Category: Travel

Did I ever mention that the Missus believes She was an Inca Princess in a former life? I’m serious……She really believes that. How this woman raised under the Communist regime in PR China, who has spent over 15 years in SoCal could come up with this I’ll never know……. The Missus will often choose the most inopportune times to mention this. Like when we were having dinner at Latin Chef with a Peruvian friend of Hers from work. She’ll mention, "You know, I used to be an Inca Princess in a former life"…..Peruvian friend nods okay, thinking She’s kidding…..until He realizes, She’s serious! Time to hide my head in my hands, and let out a deep sigh……. Imagined or otherwise, the Missus sure seemed to have a "bond" with the people we met in Cusco and the surrounding environs……Never was this more apparent than on the third day of our trip to Peru, when we toured the Sacred Valley on the Incas.

The view from Pisac:

C is for Chicha, or stopping for a drink in a Calca speakeasy:

Chicha de Jora that is……the beer like fermented corn drink, that is made in many homes in the Andes. The Missus and I immediately took to this yeasty-sour-frothy drink served at room temperature. We had just finished touring Pisac, and the bus pulled over in Calca for a lunch stop. The lunch was a buffet style offering that didn’t look too promising. We had made a promise not to waste our time and appetites with tourist designed food. So we decided not to partake. We were told that there were no other options to eat for several miles, but we decided to take a walk down the road anyway. We found a small mercado(market) and had some Inca Cola, and decided that Inca Cola, and Coca leaves would probably hold us till dinner.

Walking back to the bus we noticed several houses with red plastic on a stick, standing like flags near various doorways:

The Missus was wondering what this was all about. After looking at the roof ornaments…in the place of the bulls for fertility, and other symbols, there was this:

I started saying, "hey, I think this place makes….", but the Missus was long gone through the doorway. In the little adobe shack, was a little old lady sitting on a stool, manning a bucket of water, and two barrels of "hootch". The Missus using Her ever improving "survival Spanish" had verified that Chicha de Jora was served here, and ordered a cup at 30 centavos (about 10 cents US).

Apparently we were VIPs, since we got a glass cup instead of the plastic cups being used by the really nice lady, and the older gentleman(you always need a lounge lizard)who seemed to have gotten an early start…. The glass had a quick dip in the yellow bucket(I’m guessing it was water)to rinse off, and she started pouring Chicha……

Here the Missus is telling the woman that we don’t want a full cup since we still had a half day of hiking in front of us. Meanwhile the older gentleman told us "tener por favor un asiento y una bebida"…something like "please have a seat and drink"………

We found this tasty and frothy room-temperature beverage, that almost smells like sourdough starter to be quite refreshing. Oh, before you take a sip, there’s one more thing you need to know about how Chicha is made. In order to start the fermentation process, the maize is moistened in the maker’s mouth…..the digestive enzymes in saliva helps to break down the starches and start the fermentation process. In fact, it is thought that the modern name for this drink is based on the Spanish word "chichal", which means "to spit". There’s no better way to understand the locals, than to "share spit" with them….or something like that!

We suffered no ill effects, and Chicha is pretty low in alcohol. While we were having our drink, the Lady polished off 2 whole glasses of the stuff….I hope she didn’t drink up all of her profits!

So remember, "Red Means Go" get yourself some Chicha!

We spent the afternoon fueled on Coca leaves, Chicha, and Inca Cola……..

C is for Chincero, where the Missus couldn’t help but get into the act:

The city of Chinchero was the last stop for the day. At 12,350 feet Chinchero is 1300 feet higher than Cusco, and climbing up the steep stairs I could feel every foot……

Chinchero is known for their weavers and textiles, and we were treated to a demonstration….and some buying opportunities.

We were taken through the entire process from cleaning:

To the weaving….

One of the most interesting parts of the presentation was the portion on dyes, and how the Inca were able to extract such vibrant colors from items like the Cochineal insect.

Which produces a bright red color….and is also used as lip coloring!

The Missus was a bit distracted…….She had some other ideas floating through Her head…..

