Jungle bound

Yesterday I woke up and went to my favourite crepery for breakfast...only to learn they are closed until February 16th! They only had to be open a few more days....

I grabbed some food at the local bakery instead and then headed up to Sasquawaman, the Incan fortress about 1 mile above Cusco. Cusco´s "navel" appellation really is accurate, since there are high hills on all sides of the city. Anyways, the ruins were really impressive, some stones about 20 feet high, and all, as usual, interlocking perfectly to form a strong defense against attack. Got some good shots, hopefully there will be some oasis internet cafe in the next few cities with enough broadband to upload easily. I also visited the city´s Jesus statue which overlooks the whole city and is lit up at night.

I relaxed at the hostel in the afternoon and met an interesting couple from California. They had spent two weeks (of their four in Peru) on a cleansing mission with the Shaman of a small village. Spiritual, mental, and physical cleansing...
Anyways we spent a fair amount of time talking about the food in Peru (they are meat-eaters but organic naturally raised only, etc). I recommended BC to them, they were thinking of going up next year.

I went to a show from 630-8 of traditional Andean dances. It was pretty good, the music not bad. An entertaining show at least for the time and place. Immediately after the show ended I realized my stomach woes had returned. Not fun. After that was semi-resolved I didn´t want to return to the hostel. I was tired of going to bed at like 9 because of stomach illness, jetlag, exhaution, and altitude adaptation. I headed to Norton´s Rat, an English pub in the main square. My guidebook said they had the best burgers in town, and since it was the first burger I´ve eaten here I have to agree. Huge bun, as big as two big Mac´s I´d say with a real beef patty, bacon, mushrooms, cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and avacado. I wolfed it down.

I met a 65 year old guy at the bar named Tycho. He grew up in Estonia, then immigrated to NYC when he was 23 in 1966. He started visiting Peru in ´77 and has been back like 15 times or so. Anyways we hit it off and spent the night getting drunk and talking about politics, history, economics, socialism-communism-capitalism, language, religion, and Peru. We spent a fair amount of time making fun of Canadians which was great, and I probed him a lot about Peru. I don´t mind drinking a fair amount in good company.

When I left the bar I was coherent, but fairly buzzed. It was like 2am and I hadn´t been on the streets of Cusco after midnight yet so I was aware to be vigilant about being robbed. Of course, as those who have drank alcohol before know "being vigilant" about anything while buzzed means you have no inhibitions or worries until you re-remember you should be trying not to get robbed. My usual defense for not getting robbed was no longer in effect (being around tourists who would be easier to rob than me). Anyways I made it home ok and slept in.

The hostel here has a copy of Harper´s, the New Yorker, Wired, and New Scientist. I´ve already gone through them all, depraved of English as I am, and as a result not even Malcolm Gladwell´s article seemed bad. Wired I haven´t really read much before now but was pretty impressed with some features they ran. Anyways, I´ve been trying to figure out this puzzle they printed in New Scientist I believe. It goes like this:

"I had a list of numbers, but I coded them by changing digits for letters consistently. If you knew how many of the numbers were square you could figure out what the numbers are."

The coded list : "ARE ANY NOS HERE SQUARE" -- I can safely say that I went about cracking this code in the least efficient way possible. But, I´m fairly certain I can solve it in my next go, probably before bed tonight. Extra credit for doing like me and not using a calculator. Extra extra credit for not using pen and paper, though I´m pretty sure this would take 12 hours or something. One word of advice, I have figured out how to optimally approach these kinds of questions. DO NOT try and think laterally about the question for 3 minutes before resorting to brute force (like me) for the next 30. Instead, try spending 10 minutes thinking laterally. This will save you much time.


I´m heading to the jungle tomorrow, for 5 days. I ended up picking the expensive trip, but it seems like you get what you pay for. Of course, hindsight will be 20-20. One advantage is that the trip ends in the jungle town of Puerto Maldano, and I´ll have to find my way back to Cusco before moving on to Puno around the 4th of February. Im not flying, its way too expensive for an hour flight, so sketchy collectivos and buses through the jungle will be my transportation of choice. I know I´ve left out some days in this blog, to be filled in later, but I will say that I am now adept at busing between cities.

I wanted to make a semi-comical entry about things I dislike in Peru (not everything here is perfect) but I guess it will have to wait. If you don´t hear from me again I died somewhere in the Amazon. Don´t publish my notes.