Today was a fun day. Today Elin, another studen (from Iceland) living with my host family left for the sacred valley for a week. Before she did we went to the Starbucks in the plaza de armas so she could use the computer and I could wait for Laura, a Davidson friend also in Cusco. After an hour of sipping coffee and learning more about Elin’s life and Iceland (for example Elin LOVES dogs. Her favorites include a mutt with an under bitewho lives of her Spanish school here and her brother’s pit-bull, Tarde. But she is now considering cats as a possible pet too, because in Iceland she was living in a friend’s storage room at the street level, and cats keep climbing into her bedroom from outside. So she would wake up with a cat on her pillow and liked it. Also in Iceland, it take a long time for money to transfer from one currency to the other, because the government fears financial collapse if many citizens give up on kronos and save their money in other currencies. She has some very cool life philosophies, and really has helped me take advantage of my time in Cusco. One lesson from her that I think will be good to adopt is “your day ends every day at midnight, and you never get it back, so use your days with that knowledge”), I spotted Laura from across the street and we met wahoooo!
It was so great to see a friend! We went to her house, picked up two of her friends from school, Steen from Belgium and Margaux from Holland (and dual citizenship in the US) and headed to Pisac! Pisac is a little village about 45 minutes away from Cusco. And what a trip. Today we saw an overturned bus on the way. Apparently there are many accidents on the public buseshere, because they are so olds. I’ve stopped looking for seatbelts on Taxis. Once in Pisac we wandered around the market and happened upon some cool things. We went to a mass (ok, 5 minutes of) in Quechua (the only word I recognized was alleluia…decidedly not Quechua) and found beautiful cemetery.Very cool. The centrality of the family in life here shows itself here I think in that there are fresh flowers everywhere. People cut off the tops of soda bottle and use them as vases. There was even a grave with lit candle son it and another with a beer left on it like an offering. That last addition is less weird than it may seem. In ancient times (1500s and before?), beverages and food were daily offered to the mummified Incas and ritually burned. There is also a lot of pride in La Cerveza Cusqueña, the local beer (brewed in a factory right next to my house. It’s HUGE. There are stacks of crates 20 feet high just of beer).
We then hit up a local bakery for lunch of empanadas and choclo con queso. Choclo is a kind of corn very popular here; it’s kernels are larger than what is normal in the states, and the cheese is good too…kind of goaty and semi-hard?The restaurant itself is cool. In the center back wall of the place there is a giant wood fired oven where the empanadas are cooked and to the left, is a raised pen of guinea pigs, or cuy, a Peruvian menu staple. We passed this item on the cuy, but before I leave I think I want to eat one. They are cooked hole and come served whole with mouth open as in mid scream. When in Rome… right? The toilet door did not shut, there was no toilet paper or seat, but it did flush!
We walked back through the market, y finalmente, I tasted fruit! We had what after a long discussion with my host mom Dina is granadilla (maybe passion fruit in English?) and Cherimoya. Granadilla is a small orange fruit with a hard rind that you can more or less crack open. Inside the fruit looks a lot like fish eggs in that it is filled with many whitish sacks of pulp with tiny back seeds in the middle. Cherimoya is green with juicy white pulp filled and large black seeds inside.
Then we took a taxi to the top and began walking! Margaux does not do well with heights and returned to Pisac, where we met her later. Styn, Laura, and I after some vacillating decided to hire a guide to show us around. A good choice. This place was rally cool. Here is the stream of consciousness resuscitation of all that we learned.
• Pisac was primarily used for agriculture. Much of the land is made up of terrazas or terraces which helped farming. Many of the m follows the contours of the mountain. Up until five years most of the land was still used to grow Quinos, maiz, and other things, but is noy lying fallow so that it can become fertile again.
• Inca Society was divided into three groups: the Inca (the ruler), the nobles, and the pueblo (or towns). Society wasfurtherbisected among the pueblo between th short people, called La Morena, and the tall people, hatunsomething ,hatun means big in Quechua). People were most isolated in that they lived on family vincas or farm, and because of the landscape and societal divisions, it was hard to travel from one place to another.
• There were several purifications baths, ehich are very important in Inca cultures. These baths are from sources up the mountain and froma lake farther away in the dry season. From the same sources are drains that fed/feed the terrazas and the towns close by. According to our guide Julio there was detailed in their knowledge that made each drain the right size for the appropriate amount of water to flow to the village.