For some unknown reason, she was quite curious about the way these women carried their little ones. And ended up asking if She could carry this adorable little boy. At first, the young lady thought the Missus wanted to take a photo with her and the little one. Once the Missus explained Herself, you could practically read the puzzled look on her face…."why the heck does this stranger want to hold my baby?" But as we found throughout this region, the people really don’t know how to say "no"…so they humored the Missus……..who almost fell on Her face! She only took a few seconds to "cry uncle…."

Everyone, including the little one(the Missus must be more fun than a carnival ride…), had a good laugh…the Missus is still picking the  little pieces of potato this boy was eating out of Her hair! He was not as light as he looked……

Next, the Missus wanted to try Her hand at weaving…….

The young lady patiently tied the Missus down and gave Her a personal lesson. After over 10 minutes the Missus got one strand done.

Which led me to say, "lucky thing you’re an Inca Princess and not a weaver….your life’s work would be a wash cloth!"

I’m pretty sure that the Ham’s Missus’s antics have been preserved on perhaps 20 different cameras, as the others on the tour couldn’t stop laughing.

C is for Chicharroneria:

This turned out to be a pretty long day. We were delayed on our return because the road to Cusco was closed, due to a "rally"……

We arrived in Cusco famished. During the previous day, while in the midst of picking up other members of our tour, I recall seeing, or was that smelling, a street full of Chicharronerias, places that specialize in deep fried pork and chicken. These shops fried up the meat right in the front doorway as a way of tempting you….I think it’s pretty effective!

Dropped off at Plaza de Armas, we walked over to Avenida del Sol, but no Chicharroneria was to be found. The solution? Find a Police Officer. We found the police officers to be very helpful in Cusco. And the Missus asked one very nice officer about Chicharrones…at first he didn’t quite understand. But wouldn’t you know it, a couple of other guys gathered around, and after a short conference, the officer pointed up a side street, and made a left turn gesture, and if to emphasize the locations of the Chicharronerias, creating invisible "tick marks" he said, "chicharron, chicharron, chicharron…..chicharron, chicharron, chicharron." We got the point immediately, and headed up the side street, took a turn on a street called Pampas de Castillo, and wouldn’t you know it, there it was, ""chicharron, chicharron, chicharron". Several Chicharronerias all lined up in a row. Unfortunately, most were closed…..but we found one open!

The Missus was in charge of conversation, but I was in charge of directions and food! I knew that the Missus would enjoy Caldo de Gallina estilo Cusco (Cusco style Hen soup):

Such a rich and hearty soup, the essence of chicken! There was some yucca, rice, and some Chunos(freeze dried potatoes) which had a grainy texture the Missus didn’t care for. The Missus has also been indoctrinated to American Chicken. I had to explain to Her that the chicken in this soup was Hen……and after trying to explain to Her for weeks what the difference between Pollo and Gallina was, She understood. The chicken was chewy, but had some really good flavor. The Missus found the chicken much too tough for Her liking, but She loved the broth. It was the perfect remedy for a long day.

Of course, I got the Chicharrones:

I did realize that this was lunch’s Chicharrones, refried….Chicharronerias are a lunchtime thing. Still, though a bit on the dry side, these chunks of deep fried pork had great flavor. I believe the meat was seasoned with salt, cumin, and lime. These went real well with the supplied Aji Salsa(verde)! The Missus enjoyed the Chancha…and fried potatoes were very tasty, nice and crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside.

This was, by far the best meal we had in a restaurant in Cusco so far. And along with a "grande" Inca Cola, the meal topped out at s/22, or a tad over $7 American! Sure beats a sandwich from Subway! One thing we did notice, was that our appetites were not as large, whether it was the coca or the altitude we weren’t quite sure. El Mayor sure did benefit from our leftovers!

The Ruins at Pisac:

The ruins and wonderful terraces at Pisac were a sight to behold. I did find myself sucking wind like a lifetime 10 pack a day smoker climbing up and down the stairs. In fact, the Missus has a whole set of photos She calls, "my husband nearly having a heart attack in the Sacred Valley."

Though Diamox prevented me from the effects of altitude sickness, it didn’t prevent me from getting out of breath quickly……..

