Sube Sube! Baja Baja!

Today I get to celebrate my third day of using public transportation in Peru! Hurray for me!

Transportation here is a mess. People don´t follow the traffic signals, they don´t respect pedestrians or lines on the street. Techincally 4 lines of cars can fit into a three lane road, but in Lima you can see up to 5 lines or cars in a street made for 3. Yay Peru.

Parking like this is also common and totally acceptable...

From Lima

Anway, being in a car is jarring enough for me in Lima and being in a bus is even more so. Combis, or the little buses that abound here are known to drive at top speeds to get to their stop first. Since the public transit is not government owned or even remoletly operated, the only way the driver and the man who acts as the people herder get paid from what the collect from passengers. That means they want to fit the most amount of passengers in their mini buses as they can and they need to get to the bus stop first because a lot of the combis follow the same route. No too clever if you ask me. But this is the reality so they drive at breakneck speeds and crowded roads and will turn LEFT from the right hand lane (of a 4 lane road) and then honk at you.

Unfortunately, this insane system is the most economical for most of Lima. I joined these ranks this past week when we moved and it became a little too dangerous to walk to work from the new house. So instead of making myself a target of robberies, I hop on the bus. I guess one of the good things about this chaotic system is that combis will stop almost anywhere to get people and drop you off anywhere. So I just walk to the nearest major street and wait for one to come along. Once one comes along I have to figure out if they will take me to my destination. Usually the person who is in charge of tickets is also incharge or herding people on and off the bus and is also in charge of shouting the bus route. More specifically they shout the main road they will be travelling on or the end destination. So the best way is just to ask if they will go by the destination that you want. Its good that my destination has a major landmark (a huge supermarket) that helps me to get my bearings otherwise I would be lost.

All in all its not as harrowing as I thought it would be. I usually get on a little later than most people go to work and I get on before one of the big "transfer" stations. Its also really interesting to see how the driver and the ticket taker/stop caller/people herder work together to get people on the bus. Sometimes there are third party people who also herd people to your bus. There are also people who stand at various places along the route that tell you how often other buses with your same route are coming along. Kinda like personal GPS. You also see all sorts of people on the bus. Students, workers, people in suits, old people, younger people, really old people. Its an ecclectic view of Peruvian and Limeñan society.

Water parks, ceviche, and the 4th of July

Its been about a month since I posted about recent happenings. Let me get caught up...

First things first. My cousin came to town with his Peruvian GF-is that weird that out of 8 cousins, two are dating Peruvians? We were supposed to meet at the Plaza de Armas de Surco, but my cousin only heard the first part and they were waiting in the center of Lima and we were waiting in the center of old Surco. Whoops. Good thing there was a ceviche festival going on that we took advantage of. We got some seafood rice and some fried fish with salsa criolla (which I thought was a lot more complex than it actually it-its onions and aji with lime juice. Simple and delish)

From Lima

We also saw the mascot of the ceviche fest....

From Lima

At night we finally met up with my cousin and his GF at the Circuito mágico del agua (Magic Water route). Its this huge park that claims to be in the Guiness Book of world records for having the most amount of fountains in one space (maybe they should check out Scripps College..). The best time to go is at night because all of the fountains are lit with lights and they look really cool. They have several interactive fountians. The favorite one of all the visitors is the maze one that is made up of concentric circles that go on and off and then at random parts the circle will be broken and you can make it into the inner part of the fountain. Its really funny to watch people get caught in the spray.

From Lima

We also walked through a tunnel of water which was really cool at night. Its cool to see how they engineer the water and the spray so its just right and it doesn´t fall short or anything.

From Lima

At the various intervals throughout the night you can see a light and water show. I was thinking it would be something like the Magic Fountian in Barcelona, but this was completely different. They use a big long foutain as a backdrop and project lasers and images on the water. Its very...interesting. Tacky is not the right word, maybe very 70s/80s... The show we saw had different bits of a lot a different regional dances of Peru which was cool. Carlos knows a lot of them so he was keeping track for me. Here is an example of what was going on in the laser/music/fountain show.

