I have been so annoyed in the past few months by a certain type of music that I decided to write a blog post about it. "Huayno" is the local obsession in much of the Andean region in Peru. The vocals are ridiculous and make grown women sound like they are little girls giggling. A male voice usually accompanies the women in the background and he says the same line over fifty times in every song. Con todo el cariño de/With a lot of love from (village where he happens to be from) and Eso! Eso! Eso!/This is the good stuff! This is the good stuff! This is the good stuff! are the most likely phrases. The lyrics are almost always about broken hearts and runaway lovers, These singers are backed-up by an assortment of repetitive violin and harp lines. Every driver in the region is blaring this god-awful concoction of "melodies" wherever they happen to go. The stores in the streets, the trucks, the restaurants, everywhere is huayno. I got my first taste of the music in the first few weeks of traveling here. We drove in an over-crowded, dusty, 2WD van at 15,000 feet over some of the bumpiest roads in the region without water for five hours. I always had a sufficent headache. The huayno blaring over the radio made it a migraine. I now understand why they play a different form of Andean music for the tourists in Cusco. I doubt they would sell very many whino CDs. As harsh as I am on this stuff the locals love it, and I can't hate on that but, personally, I will not be downloading any anytime soon. Below is a link to some typical huayno.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5syFGvnUA&feature=related
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Machu Picchu
The much anticipated day had finally arrived. We woke up at an early 5 am to catch the first bus up to the famous ruins just in time for sunrise. We had the option to either walk from our hostel in Aguas Calientes at 3:30 am or take the bus for nine dollars at 5:30. I was very glad I chose the latter option as it was pouring rain for all of the early morning. Machu Picchu itself is right in the middle of Peru's cloud forest, a region of thick jungle that is cooler and wetter because of its high altitude, and our guide said that there is usually only one or two days a year where it doesn't rain at all. This made for some spectacular scenery. Our group arrived at the site just a few minutes before sunrise and everything was socked in. I was able to snap a few cool looking shots of the ruins flowing with mist before the sun rose.
Once it did rise, so did nearly all of the clouds and we could all see the ruins and Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind the citadel, in complete and full detail. It was incredible and could not have been better lit for photos. The clouds had dissipated, but not completely. There were still wisps of moisture blowing off of every peak. After a sufficient amount of picture-taking we started our tour. Abraham, the guide, pointed out every important piece of architecture and its significance. The Incans had built each building in Machu Picchu without any mortar or sealant. Every stone in every building is perfectly chiseled to fit in with stones around it. Abraham said that when the walls are made this way they are water-tight. The mortar-free construction is also the reason Machu Picchu has survived over six centuries of earthquakes. The plumbing system in the ruins is also incredible. The builders sloped each terrace in the city perfectly,so that any rain water would be discarded into the valley below. After an entire morning of downpours we didn't see a single standing pool or puddle of water. Any of the water waste used by the villagers was also funneled into a channel and discarded in a similar way. I found it amusing that the Spanish called these people barbarians when they had precisely engineering infrastructure that would surpass any in Europe for the next few centuries.
Abraham also told us the fantastic adventure story of the rediscovery of the city by a westerner in 1911. Hiram Bingham was a Yale professor on an archeological trip in South America. the purpose of his journey was to find undiscovered remnants of the cultures before the Spanish. He was a real-life Indiana Jones. Bingham was traveling down the nearly deserted valley of the Urubamba river when he happened upon a farmer living near what is modern day Aguas Calientes, at the bottom of the valley. The farmer told him that he had found a large set of completely overgrown, but still intact, ruins when he walked up a mountain down the valley a year ago. Bingham hired him as a guide and found what would be the biggest discovery of his life. For the next few years, with funding from the National Geographic Society, Bingham led an operation to clear the cloud forest overgrowth from the ruins. It would become one of the best known landmarks in the world.
After thoroughly exploring the ins and outs of the mountain-top city I started to walk up the Inca Trail with three others from the group. Our destination was the IntiPunku, Quechua for sun gate. This is a small set of ruins at the crest of a ridge behind Machu Picchu where hikers on the Inca Trail get their first view of the ancient citadel. It gave us a completely different view where all of Machu Picchu, along with the Urubamba Valley, is completely visible. From here I really got a glimpse of how many people visit the ruins. Every alleyway and walkway had crowds. It certainly took away from the feeling of Machu Picchu being the mysterious, lost city of the Incas but was also a demonstration of the tourist dollars being flooded into the area. This economic benefit is clearly seen from Machu Picchu to Cusco. All of the artisans, the tour guides, the hotel and hostel staff would be without jobs if it were not for the tourists. I got to thinking that it would be quite difficult to maintain the appeal and culture of the area while still addressing the economic necessity.
