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Piprey on wheels The world is an exciting place as long as you have the enthusiasm and will power to do so. I was longing to go to Cusco, the ancient Andes capital of the Peru, the gateway to the seven wonders of Inca world and travel I did.
It was a pleasant sunny but cold day. The
Cusco town center was large and spacious with the typical pigeons who habit it in all squares and roundabouts from Trafalgar, Tiananmen, India gate to Plaza de Armas, Cusco. The Peru liberator stood proudly in the middle and narrow, cobbled roads branched from it, some with original stones, 1000s of years old. The Spanish used up all the stones of the Inca buildings to build new churches and colonial building.
The ancient Incas used to perform sacrifices and feast in Cusco town center. Indeed, when I visited the local hawkers market (San Pedro market), the elaborate specialty was all kinds of animal parts which were used to make stew or barbeque. It seems the regular meat was not appreciated at all by the locals 😞
I have never seen such a rich variety of humble potato in my life- from black, red, pink, white and you name it. The variety of corns was another fascinating eye opener in sizes and shapes.
There were a lot of trinkets and charms being sold on the beloved
mother goddess called
Pachamama. Coca leaves were local energy boosters.
Next stop was the serene beauty of
Reynisfjara, South Iceland coastline.
Raw, cold beauty of natural, black sandy beach. Eroded rocks stood testimony to time.
Giving me company were a handful of local tourists, our guide and a few, idle sea birds. The guide drove us to a glacier snout which was dirty black and white ice blocks floating on the water. (11%!o(MISSING)f land area of Iceland is covered with glacier and ice caps).
It seems that this was a favourite spot to show melting glaciers and observe climate change in action (but do the world leaders learn anything?).
This place is famous for ice climbing and glacier walk. I prefer the sun and like ice only in my Coca-cola.
Seville, once a prosperous river port, off the Andalusian coast where the Moors had left their cultural influence. Quick thoughts sprang in my mind but slow on my feet, I strolled through well kempt gardens, frequented by locals as they whiled away the evening.
I walked by the river Seville and speculated on amount of gold and silver which Spain looted from Peru through this port.
Was it the extra ordinary high prices of Indian spices and Chinese silk or did they loot to fund their wars? Did a World Trade Organisation not exist during ancient/medieval times?
It seems people used to live and trade on the bridges as well (what joy on living on the bridge?). The sunset was awesome. Unfortunately
did not see any Flamenco dances because of the historic restrictions of covid-19.
A similar experience along the Adriatic coast of
Naples; the tour being from city centre to the sea coast. The Royal gardens were lined with handsome statues and a nice fountain complimented by a gorgeous sunset.
I learnt that pizza originated in Naples and it is known for coffee as well.
To be honest, Italian cappuccino is famous and typically, you drink it with a biscuit, standing up at the counter to save on service charge. The city had some gothic architecture which contrasted with the city graffiti- both an expression of individuality of a different kind.
Meanwhile, Yugoslavia broke up into many countries and
Kotor, is the capital of Montenegro. It is famous for being a sea port on the Adriatic coast off the Mediterranean sea and you can sail across to Italy. There were bears and honey in the forests. The city was full of streamers like a picture. There was no crime as in a small town because everyone knew each other.
The guide was a humorous, friendly man and his wife joined us in the trip. Pretty mountainous with an old world charm, straight out of a fairy tale book.
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia was not far.
I enjoyed a leisurely stroll of the city with their town hall, triangular parks, the medieval castle overlooking the city, ice cream joints and other pleasant things a small city can offer.
Indeed, I might never visit Iran because of poor diplomatic relationship between Iran and Europe. So I embarked on a trip to
Shiraz in the hope of tasting the Shiraz wine.
Nevertheless, I was fascinated to see the city fort which was titling like the leaning tower because this tower was converted to a prison and the water leakage due to poor plumbing damaged the foundation. The fort was so pretty - golden coloured with intricate geometric designs all around. The Shiraz Souq was the usual humdrum of carpet shops and local people shopping for Ed. I found dried limes being sold. I imagined that it must be pricey while in India it was available fresh almost all around the year.
The fresh thyme, oregano, rose petals were giving off an exotic smell and I almost tasted them in my imagined home made pizza and falooda.
The intricate blue tiles of the mosque with pink roses where like the paintings by Apsaras in celestial courts.
I was in
Dubai gold souq where all that glitters is gold. The mannequins were bathed in gold armors and veils. I kept looking at the designs but could not enter the shops. There was an
interesting camel milk chocolate shop as well and the guide said it was yummy.
Dubai is such a safe city that there is not a single police or guard around these jewelry shops
From
Dubai to Hanoi, my sensory joy exploded from those of the eyes to the fluttering of the stomach.
We walked about the streets to enjoy the pork chops, chicken 'dumplings' which had chicken steamed in almost transparent rice flour wrapping and gulped down by iced lemon tea in the hot, humid weather of Hanoi.
Walking in the hot sun, the guide suggested a kaleidoscopic mountain of crushed ice dessert with red beans, green tofu and coconut milk. We finished the
afternoon with egg coffee in a popular coffee joint by the river. Of course, skipped dinner.
China remains a fascinating place of mysterious origins which brought the world to a stand still. Restrictions or not, I embarked on a much longed for trip to
Xian in West China to see the
Terracotta warriors.
The Terracotta warriors stood tall (6"4') , standing in line with trenches in between and roofed with timber. Supposedly, they carried real weapons which were stolen by the peasants during a revolt against the king. They had been buried along with the Emperor Qin.
There were real life models of chariots and horses. Many of the wooden timbers fell and had smashed the warriors into pieces. No female soldiers. Indeed, fascinating life like figures which were mute witness to the magnificence of the Orientals.
My next destination was
Qasr Al Abed fort in Jordan, a few miles from Amman. It was once filled with a moat of water and puma shaped fountain heads. We could almost feel the strong dry heat as the guides' phone switched off automatically and he had to run into a shade. The place was isolated with two boys of the guide and a few, grazing goats.
This fort was never completed and stands testimony to a time when there was lots of water in Jordan and big wild mammals too.
I had to cut short my trip to
La Paz because of connection issues and instead took the boat ride to the floating islands of Lake Titikaka. Unexpectedly, I bumped into my cousin in
Lake Titikaka - Floating island
A small island with colourful costumes. Genetically, they are related to inhabitants of Amazon forests as they faced persecution and left.that trip, all the way from UK. It is a small world.
Lake Titikaka was deep blue and temperature around 10 degree Celsius.
The people live on islands made of floating roots and floored with dry reeds which look like golden hay. They were a happy lot for the tourists. They even sang a song for us 😊
I ended my journey with
Lima, the present capital of Peru. We visited the
exclusive, posh district of Miraflores in downtown Lima city with empty roads, happy graffiti of caterpillars, the 'white house' among others. The view from cliff, overlooking the Pacific ocean was spectacular.
The city was well planned, with foreigners profiting from the guano. Guano is the mess left by sea birds which is used as fertilizer due to its exceptionally high nitrogen, phosphate and potassium content.
The last two months have been like being in a submarine and zooming into different worlds in the click of a button.
A rich experience of meeting guides in different corners of the world, with their rich accent and personal biases where we found an excellent frequency match in our great thirst of knowledge, experience and adventure among the eager, faceless tourists. The world stood still but we moved.
Each trip was unique. Visiting destinations with electrifying speed and at no cost. Way to go, Virtual trips, Heygo!
Piprey on wheels
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