From Lima

For a total of 4 soles a person, its quite a value activity. We spent a good 2 hours there checking out the fountains on both sides of the street, people watching-they had some quinceñera girls there dressed up in their interesting dresses and taking all sorts of photos, and the show was pretty entertaining. Money well spent!

Last, but not least, we kinda celebrated the 4th of July! It is very strange for it to be cold and celebrate the 4th. I saw some fireworks go off at the American Embassy which was exciting and on the fourth Carlos made hamburgers and I made apple pie and potato salad and Carlos´ mom made icecream. It was all very tasty. Carlos´ burgers are the best. He used onions and ketchup and oregano and salt and pepper.

From Lima

In the afternoon we trolled for cars for his work. While we were out with our energy and sprits running low Carlos suggested that we stop at this old fast food place for icecream. At first I resisted still being full from giant hamburgers, but I gave in in the name of the 4th of July and “American Style Holidays”. I´m so glad we stopped. Apart from getting a sugar rush, I ordered my first milkshake in Peru and LOVED it. I also loved this fast food place. It seems like a relic of the 50s. Everything is retro looking, including the waiters. You can also order in your car and they bring you a tray that attaches to your partially lowered window. So cool! Tip Top definitely wins top spot for favorite fast food place in Lima!

Sunday was “Pollo a la Brasa” day. I decided I would take this time to rumminate on this food item. Well, actually two food items: Pollo a la brasa and Chifa, two very Peruvian institutions. These two food continually confuse me. Most Peruvians will tell you that you MUST try pollo a la brasa and chifa, that they figure into the range of Peruvian food that cannot be found in other places. They as as Peruvian as cebiche and antiuchos. This is where I am confused...whats the big deal?

Pollo a la brasa is, in my opinion rotisserie chicken. I’m not saying that it isn’t good, it is great and very tasty and we recently found a really really tasty place to get some. You can also find very tasty chicken at one of the bigger supermarkets. I have had people ask me if I´ve tried the chicken yet. Like in the way someone will ask you if you have tried paella in Spain. They way they tell you makes it seem like Peru is the ONLY place you can get this chicken.

The same thing happens with chifa. Technically chifa is Peruvian/Chinese food, but to me it its like cheap(cheap-not necessarily bad) Chinese food you can get in the states. I even had a place to go in Madrid for cheap Chinese food. Again, its not bad, but its not unique and it confuses me to no end that Peruvians say that this food is so uniquely Peruvian. They continually ask you if you have tried chifa yet and what you thought of it and if you want to get chifa. Its good in the way that all cheap Chinese food is tasty. I see more Chinese influence in the the other Peruvian foods like baked chicken, baked in soy sauce sauce, and lomo saltado, which is like stirfry with french fries.

Maybe I am being too harsh. After all, I get accused of having no national American dish. However, I get tired of being asked if I have tried these very “Peruvian” dishes and then seeing the sad faces when I am not super enthused when I tell them I have tried it. With tropical fruits, I give a little more leeway because I am the exception in having tried tropical fruit, but with rotisserie chicken and cheap Chinese food, I really don´t understand. I guess I will just have to eat it and enjoy it for being tasty. But still, how can they think that rotisserie chicken and adapted Chinese food are only to be found in Peru?? Oh well....

Potato Festival

This past weekend was the last weekend that my parents were in town and I spent the days before their arrival from the jungle trying to find restaurants to go to and things to do. A certain banner had caugt my eye everyday when I went to work and one day I looked it up when I got home. It was for the Potato Festival in Surco! SO EXCITING!! A potato fest in the capital of potatolandia. Looked up where it was and the hours and C and I met my parents there early on Sunday morning.

