Dad's recuerdos de Peru

I invited my parents to write a guest post, if they so desired, about anything from their visit. My dad took me up on it.

Ahhh, Peru!! 

When Alison, Sam and Simon created an opportunity for themselves to work in fair trade issues with Manos Amigas in Lima, our Peru trip was a certainty.  

To see them was great pleasure: their immersion into the Lima scene; becoming full-blown Spanish speakers; working with an organization which operates far from efficiency, but working with them nonetheless; visiting the homes and workshops of the very artisans who create the products that Sam buys for Global Gifts and Ten Thousand Villages buys for their stores; experiencing their love for Simon; experiencing Simon’s zest for life and his totally good-natured demeanor. 

  

Visiting Peru was icing on the cake: a new country, new cities, a new culture and Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.


This guest post is a vignette of impressions and observations. 

Street crossing: Alison was right! You take your life in your own hands when crossing a street. The pedestrian sits at the bottom of the totem pole of street value. Even when the light turns RED – STOP, LOOK both ways. When all vehicles are stopped, you move.

Crossing the street in front of the apartment can be scary when two of these buses are passing on either side of you! 

Sidewalk walking: Simon is babe-in-arms or on shoulders at all times. The street is too close for comfort and the vehicles move far too fast to stop for ANY intruder in their pathway. 

Bus riding: Have an unsettled stomach? Riding old recycled American school buses will settle it quicker than you can say “speed bump”. No suspension delivers the settling process. And HOLD ON! Stops and starts can leave you in a stranger’s lap. 

Music of Vehicle Horn Blowing: Look at that ant parade on your driveway. Seeming chaos, yet all are moving - with twists, turns, starts, stops - in the same direction. Add vehicle horns to that parade with each ant required to toot, screech or bellow that horn every 5 seconds and you have Lima traffic. 

Restaurants: La Pollera, San Antonio, Haiti, Mangos, La Granja Heidi, to name just a few. Delicious seafood (perhaps just a few too many calamari in the mix now and then), poultry, potatoes, vegetables. 

Causa at Cesar's

Pisco Sours: Peruvian versions matched both the Chilean and Argentinian versions. Mmmm! Refreshingly good! 

The Malecón: Located just three blocks from Alison, Sam and Simon's apartment, the malecón sits on the edge of a 200’ cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The malecón is a park with walkways, playgrounds, flower gardens, ice cream vendors, sculpture gardens, dirt-bike track, skateboarding park, parapente launching area, lighthouse… The malecón stretches for several miles down Miraflores’ coastline. The Lima city map stretches from outstretched arms one hand to the other hand AND you need a magnifying glass to read the street names. 

The Incas: Inca art reflects a highly developed civilization. Structures of stone, chiseled with hand-made tools, fit so tightly as to not allow a knife to slide between the stones (no mortar).

Their knowledge of the sun is reflected in Machu Picchu’s Temple of the Sun, a round tapered tower. In the center of the temple is a carved rock with a straight edge. During the summer solstice, this edge will align precisely with the light falling through the only window of the temple. The Incas identified many constellations. One was the Llama. The llama disappeared from view in August and was thought to have gone to the underworld to fill up with water. Its reappearance in January signified the llama’s being filled with water and therefore commencing the rainy season.

Machu Picchu: (I will merely outline the day for Chris and me.) Alison was feeling better but not ready for a trip. Both Alison and Sam encouraged us to not miss our chance to visit. A taxi picked us up at 6:30 a.m. and delivered us to the Cuzco bus station; bus to Ollantaytambo; PeruRail to Aguas Calientes; bus up side of mountain on dirt road with at least 8 hairpin curves to Machu Picchu. 2-hour guided tour. After our tour, we climbed to the Caretaker's house to take photos of Machu Picchu, which are the classic ones seen on most photos – sans the visitors.

All steps extended beyond our normal lift and decline. Mysterious experience of being at the edge of the rain forest at 7,000’; peaks, once shrouded in clouds, suddenly revealed their 12,000’ height, then just as quickly hid from view. Classic pictures of Machu Picchu do not reveal the size both in depth and height. Agricultural terraces extended hundreds of feet down the steep side of the mountain. The opposite side plunged thousands of feet to the Urubamba Valley. No missteps please. We returned by bus to Aguas Calientes only to find that a landslide which broke the rails on the railroad would keep us there until removal of slide and repair of track. This created great conversation opportunities for strangers. Ours was with German students on a long South American journey. Slide was cleared and rails fixed in 3.5 hours! PERURAIL!! Return rail trip was tense. Nighttime and the ferocious Urubamba River churned just outside our railcar window. What if? Arrived back in Cusco at 12:30 a.m. SUPER DAY!

The Urubamba River

Cuzco: Cuzco was the center of Inca culture. The capital. Beautiful city at 11,000’. (I was too chicken to drink coca leaf tea, although I did not experience altitude illness.) Cuzco was built to form the shape of the puma. The city map outlines the puma. Within that area all buildings are stone. No concrete permitted. Visited the Pre-Columbian Art Museum, Inca Museum, Temple of the Sun-Qorikancha and Saqsayhuaman Ruins.

Street Width: Although the center city of Cuzco has wide streets running around the Plaza de Armas and a few other main streets, most of the remaining streets are narrow. Outside our hotel the busy street ran 11’ wide and steep with the surface consisting of potato-sized stones set on edge. Just try to stop fast! The sidewalk walked one person wide. You needed to step into the street to pass. 

Interesting Encounters: In Pisaq a boy was selling little bird whistles. “How much?” I asked. “5 soles.” Hmm. I’m supposed to bargain but I didn’t have the heart.  “I’ll take two.” The next day, while playing with those whistles with Simon, I ran into the same boy. The boy asked, “How much you pay?” I replied, “5 soles.” “Too much! Too much! I sell you for 3 soles!” 

Whistle seller

In Cuzco Alison was feeling well enough to want a carry-in dinner from La Granja Heidi’s. After deciding what she wanted from the menu, I returned and spoke with the owner (Carlo), asking for sure that what Alison was getting was both gluten-free and good for her recovering stomach. He described the potatoes: “Well, they are like, uh, uh, Mennonite potatoes.” “What!?!” I replied. “Mennonite potatoes? I’m a Mennonite.” He said, “Oh you are? So is my wife!!”

Simon and Grandma: They are soul buddies. Whether giving a bath to Simon, changing his diaper or simply playing on the floor, Simon was laughing. He finds pleasure in the simplest of things. We took him to dinner – two hours – and he was totally entertained eating his papas and ketchup.

Family and Peru. What a pleasure! I would return in a heartbeat.