Hello everyone,
Here's a link to my photobucket of pictures I took on my Peru Trip. They're not all up there (yet) but there's a lot more there than on this blog so please feel free to take a look!
Thanks again for your loyal readership!
http://s1047.photobucket.com/albums/b480/pfabian53/Peter%20Fabian%20Peru%202010%20Pictures/
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
¡Adios y gracias!/Goodbye and Thanks!
This is my last post here on my Travel Blog for Perú! As I sit here in my comfortable bed in Canterbury, CT I have reflected on all the things that I took part in while I was away and I realize that I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to do what I got to do. I studied abroad, I traveled, I saw the world, I met people, I did research, I ate, I slept, I did so many things and for those things to happen I had to have had so much help and support. I want to thank my parents, my relatives, my job, the program directors Stephen Bishop and Kelly Lovejoy, and all of my peers who were on the trip with me. Also, I want to thank all of you readers who helped keep me accountable and who took such an interest in my trip to read up on my goings and comings. You really helped me and I hope I at least gave you something good to read everyone once in a while. So, I tell you for the last time, thanks so much for reading and until my next trip, stay curious and keep reading, you never know who or what you will encounter!
Atentamente con mucho cariño/Sincerely from the bottom of my heart,
Peter
Atentamente con mucho cariño/Sincerely from the bottom of my heart,
Peter
La última semana/The Last Week
Well, as most of you may already know I am, in fact, safe and sound in the United States again and no longer in the wonderful country of Perú. However, as our travels during the last week of my stay in Perú kept me far away from internet and the comforts of home, I was not able to update my blog and keep everyone posted on what I was doing and how everything was. So, unfortunately, you will be getting all of these fun facts and information late but, on the bright side, you will be able to hear about (and see photos of) the last week I spent in Perú as well as what I did, where I stayed, and how everything was. Time to get the old memory jogged but here goes:
I last wrote on the evening after my departure from Cusco just before we headed to Puno. Puno is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca (lago titikaka in the local tongue) which is the world´s highest lake. This unique microclimate is extremely influential in the region in every way from geography, transportation, and even agriculture. Lake Titicaca, despite being over 4,000 meters above sea level, causes the surrounding land to resemble a much more temperate, and lower, climate. Plants which would only normally grow thousands of meters lower thrive along the lake and not just becasue of increased irrigation and better access year-round to water. During the day the sun beats down on the millions of gallons of water and heats them up. During the night this hot water holds its heat much longer than the ground and the breezes off of the lake keep the area much warmer than would ever be possible. This way the entire agricultural climate can be changed and life can exist in a way that would never be possible anywhere else in the world at that altitude.
Another important aspect of the region is, obviously, tourism. Some of the major attractions of the lake are its islands. The uros, or floating islands, are made entirely of a reed called totoro which is very buoyant and abundant in the lower parts of the lake. The inhabitants of the islands gather their own reeds and build up their islands month by month. We got to stop by a Uro on our boat trip to the lake and we got to take some pictures with the locals there as we took partin their local customs:
After we visited the uro we stayed on the island in the middle of the lake known as Amantani. There we got to interact with our host families and get to know the lake culture a little bit better. I even got to swim with two or three other guys from the group and we really enjoyed the freezing cold water of that huge lake. Overall, the stay at Titicaca was definitely an awesome experience overall and I hope to be able to make it back some day!
We left Puno on Monday afternoon and arrived at Arequipa later that night. Arequipa is a much more modern town than we had been used to up to that point and may people were really happy by the looks of the city. When we arrived we got settled in to the hotel and then went out for dinner to get our bearings. Like every other major city or town the plaza de armas was the most touristy place but had most of everything there that you could need. Melody and I, however, sought a different dinner and a few blocks off of the plaza we found some excellent Turkish food for very cheap so we were very happy and ready to take on the next day.
Tuesday we had a city tour of Arequipa by double-decker bus. Although it is a city there was a lot of ground to cover and we really got to see some cool sights. Perhaps the best part of the tour, however, was going to the two major museum attractions in the center of town. The first was a museum of the human mummies found at the top of mountains as sacrifices to the gods of the mountains to appease them for the year´s agricultural production. There, despite seeing all the of the well-preserved items used for mummification and burial, we got to see an actual, real mummy which was left at the top of the Misti volcano just outside of town. This mummy´s name is Juanita and she was sacrificed to keep the volcano from erupting and ruining the crops. Her body remained perfectly preserved by the snows which surrounded her and she is now kept in a frozen chamber to be appreciated and studied by visitors.
The other attraction was the convent of Santa Catalina. This place was also close to the middle of town and it was a great spot where the bustle of the city was kind of kept at bay while we got to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the place where the nuns lived and tried to grow closer to God. It was amazing to think that the nuns could have lived to well and so secluded while inside the huge city but I guess it worked and it was certainly something I could appreciate. Here are a few photos:
This organized tour lasted until 3:30 and after that we were basically free to go anywhere we chose. To relax, eat, explore, or even nap. We spent the night in our hotel and then left very early in the morning to head on our way again.
Our next destination was Nasca, Peru which is famous for the "nazca lines" drawn in the nearby desert. These enigmatic figures in the sand of the desert have not yet been accurately explained by scientists and anthropologists. The figures are about 30 centimeters deep but take up huge areas of the ground and show pictures of animals, people, and geometric figures. The most curious part of their existence is that there is no way to see them or plan them our without being in an airplane. The mystery, then, is how did the original artists/civilizations come up with the designs and execute them so perfectly?
