Day 5

Above is the main square of San Blas, the artists´district in which I am staying, overlooking the city. Below is a wideshot of Cusco.



Scroll to end of entry for video of the view of Cusco from the top of the city... took 12 minutes to upload I dare not try and move it. I just realized why spell check doesn´t work, namely, it is in Spanish and recognizes every word as wrong, overflowing the broadband connection.

I´ll start on Monday. Basically I woke up, had a shower and free breakfast, paid my bill, found a very cheap place to stay, and slept most of the day. Getting to the hostel wasn´t too easy. I had initially decided to retain my trepidatious ways for Monday and relocate to a cheap hostel on the same street as the hotel I spent the first night. The number of my hotel was 561 and the hostel was 501... and since the numbers descended as one went down the street (and hill) one would think that would be the direction to go. Of course not. After going down the hill and not finding the place I checked the map in my guidebook to find the place was actually at the top of the hill. So I went back up the hill. Of course the address is no longer a hostel. Back down the hill. Ive observed this lack of order phenomenon elsewhere. Dare I speculate it is a characteristic of the third world?

I ended up staying in probably the worst hostel in the old city, despite recommendations from my guidebook. I should have bargained the price, but I didn´t, and I paid for a double instead of a single 30 soles instead of 20. The room was right off the reception and it was noisy all day and night. This didn´t prevent me from sleeping most of the day. There weren´t even four walls, one of the walls was just a sheet of glass covered by translucent curtains. The lobby was filled with pigeons. I couldn´t decide whether the owners thought this a rustic addition or they simply couldn´t dispose of the pests. Either way it wasn´t endearing.

I managed to get up and change some traveller´s cheques and grab some food and water. I went off to find a better place to stay, which I did (photos below), and reserved for the next night. It was the same price as the crappy one, and once again, I couldn´t bring myself to haggle since I felt the owner was rescuing me. Bargaining for 5 soles seems pretty ridiculous as well, even though the people here expect you to do so, since 5 soles is like 1.70 or something like that. Ive been sleeping a lot, at first to acclimatize, rest from exercise, rehydrate, etc. On tuesday afternoon I had eaten my first salad and began to feel sick. My throat closed a bit, and my body began to ache. Shit I thought, my stomach has been fine until now. I woke up at 3 in the morning and realized it wasnt too bad. The cue -- my left tricep felt like someone had hammered a four inch nail into it. It was, on schedule, my yellow fever innoculation running its weeklong course. Another good travelling tip -- take innoculations in advance. In 24 hours it was over but I had slept the majority of another day away.






Walking around I met a few locals my age. One was training to be a shaman. It ran in the family apparently, his father and uncle also being shamans. His english was good enough to carry conversation and he asked me if I believed in the ´"energy." I asked him to be more specific and he talked about the power contained in the earth, in matter. Though taken literally his words are fairly true, but since I knew what he meant I told him I didn´t believe. He went on to describe the shaman´s ability to predict the future, manipulate the energy etc. and my initial response became increasingly accurate. Rafael was 24 and said he has 11 years of training before he could before a shaman. I shook his hand and refrained from telling him he was wasting his time.

I visited the Museo de Inka on Tuesday (courtyard), and it was impressive. Im accruing a pretty broad knowledge of Incan history, culture, etc. There were mummies there that make the Egyptian mummies one sees look like innocent Halloween costumes. There was even a 2 month old mummy which I can only describe as freaky. Like most important buildings, the original Incan stonework still serves as the buildings foundations. No pictures were allowed to be taken here :(.



Yesterday I woke up early and visited Qorikancha, during the 15th century the most important chuch in the Incan empire. It originally was covered, almost extensively, in gold, apparently on the outside and inside walls. A great deal of the empires gold statues and artifacts also were kept here. When the Spanish invaded they stripped the walls of the gold, and melted it to make coins. Astonishingly they did the same to all gold statues and artwork. They literally built a colonial style palace, and church on top of this. The stonework of the incas is incredible... you need only to look at the pictures . Throughout the past 500 years Cusco has been affected by many earthquakes. Often, as in the case of Qorikancha, the colonial structure atop the incan foundation is destroyed, yet the foundation remains intact. The church was last destroyed in this manner in 1950. Again no inside pictures, so you´ll have to believe me that it was beautiful.









Hopefully I will be going to the jungle on the 29th of January, for 5 days. Booking the trip is not without problems. Its low season and most tour companies aren´t running, they need atleast two people for a tour. Also, every business in the city essentially offers to sell this kind of trip so one knows they are all simply middlemen. I hiked down the hill to a tour operator I know is legit yesterday, and received mixed news. First they offer a 5 day trip, which is the perfect length of time I think. I wouldn´t mind going 7 or 8 days, but I´ll get to that later. They also already have a 5 day trip leaving the 29th (they already have 3 people going), which is again perfect for my schedule. The great thing about 3 people already going is that the price I would pay for the trip is an incredible amount less than they paid. Now the problematic part -- this is the most expensive tour company in the city. What the middlemen quoted me for an 8 day trip is a little bit less than their 5 day, after my huge discount for being the 4th person on.

