The Incan Grudge Against Me

I am not sure what I have done to an Incan in a past life, but their spirits do not like me in the present. Knowing that I despise cold and dislike rain, the Incan gods have brought both in full form - PLUS with a bipolaresque teasing of glorious sun - each day we have been in Cusco.

This morning, for example, it was finally not AS hard to get myself out of the warm covers and into the cold world outside of bed, and by the time we had breakfast and a healthy dose of cocoa mate tea to run around the town, the sun was shining and I felt warm. So we went up to the Incan ruin high up a hill overlooking the city, Sexywoman (er,it just sounds like that, but its spelled so many different ways in Quecha I am just going with that). We were just finishing our tour and contemplating the mystery of Incan construction when the thunder started and the dark foreboding clouds in the distance were not quite so in the distance. So we walked a bit faster back to town, arriving just as the rain began to pelt us with some mighty conviction. When just half an hour earlier I was Dancing like an Incan with my tank top and soaking the sun. We went back to our hostal before meeting up with a Pacific Northwesterner I met at the language school in Ecuador who is now also in Cusco, during which time the Incan gods brought us HAIL. By the time we went to leave again, the hail subsided but the remainder of the afternoon was intermittent rain and constant cold. Brrrr.

When I visited the main Incan site in Ecuador, Ingapirca, it was also pouring rain and cold. And after the constant sun and heat in Argentina, where you almost could not sleep because of the heat - fabulous, this is quite the transition. Its not even like Seattle drizzle -though glad I am not in SNOW today, suckas.

We sought relief from the weather by gorging in a cool restaurant (though no go with the hummus to satisfy my craving, as it kind of tasted like ... well, nothing) and the indoor local goods market (pigs balls or cow heart, anyone? If ONLY we could have trusted the $1 ceviche, but that would likely bring along major digestive problems from the market. No street food). Then Ming and I went inside the main cathedral, but both of us are kind of creeped out by churches so that did not last long. We have been taking it easy thus far in Cusco, but tomorrow we will spend a full day in the Sacred Valley. Will be going to the Big MP after the New Year, now, because the trains are so packed with people that is when we can go, just in time for the raise in prices for 2008. Happy New Year.

Rain coat, check. Going to make a run for it ... and pray to the Incan gods to forgive me for my past transgressions...

High on life...

Or really, just pure air. I´m high on altitude in Cusco, having survived taxi driving in Lima (the people drive like a mix of Ecuadorians and Southern Californians though the big difference is having a trustworthy driver. Our friends in Lima and our hostel owner had reputable connections, and when those were not available on Christmas Day one of the hostel workers took a picture of the taxi driver and his liscense with her camera to ensure our safety before we got in!).

So the next challenge is adjusting to the altitude, though it has not been bad so far - just a bit winded walking up the stairs though that was also lugging my monster pack (given that it is lighter because I, uh, lost my pants at a river in Mendoza - still have the pant legs, though, if anyone needs some replacements). I am following directions by taking it easy today, which is hard because there is so much to explore around Cusco! We arrived inthe afternoon and spent some down time before venturing out to the hustle and bustle and travellers and markets and small children trying to sell you things and adults trying to sell you things. Walking around the main plaza just before dusk, I got a little hint of the infamous magical feeling here. But then I just realized that was more from hunger, though we had a light (and dang tasty) meal at a pub in following suggestions to eat lightly. Add some coca mate tea and leaves, and we should be good to go. But back to doctor´s orders, some rest and relaxation...

¡Felices Fiestas!

Happy holidays to everyone. I hope you are enjoying a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of our globalized economic world and spending it on supplying and demanding nothing but good times from your friends and family.

I need a bit more sleep, if you cannot tell.

Haven´t had much time in front of a computer to post, but I will "peru"ve that I am still alive now with greetings from Lima, Peru. I am happily in the Miraflores neighborhood (or city, as our hostel owner calls them in describing this large city and its safe and dangerous places for foreigners), which is very close to the beach and the ocean. Walking along side the cliff overlooking the ocean yesterday, I was reminded of Monterey and missed the Bay Area a little. But of course, there has been a lot of missing back home, being away during the holidays ...

Thankfully, I spent a lovely Christmas surrounded by kindness and festive spirits with familiar faces. I am grateful to Damian and Julie´s families for embracing me & Ming into the Isla Family Christmas lunch spectacular, complete with fantastic food (Becky´s handmade lasagne was the main hit), welcoming people, and Isla family tradition naughty sugar cookies! Add entertainment from watching Sean Connery play a Russian, watching SNLs "Dick in a Box" (it´s a true Christmas song, listen to it!), and dice game dodo (basically the game of Bullshit, with dice and a cup). Everyone in the Isla family home, including the visiting Farago family, kept me laughing all day and night long, the best present indeed.

And I will cope with my remaining sorrow of being away from family this holiday by again trying to enjoy the summer weather and meeting interesting people and tasting local delicacies and exploring fascinating places. It will be hard, but I am dedicated to it ... off to Cusco in a couple hours. We will be there a few days, going to Machu Picchu and back to Cusco for new years with all the expats (it will be a happenin place, no doubt! We will be reuniting with some random folks), then after the neuvo año making our way to Lake Titicaca and Arequipa. Safe travels to everyone else, too. I think travelling in the USA during the holidays is more of an adventure than I´ll be seeing in the next week - and more chance for lost luggage than my backpacking!

Abrazos. And PLEASE send me a random email or two whenever you catch your breath from holiday going to let me know how you are.

Wine-ing

Wine, beef, and sun -- I have been delivered to the Land of Plenty for these three things, and I am enjoying them all (though not necessarily in moderation). The 5 pesos for air conditioning at the hostel makes it all possible: best money ever spent (except for each 2 peso empanada, mmmm. Or 20 peso tenderloin).