Anyway, as soon as our bus got there I had to immediately jump off with three other people on the trip to run to the next flight because we were late and had to make our appointments if we wanted to be airborne. We did make it, however, and after seeing some of the figures below it was definitely worth the effort. Here is an idea of what we were looking at:
The only real attraction in Nasca was the lines so we made our way back to the very classy hotel on the outskirts of town after our flights and prepared for yet another day of travel, this time headed to Lima.
Our next stop on Thursday was las islas ballestas off the western coast of Perú. There we had to wait a few hours for the fog to clear and the boats to begin running again, but once all was alright we ended up driving out to those islands to observe soem of the local plant and animal life. We saw penguins, three species of cormorants, and even sea lions. All in all it was a good, refreshing stop before our last push to Lima and I really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures of what we saw:
On thursday night we finally made it to Lima after a long time traveling. Lima is a huge, modern city with every international comfort known to man. It was definitely a shocker to go from Cusco to Lima but we decided to get as much of it in as we could.
Friday morning we got to go on a city tour on our last day and we got to see a few parts of the city like the Plaza de Armas and a very old church with a great set of Catacombs holding the remains of over 2,500 faithful christians who wanted to be interred below the church in the past to be closer to God during death. These are some secret pictures I took while we visited:
Lima was much more than the dusty bones, however, and it was a cool city to be able to visit although I definitely wouldn´t have wanted to live there.
Much later that night we got on our bus and headed over to the airport loaded up with luggage to make our way back home on our 11:45 pm flight. Once we got there and checked in we heard that we were an hour late so we just made the best of it. Finally, once we did get off everything went smoothly thereafter and we landed safely in JFK sometime around 9:30 AM eastern time. I got out with all my luggage (and sanity) and we started our drive home with my parents and Melody. We had to stop for lunch somewhere, so I figured Pepe´s Pizza on Wooster St in New Haven, CT was as good a place as any. We had to wait about an hour to be seated but we got what we came for and made our way home happy and well-fueled. Finally, finally, finally, I walked through my door at home at 5:30 PM on Saturday and my trip was officially over!
I last wrote on the evening after my departure from Cusco just before we headed to Puno. Puno is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca (lago titikaka in the local tongue) which is the world´s highest lake. This unique microclimate is extremely influential in the region in every way from geography, transportation, and even agriculture. Lake Titicaca, despite being over 4,000 meters above sea level, causes the surrounding land to resemble a much more temperate, and lower, climate. Plants which would only normally grow thousands of meters lower thrive along the lake and not just becasue of increased irrigation and better access year-round to water. During the day the sun beats down on the millions of gallons of water and heats them up. During the night this hot water holds its heat much longer than the ground and the breezes off of the lake keep the area much warmer than would ever be possible. This way the entire agricultural climate can be changed and life can exist in a way that would never be possible anywhere else in the world at that altitude.
Another important aspect of the region is, obviously, tourism. Some of the major attractions of the lake are its islands. The uros, or floating islands, are made entirely of a reed called totoro which is very buoyant and abundant in the lower parts of the lake. The inhabitants of the islands gather their own reeds and build up their islands month by month. We got to stop by a Uro on our boat trip to the lake and we got to take some pictures with the locals there as we took partin their local customs:
After we visited the uro we stayed on the island in the middle of the lake known as Amantani. There we got to interact with our host families and get to know the lake culture a little bit better. I even got to swim with two or three other guys from the group and we really enjoyed the freezing cold water of that huge lake. Overall, the stay at Titicaca was definitely an awesome experience overall and I hope to be able to make it back some day!
We left Puno on Monday afternoon and arrived at Arequipa later that night. Arequipa is a much more modern town than we had been used to up to that point and may people were really happy by the looks of the city. When we arrived we got settled in to the hotel and then went out for dinner to get our bearings. Like every other major city or town the plaza de armas was the most touristy place but had most of everything there that you could need. Melody and I, however, sought a different dinner and a few blocks off of the plaza we found some excellent Turkish food for very cheap so we were very happy and ready to take on the next day.
Tuesday we had a city tour of Arequipa by double-decker bus. Although it is a city there was a lot of ground to cover and we really got to see some cool sights. Perhaps the best part of the tour, however, was going to the two major museum attractions in the center of town. The first was a museum of the human mummies found at the top of mountains as sacrifices to the gods of the mountains to appease them for the year´s agricultural production. There, despite seeing all the of the well-preserved items used for mummification and burial, we got to see an actual, real mummy which was left at the top of the Misti volcano just outside of town. This mummy´s name is Juanita and she was sacrificed to keep the volcano from erupting and ruining the crops. Her body remained perfectly preserved by the snows which surrounded her and she is now kept in a frozen chamber to be appreciated and studied by visitors.
The other attraction was the convent of Santa Catalina. This place was also close to the middle of town and it was a great spot where the bustle of the city was kind of kept at bay while we got to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the place where the nuns lived and tried to grow closer to God. It was amazing to think that the nuns could have lived to well and so secluded while inside the huge city but I guess it worked and it was certainly something I could appreciate. Here are a few photos:
This organized tour lasted until 3:30 and after that we were basically free to go anywhere we chose. To relax, eat, explore, or even nap. We spent the night in our hotel and then left very early in the morning to head on our way again.
