The Inka´s Dream

It seems strange to have more than two consecutive minutes at a computer. At the hotel in Puno we had a free internet, but actually using this computer required standing around in the lobby for up to 45 minutes. On the plus side I spent so long staring at the giant wall-map that I´ve managed to memorize the names of half the cities in Peru.


Arrived yesterday afternoon in Cusco / Cuzco / Qusco, after an 8 hour bus ride. Personally I adore these trips, (minus the terminal border crossings) as long as I have a window and can soak up a suitable amount of scenery. The route yesterday took us from Puno (usual jumping off point for Lake Titicaca), through the lake district, endless tawny coloured fields, and stopping for a ten minute rest-stop between the snowy mountains.

The downside of the trip was watching the rest of the group grow ill around me, neccessitating two "vomit-stops" and the imminent threat of several more. For a change I was feeling top-form, if a little hot, as the sun slowly broiled the right side of the bus. Not only that they played english movies (A lot like Love, and The Wedding Singer), and I had the immense pleasure of navigating my way around the sort-of-bathroom in complete darkness. All in all a perfectly satisfactory trip.


I can see why so many foreigners find themselves hopelessly tangled in Cuzco, it is really something else. There is only so much I can say about it at this point, having only had a half day´s wander (this morning have gone from one end of the city to the other). Everything is old and stone and tilted. The streets are lined with the token alpaca stores, travel agents and a disproportionate number of pharmacies. By now I am used to the parade of food-carts waiting on every corner, but what they sell differs from country to country. In Argentina popcorn, candy floss, chocolate and glazed nuts. In Bolivia mostly dehydrated things I could not identify plus nuts, bananas, bread and a thin peanut-brittle type snack. In Peru there is still more chocolate, popcorn (a different kind of popcorn than in Argentina), and a grainy food called inca granola, though I doubt the incas had anything to do with it. There are also people wandering around with icecream carts, and glass bottles of coke and fanta. Don´t get me started on the jewelery.

The area I am staying in is called San Blas, which is filled with catholic churches and has such narrow streets you have to flatten yourself against the nearest dust covered building each time a car rattles passed. Once off the main street you lose all sense of direction, and wonder, turning corner after corner, if you will ever find your way out again. Somehow you do. The men here are much pushier than in the other countries I have visited recently; not that it feels dangerous at all, just have to put up with more whistling and laughably lecherous leering. The sooner you find it funny the sooner it fades into just another part of the ambiance-- already so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Tomorrow we go to the Sacred Valley for one night, before starting off on our three day trek(s). As it turns out, the guide and I will be doing a different hike than the rest of the group, as the Inca Trail is sold out of passes. The one I am doing is called the Lares Trek, and is supposedly "higher and colder". Not wild about this idea, but could not bring myself to stay behind, being so near. On the final day we go to Machu Picchu, where supposedly they will stamp your passport (our guide seems very excited about this, for some reason). After this it is back to Cuzco, which my camera and I are looking forward to getting to know much better.

N.