There are reasons they are so expensive. They are the only tour operator that actually has a lodge in the middle of Manu national park, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Other tour operators either don´t enter the reserve, instead cruising the river that runs along its boundary, or they make camp in tents in the park. I can pretty much be certain the quality this company will offer. The first day we leave Cusco at 6am and take a bus east through the cloud forest region, stopping at some sites of cultural and historical interest before arriving at their own private lodge for the night. This day is a separate ecological zone than the jungle. The cloud forest is inhabited by foxes, cats, alpacas, llamas, plenty of birds, and the speckled bear (rarely spotted of course). Day 2 we drive to the river and then take an 8 hour journey by boat along the Madre de Dois river for 4 hours, then into the actual national park, and up Manu river for 4 hours. Basically here we can see everything, caiman, giant otters, macaws, pink river dolphins, monkeys of 13 different varieties, a ton of birds I wont list, and even, if lucky, a tapir or a sleeping jaguar. We sleep at the lodge and have the option of a morning paddle. They have a few observation sites set up depending on what kind of fauna watching you want to do. From the breakfast room (and this is according to independent sources as well as the company) one can watch a family of giant otters who make their residence at that part of the lake. The next few days is more of the same, with the option of a canopy walk, 76ft above the jungle floor. If I go Im sure Ill give a full recap.

Suffice to say, going on this trip with only 3 other tourists sounds pretty incredible. The company is really interested in me coming, as it is with anyone registering this late, and I left my email address with them, the agent telling me she would email me a lower price if they could offer. I did already get the innoculations and malaria medication in preparation of going to the jungle. There are two major impediments to me taking this. The first is cost -- I´m not going to lie it is 900USD. I´ve got a lot more than that on me in traveller´s cheques alone, plus I have a full visa, some cash, money in the bank etc. But its still a lot, 300 more than I paid for my Inca trail tour -- and I did want to come home with some money in pocket. That being said the original price the 3 already taking the tour paid was 1720US. The tour company is the only one I am presently 100% certain of legitimacy and quality. There are plenty of reasons for it to be expensive -- there is a quota of 3000 people days to be spent in the reserve a year, and its apparently the reason why the biodiversity remains in full view.

The other impediment is weather. There is a reason not everyone comes here during this time of year, since it is ´rainy´ season. I haven´t seen any rain in Cusco of significance yet. It drizzles for like an hour or two most mornings then is sunny and perfect temperature for the rest of the day. Its like 22 all day and Ive already gotten sunburnt. But the jungle is a different story, and if its going to rain for 5 straight days and Im not going to see any of the wildlife there isn´t a point. I´m going to check the forecast and try and get some independent information. I don´t want to go back to the travel company lest they get the feeling Im as interested as I am. There is one other company Im going to check out today that is not a middleman, according to my guidebook, so we will see if they are going. Like I said, not even the middlemen people have a tour currently booked.

This morning I caught mass at ´La Cathedral´ -- currently the most important church in Cusco, and perhaps, Peru. It is also built upon Incan foundations, which are pictured. A famous stone, the 12 sided stone, is part of this foundation, and pictured. I don´t know enough about the method of masonry the Incas employed, as of yet, to talk about it, but its stunning the same. Going to mass around 715 meant that I didn´t have to pay for the tourist entrance fee (take that hostel owners). Its apparent where some of that Incan gold went -- the gates surrounding the ten or so shrines are about 25-30 feet tall and encased in gold. Its pretty over the top. Numerous oil paintings can be found inside, including one surviving from 1650, and another depicting the last supper, only with local cuisine. The only thing about attending mass that was difficult was pretending to pray in the pews. Mostly I looked solemn and tried to figure out what the other people were thinking about. Again, no pictures allowed, so outside shots only. I got stabbed in the clavicle on the way out by a lady selling pinned pictures of the virgin mary. She just pinned it to my collar and asked for money. I gave her a sole and thanked her, faking some reverance for mary´s image. The second picture is of the famous stone of 12 sides, which forms part of the foundation for the catherdral.










Im going to wander around most of today I think, and probably try guineau pig for dinner. There are about 6 other sites of historical interest which I won´t be visiting this time in Cusco. The reason for this is that you have to buy 1 ticket for them all and it only lasts for 10 days. This city tourist ticket also lets you access 8 or so Incan sites in the sacred valley, just over the hills of the city. Im going to try and buy one that begins on the 20th. When I take the train back from Machu Picchu I plan on getting off at Ollantaytambo, before Cusco, the most northern site along the valley and the only place where the Spanish suffered a major defeat in the entire war of conquest. The fortress is still intact and over the next four days I plan on visiting all the major sites of the sacred valley, ending in Pisac, a rural fishing village with a lively Sunday market, overlooked by preseved terracing, before returning to Cusco around the 24th.

