South America Archives - Wandering North

Brazil South America

Lapa Land: Rio Day 2

I awakened my second full day in Rio with a bit of a plan: I wanted to get up early enough to go to see the Lapa Stairs. It’s not that the stairs disappear after morning, but I had heard that they very quickly get overrun with tourists and tour groups later in the day, so I thought I needed to get early to have them to myself. I had breakfast at the hotel (Hotel OK). True to brand, the breakfast was ok. It was packed with people – mostly Portuguese speaking people. I didn’t find any other English-speaking people that I could chat with (I am useless with any Portuguese phrases), but I kept myself busy eating all the delicious fruits. From my hotel I walked towards the Lapa Stairs. I was staying right in between the Centro and Lapa districts, so it wasn’t very far to walk to the stairs, and I loved the journey.

Walking in Lapa

From what I’ve seen of Rio, Lapa is my favourite district. It’s gritty; covered in graffiti with beautiful old buildings, lots of restaurants, cafes, and music venues. It’s definitely the bohemian, arty part of the city. Unfortunately, it’s dangerous at night. As I said in my previous post, I’m not generally concerned about violence, but people who are like me and locals to the area have told me pretty awful stories about going out in Lapa after dark and it even told me that Uber drivers won’t drive there. I question whether that’s true, or if it is as bad as I was told, but that’s what I hear. So, all my experiences in Lapa were during the day, but I definitely enjoyed it. (Before I get corrected; the Santa Teresa neighbourhood is also excellent; I’m just not clear where the dividing line is between Lapa and Santa Teresa, so I am referencing only Lapa because that is where i mostly seemed to be.)

pretty buildings

Lapa has two famous sites one of which is the stairs, will get to in a moment, and the other are Arcos de Lapa is which was an aqueduct system built in 1723. It’s hard to miss them; this gleaming white wall of double arches that diagonally cuts through the neighbourhood. Quite picturesque. The area around the arches had a lot of people sleeping in the street and clearly down on their luck. It didn’t feel unsafe, but it was something to be aware of. On to the stairs.

The Escadaria Selarón

I wasn’t actually that excited about seeing the Escadaria Selarón (aka the Lapa Stairs, aka the Escadaria da Lapa), I just heard that it was a thing that you’re supposed to see and I thought it would give me an excuse to walk through the neighbourhood and see what else there is, and I was already enjoying my walk, so had the stairs been disappointing it wouldn’t have been a problem for me, but when I arrived at the stairs, I found them delightful.

Colourful and artistic. Definitely photogenic. But the thing that I liked about them is just that it was such a whimsical, unnecessary thing. The story behind it is there was a Chilean artist, Jorge Selarón, who lived there, one day was repairing the few stairs leading up to his home and he decided to use a bunch of brightly coloured tiles to repair them. But he didn’t stop. His obsession grew and grew and he started covering all of the stairs with the tiles and mirrors and bits of pottery until it covered the entire staircase and it sort of crept like a beautiful fungus onto the apartment buildings that line the stairs and beyond. It’s just delightful. The fact that lots of people want to go there and take their pictures… well, you can’t even be upset about it, because it’s great. And of course, I couldn’t resist some selfies myself.

A triptych of selfies

A not so fun fact that I discovered was that the artist appears to have committed suicide in 2013 by pouring paint thinner on his head and setting himself on fire on the very stairs where we now take cute selfies and film music videos. A sad end, but his legacy is undeniably positive and popular. (I say “appears to have” because there is a small chance that he was murdered, but that theory seems to have less weight. There is a detailed account of his demise here.)

near the stairs

Cigar Time

After visiting the stairs, I walked to the Centro district to the Velha Habana, an excellent and brand new café / cigar store / cigar lounge. I saw it on my first day of wandering, but it was closed on Sunday. It was so new that they were still hanging art on the walls. It is really nice. I had a coffee and tried one of the locally grown and rolled cigars.

Wrapping up in Rio

It was at this point that I decided that I had pretty much seen many of the things that I wanted to do in Rio. I had plans to go to see the Christ the Redeemer statue and the Sugarloaf Mountain, but I was saving that for the day that I would fly back through Rio at the end of my trip, so I found myself needing something to do. So I decided that I would go on a favela tour. I’ve written about that in a separate post (here) because I took a lot of photos and I think it sort of deserves its own commentary, but that’s what I did with my afternoon.