My first impression. Thats it? The festival occupied one side of the main plaza in Old Surco. The plaza itself is fun to see with an old colonial style yellow church on one side and basically want amounted to 3 other sides of restaurants. My excitment for potatoes quickly overcame my disappointment over the size of the festival. POTATOES!!! Non-touristy street fair!

There were two rows of stands and they either had potatoes or some other type of Andean food stuffs. There were stalls with just bread that C says you can last a long time and come from the mountains. (upon closer inspection this meant that they were dry and meant to be eaten with other items). There were food stalls that sold stews made of dried meat called Charqui, huge balls of Causa (yellow potato with chicken/tuna/crab filling), HUGE plates of Peruvian Chicken and rice or duck and rice, tamales, guinea pigs, and cebiches.

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Quinea Pigs


There were other stands that had New Andean foods such as a variety of different flours, whole oatmeal, 5 varieties of quinoa,

From Do you Machu Picchu?

fresh butter and cheese, ham, and natural products. I think that Peru is the place to be if you are allergic to gluten or want health food products to change out mainstream ones. There was a stall with wine made from different roots and made from the prickly pear fruit, two stalls had coffee made from the carob tree and then...there were the potatoes!

Of the more than 3.000 varieties of potatoes grown we only saw many 100...I must say it is difficult to see the difference in all of them, but some are very easy to point out. One stall had just bags of different colored potatoes ranging from bright yellow to purple. One guy had this lumpy bumpy red ones and one was the general potato stall where they had little bags of potatoes to show with its name. We found the common red potato-it is called Gringo which basically means foreigner, but in a kinda rude way. Some of them look like little turds...and most of them are lumpy bumpy. I dunno how we got our common variety ones to be so smooth. It was amazing to see so many types of different potatoes. What was most interesting wasn´t the number of types, but the shapes and the colors that they came in.

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Colored potatoes!

From Do you Machu Picchu?

The display stand

From Do you Machu Picchu?

The recognizable red potato

We listened to a farmer explain how the keep the plant bug free. He told us about one bug that will crawl 40km is one night and how the basically suffocate it underground using huge sheets of plastic. They also kill the flying ones using vegetable based insecticides. They take bitter plants and boil them down and then spray it into the air and it keeps the bugs away. It was great to see a farmer there explaining his work and not some guy in a business suit with a fancy presentation.

We spent probably a good 1.5 walking around that one street street fair. It was so much fun and so exciting to see something off the beaten track-for tourists at least:) I loved not just the little street fair, but just the people/life/culture watching that we were able to do just by being there. My mom bought some hand woven cloths that are gorgeous and we were all tempted to try the food but couldn´t quite get ourselves over the fear of stomach bugs. Next time...

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Bascially what my mother bought and one made of alpaca

Do you Machu Picchu?

This past weekend was spent visiting probably the most famous thing of Peru. I went with my parents to Machu Picchu. I must admit that I have never felt a strong desire to visit. Not that I didn´t want to, I just never felt the pull of going. Same with the pyramids...Anyway.

I must say-it IS impressive.

I was a little worried about the altitude. The city of Cusco is at almost 11,000 feet and the highest I have been was in CO this past Christmas at around 10,000 ft. The good thing is that everything around Cusco, well most things are at a lower elevation. Machu Picchu itself is only around 8,000ft above sea level. For coming from sea level and not having a day to acclimate (ah the joys of taking days off from work), I must say I was pretty impressed with myself. I felt a little funny right when I got off the airplane and lost my appetite at dinner time, but was otherwise unaffected. I think my lack of sleep from going to the airport at 3.30am took more of a toll on me that first day. My mother, who is also notoriously susceptible to altitude did just fine as well.

That first day we drove from Cusco to the Sacred Valley and a city called Ollantaytambo. It is about 1.5-2 hours away from Cusco and we made seveval stops along the way to take photos and visit the pueblo of Chinceros.

The landsacpe on the way to Ollaytambo.

From Do you Machu Picchu?

