We loooove the bus

After the floods in Cusco helped us decide to change our plans, Matthew and I have been seeing our fair share of beautiful Peru via bus, the most popular and inexpensive method of travel here. Matthew already described the most lovely bus trip we took, and as my mom said, nothing can get worse than that. However, it´s not our favorite thing to do.

The most recent trips to Nazca and Arequipa (where we are now) were full of stomach turning twisty roads, but highlighted with fields full of alpaca (!!!), an eight-year-old girl who was amazed that Matthew and I spoke English and requested to take our photo ("un sol, porfavor"), her mother who gave us 10 pounds of salty cheese made earlier in the day, and a movie with werewolves. We also got to see how the food they serve on the bus is prepared- by a 6 year old boy who doesn´t wear gloves. Some things are better left unknown.

What we have noticed in our short length of traveling is that every city in Peru has its quirks. Lima was intense-so many people, shops, cars and combis, litter. Noisy all the time. Curahuasi was cute, peaceful. There were hardly any tourists, except for all the folks stranded from various bus tours headed to Cusco. Nearly everyone nodded or greeted us, always asking us if we were going to Cusco, talking about the weather. (I hope Oropesa is like Curahuasi.) Abancay was bigger than I imagined, and I felt productive there with our new friend Nikola. We did our laundry, got food, she took her boots to get repaired (for only 2 soles!), did internet things, bought bus tickets, bought a cell phone. phew. Short stay, but productive. Nazca was tourist city, all focused around the famous Nazca lines. Everything in the city is themed around the lines. And it was hot.

Here in Arequipa, it doesn´t even feel like it´s still Peru. We arrived atound 6 a.m. and walked around the city before there was room available at the hostel, and it was so quiet. In all the other cities, things are going so early-street vendors, food carts, taxis, people everywhere. Here it was really peaceful. We got some coffee this morning, there are coffee shops everywhere, when we never saw them in other cities. It is so touristy. We never saw any other gringos in Lima, but there are travelers everywhere.

We´ll be retiring from bus travels for the next two weeks, as we enroll in language school here. School starts Monday. With a better handle on the language and a consistent living situation, maybe soon we won´t feel so lost.

Next stop...

We just finished a candlelight dinner in Curahuasi. You are probably
thinking "Oh how romantic" but it was candlelight because the power
went out. While eating by candlelight we learned that this region is
known for its anis tea. They grow anis everywhere and right outside
our hostel smells of black licorice. This city is nestled in the Ande
mountains at about 2,200 meters surrounded by walls of forest and
rock. The city sounds are missing, replaced by chickens, the
occasional pig and kids playing soccer in the streets (or attacking us
with water guns, we will get them back) A helicopter flys overhead and
the city stops to whitness its, chop chop chop chop interrupting the
flow of the city, kids yelling Ciao (bye) as it passes.

Oh...some people might be asking "Why are you in Curahuasi, I do not
remember this city in your travel plans?" Well funny you should ask.
This story starts at a Civa bus station in Lima at 2pm on January 24.
(HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGARET!)

The cost for this adventure was 100 soles. We leave Lima at 5pm folling the panamerican highway along the ocean then turn off and wind our way through the Andes. All is going well and they pass out dinner and darkness surrounds us as we twist and turn around the mountain roads. We hear several plastic bags rustling. Now you might be thinking "What does rustling plastic bags mean?" Well the sound of plasic bags is the music of 10 or so people vomiting. This occurs only 5 hours into what will become a 20 hour bus ride. Darkness continues and Sara needs to use the restroom. Turns out it was overflowing and as the bus made sharp mountain turns the fluid of the toilet tempted to spill over. Sara fled. Luckily we stopped in the middle of nowhere and were able to use the facilities of the great outdoors.

