Alex and Ben go to Peru and eat a guinea pig

Day #1&2:

After taking an overnight flight and getting zero sleep (they were playing movies, which is more than my ADHD can ignore) we landed in Cusco (3.6K altitude). We immediately headed for lower ground down the sacred valley to Ollantaytambo to allow us time to acclimate to the higher elevation. We stayed at a beautiful hotel at the base of the fortress ruins. These ruins were the site of the last Inca victory over the Spanish conquistadores (before they were utterly decimated). In 1537, Manco Inca retreated to the fortress and from the higher ground pelted the Spanish army with slings and arrows. Little did the Spanish army know that they also diverted the nearby Urabamba river into the fields, so when the Spanish retreated, their horses got bogged down in the mud as they were chased in retreat by the Inca army.

On our first full day, we hitched a ride for Moray and Salineras. Moray, is a site of natural sinkholes over 150 meters deep, that the Incas terraced to create microclimates to experiment in growing different types of vegetables. This laboratory was thought to have seeded (no pun intended) the agricultural knowledge that helped fuel the expansion of the Inca empire. The irrigation is so good, that is has never flooded, even in torrential storms.

We walked the concentric circles chewing on Coca leaves, used to prevent/alleviate altitude sickness, stave off hunger pangs, and in higher quantities, used as a mild anesthetic. 

Next, we started hiking to Salineras, the open air salt mine. The locals made it seem there was a path directly to it; however, each person we asked pointed us down smaller and smaller footpaths until we were bushwacking. From the first steps, to our destination 4 hours later, we had an unwavering companion. A local Moray dog followed us the entire way (dubbed Gracialita- for her resemblance to our own dog).

Tired and dusky, we arrived a Salineras; a maze of 5,750 pools (each yielding 300 lbs of salt per pool per month) worked by a collective of 260 salt miners. The waters that leave the mountain springs are 60% salt, which the miners divert into pools, seal, and let dry in the sun. The result is a drastic contrast between the barren hillside and the snow-white pools. Beautiful and delicious.

Another cool note; I bought a “steri-pen” and used UV light to purify water and re-use bottles. It’s a cool device, but it was hard for me to trust that the result was sterile so I usually ran it twice for safekeeping, but it seemed to work as we never got sick…well, not from our water at least.

Day #3

After eating the usual breakfast of bread (the same bread cakes are served everywhere in Peru for breakfast) and coca tea (the leaf used to make cocaine), we hit the town. The Town of Ollantaytambo itself was incredible, there's almost no asphalt; instead consisting of cobblestone and dirt. The buildings were mostly fitted stones and aqueducts ran through the city streets. Ruins can be found on all sides of the town, and the streets ran with Chicha.

Chicha, if you don’t remember from my homebrew inspiration to go to Peru, is a fermented corn drink that traces back to the pre-Inca. Although now they malt the corn, grind, and ferment it, the aboriginals had chewed the purple corn (“Jora”) which converted the starch into sugar through an enzyme in their/our spit (amylase) before fermenting it. Anyhow, Chicha is the worker’s drink. The low alcohol content (usually 2-4%) makes it sterile to drink (where the water may make you sick), and able for you to drink a glass or two without getting drunk as you work the field. Chicha is sold from the houses. To show you have Chicha, all you have to do it hang red flowers (now they use red plastic bags) from a pole from your window. As Chicha is made to drink super-fresh (while still fermenting), the flower was hung out when the chicha was first ready to show that it was fresh. The longer the chicha has been sitting, the more the flower wilts. That way, to use a coffee metaphor, you know when a fresh pot has been put on.

So, back to our trip. On our last day in town, we hiked north to the ruins of Pumamarca, thought to be a control point for access to Ollantaytambo. The steady climbing trail was vacant except for a handful of field laborers and their sheep. When we reached the Ruins, we were the only ones there. There was no signs, no paths, no nothing;…you just kind of stumble upon the ruins as if discovered for the first time.

On our way back, we stopped off for Chicha. Each house had a different flavor/consistency/vibe. It cost about 1 sol for 2 cups (about 25 cents). We would see a red bag hanging out a window, would walk into an unmarked house, ask “chicha?” to the random occupants, and the chicha would flow.