Ollantaytambo:

The ruins of the fortress at Ollantaytambo located above some steep terraces is also quite a sight. The city of Ollantaytambo has been occupied since the 13th century, which makes it the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the Americas.

Those were some major steep terraces….I felt like I needed one of those T-shirts that said, "I survived the terraces at Ollantaytambo, and all I got was this shirt!"

One more thing, it is pretty windy here….I was told that it is always blustery at Ollantaytambo.

Tomorrow we’ll do Aguas Caliente and Macchu Picchu, than return to SoCal for a couple of days, so you don’t get too bored….ok?

Gotta go!!!!

 

In the afternoon Oscar came by at exactly 2pm to pick us up and drop us at his little office on Triunfo Street. Apparently, Choquechaca is too small for tour vans and buses. Soon enough, we were picked up and on our way to Qorikancha (aka Golden Palace).

The Convent of Santo Domingo (actually a monastary) is built upon the ruins of the Golden Palace and Temple of the Sun. According to our guide, when the Spanish conquered Peru, many Inca sites were either buried, destroyed, or like Qoricancha, churches were built upon the ruins to convert the population to Catholicism. The gold lined temple walls were sacked and treasures were absconded. The Inca stone work was so good, built without cement or mortar, you can’t even stick a credit card between blocks! Our guide told us that the trapezoidal architecture used by the Inca was also earthquake proof. As fate would have it during 2 major earthquakes much of the church was destroyed…leaving the Inca "foundation" standing strong, the irony cannot be lost. This is a definite must see if visiting Cusco.

Here’s a view of Avenida del Sol from Qoricancha , Cusco’s "main drag", the business district:

We also visited the ruins of Sacsayhuaman(we were told….say "Sexy Woman" and you’d be pretty close) above the city of Cusco.

These ruins contain some of the largest and impressive stone blocks, and was an important military and religious site. Some of the longest and bloodiest battles between the Spanish and Inca took place here. Now the site is reverently silent, except of the occasional whistles from security when someone does something against the rules.

In the same area is an interesting amphitheater of sorts called Q’enqo. This rock is of religious importance during the summer solstice, we were shown a photo of the outline of a puma created on the monolith by shadows and light.

There is also a labyrinth of tunnels zig zagging throughout. One of them includes this altar:

This tunnel was uncommonly cold……much better to keep things "fresh" I suppose……

More on Sacsaywaman can be found here and here.

We were told that Cusco was designed to resemble a Puma, and Sacsaywaman is the head of the Puma. On a later visit to the Museo De Nacion I found this chart:

We also visited the Cathedral of Cusco(no photos allowed). The item that really caught our attention was the mural of the Last Supper, with Andean touches. On the table you notice that Cuy(Guines Pig) was being served, and along with Chicha Morada! The last stop was Tambomachay, where two Inca fountains, still sprouting water today, high lite the enduring quality of Inca architecture.

By this point, I had worked through our ration of Coca Leaves….luckily, our tour was over. We returned to Cusco, and made it back to our room for some rest.

At 730 Oscar picked us up, for a scheduled dinner(included with the tour) and show at a restaurant called El Truco. And though we enjoyed the entertainment, I could only equate dinner to be the equivalent of the "tourist Luau" back home. The restaurant itself, is large and cavernous, and quite nicely attired.

Rather than be really negative…I’ll keep my comments to a minimum:

The Anitcuchos had decent flavor, no aftertaste, but was ice cold. The potatoes were tasteless.

The Rocoto Relleno (stuffed rocoto pepper) had no flavor, and was cold.

The Missus ordered Chicharron de Pollo (deep fried chicken), was cold and soggy, and frankly, had very little flavor.

I ordered the Alpaca Steak, which was hard as rock, and the gravy was cold. The Papas Fritas (fried potatoes)? Sigh………

Needless to say, we hardly ate anything, and left before dessert. To be fair, the service was very efficient and nice. But all the food was obviously cooked in advance, and kept standing……sort of the buffet without the buffet line. As noted in my previous post we took a walk up to Pachapapa, and didn’t have much success either. At this point, we decided to not waste our time eating at scheduled stops, nor recommendations from various "guides"…instead we would search out places that caught our interest. With this strategy in hand, we had much more success during the rest of our time in Cusco.

