Cusco, Peru: Belly-button of the world (part I)

Cusco, Peru: Belly-button of the world

 My first glimpse of the Andes (one of the largest mountain ranges in the world) was one year ago this month as I flew from Lima (la capital) to Cusco- which means "navel" or "belly button" in Quechua, the native language of this region and the 3rd most spoken language in South America. Quechua was the language spoken during the time of the Incas, and it is still spoken among people in smaller communities in the outskirts of Cusco.  

 The Andes are an absolutely beautiful range. They stretch most of western South America through 7 countries, offering these amazing vistas the whole way down. I was lucky enough to live within the Andes during my time in Cusco, which means I was at an altitude of about 3,400 meters or just over 2 miles high. This means the air is thin and altitude sickness is real. I was fortunate enough to have time to acclimatize to my environment but running was really, REALLY difficult for the first few months.  The first couple of weeks I was averaging 10-15 minutes before nearly passing out ;)

Cusco was named the "navel" because it became the center of the Incan empire. Please note-the Inca refers to the ruler, not the people. As with most empires, a small group was able to conquer large areas, including hundreds of local tribes and controlled them from one centralized location, but for the most part the Inca ruler allowed those tribes to continue living as they had in the past as long as they paid their taxes-which came in the form of manual labor. Hence why there are so many thousands of miles/kilometers of roads throughout this area. 

This includes Avenida del Sol (seen above), one of the main street in town and once the entrance to the city for many visitors coming to pay their respect to the Inca at Qoricancha, Golden Temple. What you're looking at now is a massive mural, depicting the history of this region, from pre-Inca to modern day, spanning over 500 years. To get a better view and read a bit more information check out:  http://www.phenomenalplace.com/2013/08/cusco-mural-by-juan-bravo-shows-amazing.html

Above is La Plaza de Armas, or the main plaza, one of which you will find in every city and town in Peru. This plaza has the cathedral to the left and another church to the right. These are of course Spanish structures, built over the foundations of Inca temples. The Spanish would tear down the walls and roofs of the temples and reuse the stones for their churches and buildings. Below you can see Incan walls on the right-sturdy walls made of perfectly aligned rocks with zero mortar. On the left is a Spanish built wall, evidenced by the space between the rocks. Guides love to show visitors these differences and brag about the areas in which Spanish structures have crumbled when faced with earthquakes but the Incan walls have withstood the test. 

Although I lived in Cusco the entire time I was in Peru, my main job was outside the city in a small town called Oropesa, "la capital nacional de pan." Oropesa is known for its pan chuta, or large rounds of bread that is slightly sweetened with some vanilla, sesame and anis. Everyday for nearly a year I would either get off after about an hour on the bus or be leaving school, heading to the bus and smell the delicious scent of this bread wafting out of the ovens (seen to the upper left). It was torture to not run in everyday and buy a few loaves. For the town's yearly festival, the bakeries go all out and make these amazing intricate loaves in the forms of dolls, horses or babies.  

Between Cusco and Oropesa is another small town, Tipon, known for another local dish, cuy al horno, or oven-roasted guinea pig. People make a day-trip out of the city on the weekends to go there for a meal, or prepare it at home for birthdays. Yes, I tried it (several times) and yes, I liked it. I know we all have our ideas about what is okay to eat and what isn't. In this area of the world, they didn't previously have all of the wildlife and livestock that we are familiar with and so they made do with what they had. You can order mitad (half) or entero (whole) and it comes with a few potatoes, creamy spaghetti and a stuffed pepper. 

One of my first day trips out of Cusco (besides going to work everyday) was to la Cervezeria del Valle Sagrado/the Sacred Valley Brewing Company. It is located in the Sacred Valley (duh), taking its name from the original Quechua name, Wilkamayu meaning sacred river but which is now called the Urubamba River-or river through the plateau of spiders (I never figured out why it's called that). 

I had no idea when I visited this brewery that it would eventually become one of my favorite weekend get-aways and the place I'd find some of my best friends in Peru (you know who you are). On the right is a friend playing "sapo" (frog) a fun game found at most traditional bars or country restaurants. Sitting atop the green table is a large metal sapo with a gapping mouth. The object of the game is to throw little discs into the frog's mouth. This is nearly impossible, but there are a bunch of other slots where coins can fall through, slide down little shoots and land in a hole with a set number of points. The hardest part of this game was finding the gold colored coins in the dirt. 

