Peru travelogue, December 1998
by Jenny Lau [Rob Lingelbach's comments in brackets]
[at arrival:We felt like a rock star emerging from the terminal as throngs of waving happy Peruvians watched our every move from behind barricades when we spotted sign saying "Mr. Lingelbach, Mr. Lau". Tour guide 'Edwin' took my vouchers, gave us new vouchers. Then he asked a little later for my vouchers. This was to be repeated during the trip-- guide asks for old vouchers, gives us new vouchers, then asks for vouchers.]
Dec.27
Nine o'clock in Lima:. It is way too early for the Peruvians, who are used to the night life. Streets are quiet. Another overcast day, wonder if we will be able to see any blue sky in Lima. A lot of taxis tried to honk at us. Found out later that whoever owns a car can be a taxi driver, only the yellow ones are safe to ride with. Price has to be bargained ahead since there are no meters on the taxi. Policemen everywhere, some even with automatic machine guns flirting with the vendor girl.. Money exchangers with uniforms (a yellow vest with telephone number) like to stick a calculator under your nose. City tour turned out to be a private one with a guide and a driver. Traffic is pretty bad and it seems there is no parking everywhere. We visited our first Plaza de Armes. City hall, Cathedral, and of course, the Government Palace. Very impressive colonial architecture. Met Jim Gottlieb for dinner. What a coincidence that he decided to visit Peru as the same time as we do. Lima at night is full of life, yet the vegetarian restaurants mentioned in tour book were all closed. Finally we went to Las Tejas. There was a very special fried vegetable dish 'yuquitas' we all liked. [note: I found yuca root in 'Fiesta' back in Dallas and made the same deep fried with a little salt and pepper, it was quite good!] Jim is brave enough to ride with the 'collectivos' the local bus system. [restaurants quite cheap: sumptuous dinner for 3 $30 including tip]
Dec.28
Early in the morning, transferred to the bus station to take a luxury motorcoach to ride to Ica. [I've never been on a bus like this-- huge double-decker, with reclining seats and more legroom than first class on an airplane.. movies on personal monitors.. an attendant to serve lunch.] Southeast of Lima in the suburb, there is the largest slum I've ever seen. [garbage everywhere, little stands with people selling cigarettes and sodas-- seemingly never having customers] The desert along the coast has almost no vegetation because lack of rain. The flight to see the famous Nasca Line was postponed three times. Finally we were able to get on the 3:30 flight, which was supposed to have less turbulence and better light to view the lines. The flight was still very bumpy and I got my stomach upset right away. Under the thick blanket of clouds, the lines are barely visible with all kinds of man-made traces over them. [unimpressive due to the lack of conservation] Very happy to be back to the hotel Las Dunas sipping fresh 'jugo' near the swimming pool. After a couple days of practice, my Spanish is good enough for me to order a glass of juice ( Hugo de papaya, sin azucar, par favor. Ha, ha, ha! The resort is an oasis in the middle of the desert with complete facilities. The golf-course somehow turned to a llama ranch, which I think is more indigenously. [hotel: very nice architecture, nice pool, bad zoo {parrots, taken from their homes in the jungle}.. weather at all times gray. I climbed the high dunes behind hotel {700 feet or so}]
Dec.29
Morning at leisure. 10:00 AM our guide Edwin took us and the Spanish couple to sightseeing in downtown Ica. First we stopped at Huacachina, a local's favorite palm-fringed lake surround by huge sand dunes. The green sulphur water seems pleasant and relax, yet the building around showed their age. Sandboard for rent. 1:30 PM, we took the motorcoach back to Lima via Panamerican Highway. [we had seats #1&2-- in the very front, as if we were driving] A lot of Inca Cola Ads along the highway, a enlarged bottle [Lima: internet cafes where I could buy time for 4 soles/hour, or about $1.33.. many people of Indian/Japanese descent, an attractive mix. Ate dinner at Govinda {Krishna} restaurant, very nice]
Dec.30 Cuzco
We had to up 2:00 in the morning to catch the 5:00 AM flight [surreal]. It
seemed all the flight to Cuzco had to leave early enough to avoid the
thunderstorm. [plane makes extreme turn around mountain on approach
to Cusco at 12k feet, I thought the wing was going to touch the peak]
The waiter served coca tea even before we registered [hotel:
'Monasterio', 5-stars --we were upgraded for some reason-- an
incredible hotel, former monastery, absolutely beautiful and so
quiet]. It had a very subtle taste, almost like the green tea I used
to have. After a decent nap, walking out of hotel to explore the Inca
capital. Cobblestone streets are narrow and winding, many of them are
laid out much as it was in Inca time. Colonial churches and
monasteries are perking Inca stonework as their foundation. Met an
Inca boy in the pouring rain. He tried to teach Rob some Quechua and
wanted an American pen for his sourvernir. [Inca stonework, in the
'Imperial Style', is incredible, no stonework before or since has ever
matched its beauty and craftsmanship. No mortar used, can't even get
a knife blade between the blocks; in comparison, Spanish stonework
from the 16th century is very sloppy.]
