Diving Adventure in the Galapagos #4

By: Leanne Wells

April 14th – Lima to Cusco

Hotel forgot to give us our wake-up call. Fortunately Mike’s internal alarm is alive and well. Made our flight on AeroPeru with time to spare. The bathrooms at Lima Airport have a real racket going: you can pee free, but must pay for the toilet paper. An attendant doles out spare amounts of TP and lies under the counter on the floor, resting, arising only to hand the customers her allotment of TP. Note: anywhere you travel in Central or South America, it is always wise to carry TP in your pocket or bag.

Flight to Cusco is awesome! The Andes make the Rockies pale in comparison. We’re talking really rugged here! The Andes unfold below the plane in vast, crumpled tracts of corrugated terrain. It is hard to imagine that the ancients traveled these parts on foot as part of their daily commerce within their great empire.

Inca women above Cusco

Landed at Cusco with little approach, just a hard left bank and rapid descent into a beautiful green valley and lovely picturesque town. About 700 years old, the town reflects much of its Spanish heritage, is clean and inviting; a welcome change from Lima.

Te de coca (coca tea) is the indigenous drink, made from the leaves of the coca tree. The same the locals chew to achieve their legendary high. Mike made the observation that the tea tastes and smells like bad dope. And he is absolutely correct! I drank mine, his and Walter’s. The hotel Nixa Savoy (Tel: 084-224322; Fax: 084-221100) welcomed us with more of the same. Seems that the tea is the local cure for high altitude sickness, or saroche. And the guides and hotel staff swear that it works.

By the time we got to the hotel Mike was looking pretty green at the gills and predicting eruptions to follow. He went to the room and slept for a couple of hours while David, Dicksie, and I prowled and tried to figure out how to mail postcards from here. It was a major effort to exchange money, buy stamps, and mail the cards. Money is easily exchanged here in the small casas de cambio scattered along the streets. We found them to be honest and easy to deal with, but none were open at this time of day.

Back at the hotel, helped Mike complete his nap for an hour, then had lunch: heart of palm salad and asparagus soup. Just ok.

After lunch Mike, David and I hiked to the Plaza las Armas, so called because every Sunday the army parades there. There we marveled at the Cristos Blanco high above the city and admired the churches and park in the square. Then we made a tactical error of looking at some etched gourds a senora was selling. As soon as we displayed an interest in making a purchase, we were swamped with attention, mostly from children who seemed primarily curious. Some of the boys wanted to polish our shoes, but were not insistent and seemed to just want to hang around. One tiny little girl just stood with her diminutive little hand lying lightly on my arm as I squatted looking over the merchandise. She never uttered a word.

Back again to the hotel, found Mike much revived and wanting a beer. The local favorite, Cusquena, is made here. Walter likes it, Mike is able to drink it, and David dislikes it intensely. He makes monstrous faces and shudders after every taste.

Our guide for the rest of our stay in Cusco, Roberto, picked us up at 1420 for afternoon tours of the Inca ruins near Cusco. Cusco was once the center of the Inca universe and central to their religion and lives. If all roads in Europe lead to Rome, then in South America, all roads once led to Cusco. The Spaniards destroyed the Inca city proper in the 1530’s when they conquered the area. They attempted to also eradicate the holy places, but many were just too monumental and permanent, the building stones too large to destroy. The remnants of these sacred sites remain and are a testament to the ingenuity of the Inca.

Sacsayhuaman

The first site we visited, Sacsayhuaman (pronounced like sexy woman!), literally means “satiated hawk” and consists of three tiers of huge stones chiseled and fitted together into walls shaped in a zig-zag pattern resembling a lightening bolt. The site is high on a mountain top above the city – as beautiful a place as I have ever seen, so serene and peaceful. It is huge, resembling in many respects a large coliseum for sports and great gala celebrations. One can almost feel the spirits of the ancients lurking around.

We also visited an outlet for products made from llama and vicuna wool. They had 2 alpacas and a vicuna in an open pen. The vicuna is an endangered species and now protected by law. It’s a delicate little creature with huge liquid brown eyes, similar in form to the much larger alpacas and llamas. I bought a wonderful blanket from alpaca for $40 US and a jacket for $40.

El Trunco for dinner. Excellent ceviche and wonderful appetizer with stuffed avocado. This dish is called aguacate reina (queen avocado) in Peru, and is a huge avocado stuffed with shrimp. I ate it all over the country and never found one I did not like. Mike, still puny with migraines, stayed in the hotel and slept.

Evelyn provided the entertainment; she can eat more than anyone I ever knew. David has dubbed her “the stomach”. She began with stuffed avocado, then asparagus soup, and then her entrée! Amazing.

After dinner Walter, Evelyn, and I shopped. I’d have to take a back seat to Evelyn when it comes to power shopping. Walter is a real sport; helping us bargain, figuring exchange rates, etc.

Dicksie has added a new expression to our lexicon: “WAY GOOD”. Things don’t just taste delicious, they’re WAY good!