After the favela tour, I ended up back in Leblon and i went for a cigar again at the excellent Esch Café and had a wonderful dinner at a middle eastern restaurant. As a vegetarian, the food in Brazil was kind of awful. Obviously, Rio is a major city and international food is available, but in terms of Brazilian food, it’s not super vegetarian friendly and certainly not vegan friendly, so I was happy to have a meal that was to my liking. After dinner I took the subway back to my hotel and had a good night sleep.

I liked my second day in Rio a lot more. The beach neighbourhoods I visited on day one just were not my thing, I found the Centro area a little bit boring, but I really liked Lapa (and Santa Teresa? I’m not sue where one area becomes the next) and I did enjoy the favela tour. The next day I would fly north to Salvador, which was the the place I most wanted to see in Brazil.

Peru South America

Final Day in Iquitos

The day we left Peru we did not fly out until the evening, so there was still one final day to enjoy. After luxuriating in our wonderful hotel room and breakfast buffet, i set out to the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and animal rescue. To get there i took a 4 Sole tuk tuk ride from the hotel to Bella Vista-Nanay, a nearby town along a tributary of the Amazon. It had started to rain, so when i was dropped off at the muddy market along the river, i waited out the rain at a floating cafe and watched the boats depart.

I then found a boat heading to Padre Cocha, the village where my destination was located. I had been told that a boat would cost 20-30 Soles, but the going rate seemed to be 3, which suited me just fine. I got on a simple boat with a thatched roof and run by a rickety motor. I was the only tourist on the boat which was mostly filled with locals and items going to or from market. The trip wasn’t very long, but suddenly seemed to take forever when water began entering the boat and a couple of people had to pitch in, bailing water with buckets. This made me nervous, but we were always swimming distance from shore and i just tried to put giant Amazonian fish out of my mind. No one else seemed too concerned.

We arrived and i landed in the village. There were no signs, but the place wasn’t very big, so i just started walking, figuring that i would find a sign at some point. I walked past the simple houses, which were not on stilts, due to the village being elevated somewhat from the river. It was a pretty, sleepy little place and the few people i asked about the butterfly farm seemed to have no idea what i walk talking about, despite my passable Spanish and excellent butterfly charades.

Finally, i saw a sign, or rather, a series of signs, leading me along an increasingly tropical and beautiful jungle path.

I headed back by boat to Bella Vista-Nanay (this time suffering not a near sinking but an engine that regularly cut out and left us adrift), where i spent sometime at the market, ogling the giant grubs being grilled up for snacks (and being thankful of my vegetarianism).

We flew out that night, from Iquitos to Lima, Lima to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Vancouver. We even got upgraded to business class on one leg of the trip. The business class seats were entirely unbooked i guess and in some weird, racist airline policy, the only white people on the flight got bumped up. One couple, with a white woman and her Mexican partner, found that only she was offered an upgrade. I can’t support the policy, but i did not decline the upgrade. I’d never pay for first or business class, but it really is better.
I wish i didn’t know that.

And that was it for Peru. I am happy with the trip. I did everything I wanted to do and didn’t feel rushed. There is always more to see, but i am happy with our choices. I think I am done with South America for a while, but this was a great trip. Home now and time to start daydreaming about the next destination.

Peru South America

The Belen Market, Iquitos

I never do this, but i am writing this post from Vancouver. I wrote my last post on the Peru trip in Peru the day before we went into the internet-free Amazon and then i was so sick the one day we had back in civilization before heading back that i didn’t feel like writing anything. So as i write this i am am nestled in a leather chair, with a cigar, back in Vancouver. But for now…back to Peru…

The morning before we went from Iquitos back into the jungle i went to the Belen market. I had tried to go the previous day but by the time i got there it was packing up. The next morning however i had no such problems. Belen is an area in Iquitos, partly made up of a floating village and partly made up of the sprawling market. It is unquestionably a poor neighbourhood and much of what i had read about the market before leaving for Peru was that it was too dangerous to visit alone. Of course i have heard that before and i know enough not to listen to such advice (which is usually just borne out of irrational fears and racism).

The market (a short walk from the main part of the river boardwalk) was intimidating on first arrival, only because the entrance is thresholded by a large pile of garbage and ankle deep mud. Oh well, i wasn’t clean anyway. Once inside, the market is a sensory experience, with all of the sights, smells and sounds of a jungle market (including raw meat and fish sitting for hours in the hot sun). Sure, there are the usual fruits and vegetables, plus those of the tropical variety. Then there are sacks of peppers, spices, grains, and flours. Women sit at booths and on the drier parts of the ground, selling their wares while wrangling their children.