We took the train back to Cusco later that night and I enjoyed one more day in Cusco before heading back home to Andahuaylas. Getting back was quite an ordeal that could have been avoided if there was the slightest bit of organization in the bus system here. When buying my ticket, I asked if there were any buses direct to Andahuaylas. They said no and that I would have to take one to Abancay and then a van to Andahuaylas. I wasn't too frustrated until the bus that I got off of in Abancay read on its message board that it was continuing on to Andahuaylas. Why I was told there were no buses home, I don't know. To make matters worse, I was also told that the first van would not drive to Andahuaylas until 3 AM. It was then 12 PM. So I waited, trying to sleep a little on my backpack, on the floor of the Abancay bus station for three hours. I promptly went to bed once I arrived at the house after another night of sleepless travel.
Once it did rise, so did nearly all of the clouds and we could all see the ruins and Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind the citadel, in complete and full detail. It was incredible and could not have been better lit for photos. The clouds had dissipated, but not completely. There were still wisps of moisture blowing off of every peak. After a sufficient amount of picture-taking we started our tour. Abraham, the guide, pointed out every important piece of architecture and its significance. The Incans had built each building in Machu Picchu without any mortar or sealant. Every stone in every building is perfectly chiseled to fit in with stones around it. Abraham said that when the walls are made this way they are water-tight. The mortar-free construction is also the reason Machu Picchu has survived over six centuries of earthquakes. The plumbing system in the ruins is also incredible. The builders sloped each terrace in the city perfectly,so that any rain water would be discarded into the valley below. After an entire morning of downpours we didn't see a single standing pool or puddle of water. Any of the water waste used by the villagers was also funneled into a channel and discarded in a similar way. I found it amusing that the Spanish called these people barbarians when they had precisely engineering infrastructure that would surpass any in Europe for the next few centuries.
Abraham also told us the fantastic adventure story of the rediscovery of the city by a westerner in 1911. Hiram Bingham was a Yale professor on an archeological trip in South America. the purpose of his journey was to find undiscovered remnants of the cultures before the Spanish. He was a real-life Indiana Jones. Bingham was traveling down the nearly deserted valley of the Urubamba river when he happened upon a farmer living near what is modern day Aguas Calientes, at the bottom of the valley. The farmer told him that he had found a large set of completely overgrown, but still intact, ruins when he walked up a mountain down the valley a year ago. Bingham hired him as a guide and found what would be the biggest discovery of his life. For the next few years, with funding from the National Geographic Society, Bingham led an operation to clear the cloud forest overgrowth from the ruins. It would become one of the best known landmarks in the world.
After thoroughly exploring the ins and outs of the mountain-top city I started to walk up the Inca Trail with three others from the group. Our destination was the IntiPunku, Quechua for sun gate. This is a small set of ruins at the crest of a ridge behind Machu Picchu where hikers on the Inca Trail get their first view of the ancient citadel. It gave us a completely different view where all of Machu Picchu, along with the Urubamba Valley, is completely visible. From here I really got a glimpse of how many people visit the ruins. Every alleyway and walkway had crowds. It certainly took away from the feeling of Machu Picchu being the mysterious, lost city of the Incas but was also a demonstration of the tourist dollars being flooded into the area. This economic benefit is clearly seen from Machu Picchu to Cusco. All of the artisans, the tour guides, the hotel and hostel staff would be without jobs if it were not for the tourists. I got to thinking that it would be quite difficult to maintain the appeal and culture of the area while still addressing the economic necessity.
