cuscotopia

kaboom

our next stop after arequipa was cusco and the sacred valley. another fairly early morning but the hotel was kind enough to pack us a little bag breakfast - yogurt, an apple, and a sad little sandwich. okay, maybe it was more of a bagged lunch. the flight itself was fairly uneventful except that oh yeah, i saw a volcano erupting. i just happened to look out the window, luckily it was in time to catch a glimpse of it.

when we made our way over the andes and landed we were at our highest elevation yet. arequipa had been about 8,000 ft above sea level but cusco was something like 11,000. it was probably in our best interest to do it all gradually. i didn't notice many problems although i did get a little short of breath at times when normally i wouldn't have. we got a taxi and within about 15 minutes we were in the center of town. the outskirts reminded me a bit of nepal at first, a mountainside city with shoe box style houses stacked on top of one another. the historic district was a bit more spread out. our hotel was just about a block and a half from the main square. my mom had booked a different hotel but then decided to splurge for the marriott, worried that she'd have trouble with the altitude. (the marriott is one of those upscale hotels that has oxygen piped in to the rooms). it was pretty fancy, too - the hotel itself was built inside a converted convent, complete with a massive central courtyard (once cloisters). there was an entire spa in the basement - with a sauna, hot tub, and heated pool - and the breakfast tables seemed never-ending.

why is it called the plaza de armas, anyway? what arms?

after quickly getting settled we made our way to the plaza de armas. the weather was beautiful - nice and warm with bright blue skies - but the forecast for the next few days didn't look so good so we thought we'd try to make the most of it. we first went in the templo de la compañia de jesus, a fairly massive structure with a cavernous interior and bright gold altar screen. we couldn't take photos except when we went upt he tower steps and looked out the window on to the square. from here i was trying to find a certain convent but instead we ended up at a convent/museum that explained the lives of the nuns who once lived there. it was nicely down, exploring each facet of their lives with lots of artifacts, including their elaborate embroidery. my mom really enjoyed it - she's always liked learning about life in the cloisters. no photos once again, though.

clouds roll in

incan walls

from here we stopped for a quick lunch of sandwiches, empanadas and truly massive juices (we were each given a carafe that was meant to be a glass). no turkey on the menu (oh did i mention it was thanksgiving?) so we settled for chicken instead. then on to the convento santa domingo, primarily significant because it was built on the remains of qorikancha, the heard of this central incan city and the most sacred shrine, dedicated to the worship of the sun. there was still evidence of the incan civilization - many of the trademark incan stone masonry could be seen in walls and even rooms that were left intact. the genius of incan masonry is that there's no mortar joining the rocks yet nevertheless the walls are quite solid. rather than using some material in between the stones, masons painstakingly wore down the sides of each rock with a smaller stone so that the grooves would fit together perfectly. to the point that you can't fit so much as a pieces of paper between them. the later church was built on top of and around these stone walls. much like the churches built around mosques in moorish spain. the expansive courtyard was filled with tons of groups. our timing wasn't great since in addition to tons of groups the clouds rolled in just as we arrived.

rambling san blas

as we were leaving the skies were starting to clear a bit so we thought we'd do some more of our outdoor activities in the city. we hailed a taxi for a ride uphill to san blas, the bohemian area of the city filled with little cafes and artisans' shops. by the time our very quick cab ride was over the skies were blue again and the weather was glorious. from the top of a small staircase we could see over the red rooftops of cusco, enjoying a light breeze. we walked around the main plaza, filled with lovely brightly blue doors and white and yellow walls. even the street signs were lovely, decorated with carved bells and painted flowers. also dotting the plaza were a few groups of women, dressed in traditional peruvian garb walking with llamas. their aim is to get tourists to take a photo of them (i have to admit, baby llamas are quite enticing) and then get a little money from them. occasionally the police chase them off so i imagine it's discouraged.

