We've arrived!

I guess the question of why we decided to go to Cusco Peru deserves a little attention. I originally wanted to go to Nepal but politically it is a bit unstable and with the kids this young, there are distinct advantages to being somewhere with more of a tourist infrastructure. Mary also pointed out that if I’m going to pull the kids out of school it should be for something for which they will benefit. As we live on the frontier of Latin American, travel frequently in Mexico and interact regularly with Spanish speakers, we think it is important to learn Spanish. Since the people of California are so xenophobic they refuse to teach Spanish in the schools, we decided to center the trip on the goal of learning Spanish so we narrowed our target country to the Americas. Cusco sounded exciting and exotic while still retaining the tourist infrastructure which would accommodate any problems I might have with the kids. Besides, I figure all paths lead to the same great party so rather than worry about following the right one I might as well follow the one that I like.

Well we are now here and I have to say that I think we made a perfect choice. The city is both beautiful and vibrant and the touch of Inca architecture and culture add a pinch of the fantastic to the mix. All of the streets are cobbled and many of the buildings in the central part of the city are built around the old Inca stonework, so you’ll be shopping in a market or eating at a restaurant and the wall next to you will consist of huge stones precisely fitted together from a time before the Europeans arrived. I find it somewhat interesting that the Europeans tore down a number of Inca structures and used the building materials to build there churches and other modern buildings only to have those buildings succumb to earthquakes and the test of time while the Inca structures have remained largely intact. There’s a lesson in there somewhere but I’ll leave you to divine it according to your own predilections. The center of the city is the Plaza de Armas. It is flanked by beautiful Spanish churches and other buildings of adobe over a base of Inca stonework. There are lots of restaurants and other tourist accommodations but many locals use the Plaza for just sitting and hanging out. Outside of Cusco there seems to be a lot of other interesting areas of interest as well but that oyster remains closed to us at the moment.

I think Zak is most interested in the local softdrink, Inca Kola. It’s a carbonated yellowish-green beverage evocative of cream soda with some fruity overtones. It’s pretty good but the sugar and caffeine get Zak a bit wired. As most of you know, I lead a pretty ascetic life but I do allow myself the one vice of coffee and I like the local café con leche. Basically they bring a big mug of warm milk to your table and a small jug of coffee that has been cooked down to almost a syrup and is served at room temperature. You poor the coffee in the milk, add a bit of sugar and voila, coffee candy! The other interesting concoction worth mentioning is coca tea. It’s simply hot water poured over coca leaves and it is supposed to help with the altitude. You don’t get high from it but it is mildly invigorating. In the mornings in the hallway outside of our hotel room, there is a plate of coca leaves, a thermos of hot water and some cups so the guests can maker their own. Very interesting.

We’ve already made a number of good karma connections in town. We were met at the airport by an incredible man named Jim Rogers. We had never met him before, he is really a friend of a friend but he drove an hour in his ten passenger 4wd Toyota Hi Ace van he calls “Blue Tunder” on rough roads from his bed and breakfast in Ollantambayo just to help us get settled. Jim introduced us to some other friends, one of which has a beautiful house to rent not too far from the center of town. The house is not yet furnished but the owners are supposedly working on that now. We also met Miriam Salazar, a widow with grown children, who was interested in helping me take care of the kids. She turned out to be a godsend as Maya ended up having a bit of altitude sickness and Miriam was a great help to Maya and gave Zak and I the opportunity to get out for some food and fresh air. Maya is feeling much better now and seems to be back to her normal self.