Drinking like the locals do..

This particular little blog bit will be devoted to our drinking expeditions in Cusco. And food.

Firstly, a week ago Saturday, Rafaella and I met an Cusquenen named Puka who was selling his drawings in a bar/club/music place. We met up with Puka the following monday because he promised to take us to a Chicheria. Chicha is an alcoholic drink made from corn. It´s cloudy, doesn´t taste like much, and comes in a really big glass. Oh, and it´s really cheap, unless you´re me and you knock over the glasses as you´re leaving and have to pay 5 soles for it. Two glasses of drink would have cost me just 1 sole, that´s about US$0.30!!!

The chicheria was just a little house that didn´t look like much. We got our goblets and went and sat outside somewhere in the vicinity of the house with an awesome view of the city. You can´t see much of the city in the photo though.

Saturday night before Inti Raymi was meant to be a huge party in town. The night before we had been in the Plaza de Armas too and watched bands playing. We´d also witnessed all the Peruvians drinking out of big soft drink bottles, pouring themselves glasses just slightly bigger than shot glasses and getting more and more drunk. So we thought, tonight, we will do like them and drink out of big bottles and tiny glasses. For 15 soles, about US$5 we got one bottle of rum and a 2.5 litre bottle of coke (Cuba Libre ready to go!) which we then started to mix, in our glasses and into the bottle. Needless to say, very quickly the rum and altitude took their affect on us.

When I took the two bottles back out the next morning the whole bottle of rum was empty and 1/4 of the coke bottle empty too. No wonder we had so much trouble getting up for Inti Raymi the next day.

We then headed to another bar we´d been at before called Siete Angelitos where we moved onto mojitos and danced and laughed and Joey decided we needed more mojitos and suddenly Kristina needed to go outside. Not that the night finished there. In the name of keeping taxis clean I decided it was better that we stay out and dance some more until Kristina was car worthy. Always planning ahead, I am.

After Inti Raymi, for a somewhat delayed hangover breakfast (at 4pm) we decided to try Chicharron
- basically deepfried pork with a big deepfried potato and big bits of corn. Surprisingly enough this can be consumed in a Chicharroneria!! It´s meant to be eaten hot because it´s so incredibly fatty, however ours was lukewarm, two of us ate icecream afterwards and two chocolate cake and when Rafaella was sick the next day everyone had the 2 cents worth to add on what to eat (not cold fatty stuff) and what not to eat (icecream and chocolate cake) and that we´d done it all wrong. Pfft!

I´m yet to try cuy but it´s a bit hard when it looks exactly like a shiny flat guinea pig. I don´t have the other photo with the at the moment, but I´ll post it soon. They even put them up in .. errr... not so tasty poses.. but you´ll see later.

Also yesterday I went to a type of ´show´ like a country fair where I saw lots of massive pigs and massive sheep and bulls and cows and all different types of food including the flat cuy and the whole pig on the BBQ. The other photo of the cuy above was walking back from Inti Raymi. Don´t those teeth look delicious?

It´s off for a 5 day trek past the mountain called Salkantay, sleeping in minus 5-10 degrees, walking up to 9 hours a day, and ending at Machupicchu, so wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Hardy!

Sacrifice to the Sun

A friend of mine recently sent me an email saying "You´re lucky you escaped the winter in Canberra"... Just so no one gets the wrong idea, Cusco isn´t exactly escaping the winter in Canberra. Yes, the days are mostly clear and sunny, but in the evenings it gets to at least zero degrees, the houses have no heating, my bathroom has a window that has no glass - just a hole straight to the outside... It´s VERY COLD!!! At night I sleep with 5 blankets and my sleeping bag. Just the other day I was thinking how happy I was about some of the items I bought. These being my thermals and sleeping bag. Ironically enough, the next day I took stuff to the laundromat and it came back minus my thermal top. Pachamama, my old friend the earth, was good to me again and when I went back the next day they immediately handed me my top.