gorgeous doors

we continued walking around the plaza and up some steps to a little alleyway. definitely the hostel dwellers' destination of choice - streets lined with silver earrings on display, incense burning from within little shops and pleasant little cafes with coffee and wifi. we made use of the latter, relaxing for a bit in a lovely little courtyard as we sipped café con baileys (only to be found in touristy areas to be sure - but does anything say 'vacation' more than bailey's in your coffee?) and wrote some postcards.

elaborate signs

we popped in and out of shops along the street, where i was delighted to discover a shop filled with hand-painted ceramics, a craft i hadn't seen too much of in peru as yet. the pieces were all done by one artist, tater camilo vera vizcarra, recognized by unesco. if you know my predilection for tiles you'll know that i was already done for. i walked away with a lovely little circular tile painted with a hummingbird, which i thought was a nice reminder of my time in arequipa. exploring the area made for a perfectly pleasant afternoon and a very nice introduction to cusco.

downhill we go

we rambled through the area and slowly made our way down a sloping street lined with little souvenir shops and more upscale alpaca stores (which i've seen alternately called cuesta de san blas, hatunrumiyoc, and calle triunfo on the map). a narrow street with well-worn cobblestones, from the top we could see some rooftops and into the main square at the bottom. again the streets were dotted with lovely bright blue shutters and window grills and the occasional flower pot. we popped in and out of shops, looking for scarves, blankets, and little knick knacks, making note of items we might like to buy later and what the going rates seemed to be. when we made it down to the main square it was getting close to dusk. there were plenty of people milling around - families out for the evening, tourists taking photos and several women selling gladiolas (which seem to be a favorite for worshipers who use them as offerings in church altars).

lights on in the plaza

we made our way back to the hotel - with the sun starting to go down it was quickly getting cooler. i didn't stay too long, though, before venturing back out to take some photos of the square as the sun set and the lights came on. getting a good picture was hard since it was already quite dark but i managed to get a few less-blurry shots of the fountain, the cathedral, and the hills beyond. for some reason the church facades themselves are not lit. mom was a little tired of peruvian food so we settled on a restaurant that had some non-peruvian dishes. as for myself i tried an entree that had two dishes i'd been wanting to try - chicharrones (fried pork, quite good) with tacu tacu (little yellow balls of rice and lentils, sort of odd), all accompanied by what i will go on record saying has to be the best juice combo there is - pineapple/mango/passion fruit. mom had some pasta that was surprisingly good. that night i made full use of the spa's sauna, steam room (which had some kind of giant leaves) and hot tub and, in spite of the hotel's size, i was the only person there. (idiots!)

massive doorway

the next day we ventured off into the sacred valley and towards machu picchu, but we we returned a few days later we were able to do a bit of what we'd missed in cusco before. it was a bit rainy, as predicted so we were happy to finish up some shopping, splurging on alpaca sweaters and finding some patterned shoes for me and adorable little booties for my friend expecting a baby. we also went in the cathedral - much like many of the churches we'd been in before (including the ban on photos that i think is rather silly in the age of smart phones) it was cavernous and filled with lots of gold and embellished altar niches. there were a few murals that helped explain the history of the city, punctuated by several major earthquakes. all in all we found cusco to be a perfectly pleasant city with lovely shops, significant architectural and archaeological sites and of course gorgeous carved and colorful doors. a hallmark of many great cities, i'd say.

sudamerica

for our latest trip my mom and i set out for peru, much awaited for her as she had been longing to see machu picchu and i was excited just to finally set foot in south america. we managed to get a direct flight from atlanta to lima and despite the airport's best efforts we did manage to make it to the long-term parking garage (park and ride? misleading) and onto the flight. we arrived in lima after midnight (hey, it was a direct flight, okay?) but managed to get a taxi that would take us to our hotel for what we thought was a reasonable rate. even with no traffic the ride was looong, because lima is a big city. so by the time we were up in our hotel room and off our feet it was past 2am.

gorgeous grounds of the museum

after sleeping in as long as we thought we could without feeling guilty we woke up and had breakfast on the terrace. our hotel was in miraflores, a very liveable part of this huge city. we had a bit of a view from the hotel terrace but couldn't see the sea. the city itself is fairly unremarkable-looking. our first stop was the museo larco, an archaeological museum that told the story of peru's pre-Columbian past through its impressive array of artifacts. they were incredibly well-preserved - ceramics with no cracks or fading, even textiles that were almost completely intact.