Then there were fish – so many varieties and many so large, fresh from the amazon – being sold raw and being grilled over barrels for eating.

There were tables of outdoor, makeshift eateries, mostly with rice, fish, chicken and eggs. Then there was the butchery section, where the ground was slippery with blood and water and i was almost hit in the head with a half a dead hog being carried down a narrow aisle. I wanted to and did take pictures, but so as to not appear like a judgmental douche-bag, i smiled at all of the women and tried out my Spanish on them, identifying various body parts and smiling with approval before snapping pictures. I did see some large alligators getting butchered, but didn’t feel right taking a picture.

Then there were the aisles selling Amazonian medical remedies for everything from diabetes to impotence, depression to cancer. The remedies themselves consisted of brown powders to incense to bottles of amber liquid filled with vegetable and animal parts. There were also skulls and bones and feathers for sale and various parts of endangered creatures. Fancy a jaguar pelt? You could buy one for $40. I didn’t buy anything like that, but i did pick up some small cigars, which were allegedly rolled of locally grown tobacco.

I could have wandered around there all day, but i had to be back at the hotel to get picked up to go into the jungle, so i slowly found my way out of the merchant maze and walked back down the boardwalk to the hotel. If i had more time i would have taken a canoe tour through the floating village, but the schedule did not allow it and the jungle awaited.

Peru South America

Iquitos

Our trip to Iquitos should have taken about five hours. A short flight from Cusco to Lima and then short flight from Lima to Iquitos. There are no direct flights from Cusco to Iquitos at this time. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 am for our 7am flight, but at just after 7:00 we were told the flight was cancelled. We had to pick up our bags and check in again for another flight. The problem was, so did everyone else. The line, had we stood in it, would have kept us queued up for 3 hours. Some fast talking (and a few lies) got us out of the queue and on to a 12:00 flight to Lima and a 3pm flight to Iquitos…but the 12:00 noon flight was delayed by an hour. We did make our 3pm flight but it involved running at top speed through the airport to make the connection, which we did. Miraculously, so did our bags.

We stepped off the plane in Iquitos onto the tarmac and were hit with a wonderful blast of thick, tropical air as well as the first drops of a fantastic downpour, complete with lightning. Thankfully, shortly after checking in to our hotel the rain had stopped.

We stayed in Iquitos at the Casa Morey. It is a historic building, built originally as a mansion residence for a rubber baron at the turn of the 20th century. Iquitos was founded in the 1500s as a Jesuit missionary, but in the mid 1800s it was transformed by the rubber boom and consequently the city is filled with faded and crumbly buildings which once were splendid but now are only dim reminders of a time long past. Casa Morey has however been lovingly restored. It is covered with beautiful ajuelos and the common areas are filled with period furniture, including the lobby, breakfast room and library. The rooms by the pool are a bit more simple in decor but they are massive. Our room, which opens onto the courtyard pool, is gigantic and has 20 foot ceilings.

After checking into the hotel, we walked – in the dark – along the streets, which seem quite dangerous. Iquitos is the largest city in the world not accessible by road, so there are very few cars, but the streets are electric with tuk tuks (called mototaxis here) and motorcycles, none of which stop for pedestrians. In this and other respects it feels more like a South East Asian city than a South American one. The streets, like the buildings, are in poor repair, so we stepped carefully.

There is a marvelous boardwalk along the Amazon however. It is wide and pedestrian and lined with a mix of restaurants and civic buildings. At night the side along the river was black. We could see nothing but an inky black void. By day however the river side was revealed as the verdant, river landscape that it is.

That first night we had dinner in the oppressive humidity along the river on the patio of a restaurant and went to bed, tired after our long day of travel.

The next day before breakfast i went for an early morning walk. I crossed a wooden pedestrian bridge high above the river below. On the river was a cluster of very poor looking floating houses of wood and corrugated metal. At this time of the day many children climbed the steep stairs out if the village and up to the bridge in their school uniforms, which were impossibly clean, considering the state of the houses that produced them.

I walked along a busy street to where i saw cluster of tuk tuks and people and found that a market of sorts had emerged. People cooking and selling food for breakfast (rice, fish, chicken and eggs for the most part). People unloading fish and chickens and thousands of bananas, still connected to the tree limbs for pickup or sale. Women sitting on street selling chilies, potatos and other vegetables. It was busy and delightful. I strolled along for a while, politely declining the numerous taxi offers and headed back for breakfast at the hotel. I didn’t take many photos, because i felt so conspicuous, but i took a few when someone gave me an ok.