Our next destination was Nasca, Peru which is famous for the "nazca lines" drawn in the nearby desert. These enigmatic figures in the sand of the desert have not yet been accurately explained by scientists and anthropologists. The figures are about 30 centimeters deep but take up huge areas of the ground and show pictures of animals, people, and geometric figures. The most curious part of their existence is that there is no way to see them or plan them our without being in an airplane. The mystery, then, is how did the original artists/civilizations come up with the designs and execute them so perfectly?
Anyway, as soon as our bus got there I had to immediately jump off with three other people on the trip to run to the next flight because we were late and had to make our appointments if we wanted to be airborne. We did make it, however, and after seeing some of the figures below it was definitely worth the effort. Here is an idea of what we were looking at:
The only real attraction in Nasca was the lines so we made our way back to the very classy hotel on the outskirts of town after our flights and prepared for yet another day of travel, this time headed to Lima.
Our next stop on Thursday was las islas ballestas off the western coast of Perú. There we had to wait a few hours for the fog to clear and the boats to begin running again, but once all was alright we ended up driving out to those islands to observe soem of the local plant and animal life. We saw penguins, three species of cormorants, and even sea lions. All in all it was a good, refreshing stop before our last push to Lima and I really enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures of what we saw:
On thursday night we finally made it to Lima after a long time traveling. Lima is a huge, modern city with every international comfort known to man. It was definitely a shocker to go from Cusco to Lima but we decided to get as much of it in as we could.
Friday morning we got to go on a city tour on our last day and we got to see a few parts of the city like the Plaza de Armas and a very old church with a great set of Catacombs holding the remains of over 2,500 faithful christians who wanted to be interred below the church in the past to be closer to God during death. These are some secret pictures I took while we visited:
Lima was much more than the dusty bones, however, and it was a cool city to be able to visit although I definitely wouldn´t have wanted to live there.
Much later that night we got on our bus and headed over to the airport loaded up with luggage to make our way back home on our 11:45 pm flight. Once we got there and checked in we heard that we were an hour late so we just made the best of it. Finally, once we did get off everything went smoothly thereafter and we landed safely in JFK sometime around 9:30 AM eastern time. I got out with all my luggage (and sanity) and we started our drive home with my parents and Melody. We had to stop for lunch somewhere, so I figured Pepe´s Pizza on Wooster St in New Haven, CT was as good a place as any. We had to wait about an hour to be seated but we got what we came for and made our way home happy and well-fueled. Finally, finally, finally, I walked through my door at home at 5:30 PM on Saturday and my trip was officially over!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Una noticia breve/A quick update
Sorry everyone for not updating in a while, it has been a crazy week finishing up everything in Cusco and getting read for my solid week of traveling (with no school commitments!). I am actually now in Puno, Peru on the shores of the famous Lake Titicaca and not in Cusco but my time here is a bit more limited as we are doing a lot of traveling and such so I will be giving brief updates as I can and hopefully getting some pictures up as well.
Well, since Monday, school has been fairly hectic. Tuesday I had my presentation on Andean Myths as well as a final paper but everything ended up fine and I finished it all and maintained my sanity.
Wednesday through Friday were basically days I just wanted to wrap everything up. I had five hours of community service to do and I did that and more trying to spend as much time with my buddies at the clinic as possible. The kids are so great and they are really just balls of energy despite their handicaps. I really am going to miss them but I did get to snap a photo of some of my best friends there, Kemchi and Amilcar:
Also during the week I had to get my recordings in gear for my quechua thesis. I ended up with a ton of recordings for that time period (5.5 hours in less than 5 days) but my last appointment for the final 1.5 hours fell through as my participant didn't show up so I think things didn't quite turn out as planned. Our tour guide on this week of traveling, however, does speak quechua and we have a lot of looong bus rides, so I think things will be fine and I should be able to salvage things despite the trouble I seemed to have had.
Friday was also our last night in Cusco but I had a bit of trouble with an ATM. I took out 250 soles from the ATM expecting to be able to have everything in order for when we went on this long trip but when I took out the money I noticed that the 50 sol note wasn't quite right. It turns out I got a fake bill from an ATM so I went through about four separate attempts to get everything straight and I had to work with the police for a lot of it (they were all extreeeemely nice and were advocating for me as if I was peruvian) but at the end of everything, I just ended up having to eat the 50 soles and file the report with the police. Because we had to leave at 6:30 the next morning we couldn't have done anything with the bank so I basically just helped some tourist out in the future who gets the same thing done to them. I did, however, learn a 5 step plan to check if peruvian bills are indeed counterfeit so I will now be using that thoroughly every time I get change.
So, now here I am on Saturday evening in Puno. Puno is on the shores of the famous Lake Titicaca which is the world's highest lake. We enjoyed the night here by going to a restaurant featuring native dances of the area as well as great food at fairly reasonable prices. Afterwards we went to a local "casino" which ended up just being basically a penny slot parlor. We paid 20 soles ($6.67) for 2,000 credits on the machines and we stayed firm with that and just played for a while. I've never really done anything like that at a casino-type atmosphere so it was fun to just play for fun and especially because it was so cheap.
Tomorrow we will be leaving Puno via boat to spend a day and a night on the islands in the lake. We will be living with host families and spending all our time like islanders so I am really looking forward to this! Unfortunately, I won't have any electricity access so I won't be able to update this until Monday night at the earliest. I hope you didn't forget about me and stop reading because it took so long, but don't worry, I won't forget you all! Just out of the goodness of my heart, here are a few photos that I have of the week-long trip so far!