We took the train back to Cusco later that night and I enjoyed one more day in Cusco before heading back home to Andahuaylas. Getting back was quite an ordeal that could have been avoided if there was the slightest bit of organization in the bus system here. When buying my ticket, I asked if there were any buses direct to Andahuaylas. They said no and that I would have to take one to Abancay and then a van to Andahuaylas. I wasn't too frustrated until the bus that I got off of in Abancay read on its message board that it was continuing on to Andahuaylas. Why I was told there were no buses home, I don't know. To make matters worse, I was also told that the first van would not drive to Andahuaylas until 3 AM. It was then 12 PM. So I waited, trying to sleep a little on my backpack, on the floor of the Abancay bus station for three hours. I promptly went to bed once I arrived at the house after another night of sleepless travel.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Inca Jungle
After my time in the city I embarked on a four day adventure that would head through the jungle and arrive at Machu Picchu. We were all picked up at the hostel early and driven to a unnamed pass at 14,000 feet which marks the border between the sierra and the selva, the highlands and the jungle. This is where we started our 10,000 foot mountain bike descent. I was amazing going through so many different environments in only two hours. Every 2,000 feet we went down, the ecosystem was completely different. There were snowy peaks all around when we started at the pass, including Salkantay which is one of Peru's highest at 20,691 feet, then banana plants as well as a good amount of humidity when we finished. I started biking with two jackets and finished wearing only my shorts. In two hours it was like we had traveled between two different planets. We had time for the rest of the day to get to know the others in the group a bit. Our troop was truly international. There were people from Israel, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the US, and Uruguay. Our guide's name was Abraham and he is a new father who lives in Cusco. He was excellent and knew the answer to every single question we asked him about the Incas, Peru, or the region.
The next morning we started to walk along an only recently discovered part of the original Inca Trail towards the town of Santa Teresa. This is one of the few sections that is considered completely original and without improvements. It was carved into the side of the mountain face over 600 years ago and still stands today. We hiked along this trail through the "seja de la selva" literally the "eyebrow of the jungle" which is the phrase Peruvians use to describe the region where the mountains and the jungle meet. Our journey was always fueled by a lot of water and a lip full of coca leaves. Abraham made sure to inform everyone that coca itself was not cocaine, was not illegal in Peru, and would not harm anyone who chewed it. The coca functions like a 5 hour energy ad. It is a great energy booster for a long time and there is no crash later. It does make your mouth quite numb though. Our day finished at the hot springs in Santa Teresa where we all enjoyed a nice dip despite the air being the same temperature as the water.
Getting up the next morning, the whole group was excited for the zip lines. They were set up all throughout a canyon outside of Santa Teresa where we got to fly over the Urubamba river at 50 miles an hour. It was good fun and cut off a significant chunk of the distance we would have to walk if we didn't use them. From the zip lines we started hiking again towards Aguas Calientes, the town closest to the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
The next morning we started to walk along an only recently discovered part of the original Inca Trail towards the town of Santa Teresa. This is one of the few sections that is considered completely original and without improvements. It was carved into the side of the mountain face over 600 years ago and still stands today. We hiked along this trail through the "seja de la selva" literally the "eyebrow of the jungle" which is the phrase Peruvians use to describe the region where the mountains and the jungle meet. Our journey was always fueled by a lot of water and a lip full of coca leaves. Abraham made sure to inform everyone that coca itself was not cocaine, was not illegal in Peru, and would not harm anyone who chewed it. The coca functions like a 5 hour energy ad. It is a great energy booster for a long time and there is no crash later. It does make your mouth quite numb though. Our day finished at the hot springs in Santa Teresa where we all enjoyed a nice dip despite the air being the same temperature as the water.
Getting up the next morning, the whole group was excited for the zip lines. They were set up all throughout a canyon outside of Santa Teresa where we got to fly over the Urubamba river at 50 miles an hour. It was good fun and cut off a significant chunk of the distance we would have to walk if we didn't use them. From the zip lines we started hiking again towards Aguas Calientes, the town closest to the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
Cusco
I have just now arrived back in Andahuaylas after an incredible week in Cusco, the Inca Jungle, and Machu Picchu! I decided to break up my stories about the trip into three posts because so much happened. The journey started buying a bus ticket. Most of the travel here, both for common Peruvians and backpackers tight on cash, is by bus. The buses are a real gamble too and my family had told me that when paying the same price you could end up with a bus that has reclining beds or a bus that has chickens in the aisle, especially when traveling in an area that sees little to no tourists like the route from Andahuaylas to Cusco. I was also reminded that you have to bargain for literally everything. Even when buying a ticket from a national bus company the teller told me a price that was much higher than it should have been. I ended up getting the ticket for 25 soles or around 10 dollars which was decent.