El Truco
Plaza Regocijo 261

On our way back to our room, we could smell "meat cooking", and suddenly our luck had changed. Right down the street from our Hotel, there was a street vendor grilling up some really tasty Alpaca Anticuchos (marinated grilled Alpaca heart). Man was it good! Sorry for the bad photo, the lighting was terrible, but the Anticuchos were not! Full of flavor(cumin coming on strong), hot, tender(much more tender than beef heart), with no sour aftertaste(and no tough "nasty bits"). Indeed, we had turned the corner food wise, no more tourist food for us.

Un Perros de Cusco (The Dogs of Cusco):

The human inhabitants of Cusco were not the only ones that kept us entertained and enchanted. We were amazed at all the dogs in Cusco. It seemed that they lived on the street, but many of them looked like they had been groomed, appeared well fed, and were quite clean! There was a kind of harmony that existed between the four legged and two legged residents of Cusco. The canine inhabitants seem to follow certain rules, they knew how to cross streets, left humans alone, handled their business with discretion, and had good manners. In turn, they were treated like citizens of Cusco.

There were several Dogs we saw on a regular basis, we ended up naming three of them, but one of them really captured our heart. Meet "El Mayor de Choquechaca":

This little one had so much personality, he ran Choquchaca, the little street we stayed on. We never saw him on any other street. He would walk up and down, busily checking things out, making sure all was well. The Missus was so taken with him, that whenever he was around (which was almost all the time), a slice of Anticucho would suddenly fall to the ground…or the Bolsa de Plastico(plastic bag) of leftover Chicharron would suddenly break, and pork would fall to the ground(how convenient). I named him after an incident which confirmed what I had thought….he was the Alpha male of the street….A new dog, a large shepherd mix cruised on up Choquechaca, and came upon El Mayor. Being a stranger, he came chest to chest with El Mayor, presenting a challenge, walking in a circle….before you could blink, several other dogs, El Mayor’s henchmen, surrounded the stranger…..which ended up with a peaceful bout of "butt sniffing"….. leave it to El Mayor! To this day, the Missus will look wistfully at me and ask, "I wonder what El Mayor is up to?"

Meet the other regular of Choquechaca, we called this one La P0licia(the police):

Always marching up and down Choquechaca…….patrolling it would seem!

Meet Senor Under bite:

Some were "busy", no time to talk, places to be, butts to sniff….

Some just wanted a nap……."You got a problem wit dat?"

After all it’s a dog’s life, isn’t it?

Looks like dogs have long been treasured in Inca culture.

Our day started with a very early morning flight…we woke at 3am, our arranged driver picked us up at 330am, and made the drive through the eerily quiet streets of Lima, quite a contrast to the previous day’s chaotic commute. We made our 550am flight on Star Peru…. one thing I started noticing about Peru, was that everything seemed to run on time. Check out the model of aircraft listed on the Safety Card:

I really don’t want to be flying in an aircraft called a "boing"……….sounds like you’d be bouncing to your destination!

The flight to Cusco was short, but beautiful. You could see the snow capped peaks of the Andes  rising above the billowy clouds. We arrived in the former Capital of the Inca Empire at 7am. We had made most of our Cusco arrangements using the travel agency of a friend of a friend of the Missus. The name of the company is Skomundo. I’m not one to provide "plugs" for businesses, but I can’t say enough good things about Oscar, the Owner and Operator of Skomundo. He is dependable, on time, very helpful, and by the end of our trip had become a friend. Oscar made arrangements for our tours, and the flights to and from Cusco. I made the Hotel arrangements. I had tried getting a suite at the highly recommended Casa San Blas, but they were booked solid for months. My second choice was Rumi Punku, located several blocks away from the ultra busy Plaza de Armas. Oscar picked us up from the airport and drove us to our hotel…..he ensured that things started off well for us, with a nice cup of Coca Tea:

By the time we left Cusco, the Missus had gotten into the habit of drinking 4-5 cups of Mate de Coca(Coca Tea) daily, along with chewing Coca leaves. Oscar got us settled, and told us to get some rest.  Of course being so excited, we didn’t listen. We immediately set off to do some exploring, and grab something to eat. The Hostel Rumi Punku was located on a little cobblestone street called Choquechaca. The street dead ends a block later, where a school is located. Every morning, we’d be walking down Choquechaca, and would be greeted with a warm "Buenos Dias" or "hola" from the kids and their parents walking to school. We came to love this little street with a large personality.