Survived the overnight bus from Buenos Aires (and actually had a decent meal consisting of some sort of spinach and cheese concotion - good to have low expectations and not get sick on a bus!) to Mendoza, Argentina´s wine country. Argentine buses are great - big, comfty recliner seats, cheesy US movies, friendly staff - not anything like the Ecuadorian experience! Especially with a bottle of 20 peso wine bought at the station as our carry on.

My goals for the next few days in Mendoza are simple: wine, beef, and sun; repeat. So this extremely busy schedule will not afford much blogging, though I hope to get some awesome photos from Iguazu up soon. Ming took a brief video of our ride UNDER the falls that may just show up on You Tube soon for its great entertainment value (or maybe only to me, once again in thinking that we paid someone else money to go on a boat under a massive force of water that was hot and tasted like dirt and left us completely soaked).

Off to get some sleep, to digest tonight´s BBQ grill with felllow American travellers at the hostel (thank you Als family! complete with excellent chef!) and get plenty of rest before tomorrow morning´s Bodega tour.

And will be off for a brief day in Santiago, Chile on Christmas Eve. I am SO excited to see Julie and Damian and spend Christmas Day with the Isla family in Lima, Peru!

Wine, beef, sun, repeat. Try THAT in California or Washington, suckas. You may have the wine, but not the hot,blaring, gorgeous sun... but then again, you also do not have my hideous multi-tan or peeling skin...

Wet and Itchy

Is how I feel right now.

Wet: Part of the Iguazu experience. Ironically, yesterday´s soak came courtesty of my own sweat, from taking multiple sweltering buses to get to the Brazilian side of the falls, hiking the trail to get to the amazing views of the majestic falls, and being in the inescapable heat. Today´s soak comes from the Falls themselves - took a crazy boat ride to go under the fall´s mighty outpour ¡loco! - and the torrential rain that started while we were loading the bus (so I was soaked from going under the falls and just stayed that way). Showers are wonderful, even at a shabby little hostel.

Itchy: Bugs love to bite me for my tasty blood, and last night one decided to go right for my bottom lip (despite my ritual applications of Deet-laden products). So I look a bit like a domestic violence victim with the swelling, but it does not look as bad as it feels. Itch, scratch. But at least I have not been bitten by spiders, which my mom can tell you are very bad given that she had to take me to the hospital the last time (and Christina, I am much more careful in how I use the term being attacked by bugs following that incident) and has seen many swollen parts of my body over the years from the little critters. And especially after the monster spiders we´ve seen here... eeee...

Falling fo the Falls

Igauzu Falls: amazing. That is all I have to say for now.

And that I am only carrying Mastercards but made it to the Brazil side today, if that make sense to any of you.

To have and to give

Being in other countries has prompted me to think a lot about income inequality and how arbitrary borders and random circumstance dicate so much about a person´s standard of life. I knew that traveling outside of my bubble existence and being exposed to more overt discrepancies between rich and poor would leave me with a lot to continually process mentally and theorize about and critically think about where our societies are going. Really, I HAVE been doing more than eating and contibuting my dolares to the local economies of South America.

I have not talked to locals as much as would like to hear about their perspective (especially in BsAs where the people are a bit more ¨impenetrable¨ as one fellow traveller we met, a British expat living there, described the people in the city in opposition to other Argentines), although I do feel like Ecuadorians were always quite expressive about their societal problems. But another way I have a lens to this part of the world is from other travellers and what it has been like for them (what places seem dangerous, close to civil war, ravaged by natural disasters!). I was really struck by hearing the accounts of an Irish young man I met at our hostel in BsAs, who was near the epicenter at the time of the Peruvian earthquake that recently devastated the coast. He and his girlfriend walked outside of their hotel to find shambles all around and dead bodies in the street. They later volunteered with some aid relief in Lima, but were still tramautized by seeing how badly the quake ruined the area and what that did to the people who lost everything (who began to riot and rob another). I mention this not because I am trying to evoke pity or make any claim about this region in dealing with tragedy or suffering, but because it is one more thing revolving in my head about our relative ways of living and co-existing in this world. More to comment on when I am not sweltering in the hot Argentine heat and can better describe where my thoughts are going...

Where I was trying to go with this right now relates to my continual difficulty in dealing with the modern world´s obsession with consumerism (a personal opinion, esp in regards to the US, and I am just personally too addicted to things). And bringing the focus of my ramble to a really simple point - spending the holidays reflecting on what is really important, the people you are around and compassion. I want to urge people to give holiday gifts to those they love in the form of giving to others. There are places to donate online or give to your local library (or the UC Berkeley library fund!). JustGive.org is pretty reputable. I just feel happier putting that idea out there, even for those of you who already donate so much and are wonderful providers to the people around you. And not to downgrade tangible gifts - I felt really emotional reading an email from my mom about what she was buying for other family members because I want to be there, too, putting thought into what would make each person happy to receive and what a good gift reveals about our connections to each other. I just want to suggest other gifts given the recent move to gift cards and more impersonal gift giving that may have more ultimate meaning with a little thought or extra giving!

And with that, I am hypocritically taking my money and going to spend it on an empanada on the way back to the hostel (in Iguazu Falls - which is abosultely incredible). Sorry mom and dad, to keep your unemployed daughter fed there will be no touristy gifts are coming your way soon, even by way of charitable giving. Just lots of thoughts that we were able to be together in the same space right now - though I would definitely make you come to me because I am thoroughly enjoying the summer time. So yes, these are very important things to me - having many people who love me (odd they may be) and being in hot, hot, sun. Ahhhh.