We spent the day in Iquitos walking and looking at the buildings and streets. There really aren’t any sites per se, aside from one building designed by Gustav Eiffel and shipped over in pieces from Europe (a building which is, in all honesty, not particularly attractive). So we just walked past shops and squares, and along the riverfront. We went to the Mercado Central and to several huts selling handicrafts and souvenirs. And we stopped a lot of fresh juices, to help with the heat and humidity. Our hotel had AC but few other places seemed to. The city is definitely run down, but it is interesting and there are reminders of its glory days past.

We enjoyed the wonderfully colorful graffiti down by the boardwalk.

In the evening over dinner at Dawn on the Amazon, a popular restaurant on the boardwalk, we eaves-dropped on various conversations, most of which had to do with ayahuasca ceremonies. A lot of travelers come to Iquitos to partake in ayahuasca ceremonies overseen by shamans and they are keen to discuss their experiences and how it has opened their minds. (Just take any 1967 era conversation about LSD and substitute ayahuasca for LSD and you’ll get the idea.) A number of westerners seem to have given up their lives back home to move here and follow this way of life. Ayahuasca is such a big thing here that many restaurants have special menus to cater to people on the drug/following the lifestyle. Probably needless to say, we did not partake, but we enjoyed listening in.

Our first whole day in Iquitos really allowed us to see everything, but we still had a half day more before going to the jungle lodge. I’ll save it for a new post.

Peru South America

Market Day in Pisac

Our final day in Cusco was spent mostly in Pisac. Pisac is a town of about 900 people about 30 kilometers from Cusco. We took a taxi through the scenic countryside, past various Incan ruins. The sacred valley is dotted with such archeological sights that a person could spend days visiting and hiking them all.

We went to picturesque Pisac because it was supposed to be a pretty little town with a renowned crafts market. The market did not disappoint. Rows and rows of stalls selling textiles, knitted goods, jewelry, paintings, and other various odds and ends. Most were simple wooden and tarp stalls but there were also some regular shops and lots of eateries – mostly street side eateries – specializing in Peruvian cuisine. A couple of places had cute guinea pig huts were you could pick your preferred pig (cuy, in Spanish) and have it roasted to perfection for lunch.

We walked and browsed and bought some things – me, haggling for the best price; Betty-Lou paying precisely what was asked or rounding the price up where she felt the item was worth more. (I can’t explain it; it’s just her way.)

The market was crawling with adorable little girls carrying baby llamas in colourful blankets asking for their pictures to be taken for a few coins. Of course we couldn’t resist. Particularly adorable was watching the girls feed the baby llamas from bottles. The llamas were delighted and wagged their tails excitedly, falling over each other to get to the milk.

Pisac has become something of a new age mecca for people interested in yoga and crystals, and there are a number of hippies there (Peruvian and from abroad) selling beaded bracelets, books, and vegan treats.

In the food area of the market we had some empanadas and stuffed peppers at the tables temporarily erected next to outdoor grills. Everything was delicious.

As the market started to wind down we decided to head back to Cusco. We first boarded a bus, but realized quickly that we would have to stand the whole way, which, given the twistiness of the road seemed like a bad idea – even at 3 soles for the ride. We got off the bus and a man and a woman in a car called out “Cusco?” Betty-Lou and i looked at each other, shrugged and got into the car. We paid them 10 soles for the ride. The couple spoke no english, but we offered them chocolate and they offered us bread and all was well. We learned that she was a nurse and he a policeman. We listened to Peruvian music (curse those panpipes!) and clapped along to the peppier tunes. At one point they stopped and pulled the car over at a certain spot and the woman poured out a bottle of Inca Kola (the local soft drink) onto the ground for mother earth (or ‘Pachu Mama’).

They dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas, a few blocks from our hotel.

We went for dinner and packed up our bags, ready for our early morning flight to Iquitos and the next portion of our journey.

Peru South America

Aimless Wandering in Cusco

The day before yesterday in Cusco was our ‘extra’ day. The day when i have seen and done all i wish to see and do. The day when i have time for relaxing or just wandering aimlessly. We had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel and then went for a walk, nowhere in particular, but it took us through less touristy neighborhoods, down and then up again streets and stairs so steep that at times they gave us pause before we proceeded. We visited a crafts market on the San Blas square and generally saw people going about their ordinary lives.