This will give me the next 4 days to use the ticket to see those sites in Cusco I missed. Assuming I take the jungle tour, it ends in the jungle city of Puerto Maldano (sp) on the 2nd, and I´ll have to fly back to Cusco. Ill probably only stay a night before taking a bus to Puno (as per my original plan) to get in the 3rd. I´ll have missed the first day of the festival (as described earlier) but it lasts two weeks so no big deal.

Thats about it for plans.... today Im probably going to take an hour of Spanish lessons. I get better at Spanish by the hour, but I remain enfeebled. There are all types of lessons available but my plan was to master my two phrasebooks before taking one so I dont waste my time there. My brain has continuously performed a strange actoin, when confronted with Spanish I often think or even respond in French. Even though the locals know a great deal more English -- ie it isnt in my interests to do so. I speculate I have an alternative language button in my brain and since there is only one language there its the one that gets called on when foreign language is heard and the button pushed. French isn´t, by any strech, useful either. A knowledge of eytmology is way more instrumental. I keep saying ´"ou" "aussie" "est-ce que" "pense" and similarly stupid things. Sometimes I just freeze. I saw the cleaning lady yesterday morning and the conversation went like this her: "Ola", me: "Ola, beunos dias", "beunos dias, como estas (sp)", "...... esta bein". Esta bein means "its ok" from what I gather, and isnt a usual response to how are you. She gave me a befuddled look.

Often when people speak to me, like waiters or waitresses, I smile and nod. Then if it becomes clear they´ve asked me a question I have to say "yo no entiendo" which means that I dont understand.

How is it that I can read a word in English once and have it in my vocabulary for the rest of my life but when it comes to Spanish (and French for that matter) I have to repeat a word ten times out loud to have a 50% chance of retention? And even if I retain it there is no way I can pronounce it correctly for the first 50 uses. And we aren´t talking about pulrichitudinous here, I´m trying to remember what "sixty" is and that febrero, or something close to that, is february. One thing I´ve noticed in every subject matter is once a person is the least bit intimidated by it, they often label it as esoteric and therefore inaccessible to them from that point on. I see and speak to scientists, remakring on history, politics, economics, or philosophy "oh but I dont know any of that kind of thing" -- while those in the humaniites say the say of all technical science. Of course the same effect can be observed by both groups, and people in general, when mathematics is mentioned...and the effect is also observed with the majority of those over 45 with respect to computers or the "internet".

What Ive sen is that this demarcation actually does more to impair the practical aptitude in said scary subjects than the original handicap (if there was one) from which the person suffered. Of course, poinitng this out seldom goes over well and its easy to see why. I think French has always had this stigma for me, yet overcoming it isn´t as simple as realizing Ive marked French in this way. The only time I recall being confident in French was after I finished grade 12 and that lasted about 8 months. I think it may be like this -- telling someone who fears some subject (always irrational) that there is nothing to fear but frea itself may be true, and they may recognize it as true, but it isn´t a gameplan by which to unlearn that fear. And now realizing it but still being powerless isnt going to make people happy.

I can think of plenty of mathematicians and scientists who I have done the above disservice to with respect to politics, history, economics, or philosophy. Dare I name names? Ill resist the temptation but I think this case is more common than the converse since those in the humanities dont often talk about math or science (if theyve done said brain self labelling) while the scientist or mathematician is eventually ocnfronted with politics for example.

What may already have been inferred is that in almost all cases I doubt there is anything cognitive or structural impeding a persons understanding of a subject. Its pretty simply, effort and volume breed specialization and ease of comprehension, but there isnt a law forbidding polymath specialization, comprehension, or affinity. I wonder if this phenomenon falls under the umbrella of the following effect -- people´s eyes glazing over or more precisely their brains shutting off when confronted with a text full of polysyllabic grandiloquence. There seems to me to be two important remarks to be made here. First, a number of academics and writers write in unclear terms on purpose in oreder to a) incite said effect above in readers thereby ensuring their perceived erudition b) obscure the fact that they arent saying something new, and or important, and or intelligible. How many teachers, professors, and academics are simply good at playing the looking smart game? One could name names. The other remark though is a type of "on the other hand." Why would someone shut off their brain when confronted with new words? I see them all the time and have devloped two one step solutions, the first is dictionary.com and the second is opening my dictionary. Youve learned new words before....dont stop now! Well that was quote the tangent but if you are one of the many who dont think I have anything interesting to say you havent been reading for a while. More to say, will have to wait.