incredible preservation

and these pieces were thousands of years old! i guess being entombed with your valuable possessions has its advantages. the ancient incans used three principal animals to represent their spiritual realms - the bird (condor) to represent the heavens, a cat (jaguar) to represent the human world, and a snake to represent the underworld. these motifs come back again and again. they touched on human sacrifice and other (less titillating) rituals in ways that made their behavior very relateable to today's audience. the grounds of the museum itself were gorgeous also - all manners of indigenous flowers spilling out in every possible place. between the grounds and the galleries themselves we spent quite a while in the museum.

colorful streets of lima

by the time we were done it was well into lunchtime. instead of calling another taxi (which we suspected we were overpaying for) we thought we'd try to uber and see what happened. it worked great, and was about a third of the price as a taxi. we made our way towards the historic district where we stopped at a little sandwich shop we'd heard was good. it ended up being little more than a storefront with a small bar to sit at. but the sandwiches and fresh fruit juices were quite tasty. from this little roundabout we again ubered to make our way to the historic area. once we got close our driver seemed taken aback by the road closures he encountered and dropped us off as near to the main square as he could. as it turned out there was a major summit going on - APEC (asia-pacific economic cooperation) - and several major world leaders were in attendance, including obama and mark zuckerberg (who evidently is a world leader now). we couldn't get inside any of the historic buildings so we thought we'd save it for our last day. a very helpful government employee, who had told us about the summit, gave us directions to get to the art museum instead. it was quite a long walk but most of it was down a pedestrian shopping street so there was plenty to look at. it reminded me of a much bigger san josé, with tons of shoe stores and H&M type shops.

the cusqueño madonna

after a long walk and past some very busy streets we made it to the museum of art lima (mali for short). my mom wanted to rest outside so i went inside on my own. there was an odd little exhibition in the first floor. there was another gallery of cusqueño paintings, which is a mix of western styles and traditional andean elements. one aspect that really stood out were the typical triangular shape of the virgim mary - some scholars have said it was to reflect the shape of the mountains. i also noticed several paintings of joseph and the christ child, which is interesting only because it's so rare in european traditions. i thought it was a nice counterpoint to the ubiquitous madonna and childs. the permanent collection upstairs showed a nice cross-section of peruvian modernism. artists obviously wrestled with how much to embrace or reject european styles and what to depict. it was something i knew nothing about so it was a nice introduction to later (as in post-columbian, i suppose) peruvian history.

ceviche at mama's

the thought of braving the traffic or walking much more didn't sound terribly appealing so we were hoping to find a cafe nearby where we could sit and relax for a bit. there wasn't much around though so we ended up in a little shopping mall coffee shop where mom got a rich hot chocolate and i got something with arequipe sauce, something akin to caramel. after a bit of relaxing and journaling we made our way out and hailed an uber to make the long trek across town back to the hotel. we had a nice rest before making our way out again for dinner. luckily there are plenty of restaurants in the miraflores area. we walked toward a restaurant we'd come across in our research - just a few blocks away. but we were dismayed to find it was closed. we encountered the same thing again and again in our walk - which incidentally was full of bright lights from the signs of the many casinos in the neighborhood. we ended up going back to the hotel to ask if anything was actually open on a sunday night. they said there was a traditional place but it was quite a few blocks away. we headed that direction but ended up on a little side street with a few restaurants. i'm glad we did because mama olla did not disappoint. we started off with some little taqueños (what they sound like, a bit like taquitos) with peruvian (slightly salty) cheese inside. even better were our entrees - seafood risotto and our first taste of peruvian ceviche. outside of guinea pig (cuy), ceviche is probably the closest thing to a national dish of peru - or so we were told. the fish was so fresh, the acidity of the lime was just perfect, and it was served with giant indigenous corn, which was fun. we savored every bite but couldn't linger too long, as we head another early morning ahead of us.