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Chincheros is a little pueblo known for weaving and dying. I kinda felt like we got swept into a tourist trap like the tea tasting things in China or the herbal pharmacy/rug weaving demonstrations in Morocco, but it was a little less extreme. They gave us demonstrations on how they spin the alpaca and how they wash it;

From Do you Machu Picchu?

with this cool root that they grate and then it foams and when you wash the wool it turns out all clean and white.

They also showed us how the color the yarn with natural products like leaves or purple corn or sulfur rocks or crushed nopal bugs:

From Do you Machu Picchu?

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Its amazing the different varieties of color you can get. The girl took one color, added salt and it changed the hue from bright to a softer color. It was so cool! My parents haggled with them for some alpaca products and then we made our way Ollantaytambo to see the ruins.

In Ollantaytambo the ruins are of an old temple that served as both temple and store house for the Incan Empire. Seen from above the temple has the shape of a llama. I got to see my first Inca stones. They really are amazing in the way they fit together seamlessly and in that they are not just square. They have a little flap that fits into the neighboring stone and some of them have little tabs that fit together. They also built their structures on top of packed earth and smaller rocks to allow for earthquakes. Its amazing that their structures have withstood so much time without being destroyed by natural elements.

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Our morning to go to Machu Picchu dawned early and clear. The road to Machu Piccu is long, but not difficult. You just have to catch many modes of transportation. You can take a train that will take you directlyish to Cusco which is like 3 or 4 hours or you somehow get to the sacred valley and train from there. Once in Aguas Calientes, the gateway to MP you either hike up a huge hill or take a half hour bus ride that is full of switchbacks and dust. On the train you pay extra for cool windows on the top of the car, but the track is lined with trees so you mostly get nice views of foliage.

When you arrive at the train station you pass through another gate and on the day we arrived the locals were making a mad rush to get on their train to go and vote, but it was really interesting because they have to go through a different gate and they were all loaded with stuff. They had extra bags and food and children strapped to their backs. They keep the local passengers and the tourists separate, to charge the tourists more money, but it really seems like they are being treated like second class citizens because they are made to go through a different door. Everywhere there were signs of poverty even in the midst of all the tourist wealth. It made for a really interesting contrast during the whole trip.

We traipsed through the Market which is kinda claustophobic and scary. The entire market is tented and has narrow passageways. Thank goodness we didn´t go through it at midday-with the tarp covering it must have been way too hot. Its a relief to find your way out of the maze into the fresh air. We boarded the bus and made out windy way up the mountain to the bottom of the ruins. The bus makes tons of switch backs to get to the top of the hill and if another bus is going down at the same time then both of them squeeeeeeeze on the road and if you stuck your hand outside the window you it probably would be chopped off.

Getting off the bus and through the gate (after stamping the passport of course) and hiking up the hill was spectacular. We went up the side and got to have great views from the get go. There were few people and we hardly got stuck on anything. It really is amazing how the Incas managed to do all that they did AGES ago. What stuck me is that no one really knows why the ruins at Machu Picchu exist. There are several theories, but nothing conclusive. They don’t even know the name of the place. They know that the Mountain peak is called Machu Picchu, but don’t know about the rest of it. The man who man Macchu Picchu famous apparently destroyed a lot of the archeological evidence of the things they found there and so a lot of the original information has been lost. I think that all the mystery and the crazy stories about the finding of the location and the speculation of what happend in the site only add to the allure of Machu Picchu. Not saying that is isn’t amazing. It is. But its also the trip to the site and the other sites around it and the short/long history of the thing and the mountains and EVERYTHING that for me made Machu Picchu amazing. The whole kit-n-kaboodle. Next up-Doing the Inca trail in the 4 tourist days instead of the 4 local/Inca hours it takes!

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Machu Picchu! Looks a little fake right?

From Do you Machu Picchu?

Amazing Incan Stonework. All the pieces fit perfectly! And the blend into the natual curves and rocks of the mountain. How did they do it? Nobody knows....

From Do you Machu Picchu?

The fam on the ruin.