• Much of the architecture for Incas is inspired by animals. For example, Cusco is in the shape of the puma, and we saw atown shaped like the pisaca, a small birdsimlar to the chicken.
• Incan buildings are often building so that leans lsight inward, and often the stone sare cut so that they interlace. Bith of these design choices makes the buildings tronger in earthquakes
• We saw also where the virgens of the sun (they were nto sacrifices, but were women, real virgins, who dressed especially, lived individually, and wore symbolic clothings and had specials role in Inca ceremonies) and the hitching post of the sun. Laura read that on another rplace and it makes sense here too, people ceremonially tied up the sun every day so that it would return after the night. That are was laos used to make scalendarpredicitons.
• And much much more that my tired brain can get now
As we hike down, we were followed u by a little girl selling belts and bracelets. After trying to dissuade her and failedattempt’s at bargaining. Laura andI bought two belts from her. So many kidshere work. Styn told us we earnedour heaven for helping the little girl. It is a strange thing to see little children who you genuinely want to help but are also being used specifically because you wan to help them. I’m still working out how I feel about that. One if the most popular rackets/ businesses, depending on your attitude, is for local people to get you to hold a lamb and pay to have a picture taken with it. Thenwe found Margaux, took a coletivo back to Cusco. Colectivos are vans that hold s 10 or twelves people. They are more expensive, and in my opinion safe, than public buses, but costs less than taxis.
Margaux and Styn are hilarious. I am learning so much about Europe in Peru! There is a lot of rivalry between Holland and Belgium, and they often argue about which is better. We learned a little Dutch today. Klaus is glass, bank is bank and couch, and bodgobber (maybe?) is bedroom. Topya is top, ya is yes, and nein is no. they thought our attempts to pronounce thinks was hilarious. Styn is studying physical education in Belgium and is also studying abroad and doing volunteer work here. He plays soccer, and used to play goalie for the premier league. Margaux’s dad is from the states, and her mom is from Holland, so she has dual citizenship. She’s finished school and is taking a gap travelling. Also, turns out Laura loves Lord of The Rings; and she is right, Pisac did look like Morador.
Also, today I had my first coca leaves!!!!!
I have been drinking coca tea at least twice a day since I arrived,, but this was my first experience with the leaves. You chew them in your mouth until they disintegrate and then spit them out. The Andes historically ran on Coca. It works as a treatment for altitude sickness, mils stimulant, and hunger suppressant. Campesinos would take some withthem when they wen to work in the fields at sunrise end it would keep them going until they came home to eat in the afternoon. As great as it sounds, don’t swallow it! I did not realize this until too late, but thankfully I have not felt any terrible effects. Apparently mint also helps with altitudesickness and settles the stomach.
After parting ways with Styn and Margaux, Laura and I headed toward the center of the city. While orienteering ourselves we stumbled into la iglesia y monasterio Santa Catalina. Like most churches here itis filled with the smell of incense and many saints. Paintings and doll like statues depicting the Virgin Mary, Saint Frances, and others. Along with other paintings of Jesus, there was a glass class with a life size recreation of a suffering Jesus. Capturing the anguish of Jesus seems to be prominent n the Catholic art I ‘ve seen here so far. At the tops the arches in the church, there were painted angels. However unlike most places, the angels were depicted as children in modern clothing like jeans and t-shirts. This church with its combination of the ancient story of Jesus’s crucifixion amidst t-shirt clad angels built in the midst if the most sacred place for the Inca empire speaks to Peru’s, and specifically Cusco’s peculiar legacy of destruction, survival, and fusion of the old and new.
Once again I got lost trying to get home, but I persevered! After directions froma store man who asked me where I was from and told me I spoke great Spanish (ithas been really validating to be with other students and to be so effective in communicating in Spanish. I could translate the tour and ask for directions etc), two confusing old men, and a woman who invited me to come to her house and walked me part of the way (I said no…but part of me wished I hadn’t. Ilda (I think) is her name. She was born in raised in Cusco which she is very proud of, and was very excited to know and American), I got home! Marcela served me bread, rice, eggs, and tea, and we chatted or a bit. Also, had a wonderful conversation with Dina when she and Raul arrived about where I should go the billeteturistico, local fruits, and about books. Before I left my godmother made me a beautiful journal that I showed to Dina. I need to see if I can send her more information on bookmaking and also find a recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie. They grow rhubarb in the front yard, and Dina usually only uses it for jam.
So, a busy day full of departures and reunions, new friends, beautiful places, and so much learning. A dormir.
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