the new gold standard

the next day we were up obscenely early to get a taxi to the bus station. the ride took about 30 minutes less than the concierge had budgeted so we found ourselves in a very bright little bus station waiting for our bus at 3am. when it arrived, though, we were not disappointed. luxurious doesn't quite cover it - these bus seats were nicer than most recliners i've sat in. they had not only a foot rest but a panel for your entire leg and they reclined so you were almost laying flat. that plus a pillow, blanket and individual tv screens made for a very pleasant four-hour trip. by the time we made it to paracas we were much better rested. we ended up in a tiny little bus station that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. that turned out to be somewhat misleading. it was off of a quiet road but also surrounded by a wall. as we discovered later, if you walked out down to the bottom of the grounds, through the gate and out you ended up on the main road and just across from the building of the little town of paracas.

sea lions lazing

we ended up setting up our boat ride there in the station, not having made plans already. they drove our little group down to the water in a van, where we then loaded onto the small boat. i think it sat about 35. we ended up with great seats at the back since he let 'retired people' board first. my mom took full advantage and got us seats at the back left of the boat. once everyone had settled we sped over to the islands (islas balestas).

PENGUINS!

the largest island was largely uninhabited but there were a few trucks zipping along the one road we could see. on the side of this island was a large symbol that looked like it had been written in sand. from there we jetted over to the smaller, rockier islands. this is the main attraction because of the wildlife. these little islands are absolutely full of animals - mostly birds but also quite a few sea lions lazing on the rocks and occasionally playing in the water. we even managed to see one group of humboldt penguins! there must not be many of them because on our trip all around the islands we only saw the one little group. we had a lovely time floating around the islands, soaking up the sun and looking for sea lions with funny expressions. after we had made our way almost all around the islands the little boat sped up again and we braced ourselves for a windy ride back to the mainland.

paracas' little harbor

we had a few more hours until our bus left to go back to lima so we explored tiny town of paracas, such as it was. it seems to be a little tourist spot, filled with little shops and restaurants along the water but not much else. we walked along the shore, taking in the colorful boats and waiting until restaurants would be serving lunch.

scallops on the half shell

to pass the time we stopped at a little cafe for some fresh passion fruit juice (our favorite), which came with a little dish of corn nuts. my mom was not a fan. finally we made our way down to another restaurant where we got some nice ceviche (our last day on the coast for a while, we figured we should take advantage) and little scallops covered in parmesan. maybe it's just me but somehow i hadn't put together that the word 'scalloped' is related to the shape of the shells scallops are in. i guess i'd never seen them served that way! quite tasty though. after a bit more lingering we made our way back to the bus station and braced for another comfortable yet long bus ride. by the time we got back to lima it was rush hour and getting an uber took longer than usual. after that long ride all we wanted was to be back at the hotel so we were very relieved when our uber driver finally made it through traffic and dropped us off.

soup and sips

after a rest we went down in search of another place for dinner. in the hotel lobby we discovered that one that had been on an anthony bourdain show we watched just before we left was just blocks away. we thought we might as well try it out. it's called amaz - not for 'amaze' but for the amazon, from which many of the dishes ingredients are sourced. the food had a mix of andean and amazonian food with some asian touches. (did you know there's a large asian population in peru? me neither.) the very kind waiter recommended several dishes so we tried a few different dishes. first was the wild prawn soup with smoked pork, tapioca and noodles. fairly thin, yet with a hint of pepper and i didn't even mind the tapioca balls (which in bubble tea i find disgusting). next was the main course - peking duck juane with rice and hoisin sauce, cooked in a banana leaf and - the best dish - the tender and flavorful lomo saltado (basically sauteed beef and vegetables) even our drinks were filled with interesting amazonian ingredients - mine had caribbean rum, berries from the amazon, guava, and pineapple juice. a bit pricy but a great experience.