Lots of boring darkness continues (though both Sara and I are feeling sick). We come to a traffic jam in no mans land because a river has overflown and blocks the road. We cross it safely but later find a bus that has rolled off the road. A Civa bus we later learn with 4 dead in the wreck. We then pull into this small town, Curahuasi, and learn that Cusco is in a state of emergency with flooding, mudslides and little to no drinking water. We must spend the night on the bus which we did.

Our bus then chose to Continue to Cusco and we chose to stay in Curahuasi. Cusco is in a terrible state and Oropesa is cut off from travel due to mudslides. We have altered our plans and are working our way to Arequipa.

I am now very thankful for the bus strike, because if not for the bus strike we would have been in Cusco for the flood.

Matthew

Picture to be posted in the future.

Our first mango, and Pachacamac

Although we´re no longer in the Lima area...I have one more story to tell about the time there, and Matthew will update you from there.

Like Matthew said before, we met a friend who is from India, and he gave us a great introduction to the crazy city of Lima. Pratap also introduced us to some local things, like a drink (chicha morena?) and the insanely busy market down the street from our hostel. He was shocked to find out we had never tried a Mango.

After a quick and overwhelming tour of the market, hanging chickens, sides of beef, notebooks, flip flops, vegetable booths, and basically anything you can imagine needing, we stopped at a booth selling mangoes. Pratap selected 3 perfect ones and walked with us to the bus stop. We washed it with a little bottled water, then he showed us what he considers the ¨proper¨ and best way to eat it-tearing into it messily with your teeth, getting mango everywhere. After agreeing to eat ours in the same manner, we asked someone to take our picture together, as we weren´t sure if we´d be back from our Pachacamac trip before Pratap had to go to the airport for his flight home. (Notice the bit of mango on his nose in the photo.)

We boarded a bus and with broken Spanish tried to inform the door operator where we wanted off, near las ruinas (the ruins), not the town itself. I knew it would be a long ride, but didn´t expect to spend 2 hours touring around Peru. We went from intense Lima to what is the countryside, I guess. Lots of little houses, dirt roads, way far out. Finally, another passenger instructed us where to get off, and where to get a taxi.

We took a taxi into the ruins, and then paid 6 soles (about $2) to walk around ruins that predate the Incans! It was amazing to see the ruins, with the hillside of small homes on one side, and then the Panamerican Highway on the other. Such a contrast of wealth, as well as time. We didn´t pay the extra money for a guide, but did eavesdrop on another group and learned that the people used to sacrifice young girls and animals, especially black lambs. That´s all I learned. And, that people traveled from all over to visit the temple there, and that there is this huge area that was a shelter for the pilgrims to rest under. Matthew is the history buff, but the old dirt was cool.



We took a break from walking around and ate our first mango, the right way. Although there is evidence (plenty of mango strings in my teeth and juice around my mouth), I´ll just let you imagine the scene. We were finishing up our snack when a guard at the top of the Temple of the Sun blew his whistle and yelled at us. All I could understand was ¨cinco.¨ I looked at the time, which was also cinco, so I assumed they were closed. We packed up and headed out, when two other guards told us it was time to go. Oye, they were ready to go home! We didn´t get to see as much of the ruins as we had planned, but did make it back to Lima safely and in time to spend some time with Pratap and see some amazing photos from his home in India.

Lima es loca

Hola from Lima.

Cars buzzing, buses honking, people shouting, organized chaos, this is the life in Lima. Due to a bus strike in Peru our stay in Lima has been extended(the strike ended today), but this is not a bad thing. We have met some great people at the hostal and have learned of several things to explore in the city. This post will have to be abridged because I can not possibly write all the thoughts nor describe everything I have seen.

When we first arrived I experienced some culture shock and a sense of uselessness because I know very very little Spanish and have to rely on Sara for most communication. I was reluctant to leave the hostal on our first full day but Sara dragged me to the Plaza de Armas (the city center). We went by bus which includes a driver and his co-pilot who hangs out the sliding door holding a sign of the bus route and shouting what bus is it. We visited the Cathedral of San Francisco, there is a catacomb there filled with bones of 25,000 people. It is a pretty amazing structure that has endured a lot of history.

