Fiestas & Chicha

During my travels with Don Americo there was time to renew connections with old places and faces and to develop new ones. From Molino, Americo´s house near Paucartambo, we drove out towards the Manu Reserve, but took the lower road and came to Aguabamba, a place where 2 different mountains meet and create a vortex of energy. The mountains are full of cascading waters and of thick vegetation which still shelters pumas, though we didn´t see any. The flowers tended to the exotic and we were incredibly lucky to have clear blue skies and warm sunshine.

We met with an old woman, a friend of Americo´s, who lives in a shambling house with livestock in and around it. This Woman of the Vortex allowed us to take the track through her land down to the river some way below. Her fields were full -- corn, beans, almond trees and the inevitable papas (potatoes) with flowers of many colours. On the return journey we stopped to drink a cool beer in a sleepy little square with only the sound of plastic bunting flapping in the wind to disturb it´s dreams.

We spent a few says in Calca in the beautiful Sacred Valley a place which always expands my heart. I just love the mountains and the rich agricultural lands and the general pace of life. Calca itself can be a surprise. It´s very easy to miss it en route for the bigger tourist attractions of the Valley but behind the main road lies a sizeable town with 2 lovely squares, a large church and all amenities including a big and busy market. Whilst in Calca, we were invited to 2 fiestas -- a Graduation celebration and a birthday party. At these, I got my first taste of Chicha, an alcoholic drink made from corn and berries. I also managed to avoid eating cuy (guinea pig).

The fiestas both followed a similar pattern, first the family gathering with chicha served in large glasses. It´s a strange brew, a sort of cloudy reddish pink with a brown ´head´and a slightly sour taste. Definitely an aquired taste but a lot of it goes down with the locals! Next absolutely huge plates of food -- potatoes, stuffed hot peppers and cuy (in my case big chunks of chicken) At the graduation party I suspect I was eating a chicken that had recently been running around the house and yard with it´s own family. Assorted children ran about, and dogs vyed for scraps. After the food -- serious drinking!! Beer, wine, chicha and some sort of clear corn alcohol went the rounds in no particular order and all at the same time. Chicha tends to be served in individual glasses but for the other drinks there may be only 3 or 4 glasses between all the assembly and so the alcohol is quickly drunk and the glass passed on. Luckily as a foreigner, at both parties I was able to claim that I wasn´t used to alcohol and felt rather tired!

After so much meat, I volunteered to cook one evening and opted for a veggie meal. In the market I bought some wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables, including the one thing Americo will not eat -- broccoli! Luckily he discovered in time and I was able to exchange it for spinach -- a pity, the broccoli had looked wonderful. A good supper with bread straight from the ovens and a glass of vino tinto -- perfect!

Curious Cusco & Mountain vistas

Back in Cusco after 10 days of travel with Don Americo Yabar. A curious city and an ever changing one. This morning there was a group of riot police in full gear -- shields, helmets, guns - the lot, but lounging at ease against the wall of the big church, La Compañia, in the main Plaza and most of them chatting on mobile phones! Everyone seems to have a mobile here, even me, and most people carry 2 different ones because the networks are very different from Europe and the cheapest options are for calls to and from one network only.

Travelling with Americo has been good and despite the fact that it is rainy season, we have done well for weather. Apparently the mountains have had a lot less snow this year following on from less the year before and some of the pueblos are feeling a shortage of water.

The roads vary a lot from well tarmac´d ones to those with great holes and cracks and those which are merely small dirt tracks. The road towards Paucartambo, our first port of call, is being widened and asphalted to create a better link between the jungle of the Manu and Cusco. There had been quite a lot of rain and near Huancarani, the biggest town on the route, the churned up mud and water created a skid pan. Thank goodness we met no other vehicles because the car was sliding all over the place! Luckily Americo has extremely fast reflexes and a wide perceptual field. Later we met a truck coming at such speed it forced us off the road and into a ditch where we stuckwith no purchase on the mud to drive out again and the exhaust all but embedded. Another passing truck was kinder and 3 men lifted the back of the car whilst Americo drove forward and out. Again we were lucky that it was only a ditch and not the abyss! The road zigzags so high above the canyon below that at some times it seemed as if the car was flying over the landscape.