The other thing I had heard about the buses is that you have to vigilantly guard your belongings. Everyone in my family and the people I have talked to say that they have had their things stolen many times on the buses when they are dozing off. A Swedish pastor here in Andahuaylas told me that he had his wallet and cell phone stolen as he was sitting on them and didn't even realize it. For this reason, I didn't sleep at all during the eight hour ride. I also triumphantly walked off the bus with both cameras, my phone, my wallet, and my iPad all accounted for.
The bus got into Cusco at four in the morning and I was exhausted so I promptly took a taxi to the Loki Hostel where I was staying and fell asleep on a couch in their TV room. Waking up six hours later, I explored the hostel a bit and found it to be an incredibly interesting place. The structure itself was one of the first Spanish hacienda houses in the city of Cusco and was the exact location where Tupac Amaru II, an indigenous leader in the 19th century, planned his nearly successful revolt against the Spanish.
After walking around a bit I met four Australians who said they were going bungee jumping in an hour. They asked if I wanted to join and, of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to jump for the second time this year. Off we went to a place called the Action Valley just outside the city. This jump was 100 times safer than the one I had done previously at Victoria Falls. It was complete with a double safety harness, a neck brace, and the instructors giving you step by step instructions of how to prepare yourself with breathing exercises. We all threw ourselves out of the cable car 320 feet up without any problems. Easy. The adrenaline high is unbeatable though; our fingers didn't stop twitching for a solid hour.
I spent the next day wandering all of the ins and outs of Cusco. It is a fascinating city. All the the buildings are built in a valley surrounded by three hills and the rapid population growth is pushing more and more houses up the hills. No street in the center is much wider than a medium-sized car and they are sprawled upon a variety of different slopes. The whole city reminded me a lot of Venice but without the water. It seemed like the perfect setting for a Peruvian Thief Lord. I also thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of being in a much more global city than Andahuaylas. The people overall were more aware of the outside world, I could listen to more than one type of music and the food, oh the food. The old adage "you can get that anywhere back home" was the opposite for me. I got my hands on as much fast food as possible after only eating rice, beans, chicken, and eggs for the majority of the past two months. KFC. Mickey D's. Starbucks. I had it all. That succulent Big Mac was most definitely a highlight of my time in Cusco.
The other thing I had heard about the buses is that you have to vigilantly guard your belongings. Everyone in my family and the people I have talked to say that they have had their things stolen many times on the buses when they are dozing off. A Swedish pastor here in Andahuaylas told me that he had his wallet and cell phone stolen as he was sitting on them and didn't even realize it. For this reason, I didn't sleep at all during the eight hour ride. I also triumphantly walked off the bus with both cameras, my phone, my wallet, and my iPad all accounted for.
The bus got into Cusco at four in the morning and I was exhausted so I promptly took a taxi to the Loki Hostel where I was staying and fell asleep on a couch in their TV room. Waking up six hours later, I explored the hostel a bit and found it to be an incredibly interesting place. The structure itself was one of the first Spanish hacienda houses in the city of Cusco and was the exact location where Tupac Amaru II, an indigenous leader in the 19th century, planned his nearly successful revolt against the Spanish.
After walking around a bit I met four Australians who said they were going bungee jumping in an hour. They asked if I wanted to join and, of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to jump for the second time this year. Off we went to a place called the Action Valley just outside the city. This jump was 100 times safer than the one I had done previously at Victoria Falls. It was complete with a double safety harness, a neck brace, and the instructors giving you step by step instructions of how to prepare yourself with breathing exercises. We all threw ourselves out of the cable car 320 feet up without any problems. Easy. The adrenaline high is unbeatable though; our fingers didn't stop twitching for a solid hour.
I spent the next day wandering all of the ins and outs of Cusco. It is a fascinating city. All the the buildings are built in a valley surrounded by three hills and the rapid population growth is pushing more and more houses up the hills. No street in the center is much wider than a medium-sized car and they are sprawled upon a variety of different slopes. The whole city reminded me a lot of Venice but without the water. It seemed like the perfect setting for a Peruvian Thief Lord. I also thoroughly enjoyed the benefits of being in a much more global city than Andahuaylas. The people overall were more aware of the outside world, I could listen to more than one type of music and the food, oh the food. The old adage "you can get that anywhere back home" was the opposite for me. I got my hands on as much fast food as possible after only eating rice, beans, chicken, and eggs for the majority of the past two months. KFC. Mickey D's. Starbucks. I had it all. That succulent Big Mac was most definitely a highlight of my time in Cusco.
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