Adios Cusco

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The last days of Cusco!

As Cusco wears on we are really looking forward to some new experiences. This city is becoming annoying with all the people trying to sell you something, you can’t relax in the plaza with a book for more than a few minutes without someone trying to sell you something or shine your shoes or get you to eat in their restaurant. The best way to avoid this is the internet café’s and hanging out at the school or just keeping moving. I can’t wait to shed my ever present day pack, get some real exercise and be out in the natural world again. I can’t wait to get out of town and on the Inca Trail. My only comforts these days are morning coffee at the same café with Jake and Ron and meeting some really nice people at the school so far this week. I still have a few sites to see but basically I’m ready to leave my cramped apartment and the routines of this polluted and noisy town. One of the students was wearing a tee shirt with slogans all over it, responses to all the aggressive street sellers of dubious wares. No quiero Finger puppets, no quiero postales, no quiero happy hour and on the back a big no gracias. Since the topic has been so popular, the shirt was perfect and Ron laughed forever when he saw it.

Classes in the second week are going well and getting harder. There is a massive influx of Americans this week including a guy, who I have not met, from SF who just came from climbing in the Cordillera. We have both expressed wanting to meet each other through people we have met but it has not happened. I just want info on getting to Huaraz from Lima since the bus scene is proving to be a hassle with my flight times; it is not easy to get clear travel information here between the travel agencies and the lack of websites for the bus companies, oh well, it may be a longer day to Huaraz than I hoped. The rest of my trip after Huaraz is looking good, heading up to the coast for some serious down time after weeks of endless action will be nice.

We saw the Motorcycle Diaries last night in a funky little theater that served food and sat around 20 people. Part of the film is filmed in Cusco and I had a whole new appreciation for the movie and the characters and the story. You can see all around here that the revolution has failed so far and in fact, there is no focus to any type of political change in this country as tourism and globalization has quieted the masses for now.

And I finally hit up the Cusco night life at the urging of Lucas from Amsterdam. His stories of going out here are very edgy and exciting as he has had some interesting adventures and he now sports a Cusquean sweetie by his side that comes to his house at 5 am! I was requested to show up at the pub quiz challenge at Cross Keys Pub, owned by an old Brit named Bruce who runs the pub quiz to raise money to help kids get into school and off the streets. Lucas felt that since Jake, Ron and I were teachers we would be assets to his team. Upon arrival I noticed that the very authentic looking English style pub was packed with almost all of the students from our school divided up into teams of 6-8 and the competition was already heated. I had missed the first 5 rounds due to a late dinner but Lucas quickly spotted me and grabbed for some answers to the current round. Jake and Ron, seeing the fully packed bar split right away putting all the intellectual power from the American educational system square on my shoulders. It turn out that it was not my brain but my old age that saved the day. The music round;

How many Grateful Dead studio albums did they record? What was the last song played at Live Aid in 1985? Name the songs on Thriller?

Then the science round followed by the geography round. I helped pull my team from 9th out of 9 to 6th by the end and the beer flowed into my glass with many thanks for my help. Of course, at my age, that much beer is a liability at this altitude. We quickly moved over to the locals disco, found a table and began to admire the abilities of the salsa dancers on the floor. After one song, it was club music and plain old booty shakin. But, as more salsa came on I had just enough beer in me to be convinced I could actually dance out there. Laura, another Dutch friend who can salsa quiet well, dragged me out there where she gave me the basics (again, since I have been trying this for years) and I proceeded to draw laughter from everyone there not for my inabilities but for the pained embarrassed look on my face. Lucas said, not bad, but he is very polite. I finished off the night to my old favorite song, Like a Prayer (Nicole, I wish you were there to see it) We have two more nights in Cusco so I will most likely try to get out again and have some fun now that I have made some friends here. Lucas and I think we were both in the Make Out Room in SF on the same night last month as well as the same crazy party in Pacific Beach on Memorial Day weekend, pretty strange.

As we begin to say goodbye to Cusco, we hear the news from London as we meet up with Erica and Kirsten, just back from the Inca trail, and share some brief but intense comments about the bombings. Everyone from England seems to have avoided any direct effect on their families as far as I have heard but collectively the emotional impacts of the bombings are showing. Kir said to me it must look like nothing compared to what we went through on 9/11, I disagreed. The scale of the attack is smaller, true but, the impacts are as profound and the problems that cause and are caused by these events sadly continue.

So our last day in Cusco is spent chatting with the Los Niño’s children and taking photos of them (they get so excited seeing the photos on the screen of the cameras so I promise to email someone at the hostel the images soon), having our last breakfast at our favorite café, saying goodbye to the waiters there who have gotten to know us, seeing the last few churches and Inca sights, having dinner at the Map café´, saying goodbye to all our new friends at the Spanish school, packing and finalizing the last few details of out future journeys. I leave Jake and the gang right after the Inca trail; it has been great to travel with him, especially since he has experience traveling abroad and has helped me get through the first stages of my first trip with insight and helpful advice that made my part in the trip more enjoyable. Overall, I might not miss the city of Cusco but I will never forget my time here and all of the emotions and thoughts that this place evoked, I look forward to the next challenging phase of my trip.

See you after the Inca Trail from Huaraz!

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