Filled with corn nectar, we climbed up the Pinkuylluna (Inca granaries) that nested on the hillside just above the town. (the terracing on the opposite side hills is the fortress I spoke of earlier...remember, the one with mud and the almost defeat of the Spanish army....you don't remember....all you do is look at the pictures....well fine. pictures....)

From there we headed to Agua Calientes, the glitzy gaudy town at the base of Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes popped up after Machu Picchu was “discovered” in 1920 and become a huge tourist attraction. It is a loud, fluorescent, and soulless city laced with rows of identical restaurants pushing the same meals they think Gringos can’t go without: Pizza and burgers. In fact, almost every place we saw in Peru had a pizza oven. Our hotel room, lacking windows, pulsated with dance music from the below empty restaurant that was also doubled as our unmarked hotel lobby. We saw the address, walked into the restaurant to inquire where the hotel was located, and they were like “you’re here.”

Day #4:

Today was the day of Machu Picchu. Although you can bus up to the top, we elected to hike from Agua Calientes.  We woke up before the sun and started up the 2 mile trek straight up to the famous ruins. The real name of the ruins is actually unknown. Machu Picchu actually means “old peak” in Quechua and refers to the large mountain that overlooks the ruins (the one we later climbed).  The city was built as a winter retreat/vacationhouse for the great Inca ruler Pachacutec. As it had no military importance, the Spanish paid it no heed as they swept through and decimated the empire. It was soon lost to memory, untouched for centuries and overgrown by dense jungle. An archeologist named Hiram Bingham later rediscovered it while search for the lost city of the Inca (Vilcabamba- later found elsewhere). Bingham is widely thought to be the inspiration behind the Indiana Jones character. Although the story is way less cool than the movies. Bingham went down the valley paying people to show him ruins in search of the lost city of the Inca. Some old guy brought him to Machu Picchu, and viola- he's famous for discovering Machu Picchu...and the old guy who already knew it was there and showed it to him? Nothing.

The switch-backs is the road, the walking path was even more straight up.

While Machu Picchu was stunningly beautiful, the mood was dampened by the throngs of people that clouded every lookout and cranny of the ruins. 

We hiked the real Machu Picchu (old Mountain- now just called “mountain” in Spanish), which was a gruesomely uphill jaunt to a stunning 360 degree view of the surrounding valleys. With much more solitude than the ruins itself, Alex and I sat atop the mountain watching the herds of dense cloud cover roll by.

Walking through the ruins are the resident llamas; all very tame to the hordes of tourists cooing at them on a daily basis (of which I was one this day).

Chinchilla...I think

Heading back down to Aguas Calientes, we stopped at the local hot springs, which were more like small swimming pools of luke-warm water.

Tired and weary, we headed back to our open air restaurant/hostel and faded off to the thumping of bass music.

Day#5:

We left Aguas Calientes in the morning and heading back up to the start of the valley, the great city of Cusco. Once a mighty Inca capital, the city was eventually sacked and the temples converted into churches. Ironically enough, when the earthquake hit, all the Spanish construction was destroyed, while the Inca walls and foundations stood. This event helped rediscover beautiful Inca foundations that had been previously covered by church walls.

We got most of our peru-swag from Jesusa (pictured above). The nicest lady in Peru who camped just outside out hotel.

We definitely felt the elevation. Even going up a handful of steps required a great deal of effort. We decided to take this day easy, and peruse the city street looking at all the beautiful stonework, people, and markets.

Day#6:

We woke up early and started hiking towards a random mountain range that we thought trails could lead up to. We passed by the ruined stone fortress Sacsayhuaman (pronounced “sexy woman” and translated to mean “satisfied falcon”), the site where the Incas holed themselves up (and were later massacred) when Cusco was sacked by conquistadores.

