Beginnings

I arrived in Cusco on Sunday, after having happened to have met a CC alum on my flight to Cusco and a nice girl named Kat, who is about my age, from North Carolina. Kat and I navigated a bit around Cusco that night, although the high altitude here made it a little difficult to walk up the steps. The streets are very narrow in Cusco, so much so that the small taxis can't fit through all of them, or they are convinced that they can fit so the pedestrians have to squish themselves up against storefronts so as to not get hit. We found a funny, hippy vegetarian restaurant and I downed some Coca Tea (yes, made with the same plant as cocaine). Note: Always check to see if there is an infusion cup inside of your mug so that you avoid dumping tea all over yourself and the table and wondering why you can't get your mug to work.



Yesterday morning I woke up (or stopped tossing and turning) at 5 am to catch a 6 am train to Machu Picchu. I was picked up on time by my travel agency, dropped off at the train, and had a funny (and four hour) train ride to Aguas Calientes, from where there is a short bus ride to Machu Picchu. The "train attendants" were very nice and covered us up with blankets, gave us breakfast, and tried to sell us bizzare trinkets. Of course, the person sitting next to me had lived for 20 years in Boulder and had done her student teaching in Jamestown!! That's where my internship is in the fall.

The tour finally began, and I opted for the Spanish speaking tour, after having learned my lesson in Mexico with guides who only claim to speak English. Eddy, the tour guide, was very nice, and very patient with the idiots on my tour. I honestly can't believe the maturity level of people who have saved their money and planned international vacations, only to misplace their entrance tickets, ask to go to the bathroom when we have been warned that there are no bathrooms, talk while the guides are talking, and ask questions that have already been answered. I strive so hard not to be this sort of tourist, and it's hard to be around people like that all day. The tour started with a very short but steep hike up to the path, where, I am proud to say, I kicked everyone in my group's butts! However, many of the women were wearing heels or cowboy boots (again, who are these people?) The first view of Machu Picchu was absolutely stunning. While the ruins themselves look EXACTLY like every photo I have ever seen, seeing it with the lush, beautiful valley was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, and oddly enough, one of my biggest weaknesses in Spanish are my numbers, so any time the guide said any sort of number (population, percentages, years) I got distracted and missed out. So I can't tell you anything impressive that has to do with numbers, but the bottom line is that the Incans were quite amazing and the arrival of the Spanish was quite unfortunate.

On the train ride back, I was seated with a group of people from England, all in their fifties and sixties, and their hilarious Peruvian tour guide who reminded me a lot of my kindergarten teacher. I talked with one particular couple a lot. They don't have any kids, so they have decided to spend their money on "exotic travel." They basically just save up their money and then do something cool, like an African safari or an Indian safari where they look for tigers. They got me really psyched about the idea of going to Botswana... Also on the train ride was a fashion show! All of the staff are required to be models, down the aisle of the train, when the Peruvian clothing company Alpaca has new designs. They did the catwalk thing down the aisle to...ABBA´s ¨Dancing Queen.¨

When I got back to the hostel, I was a little nervous about the safety of my room and was convinced that all of my stuff would be gone. When I arrived, all of my stuff was, indeed gone. Luckily, there was a good explanation, and there had been a room mix up that is now sorted out and I am sharing a room with Kat, a room that is much safer and actually has a roof, so I won't be freezing my ass off. Kat had just moved my stuff to the new room.

Today was Inti Raymi, the Incan festival of the sun. I didn´t really know what to expect, and also didn´t realize that this festival is such an international spectacle: it attracts about 100,000 people from all over the world (and the population of Cusco is only 300,000). It was a ZOO! Quite overwhelming, actually. There was a lot of standing around in the streets, waiting for stuff to happen and trying not to get pick-pocketed (I hid my valuables in my underwear, which seemed to work). The main ceremony was in an outdoor ampitheater outside of Cusco. The tickets have gotten so expensive since the ceremony has gotten more popular, so none of the locals, whom the ceremony is actually for, were able to get any of the seats within the ampitheater. Instead, they had to stake out seats on the surrounding hills. At one point, many of the Cusco natives made a run for it, and ran to a much closer hill from which to watch the ceremony (they weren´t supposed to be there). They outnumbered the police by so much that they got their way, and it was quite exciting: lots of shouting, screaming, running.

I am definitely confused about why this event attracts to much attention. It was kind of cool to see all of the costumes, dances, and hear the music, but it was by no means something that I would have based my trip around, I just sort of happened to be here, which is sort of unfortunate, because that means that the city is absolutely packed right now with tourists. In the last couple of days, I have felt so weird about being a tourist myself. I´ve been thinking a lot about what it means to really travel and why it is that I have to do it. A lot of people seem to be here for the cultural attractions, and have a fascination with the Incans. Some are more adventure travelers. Some have done volunteer work. A huge part of me just feels really weird about coming to a place that so many people in the world come to each year, a place that used to be (and still is) quite remarkable, but whose complete basis is the tourist industry. I am really excited to get to Arequipa , meet my host family, and meet the brown kids. Even going abroad to volunteer is a bit strange, I guess. I get to leave after my five weeks and return to the US, where my life will always be so much more comfortable and I will never be selling crafts on the street with the possibility of feeding my family at night. Undoubtedly, I will get so much more from the experience than anyone I work with. Boo.

On a completely different note, I am currently reading Jonathan Kozol´s new book, Shame of the Nation, which talks about schools where almost all or all of the students are minorities. In it, it talks about this terrible curriculum that is being put into schools for minority students called Success for All, which is the same curriculum that the really weird school I interviewed for used! Good thing they had terrible HR that made me not want to work there.

Tomorrow my day is a bit more relaxed. I tour Cusco and see some of the important monuments and buildings. The city is so full of people that my hostal has run out of hot water (and sometimes water altogether), and my sunscreeny face and matted hair are really looking forward to a shower sometime in the near future.

Note to self: Learn how to use a camera. Why do I know nothing about photography? I took about 30 terrible photos at the festival today. Shoot.