So I started this email right after I finished writing the Inca Trail was Inca-redible one but was sooo tired. So it starts off with me still being in Cusco, and I finished it now with me in Lima. Can't believe my trip is coming to an end already. :( So ill be sending out just one or two more emails after this one.
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Hola everyone!!
So I've been spending the past few days in Cusco and have been really enjoying exploring this great, surprisingly very Bohemian/hippie city with Kate and Laura. They met some local Peruvians named Gonsalo and Juano (and some of their other friends) who've been giving us some great advice on where to go and have also even acted as our chauffeurs on a few occasions (Gonsalo is also trying to woo Kate in this whole process). They are both super nice, are huge lovers of dreadlocks and Bob Marley, and own a great bar named Wachuma that's located next to the Plaza de Armas in Cusco (they are in the works of opening up another bar in Mancora!). I believe they both are from pretty well off families which have allowed them to do this, and also allowed them to go to the States and Canada a bunch of times which is actually a pretty big deal here. They were super nice enough to let us take over their bar on Thanksgiving Day to make our dinner. More about that a few paragraphs down.
I should probably also give some more background on Kate and Laura since I'm going to be mentioning them a whole bunch more times. You can skip this paragraph if its TMI (I shouldve probably said this before the Traveller's Diarrhea paragraphs too, huh). Laura is 22, from Chicago and was studying Spanish in Quito, Ecuador for about two months before she met up with Kate in Lima. Kate is 25, from Baltimore and is currently a substitute teacher in Connecticut at this "progressive-education" elementary school. They both met at a Yale summer session this past year and decided to travel to Peru and Bolivia together just a few months ago. Both are super chill and have been so incredibly nice, and we've all been getting along great!
So the first night I got back from Aguas Calientes, I did dinner with Jia for her last night in Cusco at Jack's Cafe. Later, we met up with Kate and Laura for some drinks near our hostel at this bar called Siete Angelitos. Their entertainment for the night was a Peruvian Pearl Jam cover band. Not only did they play the best hits of 90s alt rock like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Bush, but they also played tons of Radiohead!! I was in Peruvian-cover-band-Radiohead heaven. I kept yelling, "Mas Radiohead! Mas Radiohead!!!" It was awesome seeing this side of Cusco. Lots of indie-rock head swaying took place. Great, great night overall.
The next day was Thanksgiving! I spent the first part of the day exploring this outdoor market kinda off of the main strip looking for alpaca yarn (Sorry Mom, they did not have a very good selection at all! I am going to look for some in Lima though). The market was more local and less geared for tourists I.e. kinda dirty and not as nice looking. It had little bodegas in it selling local Peruvian dishes made by cute little old ladies in their kinda dingy lookin kitchens, along with vendors from local farms selling their own fruits, veggies and meat. It also included a small section for tourist trinkets/crap. I did a teeny bit of shopping here (and lots of picture taking) and then headed over to Wachuma later that afternoon to start cookin!!
So Wachuma is this quaint little reggae bar with a kitchen/bar just big enough to allow me, Kate, Laura, Gonsalo and Juano to make our Thanksgiving dinner. There was no oven, and 3 out of the 7 people there for dinner were vegetarian so we didn't have a turkey. I don't even think we couldve found one in Cusco anyways! We probably wouldve had to roast a guinea pig or something! (Did I mention that they eat guinea pig here? I tried it. Tasted like chicken.) All of our veggies were bought from another outdoor food market in San Blas close to where Gonsalo and Juano live so everything was fresh and probably, actually organic. It took us about 4 hours to make everything and it was sooo good. We all kinda winged it too since we didn't have the internet to look up any recipes. So the menu...figs cut in half topped with shredded up radishes and carrots, turnips with this creamy sauce that Kate found, veggie stuffing, super buttery mashed potatoes, green beans with red peppers and almonds, sweet potatoes, and a side spinach salad with candied walnuts and this vinagrette dressing. Oh! And lots of mulled wine that Laura made from a Chilean cabernet. It was delicioso!! And the attendees were us 5, and 2 other friends named Ali Unibrow (you'll know who I'm talking about once you see the pictures. And only I referred to him as that so I could remember his name) and this other kid whose name I forget. We all went around and said what we were thankful for in a polite mixture of English and Spanish and then toasted with our glasses of hot mulled wine. It was fantastic. I then played from my iPod Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You over the bar's speakers as me, Kate and Laura sang along. If you want to know how to make 4 Peruvian guys really awkward and uncomfortable, do exactly that. The louder the better. We then ended the night with a little more drinkin and lots of toasting to "Happy Thanksgiving!!" as they reopened the bar to the public. So my first Thanksgiving away from home was pretty, pretty rad.
Black Friday! No shopping took place here. But we did some more hanging out with the Wachuma dudes. We all met up for lunch in the Plaza de Armas where they took us to one of their favorite restaurants right outside of San Blas. It was a "surf and sea" inspired restaurant named Olas Bravas (aka Brave Waves) and had almost the same exact menus that I encountered in Mancora. It was soooo good. One thing in particular I had was this app called leche de tigre - a whole bunch of raw ceviche, octopus, and something else that swims, in this yummy, yummy stew (kinda reminded me of raw oyster shooters). So after lunch we walked back to San Blas and hung out with their one friend Steve. He was awesome and super chill. And very funny at times. Later, Laura and I met up for dinner and drinks and ended the night fairly early. (Gonsalo has succesfully wooed Kate at this point) Overall, a pretty chill Friday in Cusco.