I think I¨ve already written that there is only water in the morning where I live. Luckily I have a ´warm´shower that works by electricity heating it directly at the showerhead. The other day I happened to put my hand up near the showerhead and got a zap!! EEEP!!!

Right so back to the sun. Yesterday was the day of Inti Raymi - the big festival to the sun god that everyone comes to Cusco to see. Kristina, Raffaella and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed Sunday morning after a rather LARGE night of drinking Cuba Libre´s followed by mojitos (more detail later) and still very very green we walked up to claim our spot on the ground. You can buy tickets for US$80 and get a proper seat or you can sit in the cheap seats (hill and rocks). We went for the free option but even with the free option people try to sell you space to sit blankets on the ground. Still we went for the free option and planted ourselves on a patch of grass and settled down from a looooong wait. 4 hours or more. I´d taken up my spanish homework but in the severly hungover state I was I think I managed to do about 2 pages over several hours and that took a lot of brain power.

So, we waited and waited and talked with other tourists, watched locals have heated arguements about their seating and how their blanket space had been on sold to others and now they couldn´t see but you know what, it was all for nothing. When the action started people started standing up, only to be shouted at from the people at the back. So they´d sit down and someone else would stand up. This went on and on, until orange peal was thrown, bananas, dirts, bags of rubbish and even rocks. What happened was that eventually everyone ended up standing but people from the back pushed to the front. Afraid of a human landslide I kept edging back and back and back . The result was that after so many hours of waiting I saw barely anything, including the cutting out of a llamas heart which I´m still not sure if it´s really done or just a representation with a tied up animal and a heart from another that´s already dead.

I have to say though, the day was mostly cloudy and it apparently doesn´t really rain in winter here but we got a few drops. This apparently happens every year. It never rains on Sundays either (apparently) and yesterday was a sunday. At particular significant points in the ceremony the sun came out too and it was eerie. So apart from the fact that I saw little, it was still an experience to have.

Ok, that´s about all for now. I will probably do another post soon with other random stuff.

Chau!

Photos are:

- us waiting and me doing my homework
- a view of the people behind us while they were still sitting
- the crowd of people on the other hill
- part of the festival happening on the hill opposite us when we could still see a little bit.
- some locals not even trying to see in festivities and just having the picnic lunch
- some of the festival happening below us. I couldn´t actually see this, this is me just holding the camera above my head.
- Rafaella dancing for us in since we had to make our own entertainment and Kristina looking on, enthralled.

One Week in Cusco Already!

Wow! One week in Cusco is over already! I know some streets here already inside out, and touristy wise I´ve done barely anything. Oh, and my spanish is still crap! The photos are of La Catedral in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, some of the cobbled streets that are all around the center, and well, my big head with a view of all the roofs of Cusco.

I´m in a bit of a dilemma. I´m impatient learning spanish and just want to throw in the whole plan of learning spanish and staying with a family for 4 weeks in total and just go and be a tourist but then, I won´t be able to do the volunteer thing because the little kids won´t understand me... I DON¨T KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOOOO.

Another girl arrived yesterday at our house and was meant to be staying the night but she´s chosen to move to an hostel in the centre. It was all too much for her. No hot water, no water after 2:30pm at all (nothing in taps, need to flush the toilet with a bucket of water from tubs outside).... a dog on heat and all the dogs in the neighbourhood wanting... well... a piece of her... oooooooooooooh.... And that´s not to mention living with a family where everybody knows everyone´s business and breakfast is served at 7am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm and you´re expected to be there or you have to give a reason why you´re not. I moved out of home when I was 18!!! I´m not used to having to have to tell people what my plans are every minute of the day!!! ARGH!!! If I didn´t get the room with a shower that has semi warm water for at least half the day, I wouldn´t have lasted a week either!


oh, and the photos are the dead guinea pig that the husband pulled out of the cage on my first morning (yes, the guinea pigs aren´t pets... they´re food for later!) and then there is a view from above of some of the spanish teachers and John, the co-ordinator of FairPlay (the spanish school) and also the husband of one of the daughters of the Señora that is the head of the house....

