Thru Peru

This morning, I woke up early and started walking up to Sacsayhuaman shortly after breakfast at the hotel.  In front of San Cristobal, a local guide approached me and suggested I tour some archaeological remains via horseback for 50 soles rather than paying 130 soles for the Sacsayhuaman entry fee.  He was making a lot of sense so I agreed and his cousin drove me to the horse ranch 5 minutes away.  I was then guided on a private tour by a nice 23-year old local man  for the next 90 minutes.  We tried our best to communicate using amateur Spanish and we were able to have very surface level conversations but overall the vibe of the conversations was very positive and friendly.

I was then walking through Plaza de Armas and noticed that there was an English free walking tour leaving at that moment.  I quickly joined and enjoyed learning some interesting information.  Here are a few things I learned:

• Inca architecture/construction (especially the first floors of buildings) was very impressive and advanced (perfectly cut stones without mortar), so much so that the Spaniards decided to keep most of their first levels of buildings
• Inca used to be a royal Inca city with a population of 5,000.  Today’s population is 500,000
• The catholic church in Plaza de Armas is the oldest Catholic Church in South America and was built in 1557
• The Incan statue in the center of Plaza De Armas is welcoming the Blanco Cristo into town, and Blanco Cristo is blessing the city and gesturing towards the Incan statue near Sacsayhuaman
• There used to be a river running through the center of Cuzco, but it was canalized and is now running underneath the city invisible to anyone
• Incan cultural music show was very entertaining and I loved the performer’s intensity

After the tour, I visited San Pedro Market and then had dinner at Tacomania, which in hindsight was the perfect last meal before San Pedro.  It was an excessive, emotional, unnecessary meal that would give me a lot of fuel to work with tomorrow.

Most of today was spent in the bus en route to Cuzco.  At about 3:30, we arrived at the bus station in Cuzco and I taxi’d to the Wild Rover Hostel.  Within a few minutes of arriving at the hotel (and in hindsight a bit too impatiently) I booked a Salkantay Trek starting Thursday morning and ending Monday night.  I then walked around Centro Historico and immediately noticed that today wasn’t a normal day.  The streets were packed with locals, especially gathered around the entrance of churches.

According to Enigma Peru.com, “The day after Palm Sunday in Cusco day is Lunes Santo, or Easter Monday. This is one of the most important days of celebration in Cusco during the Holy Week and features a procession for El Señor de los Temblores, Lord of the Earthquakes. Legend has it that on May 31, 1650, a major earthquake hit Cusco, and when a statue of the crucifixion Jesus Christ was taken out of the church, the quakes suddenly stopped. The procession starts at the Cusco Cathedral with the statue decorated in red ñucchu flower, symbolizing the blood of Christ, and winds its way to Plaza de Armas over the course of six hours.”

I had a vegetarian (but still unhealthy) dinner at a restaurant near the main Plaza and then watched the final moments of Jesus being carried around.  It was interesting to see how religious most of the people in Cuzco were.  At the last moments, I noticed genuine prayer in many of even the secular-looking locals.

Afterwards, I walked back to the hostel and am planning on heading to bed soon.

This morning, I woke up early and started walking to Miraflores and Barranca.  To my surprise, almost all businesses in Lima were closed including Starbucks and other coffee shops.  By around 8AM, I had already walked all the way to Barranco and the Starbucks in that area was finally open.  I ordered a frapuccino and sat down for a few hours, writing a blog post titled “reasons to consider a plant-based diet” and watching Tiger Woods win his first Majors in over 10 years.

After Starbucks, I walked over to Veggie Pizza, a vegetarian pizza restaurant that uses avocado-based cheese.  The pizza was delicious. From there, I slowly made my way back to the hotel, stopping at Laranco Mall and a few other places.

At 5:30PM, I boarded the Cruz del Sur bus to Cuzco and prepared myself for the 22 hour ride.  I was grateful for the great dinner they served and also that the chairs were extremely comfortable.  I spent the first few hours of the bus ride on Duolingo and then fell asleep for the night.

Today, I woke up and worked for a few hours in the hotel room.  Also, I booked a bus ride tomorrow afternoon to Cuzco.  At about 11AM, I started walking from Miraflores to Huaca Puclanna, an archaeological site in the middle of dense, urban Lima.  This archeological site was very interesting and enjoyable, because it was such a well-preserved site considering its age of over 1,000 years.  Also, it’s a reminder that many of the major cities we live in today were probably also ancient cities with fascinating histories.

Next, I walked to Miraflores and tried visiting a couple of well-known ceviche restaurants.  Upon noticing that both of the restaurants were packed, I tried a less popular ceviche restaurant and had a great authentic ceviche dish.  Then I walked along Miraflores bluffs until Laranco.  From Laranco, I ubered to Centro Historico and walked around in that area for a couple hours.  I walked through an area along the river where there were many street performers and street vendors, almost all of which were locals.  Afterwards, I walked to the magic fountain park and enjoyed the atmosphere and fountains lit up at night.

This morning, I woke up, had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and walked towards the Miraflores oceanfront.  On the way, I noticed a bike rental shop and proceeded to rent a bike for a full day.  I ended up cycling about 33 miles all around Lima through Barranco, Miraflores, Centro Historico, etc.  It was such an enjoyable day and Lima was a surprising bike-friendly city with occasional bike lanes, a nice ocean-view path on the bluffs overlooking the ocean, etc.

I ended having a great vegetarian lunch at Germinando Vida in Barranco, which was delicious but a bit too salty.  For dinner, I stopped by the Larcomar Mall and had a salmon at a restaurant.  I then walked back to the hotel through the lively Miraflores district.

Interesting parts of today:

• Noticing the similarities between the bluffs in Santa Monica/Palisades and the bluffs along the Lima waterfront
• Feeling like a local (or very adventurous tourist) cycling around Lima
• The erotic room at the Larco museum in Lima
• Visiting La Rosa Nautica (waterfront pier restaurant in Lima) and enjoying the atmosphere
• Seeing the difference between Miraflores in the morning (empty and quiet) vs the Miraflores at night (very crowded and lively)

Since the trip to Colombia began, I’ve been deciding whether or not to continue traveling in South America after Gabby returned to LA, and if so, where I would travel.  Due to Peru’s proximity to Colombia, it has always stood out as a good option.  I procrastinated when it came to committing to a decision, and delayed reserving any flights until the Ciudad Perdida Hike.  During the hike, there was a French couple that had just been to Peru and had great things to stay about the food, scenery, etc.  Hearing about their adventures in Peru over a span of a few days, made me increasingly committed to continuing the adventure in Peru.  A couple days ago, I booked a flight to Lima with a layover in Bogota and the plan is more concrete.  However, there is still a lot of uncertainty.  Which cities in Peru will I visit and in which sequence?  Which route will I backpack to Machu Picchu?  Will I visit any countries other than Peru?  Will I have any spiritual experiences in Peru?  Will it be difficult to transition from traveling with Gabby to traveling alone?  We’ll see.