Hey everyone. Happy Halloween from Peru (Yes, they do celebrate it, chiefly among the children). Apparently in the more conservative Hispanic culture, Halloween is viewed as something of the devil. If I had prepared, I would be dressing up because I still enjoy doing that, but I had other more unique things to do, which I will share with you next.
So last week was both a much-needed break and a rather difficult one. I hiked with a private tour to Machu Picchu through the high jungle. Private tours have the potential to be awesome, but Proyecto Peru, the program with whom I am studying and working, managed to screw that up for me, at least in part, mostly because they gave the guide inaccurate and uninformed information about what I could and could not do. The result was galling, but I’ll get to that in its own time.
The day before the trip, I rented a nice travel bag that I later regrettably had to return. I was picked up from the house early the next morning, and we picked up another customer from Wales. I really enjoyed him, and I can thank him for my recently piqued interest in chess. Since the company doesn’t have any tandem bikes, David, the guy from Wales, biked down from a certain point not far from Olantitambo into the jungle while I rode down with the driver, Julio. Our guide, Eduardo, was right about the climate being very different, because when we got out at Santa Maria, it was sticky and warm, not a shred of cold from the mountains. We had a great lunch, and we were introduced to this hot sauce which is apparently really spicy. Eduardo and David had a hard time with it, but for me it was a nice, easy burn and a good flavor.
The people in charge of the rafting activity decided I wouldn’t be able to raft, so I went downtown with Eduardo and tried this really good fruit called a picay. You cut the skin with your nails or a knife and then pick out these big seeds covered by a sweet material that you suck/chew off. Sitting on the bench eating this picky I felt like a child in a candy store, because I really dig fruit, and I was doing something I’ve always wanted to do: eating tropical fruit almost directly at the source.
We next took a bus toward Santa Teresa to stay the night there, but the bus overheated, so, to my delight, we were stuck in the middle of nowhere for a while until we got another bus that made it the rest of the way. Here David talked me through a couple online chess games, and we also had dinner and enjoyed the night life that came in thumping rhythms through the window from the plaza. The next morning, we went to what Eduardo called a campground to zip line across rivers and between mountains. Proyecto Peru had decided that zip lining wasn’t safe for me to do before asking me–which, had they asked, they would have learned that I have safely zip lined many times. As it was, I zip lined with David, and it was a lot of fun. Then came one of my favorite parts of the trip: hiking the Hidroeléctrica. Eduardo helped me to appreciate everything about the jungle around us, and I never ceased to be amazed by the abundance of life around us, especially in the trees–and this was only the high jungle. At one point we walked past a coffee plantation, and I smelled the rich aroma of different types of seeds. He recommended acacia, the premium of the region, but I liked another one better—I wish I could remember which it was. To think! I was walking through land from whence camecoffee and chocolate!
We also walked past some banana trees. I don’t know if the U.S. gets Peruvian bananas, but all the same it was so cool to touch my favorite fruit growing in bundles on a thick tree with leaves of a distinct texture! We also walked past avocado trees, but they were too far away to feel. As it was, I wouldn’t be surprised if the avocados in what we ate later that night came from those trees!
He and I also learned a lot about how to work together. He learned that I wasn’t the helpless hop-along he had apparently been told to anticipate but an adventurous type who did things that terrified, then impressed him, such as making precarious stream crossings over rail lines. In fact, at one point he said, “I think you’re lying to me, man. The way you react to things in the path, I think you can see.”
Yet, upon arriving in Aguascalientes after an incredible four hours of hiking, despite my repeated insistence otherwise, we were taking the bus to Machu Picchu instead of the steps tomorrow morning because apparently there were too many people climbing the steps for me to safely handle. I decided to go with it and to consider it returning the favor–his letting me zip line was against what Proyecto Peru had told him to do, and he begged me to not share that with them. For that I’ve got to give him major props: He at least wanted to go a little bit out on a limb to not let me be shorted by misconceptions.
Machu Picchu the next morning was, to be honest, a lot of information all at once, and my questions were either lost in the tide of information or were met with, “Let me finish my speech.” I was given a book recommendation from which I hope I can refresh my memory, because I came here to learn as much as I could about this Inca citadel, not just to be there. What I do remember is that there is an agricultural center, a religious center, and an urban center, and they all face east toward the sun, which they worshipped. Ever COVID, Peru’s Minister of Culture decided to rope Machu Picchu off into sections. My circuit only included the urban center, which was still cool. The most memorable place in that center for me was the emperor’s house. The streets are even narrower than those in Cuzco, such that only one or two at a time could pass. The chacana is an important symbol in their culture that represents a bridge between their three worlds. The upper world is ruled by the condor; the underworld is ruled by the snake; and–I really hope I get this right!–the middle world is ruled by the fox. Machu Picchu has many levels. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to see all of them, but it was another step back into antiquity. Eduardo took many pictures of me and the surroundings; then we went to the outskirts of the city for my classic picture. Walking into the city, there was originally one platform, and on special occasions one would stand on this platform and participate in the ceremony of purification, a part of which included a naturally growing hallucinogen called, in English, the trumpet angel. As intrigued as I am by natural psychedelics, I didn’t give that plant a try. Eduardo also told me about this other place, whose name I know but won’t bother to spell for now, that is like Machu Picchu but with many more platforms with more elaborate designs.
It was a good thing that we arrived as early in the morning as we did, because Machu Picchu wasn’t very crowded at the time. After everything was said and done, we took the bus back down to Aguascalientes. On our way back down, Eduardo and I were planning out the rest of the day, and he asked me, “So will you be good if I leave you in the main square to walk around for a little while?”
Thinking he was actually asking me what I thought, I replied, “Sure.”
“Mm mm mm mm,” he said–I have never been treated so like a child in a long time! But everything went fine, and after a good lunch of guinea pig and rocoto relleno, we left for Cuzco. In spite of all the trials of those three days, I came away quite refreshed, and the pictures were more than worth it.
Traveling in Peru 