The Boys of Cusco

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Ok. So you know about Washington, my #1 guide and Eddy, my # 2 guide but let me tell you about Cesar. When I came in 2003, he was a 20 year old Univ. student who was a bit undecided on his career choices. Eddy asked him to be an asst. on the trip that I took with Val, Raelene and Fred. He spoke very little English, was a bit shy and followed Eddy around waiting to be told what he should do. I have stayed in touch with him via e-mail over the years. He knew Val and I were here and we set up a lunch meeting last Thurs.

I barely recognized him. He is taller, a bit fuller and sports a small tuft of beard on his chin. And guess what? He is now an English teacher at a local boys school while at the same time finishing up his studies at the Univ. to become a tour guide! His Uncle Eddy gives us some credit for this focus on his career. We had a 3 hour lunch to catch up on the years and ended up with an agreement to go to his shcool and speak to a few of his classes- more on that later.

Friday came and we met with Ronso. He is Dianna´s( Wash. fiancee´s) 10 year old nephew. She had asked Val and I to meet with him so he could hear native English speakers. He has an Eng. class every day at school ( co-incidentally the same school where Cesar teaches) and also classes late in the afternoon at a private school. He was a bit nervous when we met in the park. He asked his Aunt- Am I the only boy? We took him for pizza which seemed to make him happy. Val broke the ice by showing him her adorable dog Skipper´s picture. He told us about his dogs and we all relaxed. His vocabulary and poise for a 10 yr. old child were amazing. Here he was sitting with 2 ladies older than his grandmother, who he had just met, and he was, well, in a word, pretty darn cool. He later told Dianna that he had a good time and learned some new words- oh and that Val´s doggie was really cute.

Sat. night was a first for me. Wash. and Dianna invited us out to do ´Karaoke´. Pilar and her parents , Val and I all piled into one cab( think of a circus car) and we headed into a part of town that was well off the tourist route. We entered a small nightclubby type place. There were 4 guys sitting at one table and the rest of the place was empty except for a couple of bartenders and a guy in front of a computer console. There were 3 TV´s all playing music videos from the 70-80. We saw very young versions of David Bowie, Madonna, and Cindy Lauper doing their most famous tunes. Eddy was there and we were seated and drinks were brought to us. The club is called´Emotions´. It was only then that Wash. told us that it was his and another friend´s place. When I asked who the target audience was he said´tour guides´and people in that business. His thought is that they all need a place to unwind and get together. Well, to make a long story short most of the songs were in Spanish which left Val and I out. They did find a very old ABBA song and we wailed our way through ´Dancing Queen´. The only one who could really sing was Pilars father, Jesus. He had a lovely voice and reminded me of my dad. We didn´t stay too late because we had a big day planned for Sun.

Wash. also owns a bus coaching co. During the week all of our 4 guide friends were trying to come up with a plan to get us out to Pisac. Wash. said he´d take one of his buses. We were all to meet and leave at 9 sharp on Sun. We were ready. Downstairs outside our door were Dianna´s parents. brothers. cousins, Eddy (who had been at the airport since 6 am sending off a tour group), Renso, all toll about 12 of us. We were all waiting for Pilar. She had gone to her office. We left around 930 and headed downtown( we assumed to pick her up at her office). but no, the bus turned around and went through a maze of streets and we were back at the apt. Finally, with Pilar on board we headed out of town at 10 for the one hour ride to Pisac.

The scenery is spectacular. Being surrounded by the Andes is like being inside a Christmas gift box. There are snow covered mountains off in the distance, while all around are huge spiky peaks covered with terraced hillside farms. The market itself is a jumble of stalls. There is no rhyme or reason to it and one can wander around for hours and still me in the middle of a maze of blue tarps and stalls. We headed first for a snack of brick oven baked empanadas. These are nothing like some of the deep fried ones I have had in Argentina or Chile. These were like flaky little hot pockets filled with cheese, tomato and onions. Eddy walked around giving each of us one fresh from the oven. Wash, changing over to tour guide mode, had gotten a menu from the restaurant where we were to have lunch, Dona Claorinda´s, and we all placed our order so it would be ready for us at 1.

More later.............

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