City tour started at 1:30 PM. Although the first spot was only couple
blocks from our hotel, it took about an hour to get there, picking
people from different hotel (all in the central town radius),
struggling through crazy one way street... Santo Dimingo church, which
used to be The temple of Sun in Inca era, shows a good history lesson.
Visited Saqsayhuaman,
Qenqo, Cusillyuioc, Tambo
Machay.. [this is where I drank the water that perhaps gave me
Giardiasis].
Dec.31. Pisac and Ollantaytambo
In the drizzle, the Condor bus took us to Pisac. After climbing the pass, the bus descended to the beautiful Urubamba valley. The terrace planted for fava beans, maize, and other vegetable goes almost vertical to the cliff. mountains were very beautiful in fog and rain. The charming guide took us to the produce section, showed us [17] different kind of maize and some interesting fruits. One is like a enlarged tamarind, cottonish fluffy fruits with black seeds which Inca women used for earrings. One of the American woman couldn't resist the temptation and she bought a big bag of coca leaves [to bring back to the states-- I warned her she could get in trouble for it]. The guide also took us to a courtyard where in the back there is a clay oven for baking bread. We also saw a typical Inca house with a typical family eating a typical meal with typical children -I think 8 kids. John and the dancing kids ...Catholicism of Peru causes population explosion?]
Ollantaytambo has a complete irrigation system where underground channel brings the water to the bath of the princess. The guide pointed out to the famous Inca man, but I used my imagination finding a totally different face. [this man-- who was sculpted out of the rock by the Incas-- can be seen clearly in profile in the photo above which otherwise is a lousy photo. Inca stonework at Ollantaytambo is incredible, complex curves of corner stones leading to intricate joins and beveled surfaces. The picture shows us and Johh sitting in an Inca seat which was carved out from a complete rock. There are numerous terraces following the contour of the mountain, lead up to the overlook of the entire Urubamba valley.
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| Yucay Chapel | Yucay Street Scene |
After the tour of Ollantaytambo, we were left behind by the bus at Posada del Inca, a converted 300 year old monastery in Yucay. This was my first New Year's Eve in a summer time, yet here in the Andes Mountains the weather was quite cool. Inside the hotel, the staffs were busy to get ready for the New Year's Eve party. Tents, dancing floors, speakers, even fireworks platforms were set up. Fountains were covered with chrysanthemums. Loads and loads of yellow 'forsythia' were beaded to garlands. There was a big celebration ahead. The receptionist eagerly wanted us to get the tickets for the party. However, since we had to get up early the next morning to catch the train to Machu Picchu, we decided to skip the party. A local musician played beautiful Peruvian harp during the dinner. Ironically, The disco in the courtyard was so loud that the poor musician had to give up his performance shortly. [another reason to go back sometime]
Jan. 1. Machu Picchu
Despite of noise from the party ( I tried putting the extra blankets
over the curtain to get a better sound insulation), we had a pretty decent sleep [Rob always brings his earplugs]. Later we were told by our Spanish friends that the party didn't finish until 2:00 in the morning. About Cuzco, I got the impression that the Plaza was packed with wild people the whole night) The train station reminded me of those Hollywood parking lot where Mexicans are selling big carpet. The difference was that the Peruvian weaving technique was much better than the machine-made. The train trip was a wonderful ride, with spectacular scenery on all sides. Along the Urubamba Valley. the mountains hugged the tracks closer and closer, along with the bubbling river from glaciers still covered with snows. We passed KM88, the starting point of Inca trail and Rob saw a few Inca stepsleading to the mountains. [Rob's notes: Inca steps seemingly in the middle of nowhere, ascending through the overgrowth up a peak by the side of the tracks.] When we got off the train, we were surrounded by the lady
vendors again, trying to show T-shirts, dolls, etc. Even though they
knew the chance was little, they were full of hope "Madam, when you
come back".