Well, since Monday, school has been fairly hectic. Tuesday I had my presentation on Andean Myths as well as a final paper but everything ended up fine and I finished it all and maintained my sanity.
Wednesday through Friday were basically days I just wanted to wrap everything up. I had five hours of community service to do and I did that and more trying to spend as much time with my buddies at the clinic as possible. The kids are so great and they are really just balls of energy despite their handicaps. I really am going to miss them but I did get to snap a photo of some of my best friends there, Kemchi and Amilcar:
Also during the week I had to get my recordings in gear for my quechua thesis. I ended up with a ton of recordings for that time period (5.5 hours in less than 5 days) but my last appointment for the final 1.5 hours fell through as my participant didn't show up so I think things didn't quite turn out as planned. Our tour guide on this week of traveling, however, does speak quechua and we have a lot of looong bus rides, so I think things will be fine and I should be able to salvage things despite the trouble I seemed to have had.
Friday was also our last night in Cusco but I had a bit of trouble with an ATM. I took out 250 soles from the ATM expecting to be able to have everything in order for when we went on this long trip but when I took out the money I noticed that the 50 sol note wasn't quite right. It turns out I got a fake bill from an ATM so I went through about four separate attempts to get everything straight and I had to work with the police for a lot of it (they were all extreeeemely nice and were advocating for me as if I was peruvian) but at the end of everything, I just ended up having to eat the 50 soles and file the report with the police. Because we had to leave at 6:30 the next morning we couldn't have done anything with the bank so I basically just helped some tourist out in the future who gets the same thing done to them. I did, however, learn a 5 step plan to check if peruvian bills are indeed counterfeit so I will now be using that thoroughly every time I get change.
So, now here I am on Saturday evening in Puno. Puno is on the shores of the famous Lake Titicaca which is the world's highest lake. We enjoyed the night here by going to a restaurant featuring native dances of the area as well as great food at fairly reasonable prices. Afterwards we went to a local "casino" which ended up just being basically a penny slot parlor. We paid 20 soles ($6.67) for 2,000 credits on the machines and we stayed firm with that and just played for a while. I've never really done anything like that at a casino-type atmosphere so it was fun to just play for fun and especially because it was so cheap.
Tomorrow we will be leaving Puno via boat to spend a day and a night on the islands in the lake. We will be living with host families and spending all our time like islanders so I am really looking forward to this! Unfortunately, I won't have any electricity access so I won't be able to update this until Monday night at the earliest. I hope you didn't forget about me and stop reading because it took so long, but don't worry, I won't forget you all! Just out of the goodness of my heart, here are a few photos that I have of the week-long trip so far!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Un gran viaje/ A huge trip!
Hello everyone,
As I step out of the jungle I am now back and ready to update again on my comings and goings. It's definitely good to be back here in Cusco and despite having class it was nice to relax a bit and do some work that I needed to get done. Which reminds me, time for all those juicy details!
Saturday was the day we set off from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Our trip began at 8:00am sharp when we stepped up onto our bus with the entire Rutgers study abroad crew from both hostels abroad. Our faithful guide Roger was already at our hostel watching us finish breakfast and making sure we grabbed all of our bags and our passports. After we got on the bus we rolled out of Cusco in the direction of Ollantaytambo. If some of you remember, we were already in Ollantaytambo once already when we visited the ruins and the terraces there, but this time the attraction was a bit further than the ruins up the hill. Our primary reason was to catch the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes where we were scheduled to spend the night. We needed to drive instead of simply taking the train from Cusco because the train ride takes over an hour but the drive is only about 15 minutes.
Our train ride got off without a hitch and we didn't even have to leave anyone behind. We rode the Inca Rail line and the train ride was honestly as close to perfect as public transportation can get. We traveled along the iconic Urubamba river the entire way and the mountains and scenery rising up along the sides of the canyon were extremely picturesque. Here are a few shots I took just on the train:
After the two hour ride we ended up in the "last outpost" of Aguas Calientes. This town is nestled at the base of the mountain Putu Kusi and sits directly alongside the Urubamba river. It is a town based almost solely on tourism and the prices of everything clearly reflect it. On top of the steep prices there is a 19% local tax that is applied everywhere you go. Despite this, our trip included two buffet meals that were excellent and very filling as well as a night and breakfast in El Santuario, a very nice hotel, so we didn't have to spend very much money at all.
One of the highlights of the whole trip so far was when we had some free time after lunch to take a look around and see what we could see. As many of you probably guessed, I ended up fishing for about three hours in the river that is right on the edge of the main road in the town. I tried my own methods for about an hour and a half downriver without any results so I decided to pack up and take a walk up towards the town. When I got pretty close I noticed some local guys fishing and I immediately made a beeline over to them to see what they were doing. Their techniques, I can honestly say, would not be the first ones I would think of. They were using giant (about 18 to 20 foot) lengths of cane/bamboo with mono tied to the tip. They used about two feet more line than the pole length in total and at the end they had a piece of lead and a hook baited with either worms or some kind of giant hellgramite. They used these giant rods and weighted presentations to plumb the depths of the deep but isolated pools of the river. They needed the length to put the bait exactly where they wanted it and present it vertically and right at the bottom. While I was watching and talking to them comparing notes one of them hooked a huge rainbow trout that leaped out of the water only to break free from the hook. Using their techniques the fisherman told me they routinely catch trout up to three kilos in those same waters (somewhere between 6 and 7 pounds) so I immediately got pretty excited. I tried their technique with my fly rod and I had it down for the most part but I didn't end up catching anything. The best part, however, was the fact that when I showed them the flies I was fishing with they couldn't believe what they were seeing. They asked how much they would cost in the states and I told them that I had made them all. Then they got even more flabbergasted and wanted to buy them off of me immediately! I ended up selling them a few and even teaching them how to tie an improved clinch knot but just knowing that I was helping people fish in a different way and participating in an interchange of knowledge from one continent and culture to another really made me feel great. I can't say I've had that much fun fishing without catching anything but I do realize that there is a lot more to fishing now than I had previously thought. I guess it comes with a bit more maturity and contact with other people from different places but I honestly felt privileged to be talking and fishing with those guys.
