(AN: Blog title reference to the movie Emperors New Groove...I need to watch that now to see how they depict Cusco!)
Monday March 30, 2009
We had a three hour ISA orientation to visit the Universidad of Pacífico, where we will be attending classes, and the Student Activities Center around the block, where the ISA office is located. The Student Activities center is really neat, apparently you can take classes such as guitar and they even have foosball tables and a climbing wall outside. The six-story university itself is really pretty, with seven or so interconnected buildings centered around a big concrete courtyard with awnings and benches. We met Rachel, the ISA program director (and currently 8 ½ months pregnant), who I found out used to live in my hometown Clearwater! I also registered online for next semester’s classes at the University of Florida - I can’t believe I need to do that already. Although I’m happy with my future schedule, I don’t even want to think about going back to 18 credit semesters with weekends filled with studying instead of traveling. After a delicious dinner of arroz con pollo (“rice with chicken” but also with incredible spices), I packed my backpack and called it an early night since we had a 3 am wakeup call to leave for Cusco and Machu Picchu!
Tuesday March 31, 2009
We caught our one-hour flight at 6 AM to Cusco, arriving bright and early to the old capital of the Incan empire. Cusco actually means bellybutton in Quechua, the indigenous language, because Cusco was considered the center of the earth by the Incans. At any rate, the first order of business once we got on our bus heading to the city center was to try “carmelos de coca,” candies made from the coca plant. And no, they didn’t have any drug properties. Coca is commonly consumed in the Andean region, especially as it is considered a cure for altitude sickness – after all, we were at an elevation of some 12,000 feet above sea level. We spent an hour at a café on the Plaza de Armas, the main plaza in Cusco, where we also tried mate de coca, a very popular drink (basically just tea made from coca leaves).
We were then in transit to…a llama farm in the mountains! We were over-excited by these cute and cuddly creatures as they nipped at the alfalfa in our hands. On the educational front, we learned how they were the principal pack animals for indigenous peoples before the introduction of the horse and we also learned more about the different animals in the llama family, such as the guanaco (such as Paco from my El Chaltén entry!) and alpacas. On the fun front, I got to hold a baby llama! We also observed the indigenous women weaving handspun and hand-dyed wools.
Next stop: the town of Pisac. We spent several hours hiking through the mountains while Edi, the Cusco ISA program director and our tour guide for the week, explained about the ruins. Our first taste of Incan architecture was fascinating; it’s incredible how they could carve and fit stones without the use of any mortar. They all fit so perfectly together that not even water can filter through the cracks. Another intriguing characteristic was how the Incans built their edifices to withstand earthquakes, which are common in Perú thanks to its position on the Ring of Fire. In addition to the overlapping masonry, the doorways are slanted inward at a 15 degree angle to provide further stability.
The scenery was unbelievable as we wound from ruin to ruin through the mountains, passing barren temples and stepped agricultural terraces the Incans constructed down the mountainside. To think they developed the technology to establish separate micro climates on each terrace no wider than 30 feet in an area otherwise incapable of growing anything blows my mind. I must have been trapped in my thoughts of the wonders of Incan architecture at one point because I slipped and fell down the path. I was really fortunate I wasn’t close to a cliff’s edge, but I did fall right into a cactus bed which was not exactly ideal either. When I ripped my side out of the cactus, a chunk of it ripped off and stayed lodged in my skin, so my friend Jessi had to spent a couple minutes pulling out the piece and several stray needles that had burrowed deep into my stomach.
Ignoring the mild stinging in my side, I pressed on to the end of the trail, where we were greeted by the bus that took us to Edi’s village. It was a very small traditional pueblo made up of a handful of Quechua-speaking families. I couldn’t believe how hospitable they were to open up their homes to us and make us a traditional lunch. When the altitude wasn’t agreeing with Ashley or me, they grabbed a mattress and blankets from inside and plopped them down into the soggy grass without hesitation so we could lie down. I nibbled at the huge meal which included two soups, fish (which is eaten a lot in Perú, unlike Argentina), a dish that sort of tasted like non-sweet funnel cake, and a couple other sides.
We arrived in Ollantaytambo around 6 PM and checked into our hotel. A mixture of waking up at 3 am, hiking for several hours, and the altitude had left us all exhausted so we just spent a couple hours walking around the small town square and browsing the artisan craft stalls. I was sound asleep by 8 PM and got some well-needed rest before our 4 AM wake-up call the next morning.
Tomorrow: MACHU PICCHU! aka one of the seven wonders of the world!
Coli
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