It was a warm day and nice for being outside. The weather actually has been lovely on the whole trip so far. A couple of brief rain showers, but that was it. The evenings are quite cool here and one definitely needs a jacket, but it is very pleasant.

Anyway, we walked. We visited a church high over the city. We saw yet more llamas and followed them around with our camera.

We had lunch at, of all places, an Israeli restaurant; a cozy hole in the wall place busy with Hebrew speaking, young patrons. We had hummus and felafel and salad, which was a welcome change from the Peruvian cuisine.

Peruvian food is fine enough and there seems to be more here for vegetarians than in Ecuador or Colombia, but i am a bit tired of vegetable soup and avocados and spaghetti with only the faintest whisper of tomato sauce. We have had some nice pizzas. One thing i will say is that everywhere the food is very fresh. Every meal is prepared when you order it – like the wood oven pizza we had for which the dough and sauce were made fresh, the cheese grated and the vegetables sliced before our eyes, while someone else chopped wood for the fire.

After lunch we parted ways for a while and i went off in search of a book to read. I found two places with single racks of used English books – mostly an inexcusable collection of John Grisham and romance novels, but i did find a beat up copy of ” Gone Girl”‘ which i bought. I settled in at a cafe of a busy pedestrian street just off the main plaza for a cigar and some reading. I had an espresso and a fishbowl of fresh pineapple juice. It was difficult to get much reading done though when every couple of minutes a man or woman, boy or girl comes by to sell paintings, jewelry, dolls, etc, or offer shoe shines – the last of which i admittedly really needed, but even at the asking price of 1 sole (40 c) i couldn’t be bothered to be bothered to buy. Little urchiny looking children came by and sat down, eyeing my cigar with curiosity before taking sugar from the dish on the table and running off while emptying the packets into their mouths. It was a very nice place to sit, outside, in the beautiful weather and i stayed for an hour or more before starting the steep walk back to the hotel.

In the evening we had a great meal of Thai curry at an Australian-owned restaurant. Not very Peruvian but very delicious and inexpensive. We killed the evening doing crossword puzzles before bed. Overall, a very relaxing day in which nothing extraordinary happened, but it was perfect nonetheless.

Peru South America

Machu Picchu

Aguas Calientes is a small town at the base of Machu Picchu sitting astride the Rio Urubamba. The town exists, it seems, for the purpose of housing the throngs of visitors to Machu Picchu.

You can only reach the town by rail or by foot. We arrived by Inca Rail and are leaving by Peru Rail (the latter is better choice, in hindsight).

The town, despite its diminutive size is crammed with restaurants, hotels, and souvenir/craft shops and stalls. The restaurants and hotels are all overpriced and mediocre, banking on the facts that if you want to visit Machu Picchu, you have to pass through. It’s a nice place to spend a night though and it is fun to walk the steep streets and over the bridges crossing the river.

We arrived in the evening and checked into our accommodations: the Supertramp Backpacker Hostel. For the money, it was the best choice as far as i could tell. We had a private room, but with (uncomfortably public) bathrooms. It was comfortable with a good restaurant and a pleasant terrace bar. The place was packed with young backpackers from all over, trading tales of Machu Picchu hikes had and anticipated.

I went out for dinner and a cigar and watched tourists dodge the restaurant and massage touts and dogs playing in the street. (An alarming number of dogs here wear clothes. I cannot explain this phenomenon.) The weather was warm in the evening and perfect for a stroll.

We awoke this morning at 4:30 am and readied ourselves for Machu Picchu. Breakfast on the square during a short lived but torrential rainstorm. Queuing up for the buses to the top. Zigging and zagging our way on the bus to the top, at each turn coming what seemed to be perilously close to plummeting down into the valley below. The mountains – sharp, green shards exploding out of the earth were covered in puffy foliage and surrounded by shrouds of mist that were simply magical.

At the top we were in the sun and we commenced exploring. We hired a guide for the first couple of hours, which was a good choice as we got to learn about the history and engineering of the site, as well as the many practical aspects of the architecture. The other bonus of hiring a guide is that it took away any stress i may have had of trying to navigate the nooks and crannies to see it all. We took lots of stops for photos.