Well, now that I've put those of you who don't fish to sleep, I'll proceed with the details of the trip. After dinner that night and getting ready for the big trip the next day I went to bed happy and excited in my hotel room. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am for a 5:00am breakfast and headed to the bus station to make our way up the mountain to Machu Picchu. I was very antsy and wanted to get going because I knew that Huayna Picchu, the smaller mountain in the background of all the famous pictures of Machu Picchu, only took 400 people per day to climb and after that it was closed. I saw about a dozen buses pass by our hotel that morning during breakfast and I was getting kind of disappointed thinking I would miss out on the climb.
Once we got there after the bus ride I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The city was simply majestic sitting in its imposing position looking over the river valley and the jungle to the east. It is an extremely interesting Incan ruin because it marks the first and last effort to enter the region of the jungle on the eastern side of the Andes. The Incans, after having gotten used to their Andean habitat and environment didn't know how to adapt to jungle life and the dangers and challenges that it presented. The city of Machu Picchu was built in about 60 to 70 years but was only inhabited for about 30 years after it was completed and was then completely abandoned. There are many theories about why the Incans left especially since it was considered a royal city but the leading ones all have to do with the jungle and the problems that it caused for the mostly mountainous Incans. Here are a few pictures that I got while I was up and climbing around the famous ruins:
So, in regards to that mountain climbing... We all didn't end up able to climb Huayna Picchu but we did find a more than suitable alternative. While five of our group went up Huayna Picchu (because there were a few slots left), the rest of us decided to climb up the mountain Machu Picchu is actually on and which has the same name. Our group of about 10 of us made it to the top and it was honestly one of the most satisfying feelings I have ever had. Me and my friend Joyce were the first ones up and we only took 48 minutes of what normally takes between one hour and one hour thirty minutes. It was an extremely taxing climb but the view of the ruins AND Huayna Picchu far below was something I definitely don't think I'll forget. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Needless to say, after we came down we were exhausted and we ended up right back at he buffet for the second meal which we thought was quite well deserved considering our mountaineering efforts.
We made our way back to Cusco beginning at 2:00pm and we finally arrived at the hostel at 6:40. After a nice shower and a bit of unpacking I fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.
Finally, today we started our last week of school and we learned about conjugating verbs in the present in Quechua today. We also got a huge list of infinitives to learn and practice.
The biggest scholastic effort of the day was definitely finishing my paper on Andean Myths. I had finished 2 pages the night before but I needed to email it in tonight. I got it done and I'm feeling good about the presentation tomorrow. Afterwards I'm scheduled to make some recordings of my Quechua professor and I even have an appointment set up for Wednesday. It certainly looks like things are shaping up with the research!
Thanks again everyone for reading and I'm sorry this is so long, I just felt that it was definitely the best trip yet so I figured I would share it with everyone while I can! Talk to you all soon!
As I step out of the jungle I am now back and ready to update again on my comings and goings. It's definitely good to be back here in Cusco and despite having class it was nice to relax a bit and do some work that I needed to get done. Which reminds me, time for all those juicy details!
Saturday was the day we set off from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Our trip began at 8:00am sharp when we stepped up onto our bus with the entire Rutgers study abroad crew from both hostels abroad. Our faithful guide Roger was already at our hostel watching us finish breakfast and making sure we grabbed all of our bags and our passports. After we got on the bus we rolled out of Cusco in the direction of Ollantaytambo. If some of you remember, we were already in Ollantaytambo once already when we visited the ruins and the terraces there, but this time the attraction was a bit further than the ruins up the hill. Our primary reason was to catch the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes where we were scheduled to spend the night. We needed to drive instead of simply taking the train from Cusco because the train ride takes over an hour but the drive is only about 15 minutes.
Our train ride got off without a hitch and we didn't even have to leave anyone behind. We rode the Inca Rail line and the train ride was honestly as close to perfect as public transportation can get. We traveled along the iconic Urubamba river the entire way and the mountains and scenery rising up along the sides of the canyon were extremely picturesque. Here are a few shots I took just on the train:
After the two hour ride we ended up in the "last outpost" of Aguas Calientes. This town is nestled at the base of the mountain Putu Kusi and sits directly alongside the Urubamba river. It is a town based almost solely on tourism and the prices of everything clearly reflect it. On top of the steep prices there is a 19% local tax that is applied everywhere you go. Despite this, our trip included two buffet meals that were excellent and very filling as well as a night and breakfast in El Santuario, a very nice hotel, so we didn't have to spend very much money at all.
