Cusco Musings

Well, Marcia and I reunited in the bustling Lima airport after a impromptu game of Marcia Polo. We spent the night taking in Lima and chatting until an ungodly hour of the morning. We left at 6:45am to catch our flight to Cusco, which was a fun adventure. When Marcia passed through immigration in Lima, the customs official failed to give her back her immigration paperwork that is required to leave Peru. Uh oh. So we spent a good chunk of time before our Cusco flight trying to figure out how to resolve this issue...in Spanish. Perhaps we get to stay in Peru forever!

The flight to Cusco was complete with some of the most epic views I have seen in quite some time. We flew over snow covered peak after snow covered peak of the Andes  - some so ominous you expected to see ice climbers dangling off of the edges of them. Beautiful green glistening high andean lakes nestled within the harsh terrain and meandering glacial streams (even some huge waterfalls!). The views were so epic, even the locals were gathering over to our side of the plane to catch glimpses of such majesty! Cusco was quite a sight from above as well. It was if the plane grazed just over the mountains that surround the city in the valley below; we were so close we could even see hiking trails! The red ceramic rooftops and multicolored houses that filled the valley beckoned us.
Marcia and I were last off the plane because I was trying to muster up enough Spanish to ask the pilots how they deal with cabin pressure when they go from sea level to a high altitude destination (Cusco is at 3400m/over 11k ft). Oh altitude. The first advertisement we saw getting off the plane was for an altitude sickness medication. It was a family in front of Machu Picchu - the sister looking disgusted, the dad confused, the mother horrified, and the son vomiting just outside the field of view of the photo. How funny. Then we passed some locals selling coca tea, which is known to really help with altitude sickness. Lastly, the advertisement by the baggage claim was for portable oxygen tanks for trekking at high altitudes- good grief what did we get ourselves into?! We were serenaded with a group performing indigenous song and dance while waiting for a bags. Their brightly colored ponchos and mesmerizing choreography made for quite the welcome!
Driving into Cusco was so beautiful - was an awesome city! We drove past some plazas which flew the exact same rainbow flags that are flown high at gay pride parades. My ignorant self thought they were in support of DOMA being declared unconstitutional. In reality, this is Cusco's flag and it's EVERYWHERE. Clearly not everyone is homosexual because we saw lots of small children...
The steep hills and altitude made for quite the winded experience of exploring Cusco. But Marcia and I stayed on top of mission Coca tea, ridiculous amounts of hydration, and taking it really easy. The almost unavoidable part of any city in South America is being perpetually bombarded by people trying to sell stuff. A little girl and mother in traditional garb posed with a baby goat (wearing a stupid hat), letting people take a photo of them for a fee. It was cute the first time, but that trap was nestled all over Cusco. Literally dozens of folks approached us with portfolios of artwork, flipping through it and telling us they would give us a good price and that they painted each one themselves. So explain to me how every single person selling artwork that they supposedly painted themselves all have identical collections of paintings? The most tragic yet enjoyable of the peddlers were the children. A boy who could barely even walk, let alone speak, came up to me today and dropped a hanger full of bracelets into my lap. Guess they start them young, huh? A group of 12 year old boys tried to sell us postcards that they 'made themselves' which matched every other 'original' art piece we had been shown that day. It was very easy to change the conversation by asking them questions about their family, how they liked Cusco, what they were learning in school, etc. But they would somehow always get back to selling their artwork. When that clearly didn't work, they pulled the "I'm starving. Will you buy my lunch?" card. Yeah, you gotta take that up with your parents, bud. Then they would switch to the flirty mode, "lady, you have nice legs" and then hand over their portfolio of postcards.
The persistence and aggressiveness of some of the peddlers got a little frustrating. I began resorting to just ignoring them, and crossing the street if they used the 'poke tourist with artwork', 'block tourist's walking path', or 'grab onto tourist's arm' methods of distraction. Marica is too friendly for this, so she just started sneezing when folks approached her. Allergic to fake authenticity, are we now? A woman with her young daughter on her back, holding a baby goat bombarded us when we left the Inca Museum. We know this trap! When we declined to take their photo, the woman pushed the baby goat towards Marica. Marica jumped back, fake screamed, and started fake sneezing. This scared the poor little girl and her crackers went flying. Oh man, I was on the other side of the street crippled with hysterical laughter. Good times.
On that note, the Inca Museum was super cool! Marcia and I realized we didn't know a whole lot about the indigenous history of Peru and were quite curious. The museum didn't quite piece it all together for us - but it was cool to check out where different indigenous groups lived and how the artifacts from each group differed. The museum sold textiles from the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, which is a really cool organization that tries to preserve indigenous weaving techniques before it's lost. Marcia heard about it from a friend from the Cleveland Museum of Art who spoke very highly of the center. It was very difficult to find the place, but we did it! Marcia was in heaven and I'm pretty sure she tried on every single scarf in that place. Women sat on the floor and were weaving the most beautiful creations. I asked one of them if she could teach me...and there I was learning this ridiculously complicated art. The women all laughed at me for being super slow and being left handed, but they were totally awesome. We had such a good time!

I would love to fill you in more on our Cusco explorations, but I must be getting some sleep. We have a 5:20am departure tomorrow to start our 4day/3night trek along the Inca Trail through the Sacred Valley. We'll be leaving our 3rd campsite at 4am so we can watch the sunrise through the sun gate at Machu Picchu! But before that, Marcia and I will be trudging along this difficult trail - which Lonely Planet describes as cartilage crunching - with our big packs and good spirits. We plan to survive Dead Woman's Pass at 4200m, but maybe we should be more worried about the sheer cliff faces and narrow trail we'll have to pass hikers on...
Anywho - check back in 4/5 days for the lowdown on our sacred valley march. Also check back for pictures of our 2 days in Cusco!

Keep Calm and Trek On
GO TEAM!