Other than that, Cusco is charming. I love it. I went to Pisac markets last weekend (and am going again tomorrow because I didn´t have enough money for everything I wanted to buy AND to actually see some ruins). While the stuff there is more expensive than in Cusco there is more variety and it´s more ´merry´ I guess. There are lots of little kids, especially girls, getting around with little animals and the Quechua outfits asking for money for photos. I paid for this one!!!

For the last 3 days all the ´Saints´ have been returning from the Catedral to their respective churches and there have been parades of little kids, big kids, adults, music and everything. These were some of the kids from this morning.

Last day in Lima & arrived in Cusco!

So first of all, I´m already back on the internet because the homestay people I´m meant to be staying with didn´t pick me up from the airport but I managed to catch a taxi with a very nice man for less that the people of Lonely Planet said it would cost and despite the scary stories and warnings Lonely Planet gives you. Now all I need to do is wait for the spanish school office to open so I know where the hell I go.

What I can tell you about Cusco at this point is it´s zero degrees and clear skies and so far I think I like it!

Funny story 1: When I went to get my bag out of the overhead locker water dripped out everywhere. People be warned, don´t put those cycling water bottles with the pop tops, full of water, lying sideways when flying especially to places at high altitude. DUH!

UPDATE: when I used my roll-on deodorant first the first time up here, the ball popped out completely. Gotta love that altitude (3300m!)

My last day in Lima was a nice contrast to my first day in Lima. Instead of dudes wanting to have my babies I met a nice guy who escorted me home on the bus and a nice girl who offered to take me out on the town when I get back.

I went to Miraflores where I saw people doing capoeira, and then down to the beach where I saw people surfing, in well... the photo can show you the lovely stuff that washes up on the beach there. I also went to Hhuaca Pullana (spelling?) which is a ruin they are restoring. Hence:

Funny story 2: The always trustworthy Lonely Planet said this particular tourist attraction, an adobe pyramidal structure had free admission. I only had about 40 minutes before it closed so I rushed through the gate only to have a guy chase me saying "!¿Ä donde vas?!". Thinking it was another dude wanting to make small talk again I said "Australia" and kept walking. He cracked up laughing. I thought about what he said again, and then realised I had to pay and he was asking me where I was going. Australia. Good one Joey. You´ll be walking for a long time. REALLY time to improve my spanish.

I also when to some Park Del Amore (again, spelling I have no idea). And has you can see, I´m all alone! Damn statues making out infront of everyone, rubbing it in!

I also improved my nutritional intake. Well, nearly. Joey is eating dessert AGAIN!

Leaving Lima (well.. tomorrow anyway)

I´ve spent a day in Lima and have another half left today. Flying over the Amazon and Andes was very cool. First there was only a sea of trees... then many many fluffy clouds, then suddenly I looked down and I realised huge mountains were poking through the clouds. And then I realised we were quickly descending down the mountains, like when you´re diving and going down a wall of coral into deeper and deeper water, but we were going into a flat lake of fog. And that fog seems to be covering Lima continuously giving it a opaque white light.


Yesterday, after I woke up at 4am (photos from the roof top of my hostel at about 5:30am) I walked into the centre which was a not so picturesque walk along dirty streets and loads of traffic. I saw about a billion churches (ok, so I went into about 5) and ate all the healthy things I like such as Keke Grande and Churros!! weeeee!!! As I said to Hardy, if you don´t recognise me the next time you see me, I´ll be the donut filled with custard on legs. Maybe my legs will be two extra churros too!


Finally some time during the day the sun came out, so I went back and took some photos of the Plaza de Armes. The white church looking thing (in the photo) is La Catedral and had the skulls and bones in the crypt.