Later in the day my extravertedness came out and I met Pratap (He is a LSU grad from India) We took a cab to visit a founatain park that cost 21 million dollars to build. It was complete with a laser light show to several different songs including the Backstreet Boys!



Today we visited a Museum of Peruvian art and history. We saw rooms full of Moche ceramics that are thousands of years old. Ceramics ranging from exotic Moche pots to pots that show anthropromophic figures representing gods. What stuck me the most at this musuem was a line describing modern times to those of the Moche. The Moche lived with the earth, and the earth kept them alive. Today people live for possessions and are not aware of the earth that surrounds them.

We found a phone company and will probably purchase a phone tomorrow at 3pm. We are also planning on seeing some sealions and penguins! Should be an exciting day.

I have no way of posting photos at the moment but they will appear sooner or later.

The last hoorah

Matthew and I started off to Chicago Saturday morning, and after moving home in August, it felt strange to be leaving again. (In case you were wondering, the last big "hoorah" in Columbus was a nutritious stickybun breakfast at Pattycake. mmmmm...)

The last time I left for a such big trip was when I started my Jesuit Volunteer (JV) year. When my parents and I were almost to the airport, I was in the back seat crying silently, wanting to say "I don't really want to go." But I knew if I said that, my parents might have taken me home and I really wanted to go to Idaho (believe it or not). I'm beginning this journey with a friend, so it's not so scary, but goodbyes are always hard.

As Matthew and I drove away, I was hoping that we didn't leave because I didn't want to have to say goodbye again, and I wanted to really be on our way. So far, the only missing item is Matthew's phone charger. So we jumped into a more simple lifestyle sooner than planned. My phone is at home with my parents and we're left with whatever charge was left on Matthew's phone to call from Miami to tell our parents when we're actually on our way to Peru.

Although I am no longer a JV, I am admittedly "ruined for life" and spent some time last week thinking about the four values that my year in Boise centered around- spirituality, community, social justice, and simplicity. I think I'm going to be smacked in the face with simplicity. Last year, living "simply" was more optional than it will be in Peru. I have been told to bring my own toilet paper for public restrooms and not to count on hot water for showers, even if it's advertised. I will have to pay for water that won't make me sick. I'm not going to have the Internet immediately, whenever I want it, for free. Communicating in another language is going to be difficult. Even so, I'm ready to embrace the experience.

So tomorrow's the big travel day and I'm ready for lots of airport time. We are scheduled to take off from Chicago to Miami in the morning, then from Miami to Lima in the afternoon. We should get into Peru late tomorrow night. T-minus 15 hours before lift-off...if there's room for both of us on the flight. Hasta luego. . .

And We're Off...

Sara and Matthew looking for a fortune

Blog entry number one!

How exciting right? I must admit the starting of this blog was much more difficult than I thought. We had all kinds of ideas that were really clever and played on words, but they were either taken or Sara and I could not agree on the name. example names or URL include alpaca sweater (I wanted it to be alpaca towel as a Hitchhikers guide reference) wingwingwing (like a phone), barenecisities and lettucepack. The name piefoot was chosen out of impatience. It was a version of an old idea. To inform those not in the know, pie means foot in Spanish, and foot pie sounds so tasty.

A little back story on our plans:

We are leaving for Peru on January 19, 2010. We are going to Lima, Cusco and Oropesa with most of the time being spent in Oropesa. We will both be teachers in Oropesa and will both take intense Spanish lessons in Cusco (for me more than Sara). Now you know.

That is all we are really certain of now. My mindset is to enter the journey with an open mind and see where it takes me. I am very excited about this adventure. I am also excited about blogging about my experiences.

Oh yeah. I know Sara because we both did a year of volunteering with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) in Idaho.

OK off to one last hoorah in Columbus before we depart to Chicago.