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After lunch, Rob decided to hike up with our new Australian friend John, while I decided to walk around the ruins. Most of the tourists had to take the 3:00 o'clock train back to Cuzco, leaving the ruins relatively empty. It was indescribable feeling walking in between these staircases, terraces,temples,.... Why do the Incas build Machu Pichhu? How do they build it? There are many assumptions, but nobody really knows the answer. Late in the afternoon, the sun finally peek out from the clouds. The entire site was bathing in a magic golden . [Rob's notes: Hike to peak amazing, sometimes on hands and knees through a tunnel, sometimes clinging to vertical steps cut in side of mountain. "Sun Gate" visible in saddle about 5 miles from MP ruins is part of the sun alignment puzzle that is MP.. met Jeremy, an ornithology student from NC State at top looking for condors... Stupendous views ... Huayna Picchu itself is the peak in the background of most MP photos.. Jenny ran out of film but got the people in the gift shop to reopen for her so she could buy two more rolls.. we shot over 200 photos each at MP. On the way down the mountain in the bus to the train, we were entertained by a Quechuan boy yelling "GOOD BYE" at each switchback. He collected a tidy sum at the train station from the appreciative tourists. Trip back to Cusco on train magical with full moon, through the Urubumba valley.] | ||||
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Jan.2. Cuzco
We loved Cuzco so much that we decided to change our iternary to spend one more day there. The tourists were making a new scenery of Cuzco in some degree. Passing by a newsstand and the cover news was "Fujimori, Cancer". We strolled around, found more plazas but basially they are all the same layout. along the plaza are the collunaded walkways, many having ornately-carved wooden balconies on the second floor. From the square radiate narrow streets and alleys, leading to another smaller, less crowded squares and numerous colonial churches. As a city of 275,000 inhabitants, we were impressed by the number of vegetarian restaurants it has. There are at least five near the Plaza. In sort of new-age but very pleasant setting restaurant where we had our last dinner in Cuzco, we met a couple from LA. What a small world! She is an art teacher, and her brother Bill is a movie-location manager. Bill mentioned it was quite a refreshing trip for him, yet he was afraid that maybe we would be the last generation to see the cultural difference. [Rob's note: this also worries me.. I've just received a message from Bill upon his return to LA, and he has been sick as I have --though his fever has not abated]
Jan.3. Cuzco-Lima
Morning flight back to Lima. We found out later that we were very lucky that our flight was only half hour later than schedule. The next flight was half day delayed. Went by another newsstand in Lima, this time the news was "Fujimori, no Cancer" [these are somewhat sensationalist tabloid newspapers we found out]
Architecture Notes:
- 1.A lot of the buildings in Lima look unfinished-- rows and rows of houses with rebar sticking out all over the place. It turns out that Peruvians don't have to pay taxes on unfinished buildings :] I guess they can 'occupy' unfinished buildings though.
- 2. likes to use big glass, curtain wall everywhere, renovation, interior design, even in the monastery. Personally, I really like the simple yet comterporary looking. According to Jim's friend, who is a seismic engineer, the reason is it is too expensive to have the window frame. Instead, they just bolted glazing.
Jan.3. Cuzco-Lima
Shopping day. At hotel check-out, we met our Spanish friends again. Eventhough I still had to use my body language to communicate with them, I felt that if we had known each other for a long time.. I was very glad to learn about there was a craft market nearby from them. After spent couple hours there, we had to head to the telecine facility where Arturo works. [the visit was fairly interesting in that I was impressed with their work for such a small facility with limited equipment... Jenny and I were searched by well-armed guards at the entrance, and given passes to enter.. armed guards everywhere. I guess Sindero Luminoso (shining path-- Maoist guerillas) is still a factor to some extent. That night we ate at Las Tejas again, Jenny ordered Chicha, the Peruvian drink (nonalcoholic) made from corn. It's really good.] [we got to the airport that night for our flight back to Dallas at 10:45 PM. we then got in the first of 6 lines, and spent two hours in that first line to check in.. but the people, including the Peruvian employees of American Airlines, were as warm as always].