Our travels have had three phases: through the mountains of Paucartambo, the Sacred Valley and it´s great Guardian Apu´s and the road to Apurimac which passes the Sacred Mountain of Salkantay towards Limatambo and then dives down through tremendous zigzags to a tropical valley with great mountains similar to those of Macchu Picchu. In fact the great Inca City lies behind the mountains of Apurimac and the citadel of Choquequirao. It´s a busy road as it´s the main route from Lima. Apurimac translates as ´the God who speaks´and probably refers to the sound of the river -- Rio Apurimac, of which more later.

On all the journeys at each turn of the road it seemed like turning the pages of a enormous picture book for an ever changing vista and an ever changing sense of energies and power. The land and the mountains have a huge impact and despite the fact that I´m not the most sensitive of people, I really feel it in my physical body and in my energetic centres/chakras. Now having had a cleansing ceremony from some of the Qéro people and a little time to rest and integrate, I´m ready to move on into the next chapter of my travels. Into Bolivia!

All the World´s a Stage

Coming back to Cusco is a bit like returning to see a well known play, the setting is the same and so are the main characters, but some of the cast has changed and the crowd scenes are played by ever changing troupes of travelling players that always contain the same stock characters. There are serious Hikers with sturdy boots, walking poles and large rucksacks. ´Lads´in Bermuda shorts and Heavy Metal Band T shirts, people who look as if they never stopped travelling since the Hippie Trail, or Glastonbury Festival. It´s a wonderful show.

I watch from a window seat of my favourite coffee shop. Life unfolds around me. Sitting propped against a pillar nearby a woman is knitting something on 4 needles. It has a complicated pattern and she knits tirelessly without seeming to glance at her work as it slowly lengthens, round by round. Propped against the church wall a very old man in ragged poncho plays the flute and hopes for the odd coin. His wife sits beside him and the grandchildren they are watching run and play around them. People come and go on the benches opposite -- a man sits to read a newspaper, a girl waits for her boyfriend, a woman stops to tidy her daughter´s hair -- and so it goes on and I am surprised at how much time I have spent simply watching the show.

In Cusco

The last time I flew to the States, Virgin was a budget airline (bring your own sandwiches) and immigration was slowish and courteous. Now, Virgin Atlantic is a major carrier and immigration is tedious and confusing, staff are rude and you have to be fingerprinted and digitally photographed -- even for transit!

It´s true that the sight of the crew arriving, the women all in red, is a head turning sight but forget the advert -- no red killer heels and, sadly, no dashing pilot -- they were all models. Still, the flight was comfortable and as it was not full I had 2 window seats to myself and was able to spare my immediate neighbours the effects of my streaming cold. No doubt the viruses got recycled anyway. I managed pretty well on that leg of the journey but the transfer in Miami and the overnight flight to Lima were not good. My connection to Cusco was re-scheduled so that by the time I finally reached my hotel I was feeling very, very sorry for myself!

Lack of sleep, altitude and a heavy cold are not a good combination! I´ve been pretty well out of it since arrival but now begin to feel human again and able to cope with the prospect of a walk down Avenida El Sol.

It´s fairly cold and yesterday the weather turned with thunder and lightning and heavy rain and hail. Today is grey and heavy and I hope that this will pass quite quickly. There are still tourists wandering about in sleeveless tops so maybe it´s this nesh Londoner that´s out of step.

So here I am and the adventure is about to really begin!

getting ready to leave

I can hardly believe that I'm going back to Peru so soon! It has been six weeks since I returned and I have barely unpacked before making lists etc to pack and travel again. This time I will be working with Don Americo Yabar for a short time and then following up on people and opportunities that arose on the last trip. I have no set plans, which is both exciting and scary.

In March, I'll be returning to Lima for a few days with my friend, Logaine, and then going on again to join the Mayalands pilgrimage led by Aluna Joy  It promises to be an exciting trip and I hope you'll check in and find out how it's going. 

Pictures from my last trip are posted on the website - click here.