One of the highlights of the whole trip so far was when we had some free time after lunch to take a look around and see what we could see. As many of you probably guessed, I ended up fishing for about three hours in the river that is right on the edge of the main road in the town. I tried my own methods for about an hour and a half downriver without any results so I decided to pack up and take a walk up towards the town. When I got pretty close I noticed some local guys fishing and I immediately made a beeline over to them to see what they were doing. Their techniques, I can honestly say, would not be the first ones I would think of. They were using giant (about 18 to 20 foot) lengths of cane/bamboo with mono tied to the tip. They used about two feet more line than the pole length in total and at the end they had a piece of lead and a hook baited with either worms or some kind of giant hellgramite. They used these giant rods and weighted presentations to plumb the depths of the deep but isolated pools of the river. They needed the length to put the bait exactly where they wanted it and present it vertically and right at the bottom. While I was watching and talking to them comparing notes one of them hooked a huge rainbow trout that leaped out of the water only to break free from the hook. Using their techniques the fisherman told me they routinely catch trout up to three kilos in those same waters (somewhere between 6 and 7 pounds) so I immediately got pretty excited. I tried their technique with my fly rod and I had it down for the most part but I didn't end up catching anything. The best part, however, was the fact that when I showed them the flies I was fishing with they couldn't believe what they were seeing. They asked how much they would cost in the states and I told them that I had made them all. Then they got even more flabbergasted and wanted to buy them off of me immediately! I ended up selling them a few and even teaching them how to tie an improved clinch knot but just knowing that I was helping people fish in a different way and participating in an interchange of knowledge from one continent and culture to another really made me feel great. I can't say I've had that much fun fishing without catching anything but I do realize that there is a lot more to fishing now than I had previously thought. I guess it comes with a bit more maturity and contact with other people from different places but I honestly felt privileged to be talking and fishing with those guys.
Well, now that I've put those of you who don't fish to sleep, I'll proceed with the details of the trip. After dinner that night and getting ready for the big trip the next day I went to bed happy and excited in my hotel room. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am for a 5:00am breakfast and headed to the bus station to make our way up the mountain to Machu Picchu. I was very antsy and wanted to get going because I knew that Huayna Picchu, the smaller mountain in the background of all the famous pictures of Machu Picchu, only took 400 people per day to climb and after that it was closed. I saw about a dozen buses pass by our hotel that morning during breakfast and I was getting kind of disappointed thinking I would miss out on the climb.
Once we got there after the bus ride I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The city was simply majestic sitting in its imposing position looking over the river valley and the jungle to the east. It is an extremely interesting Incan ruin because it marks the first and last effort to enter the region of the jungle on the eastern side of the Andes. The Incans, after having gotten used to their Andean habitat and environment didn't know how to adapt to jungle life and the dangers and challenges that it presented. The city of Machu Picchu was built in about 60 to 70 years but was only inhabited for about 30 years after it was completed and was then completely abandoned. There are many theories about why the Incans left especially since it was considered a royal city but the leading ones all have to do with the jungle and the problems that it caused for the mostly mountainous Incans. Here are a few pictures that I got while I was up and climbing around the famous ruins:
So, in regards to that mountain climbing... We all didn't end up able to climb Huayna Picchu but we did find a more than suitable alternative. While five of our group went up Huayna Picchu (because there were a few slots left), the rest of us decided to climb up the mountain Machu Picchu is actually on and which has the same name. Our group of about 10 of us made it to the top and it was honestly one of the most satisfying feelings I have ever had. Me and my friend Joyce were the first ones up and we only took 48 minutes of what normally takes between one hour and one hour thirty minutes. It was an extremely taxing climb but the view of the ruins AND Huayna Picchu far below was something I definitely don't think I'll forget. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
Needless to say, after we came down we were exhausted and we ended up right back at he buffet for the second meal which we thought was quite well deserved considering our mountaineering efforts.
We made our way back to Cusco beginning at 2:00pm and we finally arrived at the hostel at 6:40. After a nice shower and a bit of unpacking I fell into bed for a well-deserved rest.
Finally, today we started our last week of school and we learned about conjugating verbs in the present in Quechua today. We also got a huge list of infinitives to learn and practice.
The biggest scholastic effort of the day was definitely finishing my paper on Andean Myths. I had finished 2 pages the night before but I needed to email it in tonight. I got it done and I'm feeling good about the presentation tomorrow. Afterwards I'm scheduled to make some recordings of my Quechua professor and I even have an appointment set up for Wednesday. It certainly looks like things are shaping up with the research!
Thanks again everyone for reading and I'm sorry this is so long, I just felt that it was definitely the best trip yet so I figured I would share it with everyone while I can! Talk to you all soon!
Friday, July 30, 2010
La calma antes de la tormenta/The calm before the storm
Wow, the time has flown since I last wrote! I´ve been trying to write at the most every other day and I´ve been pretty good so far but as of now I guess this is my first mistake! Well, I suppose I can catch you all up on the past few days now though so here we go!
Wednesday was Peruvian Independence Day and here in Cusco it was pretty quiet for the most part. The normal procedure for them is mostly centered around parades (desfiles in spanish) which take on a somewhat military aspect but they are very popular everywhere. We missed them by being in school but parades happen at every level from the smallest grade school to the main plaza de armas in the center of town. There are no fireworks or anything like home but there are a lot of flags and a lot of national pride.
At school we got to end early and we had a special ceremony for the holiday and for those graduating. We got to sing the peruvian national anthem and then after the awarding of the certificates our quechua class got to sing a song that is basically the second national anthem, but it is written in Quechua. It is called Valicha and this is a link to the version we sang: . The little party was great and we to cap it all off we had two days off (today and yesterday) because of the celebrations!
