Saturday, January 24, 2009

On the way to Ollantaytambo


Some people are so efficient even when traveling that they make me feel bad. They manage to visit all the ruins in and around Cusco in one day, then hike up to Machu Picchu on the Inca trail, bike down and arrive just in time for a bungee jump.

I have been in Cusco for more than four days and haven´t seen any one of the ruins or museums. So yesterday morning I decided to finally do some sightseeing and went to the little adobe church of San Blas. Lonely Planet said it has beautiful wood carvings. When I arrived mass just had started and as they had a lovely choir I decided to stay. So much for sightseeing. Then I went to the train station to get my tickets but it had closed... so I went to the market, tried some juices, chatted with the juice lady... and just when I was about to do some more sightseeing it started to rain. I went to my favourite internet cafe, the "Trotamundos" right on Plaza de Armas and - got stuck chatting to Fred. Fred has been working in the Trotamundos for about 1,5 years but his passion is his country -history, archeology, traditions, legens, fauna and flora... He is studying to be a guide - like every second person in Cusco - and he can tell you everything about Cusco, Machu Picchu and many other interesting places in the region. So instead of going out there to see these things myself - in the rain and cold - I enjoyed many cups of coca tea and listened to Fred :-)
For today I set my alarm clock to 6am, determined to finally do some sightseeing on my last day in Cusco. I even had some plans on going to Pisac... and getting to Ollantaytambo on time to visit the ruins...

But it seems I am not one of those efficient sightseers ;-) First of all I got sidetracked by the cute little "Coca Shop" near Plaza San Blas - they have cookies, chocolates and many other things made of coca. The owner is very friendly and you can try everything and eat your way through all these yummy coca goodies! I left with a coca cookie and some chocolates filled with coca and cereals like Quina, Kiwicha... they where meant as an emergency ration for my early morning trip to Machu Picchu but didn´t even make it to Urubamba :-( From San Blas I went to the station to finally get my train tickets and from there to the INC to by the entry to Machu Picchu. Of course INC had closed 10 minutes before I arrived so I went to the market again to drink some juice (with coca poweder!) and chat with my new friend, the juice lady. She asked me about work and studies and advised me to buy warm clothes before going to Puno! From the market I went to Trotamundos... and spend another two hours chatting to Fred! He showed me pictures of Ollantaytambo on the net and told me many legends of the region... mainly of Inca princesses or Apus - mountain Gods - turned into stone and still to be seen... He knows so much that I could have stayed for hours but I had to get my entry ticket and still had some plans of going sightseeing. But... on the way to the bus to Ollantaytambo another trap - Cafe Brasil! I ordered some typical Brasilian food and the owner was so happy to have someone around that spoke Portuguese so he joined me for lunch. He is from Espiritu Santo and has been in Cusco for 8 months. He didn´t say it directly but I got the impression that he didn´t like it there. He said that he would go back very soon... Later on his little friend Pamela, 15, joined us, too. Pamela is a really sweet girl and it was a pleasure to talk to her. She dances Marineira and told me that this dance has been created by the slaves in Northern Peru and that´s why the women always dance barefeet. Depending on weather the man presents another slave or the slave owner, he dances barefeet or in shows. It must have been 3-4pm at least before I finally got to the bus station.

Pamela and me in front of Café Brasil.

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