glorious tiles

dem bones

and now, if you'll permit me, i'll skip ahead a bit to our last day in lima. our first priority was to head back to the historic district, where we hadn't been able to see much of anything the first day. our first destination was the iglesia san francisco, which we discovered had a huge line out front. we (correctly) guessed that it must have been a saint's feast day, which accounted for all the people lined up in the square with flowers in their hands. i had mostly wanted to see this church because we read it had a great muqarnas dome. well, we never got to see it because the church was full of worshipers. but we did take a tour of the monastery, where our rather inept (but sweet) guide walked us around giving us vague information about the monastery and spaces we were in. the cloisters were some of the prettiest i've seen - the walkways were all covered in spanish tiles (from sevilla, no less). the middle of the cloisters was filled with green gardens and palm trees. we weren't supposed to take photos, for some reason, but the guide quite literally looked the other way, which was most appreciated. the other highlight was the catacombs - quite extensive. many chambers filled with sorted bones all neatly stacked. in some parts we could look up through a grill and see into the church's sanctuary, and even hear part of the service. oh and there's also a 'last supper' painting there that's somewhat famous. the titular dinner on the table is all traditional peruvian food - potatoes, chillis, and even guinea pig. tourists clearly get a kick out of it.

tiles on every surface

from here we walked over toward the plaza de armas, where we stopped in a little hole in the wall for some lunch. the food was modest - the usual thin soups and mediocre cuts of meat - but it did the job. from there we walked through the large but otherwise not terribly interesting main square and on to the convento santo domingo. we went there almost on a whim - it was on our list of places and we had plenty of time to kill. i am SO glad we did. it was stunning. when we walked through we immediately saw the cloisters - even more stunning than the last (and we were allowed to take photos - bonus!) with red columns covered with tiles and walls to match. the central fountain was surrounded by flowers, palm tress, and birds chirping. from the courtyard we could see the church's bell tower, completing the illusion that we were not in peru but a moorish mosque-turned-church in spain. (the tiles, once again, were from seville).

light from above

we had a lovely guide who did a great job of showing us through the space and telling us about the various residents - two of them now saints - who had once lived there. (this is a pretty unfair characterization but we noted that the female guides we had always tended to be slightly better - succinct, even when giving bilingual tours, and yet packing a lot of information in.) one of these was st. martin de porres was the first black man to be canonized in the americas, although it was about 330 years after his death. he worked at the monastery all his life, cutting hair and tending to sick monks, never attaining the rank himself. a humbling story - one can see why people flock to his shrine to venerate him. the rest of the grounds were beautiful too. each room was decorated differently - whether with painted walls, colorful stained glass or tiles. (even the floor of the small crypt was covered in gorgeous tiles.) needless to say, i had a ball roaming around taking pictures and was so glad we had decided to stop in.

at this point we figured we had seen what we wanted to of the historic district and set about trying to find a way back to miraflores. after walking through the maze of one way streets we eventually hopped in a very old taxi who was willing to take us back towards the more residential part of town. we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in the little markets to fill out the rest of our gift lists, relaxing in a small cafe (with wifi of course) over tres leches cake and coffee, and walking through the more commercial districts popping into grocery stores to buy some potable souvenirs. for dinner we decided we wanted seafood and set our sights on a rather upscale place that was within walking distance. the meal was good but pricey (which helped us use up the last of our soles) - we had giant portions of risotto and one last order of ceviche. we dragged out dinner as long as we could but eventually we figured we should make our way to the airport (even though our 1am flight still wasn't for several hours). it's a good thing we weren't in a rush because the cab ride took literally two hours! traffic was a nightmare - we felt for our driver (since we had already negotiated a price), along with everyone else trying to get to the airport in a hurry. eventually of course we made it to the airport and collected the rest of our luggage from the lockers (what a godsend those are). this took a while, too, though. the second key needed to open the locker seemed to be missing and the poor night manager took quite a while to bust open our locker. again, good we were not in any hurry. in spite of all these hangups we still had several hours to wait and even then our flight boarded late as every single person's hand luggage had to be inspected by airport personnel. it was a full flight in the middle of the night and this last obstacle was almost interminable. finally we did get on the flight and managed to sleep some. we even made the drive back from atlanta without any problems.

but now on to the middle of the trip..