And there is my mom on the right, who came to visit me near the end of my time in Peru having a go at it as well. She was a pretty good beginner. 

As I said, altitude can be a b#%@h. The first month in Cusco I did a hike with a coworker up Picol, the highest mountain near Cusco, which was probably up there as one of the 3 most difficult hikes of my life. Partly because we got off track and were literally pulling ourselves up the mountain by grabbing onto this long, yellow grass, but mostly because we climbed quickly and I was still not acclimatized to the altitude. The view at the top (this is not the top) was well worth it though, as were the views the whole way up. At some points we could see most of the city. 

Below was taken while on a hike a few weeks later, to a spot not too far from Picol but at a much easier ascent. My friend and I stopped in at a chicharia to try some of the local drink made from fermented corn. Chicha was previously made by people chewing and spitting out the corn kernels and allowing it to ferment for a few days.  Having been told to look out for the well-known symbol of a chicharia, a long stick with a red bag tied around the end, sticking out from a house, I decided to brave it and see what was up. We found a sweet abuelita (pictured to the left) with a few of her customers, all enjoying the chicha. The large glass I am holding was filled with a milky liquid, which is a bit sour and sweet at the same time, and costs only s/.1 or about $0.33 Supposedly farmers will come in, have a glass and then go work for the day. It is slightly alcoholic but I never drank enough at one time to see any effects. (The coca cola bottle in the corner of the table was a strange color and the man next to me was taking shots of it....he offered but I politely declined.)

 

Peruvians do celebrate Halloween, but it consists of people dressing up and going to the main plaza to show off their costumes. Luckily there is another holiday a few days later that was much more "fun" and interesting to take part in. El Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on November 2nd. On this day, most people will go to the cemetery where their relatives are buried and decorate the little niches in front of the coffins (which are sealed off) with nicknacks as seen on the left, things that their relatives liked, as well as bits of some of their loved ones' favorite food and drink. People then stay in the cemetery and relax with the (living) family while having a picnic and some nice warm beer served from ladies walking around with liters of it in crates (this is after having past large signs outside reading "NO food, drink or sales."  

The hardest part of writing this blog (besides actually sitting down to actually write it) is to choose the pictures. I have 100s of pictures of my students from this past year; I could write multiple posts about them and all of the fun activities we did over this year. But then I'd be like every grandparent who shows off too many pictures of the grandkids. So I'll try and keep it down. But just know-I had the best kids ever! I love those little rascals so much and they made me a much better person and teacher for having worked with them. 

So just a reminder-I went to Peru to teach and write an English curriculum for a small NGO that has been operating a school there for years now, but with a newer English program. It was a difficult job but moments like these captured in the pictures made it all worth while. Christmas is always one of my favorite holidays to celebrate between the art projects, decorating and games. 

Above: the kids show off their paper chain; below left: my kindergarteners sneaking some popcorn while filling in Santa's beard to a math game; below right: Santa's workshop 

I also made my adult students (from another part-time job) take part in the Christmas festivities. Since we were forced to have a weekend class I decided to make it a Christmas party! Luckily all of my students were good sports and joined in my silly ideas, including this awesome game of making Santa's beard with vaseline and cotton balls. They even went so far as to use extra clothing to attempt to make capes and then competed among themselves for the best Santa. 

The more traditional Christmas festivities consist of doing some shopping at the local markets in the plazas. I went to la Plaza de Armas on Christmas Eve to find hundreds of tables, piled high with little statues and figurines. The idea is to buy at least one new figurine to add to your household manger/nativity scene. As seen above there are lots of the traditional images-sheep, cows, donkeys, angels and 3 wise men. But there were lots more that were a bit out there as seen below. Yup, apparently Mario, Smurfs and any princess or superhero can end up in the manger scene. 

I ended the year in La Plaza de Armas where (after narrowly missing being hit by a stray firework) I first attempted to eat one grape for each time the clock stuck at midnight (easier said then done), which is actually a Spanish tradition. Then my friends and I walked around the plaza, accompanying 1000s of people who were out there with suitcases or bags, makes laps of the plaza to bring good luck in the new year. Another thing that brings good luck, yellow and what's better than yellow? Yellow underwear. I had many friends tell me that their family members exchange underwear on New Year's Eve which usually just comes out sounding wrong.

Happy 2017 people. My goal was to be more on top of things, such as my blog.....you see how well I am with my resolutions. More to come....sometime soonish.......till next time.......