unless you hear it done by a native first, so just go with "chalupa") and took a big swig. Here's the before and after:




It's kind of bubblegummy, but not bad if it's served cold and you like really sweet drinks.

Chicha

We had a list of foods and beverages that we wanted to try while in Peru. Among them was chicha morada, a non-carbonated beverage made from purple corn. The first step in making chicha is for the maker to chew the corn kernels; for Chris, this was a bit offputting, but no one's perfect. After being fermented for a few days, the resulting drink is darker than grape juice and tastes slightly fruity and, um, corny. It's pretty hard to describe. Here's us getting out there and trying new things.







No matter whether you see chicha for sale on the street or in a restaurant, it's usually in a big container. Here's the jug'o'chicha at the Chez Maggy where we had lunch.

Hola Cusco

Cusco is a beautiful little town, with an ornate cathedral and several other equally impressive churches. Here they are.

La Compania church (above)

The cathedral -- these massive doors were open on New Year's Eve, which was fairly impressive.

Yellow is the color of the New Year in Peru. It signifies good luck in the upcoming year. In the days before New Year's Eve, clothing shops and stalls in the mercado were hawking all manner of yellow underwear (green for money and red for love are also sold, but yellow is most common). I'm so happy I found out about this little tradition before arriving, otherwise it would have been really weird to walk past shop after random shop, all selling inordinate amounts of yellow underwear. Think about it. If you saw that and didn't know what was happening, you might not even be able to put your finger on it, you'd just feel that something odd was going on.

Finally Here!

So I'm ready to finally put some pictures up here, and I can't figure out how to backdate stuff. I mean, it backdates, but the post doesn't slot in where it should. My theory here is that I'll just start over from the beginning, tell the story, and post the pictures. We'll see.

We left Los Angeles at 1:30 am PST and reached Lima at 6:30 pm EST, via a 6 hour layover in beautiful San Salvador airport. Lima is a dirty, dangerous place that I'd prefer never to see again; however, a good Lonely Planet tip drew us to a beautiful little hotel called Hostal El Patio in the Miraflores district. After setting down our things and taking a well-deserved shower, we walked around a bit and had a bottle of one of Peru's most popular beers, Cristal.

Right now Blogger is not allowing photo uploads, so I'll have to try this later. Damn Blogger.

Mom, Dad, Tim, and Nathan -- here's where we called you from at the San Salvador airport. Exciting, isn't it?

The cutest little hotel in all of Lima.

This is an ekeko -- the god of fortune, abundance, and love. You see him in houses, hotels, and restaurants throughout Peru. The little things all over him represent wishes -- you tie on a heart to wish for love, grain for a good harvest, and money for... money. Whatever you want, you give your ekeko. One we saw had a little suitcase, complete with a toothbrush and tiny passport inside.