We found a horse trail and followed it up, past limestone caves, until the path ended at a village ontop a nearby hillside. We dined on luna bars and bushwhacked our way back to Cusco, to a delicious dinner and a little food poisoning. I searched in vain for Chicha, only to be disappointed. I was told that Chicha is a country-bumkin’s drink, not a cultured cosmopolitan city-goer’s. I did eventually find a booth with it, but it was made from quinoa and sub-par.

On a side note; above you see a bunch of rainbow flags and you're thinking  "wow, they're really accepting of the gays." Nope, they don't like the gays at all, that's the flag of Cusco.

Day #7:

Next, we flew from Cusco and traveled to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon of the Americas. After a full day of traveling, we set up camp in a small dusty town at the top of the canyon called Chivay. In Chivay, I got to eat one of the traditional Peruvian meals, Cuy- roasted Guinea Pig. It tasted like a mix of goat and chicken. Although lots of small bones, so it was a bi**ch to eat.

Day #8

We opted to sleep in, rather than wake up at 3am to catch a bus down deep into the canyon. The town was alive with a parade prepping for the national holiday Fiesta Patrias (a 4^th of July for Peru, but lasting a week long were everyone is on vacation). 

We walked 5 miles down the canyon, to the even smaller town of Corporaque. After passing through town, we found a hiking trail along the southern side of the canyon.

We stumbled upon the ruin of Yuraq Qaqa which was littered with ancient bones- an open grave-site for a pre-Inca people. Skulls lay scattered about without barriers or signs. It cuaght us by surprise as there were no markers for the grave-site  a mere 100 meters off the main hiking trail.

We followed the trail several miles further down canyon to Uyo-Uyo, a bare ruin of a pre-Inca village.

We followed a trail back up the river in hopes of finding a hotel with famed hot-spring baths. After miles of travel we came to a hotel with thought to be the right one (it was the only one on the river), but the guard informed us that hotel was a couple miles back and this was for guests only. Sad and un-hotspringed (yes that’s a word), we turned around in defeat ready to walk back to Chivay emptyhanded…hotspringwise…which seemed really nice after a long day of hiking. The guard, confused, yelled at us, why not just go down to the river and use the natural hot-spring pools there? Redemption! Just around the corner were a dozen small natural pools that fed into the Colca River. There was no-one there except an occasional local, and the temperature was perfect (about 110 degrees). It was incredibly relaxing.

After a thorough soaking, we hitched a ride back to Chivay, ate with locals at a set-dinner restaurant ($3 for 3 course dinner) and caught the tail end of the parade that consisted of people standing around not-moving to a pop music group in the center of the square and a political party supported dance-parade down one of the main streets. Included was the most adorable boy and his even more adorable baby alpaca. They just stood in the street watching the parade, no parents or nothing…..Just a 5-6 year old talking his alpaca for a walk through the city at 9pm at night.

Day #8

Our last half day in Chivay, we did what we did best; wander aimlessly out of town and find random sheep paths that hopefully lead up the beautiful surrounding hillsides. After a few false-starts, we found a trail following the city’s aqueduct and ended with a beautiful view of the canyon.

We hiked back, snapped a few pictures of cool doors and caught the 4 hour bus to our final destination: Arequipa.

Arequipa is supposed to be the “modern” town of Peru (along with Lima). What this meant was that it was a dirty town with little cultural beauty. Sure you could see museums about stuff, but there were no people decked out in colorful Inca garb, no herds of sheep coming down the road, no beautiful Inca stonework buildings; just another dirty and busy city.

 It was a harsh contrast from our previous stops in our trip. Nonetheless, being our last day, lacking the fear of food poisoning ruining my now-over trip, I scarfed down street food and sampled just about everything to be sampled much to Alex’s horror. She’d give me the “are you sure you want to eat that” look at each vender. From strange breads to gelatinous herb teas, I absorbed all, and surprisingly without incident.

view from our hotelroom

The night came and went in the busy Peruvian city and we braced ourselves for the 16 hours of travel to come.

 

Day #9

16 hours of travel and 4 movies later- back to the USA. Almost without incident.

 Here’s us at the first leg...

 and a little less fresh for the second.....

for the third....well, we'll spare you that one. You really dont need to see a picture of us soaking in our own crepulence for the good part of a full day....