Trout to the Pepper

After the shortest of plane trips, I arrived in Cuzco two days ago and am staying in a great farmhouse in San Blas, which is an old, old neighborhood high above the main plaza of Cuzco. It is quite a breathtaking hike home, literally, but the views from our old farmhouse are wonderful. The owner entertained us last night with stories of when his family lodged folks from surrounding villages who came into town for markets, before the current reign of tourism. They have set up a lovely courtyard with amazing panoramic views of all of Cuzco, including Ausconcate (the largest glacier in the area) when the weather is clear in the early afternoon. Today we sat in the courtyard sipping mate de coca, playing cards and watched a snow storm pass over the mountain range across the valley.

Cuzco itself is quite charming. Between Lima and Huaraz, I have only been exposed to rapidly developing cities that are in desperate need of some architectural assistance (granted Huaraz was leveled by an earthquake in the 1970s so would look dramatically different today otherwise, and Lima is so big there is no unifying style or design), but it was a breath of fresh air to see the old colonial churches built on even older incan walls (that you are not allowed to touch, by the way). Most everywhere you look there is either old, old stone, or white plaster with various shades of blue painted on doors, windows and other adornments. Almost all the streets are cobblestoned and those leading away fom the main plaza up to our neighborhood are quite narrow with less than a foot of elevated stonework for walking.

Last night D. and I found a great regae bar with an Argentinian band in the heart of San Blas, which is wonderfully bohemian. They actually let the women dance by themselves! And, yes, we hippie danced and yes, it was lovely. However, we were otherwise on our best behavior due to the fact that we are living at 3400 meters and at this altitude adult beverages have an extra kick, although I guess it makes us cheap dates.

Tonight we had a meeting with our Salkantay tour guide to go over last minute details and met the fourth girl joining our group (the jury is still out on whether a small group is better). On the way to the meeting, we discovered that it was International Tourist Day and in our honor Cuzco was throwing a big parade with the traditional hours of dancing and music (not that they need much of an excuse down here). Interestingly, several of the dancers held signs about various efforts against climate change, but of course, I had left my camera at home. It would have been a fantastic opening shot for my dissertation.

Tomorrow, Salkantay!