Cusco, Peru

I am having a great time hanging out with my friend Pedro and his friends, and feel very lucky to get a back-door tour of Cusco from the locals. The striking architecture of this city, one of the most touristed in Latin America, is a mix of Incan walls and Spanish architecture--often the latter was constructed directly on top of the former during the colonial era as a symbol of domination. There are photo opportunities everywhere, but it´s a miracle if you manage to take one without a gaggle of tourists in it.

So much for acclimatizing before undergoing strenuous activity. My friends are pumping me full of mate de coca and taking me on hikes to visit the numerous ruins located on the outskirts of the city. Never have I so clearly heard my heart pounding in my ears. At first it made me nervous, but by now I´m used to it. Thankfully, no altitude sickness has yet befallen me. I don´t know whether to attribute this to headstands, good genes, or the coca, but whatever the reason, I am grateful!

Yesterday we visited a number of ruins located in the mountainside immediately surrounding Cusco. We snuck into Sasquayman (sp?), the largest site, by walking several kilometers around the mountains through the backside -- Krissy and the Getty crew can appreciate how much fun this was for me, although we did not have walkie-talkies it was still high adventure and we got to hide behind bushes and Incan walls and crawl through barbed wire. I don´t feel guilty about skipping the entrance fee, because I promised myself I will make a donation to a relevant non-profit.

I also met a Tony, a Peruvian guy my age who lives up in another set of ruins and is the self-proclaimed caretaker of a particular rock formation that has ancient Incan symbols of a llama and a puma that are visible when the sun hits it in a certain way. Evidently, Tony used to be the number one fighting champion in Peru, and he wrestled on a scholarship for Cal State Bakersfield. For the past five months he has been drinking all manner of psychotropic concoctions and seeing visions in the rocks. He spotted my tattoo and got very excited -- turns out that it corresponds with the Incan trilogy of the puma (sacral area, raw power), the serpent (spinal column, rising energy), and the condor (third eye, higher consciousness). He gave me a brief tour of the ruins and we had a good connection around the concept of Darkness and Light. We decided we´re both non-dualists. Here is an interview from his fighting days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxEivQqqWhY


Today Pedro, Elias, and I spent the day today at a rarely-visited Incan ruin known as Tipon. Built high up in the mountains about a half an hour from Cusco, it is known as the Temple of Water, and it was built to give thanks for the vital role that water plays in human life in this harsh climate. Because of its remote located, it was barely touched by the Spanish conquistadores, and much of it remains intact. In addition to ceremonial areas, it features agricultural terraces and an elaborate system of canals that was created to pipe water down to the valley below. We had the ruins almost entirely to ourselves, and all you could hear up there was the wind, and the water rushing through the canals. We ate our picnic lunch of canned tuna and fresh cheese in the ruins of the buildings that housed the shamans who presided over the site some 600 years ago.

Right now I am at a hole-in-the-wall internet cafe in Cusco. Andean music is drifting in from the narrow, stone streets, and my belly is full from a tasty dinner of spinach soup and grilled alpaca. I didn´t even know you could eat alpaca. Annie, I had three Doritos and a couple of Peruvian Oreo cookies today (I´ve heard it´s rude to turn down food when it´s offered, ha ha). But stay strong in the sugar-free struggle, Sister.


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