Getting from my hotel in Miraflores (Lima) to my hotel in Urubamba was quite a journey, involving a tour bus, an airplane, another tour bus, a home cooked meal, a weaving demonstration, a dirt road, and an indeterminate number of switchbacks and potholes which finally deposited me here, a couple of hours from Machu Picchu. I can't say I know everything about Peru yet, but I'm learning. This probably one of the most polite countries I have ever been in, and although many of the people involved in tourism speak some English, they are tickled pink when I haul out my quaint, textbook, Castilian Spanish to talk to them the best I can. They speak a Spanish here which is crystal clear and so easy to understand--their regional features are few and far between. I haven't had to use any slang with them, but in general I still haven't heard anything I don't understand. I mean, I don't understand the rules of road in Peru, but one of them must be, if you are standing in the road, you maybe better move--there are no slow dogs in Peru. The airport in Lima, though small, is efficient and all about getting the job done: too many people going through security--open more security lines. The LAN flight to Cuzco was top-notch, and the crews were very professional. Our merry band of travelers has been shepherded around by a great bunch of local guides (thanks to Mohib at Millennium Tours of Texas) who really know what they are doing--kind, professional, communicative, understanding. Our local guides in Lima are from an agency name "coltur" and are top-notch, speak english, know everything there is to know about Lima, are kind and generous, good-hearted people who want to share their city with new-comers. After arriving in Cuzco, we went out for a home-cooked meal of chairo soup, fresh vegetables (which means potatoes) and cuy which had obviously been made by somebody's mother. Getting used to the altitude is another matter altogether, but I can't tell if my head hurts because of the altitude or because of my lack of sleep. Sometimes when you are traveling, it's hard to tell. I can say this, however, that Peru is a very different place. Full of hard-working and earnst people, these first two days have been a real pleasure even though I've been on the move the entire time. I watched a public debate last night on who might be the next mayor of Lima--a rather post-modern experience if there ever was one. Now I am deep within the valleys and mountains of the Andes, surrounded by sheer peaks, a gushing river, green fields of potatoes and corn, villages of adobe bricks, dogs. It is, however, hard to generalize because my experiences have already been so diverse. What can you say about people who know how to make perfect potato pancakes? I attended a short seminar and demonstration on traditional weaving and was amazed at the complexity of the process and the talent of the weavers. We think we know a "people" because we can label them, but we would be wrong. What I have seen so far is this: an entire nation working hard to make ends meet, build roads and bridges, get their kids to school, get themselves to work, put bread on their tables, make a decent life for themselves, and nothing about any of that is either simple or uncomplicated. Tomorrow, Inca lore, culture, traditon, dropping back a millennium or so to visit some of the myriad acheological sights in this area--the center of the world?
Thursday, March 21, 2013
On Peru
Getting from my hotel in Miraflores (Lima) to my hotel in Urubamba was quite a journey, involving a tour bus, an airplane, another tour bus, a home cooked meal, a weaving demonstration, a dirt road, and an indeterminate number of switchbacks and potholes which finally deposited me here, a couple of hours from Machu Picchu. I can't say I know everything about Peru yet, but I'm learning. This probably one of the most polite countries I have ever been in, and although many of the people involved in tourism speak some English, they are tickled pink when I haul out my quaint, textbook, Castilian Spanish to talk to them the best I can. They speak a Spanish here which is crystal clear and so easy to understand--their regional features are few and far between. I haven't had to use any slang with them, but in general I still haven't heard anything I don't understand. I mean, I don't understand the rules of road in Peru, but one of them must be, if you are standing in the road, you maybe better move--there are no slow dogs in Peru. The airport in Lima, though small, is efficient and all about getting the job done: too many people going through security--open more security lines. The LAN flight to Cuzco was top-notch, and the crews were very professional. Our merry band of travelers has been shepherded around by a great bunch of local guides (thanks to Mohib at Millennium Tours of Texas) who really know what they are doing--kind, professional, communicative, understanding. Our local guides in Lima are from an agency name "coltur" and are top-notch, speak english, know everything there is to know about Lima, are kind and generous, good-hearted people who want to share their city with new-comers. After arriving in Cuzco, we went out for a home-cooked meal of chairo soup, fresh vegetables (which means potatoes) and cuy which had obviously been made by somebody's mother. Getting used to the altitude is another matter altogether, but I can't tell if my head hurts because of the altitude or because of my lack of sleep. Sometimes when you are traveling, it's hard to tell. I can say this, however, that Peru is a very different place. Full of hard-working and earnst people, these first two days have been a real pleasure even though I've been on the move the entire time. I watched a public debate last night on who might be the next mayor of Lima--a rather post-modern experience if there ever was one. Now I am deep within the valleys and mountains of the Andes, surrounded by sheer peaks, a gushing river, green fields of potatoes and corn, villages of adobe bricks, dogs. It is, however, hard to generalize because my experiences have already been so diverse. What can you say about people who know how to make perfect potato pancakes? I attended a short seminar and demonstration on traditional weaving and was amazed at the complexity of the process and the talent of the weavers. We think we know a "people" because we can label them, but we would be wrong. What I have seen so far is this: an entire nation working hard to make ends meet, build roads and bridges, get their kids to school, get themselves to work, put bread on their tables, make a decent life for themselves, and nothing about any of that is either simple or uncomplicated. Tomorrow, Inca lore, culture, traditon, dropping back a millennium or so to visit some of the myriad acheological sights in this area--the center of the world?
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