Saturday! So this is the day that I did alll of my shopping. Really nothing too fun here. I mean it was fun for me. Especially this awesome hot pink retro looking sweater I got with the Machu Picchu mountains woven in neon green and "Cusco Peru" in bright yellow along the bottom. Along with some nice matching yellow lightening bolt accents. The designer is based out of Lima and is kinda pricey for Peruvian standards. Some of his items cost as much as monthly rents! (Which is around 150-200 soles or $50-$70) So worth it though. This sweater is bangin. So bangin that its gonna be the picture for this email. I then met up with Laura and Kate for the second half of my shopping day where we each got 10 soles manicures, and eventually made our way over to a veggie place called Govinda's for dinner. Good food, but nothing too special to mention. We made plans to meet early on Sunday to do some site-seeing in the Sacred Valley, with Kate's new lover Gonsalo as our guide/interpreter. Ended the night early so we could get a good night's sleep for this!
Flamingo Domingo! (Gosh, can you believe its been 4 weeks since I first mentioned Flamingo Domingo??) So we got up kiiinda early, and had breakfast in the same San Blas market where the Thanksgiving veggies came from. And seriously, the cheapest meals have been the best meals. We each got this dish called tacu tacu which consisted of a huge plate of white rice, fried plaintains and fried eggs for 3 soles. And I got a huge jug of fresh papaya and orange juice for another 2. We then got 8 plain avocado sandwiches as munchies for our day trip. Deee-lish.
So we first headed to the Pisac Market which is basically this teeny town that holds a huge outdoor market. Very touristy. However Sunday's are their most bumpin days where the food and farm vendors are out to barter their goods with one another. An old tradition that they actually still practice. I tried this really funky fruit and I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but it was about as big as the end of an ice hockey stick and looked kinda like a squished rotten green banana on the outside. To get to the meat, you just break it in half with your knee and tear off the thick skin and inside, are these huge white furry pods about the size and shape of flattened Cadbury eggs, spaced about an inch or so apart from each other. It kinda reminded me like a nesting ground for these furry little alien babies. Kinda tasted like...sweet furriness. Kinda weird and very good. I don't know why I just went into that super long description of that fruit. I also tried this other sweet fruit called granadilla. It was good.
So after the market, Gonsalo found a taxi driver to take us around for the rest of the day for 40 soles each. We first went to the Pisac ruins and hiked around there for about 2 hours (actually got lost and had to re-hike up a whole crapload of steps. Flashbacks of the Inca Trail came rushing through). It was really pretty but again, nothing can really compare to Machu Pichhu. It wasn't as secluded and you could see neighboring towns on all sides. Still, very pretty. Don't really know too much about it though bc we didn't have a guide. After that, we drove to another natural hot springs spot called Calca. Spent a few hours there soaking our muscles. Very nice. We got back into Cusco at around 9, and met up again for dinner and drinks near Gonsalo's bar. There ended up being a power outage at one point in the night where we still proceeded to drink in candlelight. Would've been very romantic if it weren't for the 20 or so other people in the room with you...and if I were with a boy. Also, it's true when they say you can drink for free in downtown Cusco...every few steps you get bombarded by tons of promoters offering you free drink passes to their club. So, another great, last night in Cusco.
So I'm now currently in Lima in the very cute neighborhood of Barranco. Staying at another Point Hostel. The number here is (51-1) 247 7997 and I'm staying in Little England. I spent my night catching up with Cat and Andreas at dinner in the neighborhood. We had drinks at this local bar that had a menu of about 50 different fruity drinks. A lot of the drinks included this fruit called Para Para - which has benefits equivalent to a natural Viagra. Thought that was interesting. After dinner I went back to my hostel and saw another person I met in Mancora! He is actually the manager from the Mancora Point Hostel and is in Lima for some family stuff. So I got to talking with him, played DJ for the bar here with my iPod for a little bit as the group played Jenga with these huge oversized blocks. Went to bed fairly early so I could get a full day in Lima today.
Wow, I think I've finally caught up on updating everyone with the past 9 days of my life in Peru!! Oh btw, I wasn't able to return my plane ticket for Cusco back to Lima which is why you're not hearing about me doing the Dessert Coast (sandboarding in Ica, penguin-watching in Islas Ballestas). But my final days in Cusco turned out to be really great and it allowed me to really explore the city instead of speed-hopping from place to place. So it all worked out in the end!
Sidenote: So I thought this was really cute. So everyone knows that the phrases "Cheers!" and "Salud!" are words that everyone generally uses when you toast your drinks. And when someone sneezes, you can always use "Salud!", but you can't exactly use "Cheers!" The other day in Aguas Calientes with Laeticia (girl from Grenada, Spain) I sneezed, and she accidentally yelled, "Cheers!" Hehehe.
Okay, hope everyone's having a great day and see you soooooon!!! I love you!!
Aileen :)
PS
Aside from the sweater pic, the other pic was of a dog at breakfast in the San Blas market. He spent a good 10 minutes standing there cutely/creepily staring at me while I ate. Kinda reminded me of another dog I know named Zumi.
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