The most interesting church was the Convento San Francisco but we weren´t allowed to take photos there. We were, however, allowed (forced) to be included in a Spanish speaking guided tour. I think I understood about 5 words. Speaking of Spanish, my Spanish is soooooooo crap!!! I spent about 2 or 3 hours yesterday chatting with a girl that worked in a really touristy leather goods shop where I wanted to buy some sandles. That was an hilarious mix of hand gestures, newletters, drawings, listening to her Depeche Mode cd and a variety of other props. It was much more exciting than the conversation I had with a dude that I made the mistake of making eye contact with at the lights. It went like this: hola, what´s your name? where are you from? two kisses on my cheeks. walking next to me for aaaaages. asking me if I have a boyfriend? yes he´s at the hostel. are you travelling alone? no my boyfriend is waiting at the hostel. you are beautiful, I want to have babies with you. The funny thing was I was walking fast anyway but he was having trouble keeping up with me because he was so short.

I had better go see some more of the city. Adïos amios.

London, Light Globes... and keen for my next adventure

Well, isn´t London just trying to be super environmentally friendly all of a sudden. Everywhere there are posters telling you that every coke can or empty water bottle that you recycle will save energy. Being environmentally conscious is certainly the flavour of the month.. or year... In Germany I didn´t see any advertising along those lines but then, they´ve been recycling like crazy for years. Currently some places (since it various from Bundesland to Bundesland, or state) have up to five separate bags of rubbish and recycling. That number of bags doesn't fit in kitchen anymore!

So anyway, while I travel it always gets me wondering how my piddly little contribution of turning off lights and riding my bike helps when millions of cars drive in this world and the backs of houses in Singapore have airconditioning units stuck on them like mussels on rocks in a harbour (I should have taken a photo of it, but forgot). Anyhow, in the end I don´t think anyone can use that as an excuse. As they say, change must start somewhere.

Back to my travels, London was nice. I was lucky to have nice weather on nearly every day. I was in a huge dilemma of wanting to live here and have the option of earning lots of money, being able to travel with so many countries at your fingertips and experience the music, shops and life in London and Europe... and then the knowledge that what I do at work at the moment isn't really what I want to do and that really, surely, I should start figuring out what I DO want to do, and start something in that direction....

Besides, I´m not sure that I could last in a country where sun is such a valuable commodity that everyone takes their shirts off at the slightest hint of sunshine and starts strutting the streets looking a pasty shade of... umm... moon-tan? Or where they eat... errr... Faggots? hehehe... another childish joke. Sorry.

Right, so in London I hung out on Upper St, had drinks and dinner on Old Street with Mel, hired a car with Scott and Claire and drove to Bath and a

´park the car, run, take photos through a fence, run back to car and DRIVE´ past Stonehenge,

went to Spitalfield Markets with Martin, Jess and Mel, hung out on Clapham Common (surrounded by those shirtless people again), and finally on the last day, went to the Tate and on a self guided walking tour of the ´Notorious East End´.

The walk was funny. Jess and I started at the Tate, then strolled over the bridge in the direction of St Pauls (photo) and then started our walk. It started with sites of the Jack the Ripper murders, then some Kray gangster killing sites and so forth but we also had a significantly long walk through a random bit of London where I´m sure there were real life dodgy things going on. A copper standing outside a police gate, walls with warnings of ´Anti Graffiti paint´and ´anti climb paint´, not so nice dudes standing on street corners doing... nothing. It was a different side of London to the hip and happening places I´d spent the other days in any case.

Finally, I spoke to a girl, friend of Mel's that had been to Peru, Chile and Argentina and did it all on her own so I'm full of new enthusiam and think I might focus more on the Patagonia side of my trip rather than Ecuador, but we'll see. This is definitely a fluid itinerary.

Hasta Pronto! I will see you all in Peru!