Once we were on our own we continued exploring, climbing up and down very steep and jagged stone stairs, which were generally unsecured on one side by walls, meaning that a misstep could lead to a serious fall. We were careful – Betty-Lou being averse to heights and i being prone to falls. It was exhilarating though and each level climbed led to new discoveries. There were llamas lazing on the top of the grass terraces and we saw a chinchilla sleeping in a window of an Incan temple.

The place was amazing. The ruins and the spectacular setting.

We descended from the mountain and spent the late afternoon hanging around and relaxing and fending off sleep.

Currently we are on board the Peru Rail train to Poroy (the closest station to Cusco). The train is quite fancy (they just fed us dinner and drinks) and although it is too dark now to take in the view through the huge windows, the ride is relaxing. Tonight we return to our hostal in Cusco and tomorrow is a mystery.

I am pleased that Machu Picchu did not disappoint.
dale

Peru South America

Into the Sacred Valley

Yesterday we awoke in Cusco and took a taxi down into the valley to Ollantaytambo. We could have taken public transport for a pittance, but having our own car enabled us to stop at sights along the way for photos of llamas, burros, and marvelous views.

We descended steeply into the valley below Cusco (aka “the sacred valley”). We passed fields of patchwork farmland where men and women tilling the soil and planting by hand or with the aid of oxen and burros. The women still wore their traditional dress, including their tall, proud hats.

We stopped at Chinchero (at more than 12,000 feet apparently) where we visited a little area where women were weaving the incredible Peruvian tapestries and blankets and knitting the woolly shawls and hats sold everywhere. It was obviously geared towards tourists, but it was still interesting to see how they spin the alpaca yarn and dye it vivid hues using leaves, flowers, bark, and bug blood.

Heading on our way, past mud brick houses and women selling yet more handicrafts by the roadside we stopped to take more pictures as we neared the bottom of the valley.

Finally (after about two hours) we reached Ollantaytambo. It is a really charming town of about 700 people nestled in the mountains. It has a cute and tiny plaza with narrow, stone streets (many pedestrian) radiating out from it, and lined with old stone houses. Centuries old.

On the mountains around the town are the impressive remains of an Incan fortress. There is a small market, various restaurants catering to tourists, and a decent crafts market. Most delightful. Shortly after we arrived a seemingly random religious procession was led through the town by a white robed priest (?) and followed by a tuneless marching band, and maybe two dozen residents, covered in pink and white confetti.

We walked the town and i had a cigar while we watched the local woman in their colorful skirts and saucer-like red hats carry bushels of grass, baskets of bread and small children around by strapping them to their backs with colorful, woven blankets.

We left Ollantaytambo by train, on the Inca Rail to Aguas Callientes – the town at the base of Machu Picchu. The train trip was a little under two hours and was very enjoyable, passing by the Urubamba River and mountains that grew increasingly steep.

It was a lovely train ride – except for one thing. If there is one type of music that i universally loathe it is Peruvian (or South American – i know other countries are equally responsible for this abomination) pan pipe music. I find it especially distasteful when the songs being played are American or British pop songs. Well, that is exclusively what was played on the train throughout the journey. Peruvian pan pipe versions of ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’, etc. I mean, come on. They must be able to do better than this. ‘Careless Whisper’ should never be reproduced on a pan flute. However, they did provide complimentary snacks and beverages, so that almost made it bearable. (almost)

Arrived in Aguas Callientes after dark, with just the silhouettes of the mountains visible against the near black sky.

Peru South America

Llama Land

We arrived in Cusco yesterday morning after a short, hour long flight from Lima. Cusco was sunny and warmer than Lima, although being high in the Andes, the temperature quickly changes to cool and cold. Cusco sits in the Andes at 10,100+ feet above sea level, which is a about twice as high as Denver and about 2,500 feet higher than Bogota, by comparison. Aside from feeling a bit winded and having a bit of a headache though, it’s not bad.

Our hotel – the Amaru Hostel – is wonderful. Bright yellow with two flowery courtyards and views over rooftops of the city. Our room is small and cozy. We are in the San Blas district of Cusco, which is a short walk from the main square, although that short walk is up (or down, depending on your direction) a very steep street lined with anorexic sidewalks paved with slippery, centuries-old stones. It’s an adventure.

The first day we had the late afternoon, during which we walked the city, getting our bearings, and enjoying the cobbled streets, welcoming squares, and numerous cathedrals and churches.

The city is delightful and is so different from Lima, and even different than other places i have been in South America. Maybe because it is so historic and well preserved, or maybe because of how touristy it is. So far, we like it; lots of places to explore.