Thursday I got to get a ton of work in at the clinic. I´ve moved from working outside to working inside with the kids and it is actually a lot better in my opinion. There hasn´t been much to do outside so I decided to help out with the children at the clinic inside the compound here at the hostel and it is actually quite fun and rewarding. These children are handicapped over an array of different ways and our job is basically to play with them, walk them out in the sun, and help them eat their dinner. There are about 40 children there and there would be no way that the nurses could keep track of them all and make sure things go well, especially with the food aspect. I worked four hours wednesday, and nine hours thursday, as well as four and a half today so I´ve been doing pretty good for this week. It is kind of strange for me to be happy doing this kind of work because, ashamed as I am, I usually don´t do well with people with handicaps so I feel great with this work. The kids are all really nice and they are just full of energy and easy to be with. Even the more difficult ones really aren´t that bad and I really do enjoy it.
Now, however, I have to finish my 5 page paper for the school on Peruvian Myths and interpretations. I present on tuesday but the paper is due monday evening so I have to make sure I get it done today because we are going on a trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow and there will be NO chance of doing it then. On top of that I have three short diary entries to make as well as dinner to eat, which is SUPPOSED to be coming now as we ordered two "terminator" size pizzas for about 10 of us but they haven´t come and they are over a half hour late... Oh well, guess I´d better call again!
Thanks for reading and here´s another picture for everyone who´s curious!
This is the view of Cusco from Saqsaywaman, a fort on the hill overlooking Cusco.
Wednesday was Peruvian Independence Day and here in Cusco it was pretty quiet for the most part. The normal procedure for them is mostly centered around parades (desfiles in spanish) which take on a somewhat military aspect but they are very popular everywhere. We missed them by being in school but parades happen at every level from the smallest grade school to the main plaza de armas in the center of town. There are no fireworks or anything like home but there are a lot of flags and a lot of national pride.
At school we got to end early and we had a special ceremony for the holiday and for those graduating. We got to sing the peruvian national anthem and then after the awarding of the certificates our quechua class got to sing a song that is basically the second national anthem, but it is written in Quechua. It is called Valicha and this is a link to the version we sang: . The little party was great and we to cap it all off we had two days off (today and yesterday) because of the celebrations!
Thursday I got to get a ton of work in at the clinic. I´ve moved from working outside to working inside with the kids and it is actually a lot better in my opinion. There hasn´t been much to do outside so I decided to help out with the children at the clinic inside the compound here at the hostel and it is actually quite fun and rewarding. These children are handicapped over an array of different ways and our job is basically to play with them, walk them out in the sun, and help them eat their dinner. There are about 40 children there and there would be no way that the nurses could keep track of them all and make sure things go well, especially with the food aspect. I worked four hours wednesday, and nine hours thursday, as well as four and a half today so I´ve been doing pretty good for this week. It is kind of strange for me to be happy doing this kind of work because, ashamed as I am, I usually don´t do well with people with handicaps so I feel great with this work. The kids are all really nice and they are just full of energy and easy to be with. Even the more difficult ones really aren´t that bad and I really do enjoy it.
Now, however, I have to finish my 5 page paper for the school on Peruvian Myths and interpretations. I present on tuesday but the paper is due monday evening so I have to make sure I get it done today because we are going on a trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow and there will be NO chance of doing it then. On top of that I have three short diary entries to make as well as dinner to eat, which is SUPPOSED to be coming now as we ordered two "terminator" size pizzas for about 10 of us but they haven´t come and they are over a half hour late... Oh well, guess I´d better call again!
Thanks for reading and here´s another picture for everyone who´s curious!
This is the view of Cusco from Saqsaywaman, a fort on the hill overlooking Cusco.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Las investigaciones se inician/The research begins
Allillanchu Kashanki? What, you don´t know what that means??? Well, If you were here learning about Quechua like me and working with the language you might! Allillanchu Kashanki means How are you (doing)? So, as you may have guessed, I´ve been working with Quechua over the past few days! Here´s a bit of a summary of what I´ve been up to.
Monday I went to school as normal and began my class in Quechua. We are being taught by Dany Vargas, another great professor from La Academia Latinoamericana. Dany is a very amicable guy who really has fun teaching us about the language and the culture that goes along with it. For instance, did you know that despite being an official language of Peru (along with Spanish and Aymara), there is no Quechua version of the constitution? Also, despite having an almost 14% by population speaking rate, the education system has historically almost entirely ignored the Quechua speakers and insisted that all language instruction be done in Spanish. These facts are very sad and they help me to think more about my research and how it can, in a way, put Quechua on a larger pedestal so that maybe something can be done.
Anyway, class is really good. We are basically working with the vocab now and learning what we can as we go. It isn´t as daunting as I thought but it is a bit frustrating being a linguist and having to take things slowly with the language . The very conjugation structure seems very straightforward and the vocab isn´t that bad, I think for the most part that the pronunciation and the particles (things attached to the end of the words to designate different meanings) are going to cause the most problems for most people.
After class I got to work for about 4 hours at the hostel painting instead of chopping flowers so I felt a bit less destructive. The great part of the evening, however, was having my contact for research show up at the door ready to work. I ended up getting a solid hour of recording done and it honestly felt great afterwards to have actually done something and to be moving forward in the project. Afterwards we had dinner at a Pollo a la Brasa restaurant for one of my friend´s birthdays. It was an altogether festive night for me and everything seemed to be working out great.