Being a very touristy town, unlike on Lima, there are tourists everywhere and the usual touts promoting the best tours, restaurants, souvenirs, etc. English is more widely spoken, but by no means is it universal. I am adding Spanish words and phrases to my lexicon daily.

We went to some of the main cathedrals, through the main plaza, and then to an alleged chocolate “museum” (really just a shop) where i had some wonderful and spicy hot chocolate outside in the square. After that we went walking until we stumbled upon the Mercado San Pedro, Cusco’s main market.

There are stalls selling handicrafts, but it is predominantly a food market. Stalls of produce, including massive yellow squash and white cauliflowers and sinister black corn; aisles of women selling made to order fruit and veg juice concoctions; walls of rounds of white, salty cheese; stacks of bread, both hearty and decorative; aromatic peppers and spices; fresh olives; huge white sacks of quinoa and other grains….It was endless and wonderful.

We bought some cheese and bread before wandering down to the food stalls where people cook and sell fresh from the market meals to hungry locals. Along side that are rows of fishmongers and butchers. The butchers were some of the most remarkable i have seen. The ground was bloody and dogs ran free searching for dropped scraps. Piles of skinned bulls heads lay on the ground. On the counters were mounds of pristine white stomachs, baskets of red hearts, assorted organs, eyeballs, brains, spinal cords, more skinned heads, and stacks of snouts (from what animal i am not sure). I took as many pictures as i could without making a nuisance of myself.

After that we had coffee and a cigar on a patio on a square (it would seem that the smoking rules are more relaxed here) before having dinner and, after yet more wandering, heading to bed.

Today has been a but more of the same – wandering and exploring the streets and sights, eating, picture taking, etc. currently, we are taking a break at the hotel to wait out a particularly cold rain.

I should say, today was especially similar to yesterday because late yesterday, i lost my camera. Not stolen. Lost. I know where i left it. I don’t lose things and certainly not while traveling when i am especially vigilant, but i got lazy or negligent and i lost it. It was a cheap camera, so the loss in that sense is not great. The pictures are all i care about. The only thing that kept my from panicking is that all of my pictures (except from yesterday) were already backed up on the iPad, so nothing was lost. Today we back tracked to the market and a church or two so i could retake some of the pictures. Now for the remainder of the trip Betty-Lou and i shall be sharing a camera. One less thing to carry home for me i guess.

None of this stopped me from getting about a million pictures of the Andean women in their standard and traditional dress of sturdy skirts, woolen leggings, sweaters, long black braids, and tall, brimmed hats. I also have tons of pictures of the women dressed in colorful fancy dress and their baby llamas. Vancouver would be a much happier place if its streets were filled with baby llamas.

I don’t know what’s up for the rest of today, but tomorrow we head out of Cusco for an over night journey that includes Ollantaytambo, Aguas Callientes, and (of course) Machu Picchu.
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Peru South America

Barranco

Our final day in Lima was quite relaxed. I had seen most of the things on my list so we just went for a nice meander down to the sea and than over to Barranco, a neighbourhood next to Miraflores, considered to be bohemian. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for a stroll along the cliffs and then into Barranco. There isn’t a ton to see there, but it is a nice neighborhood with colorful buildings in just the right amount of disrepair to make them especially charming.

There is a legendary church built by fishermen in the 18th C after being led to shore safely by a phantom light. The church was built on that spot from which the light came. The church was damaged by a hurricane in the 1940s and has been left unrestored and uninhabited – except by flocks of huge, black vultures, making for a creepy site.

We walked down and around the paths in the neighborhood before settling in to an outdoor cafe under a tree, where we spent a couple of hours, relaxing and enjoying a cigar before winding out way back to the hotel through busy commercial streets, past colorful graffiti.

By the time we got back it was evening, so we went to a vegetarian restaurant in Miraflores for dinner. What it lacked in atmosphere is made up for in food – delicious vegetable soup with quinoa and ceviche made with tofu instead of seafood. Yum. My expectations for South American food as a vegetarian are so low (aside from the fruit, which is awesome) that it is a delightful surprise to be able to eat something other than potatoes and corn.

The next day we flew to Cuscso. I’ll save that for a separate post, however. All is well. Lima was lovely, but after two and a half days i was happy to move on.

Tag: South America

Walking in Lapa

The Escadaria Selarón

Cigar Time

Wrapping up in Rio