Today we did more of the same in the classroom but we began to work on numbers. They are pretty complicated as well. For example, the number 1532 in Quechua is: waranqa pisqa pachak kinsa chunka iskaniyuq. A bit of a mouthful as I´m sure you can see. The principle isn´t hard, it´s just the execution and being able to replicate it when it´s test time. We just happen to have a test tomorrow so that theory will be put to the test!
After Class I went out to lunch as usual and made my way to the DRE-C, the Dirección Regional de Educación- Cusco to meet my contact for some more recordings. I enjoyed navigating the Plaza de Armas and its side streets to find out where I was going and then afterwards when I had gotten my two hours of recordings (double what I got yesterday!!!) and I was making my way back to the hostel I was so wrapped up in the atmosphere of the city in its preparations for independence day that I couldn´t help but stop and "smell the roses" a bit longer than I wanted to. I ended up taking about 2 hours to get back but I was really happy with my explorations.
So, after the past two days I am feeling a bit "fat and happy" as we like to say, in regards to my research. Not only do I have more than 30% of the actual data gathered, but I also have an appointment for tomorrow with my professor Dany to get another hour in at least so I feel like I´ve really gotten moving in the right direction. I was worried last week that I wouldn´t ever get anything done and I wouldn´t have the proper thesis and then I wouldn´t get into grad school (I know, a bit overblown), but this week has really been encouraging so far.
Thanks for sharing in my triumphs and trepidations these past few days and I hope you are all beginning your weeks swimmingly. We have Thursday and Friday off for Peruvian Independence and I´ve already hung my Peruvian Flag out the window so I should be good for a few days enjoying myself and getting things squared away where they need to be. Here´s a parting picture from another day just to keep you updated and excited (and to keep you reading til the end :) ):
Also, if you like the photos there´s a link here to my facebook photo album of the trip so far: http://www.facebook.com/pfabian53?v=photos#!/album.php?aid=192536&id=536061990
Monday I went to school as normal and began my class in Quechua. We are being taught by Dany Vargas, another great professor from La Academia Latinoamericana. Dany is a very amicable guy who really has fun teaching us about the language and the culture that goes along with it. For instance, did you know that despite being an official language of Peru (along with Spanish and Aymara), there is no Quechua version of the constitution? Also, despite having an almost 14% by population speaking rate, the education system has historically almost entirely ignored the Quechua speakers and insisted that all language instruction be done in Spanish. These facts are very sad and they help me to think more about my research and how it can, in a way, put Quechua on a larger pedestal so that maybe something can be done.
Anyway, class is really good. We are basically working with the vocab now and learning what we can as we go. It isn´t as daunting as I thought but it is a bit frustrating being a linguist and having to take things slowly with the language . The very conjugation structure seems very straightforward and the vocab isn´t that bad, I think for the most part that the pronunciation and the particles (things attached to the end of the words to designate different meanings) are going to cause the most problems for most people.
After class I got to work for about 4 hours at the hostel painting instead of chopping flowers so I felt a bit less destructive. The great part of the evening, however, was having my contact for research show up at the door ready to work. I ended up getting a solid hour of recording done and it honestly felt great afterwards to have actually done something and to be moving forward in the project. Afterwards we had dinner at a Pollo a la Brasa restaurant for one of my friend´s birthdays. It was an altogether festive night for me and everything seemed to be working out great.
Today we did more of the same in the classroom but we began to work on numbers. They are pretty complicated as well. For example, the number 1532 in Quechua is: waranqa pisqa pachak kinsa chunka iskaniyuq. A bit of a mouthful as I´m sure you can see. The principle isn´t hard, it´s just the execution and being able to replicate it when it´s test time. We just happen to have a test tomorrow so that theory will be put to the test!
After Class I went out to lunch as usual and made my way to the DRE-C, the Dirección Regional de Educación- Cusco to meet my contact for some more recordings. I enjoyed navigating the Plaza de Armas and its side streets to find out where I was going and then afterwards when I had gotten my two hours of recordings (double what I got yesterday!!!) and I was making my way back to the hostel I was so wrapped up in the atmosphere of the city in its preparations for independence day that I couldn´t help but stop and "smell the roses" a bit longer than I wanted to. I ended up taking about 2 hours to get back but I was really happy with my explorations.
So, after the past two days I am feeling a bit "fat and happy" as we like to say, in regards to my research. Not only do I have more than 30% of the actual data gathered, but I also have an appointment for tomorrow with my professor Dany to get another hour in at least so I feel like I´ve really gotten moving in the right direction. I was worried last week that I wouldn´t ever get anything done and I wouldn´t have the proper thesis and then I wouldn´t get into grad school (I know, a bit overblown), but this week has really been encouraging so far.
Thanks for sharing in my triumphs and trepidations these past few days and I hope you are all beginning your weeks swimmingly. We have Thursday and Friday off for Peruvian Independence and I´ve already hung my Peruvian Flag out the window so I should be good for a few days enjoying myself and getting things squared away where they need to be. Here´s a parting picture from another day just to keep you updated and excited (and to keep you reading til the end :) ):
Also, if you like the photos there´s a link here to my facebook photo album of the trip so far: http://www.facebook.com/pfabian53?v=photos#!/album.php?aid=192536&id=536061990
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)