The doorway of Hostel Rumi Punku is an honest to goodness Inca Doorway, and considered a historic site by the City of Cusco:

As we walked down Choquechaca, in search of the historic Iglesia de San Blas, we had one of what would turn out to be many, memorable encounters with people in Cusco. The Missus, using Her "survival Spanish", asked a very neat, and sharp looking young lady(maybe 8 years old) wearing a school uniform, for directions to San Blas. The young lady, pointed us in the right direction, and headed off…only to stop a few yards down the street. The young lady had waited for us, to make sure that we were headed off in the right direction!

The directions included a climb up these stairs:

 

Which even at sea level, would be enough to get me puffing along…..at an altitude of 11,500 feet……

We finally made it…….and had a short visit at the Church of San Blas(admission s/9), and the famous wood carved pulpit.

I had an ulterior motive for walking up to San Blas:

Pachapapa is a restaurant highly recommended by both the Lonely Planet and Footprints guides. We would soon find out that the food, tastes, and restaurant recommendations made by these guides were a really mixed bag.

We arrived right when the restaurant opened at 1130am, and decided to take a seat in the pleasant outdoor courtyard, where we had a nice view of the oven.

It seems that the pizzas here are really popular……..

We started with a few drinks…..a Chicha de Jora:

Chicha de Jora is basically a fermented maize beer. We really enjoyed this, the flavor is a bit sour, and yeasty, but very refreshing. It felt like the alcohol content was pretty low. I believe we ordered another one of these. There will also be a more interesting, and tasty version of Chicha de Jora in a future post.

Of course we tried a Pisco Sour:

Not too good.

Chicha Morada:

This version of the popular purple maize-fruit-sugar drink didn’t taste as "kool aid" sweet as other versions I’ve had, but was also a bit on the "watery side" when it came to overall flavor.

Give me the Chicha de Jora……….

The Missus looked over the menu and ordered the Olluquito con Carne y Charqui de Alpaca (Olluco and potatoes stewed with Alpaca meat and Jerky – s/20):

The stew had a very earthy flavor, and the slices of Olluco Tuber had a crunchy texture. The Missus enjoyed Her stew, and the plantains. We found that the rice was really hard, and dried out.

Olluco is tuber that is grown in the Andes. It looks like a potato, but has a very crunchy texture.

I had the Adobo de Chancho (Pork stewed with Chicha de Jora – s/22):

 

The chicha flavored, and achiote colored broth was wonderful…a nice combination of spice and saltiness, with a slight hint of sweetness. The pork was a bit on the dry side. The Missus got the sweet potatoes (of course). Again the rice was dried out and hard.

Overall, not a bad meal. In fact, after having an awful dinner that we couldn’t bear to finish that same evening, we really couldn’t think of somewhere to eat, so we returned to Pachapapa.

The Missus ordered the Cuy Frito(s/25):

If this was the only Cuy(Guinea Pig) we had in Cusco, we would have returned thinking that Cuy tasted horrible. First off, the skin was extremely tough….like rubber, you couldn’t even cut it with a knife. The meat was quite dry, and had a fishy taste. We later learned, that much of the Cuy sold in restaurants are raised using various feed to make them larger, and fatten them up quickly, instead of alfalfa, which is what Cut is traditionally fed.

I ordered the Chicharron (s/18):

These pieces of deep fried pork had the unfortunate destiny of being bland, dry, and greasy at the same time. Maybe we should have gone for the pizza……

Pachapapa
Plazoleta San Blas 120
Right across from the Iglesias San Blas

But like most experiences in Peru, this one had a silver…make that gold lining. During dinner, we had a nice conversation with our Server…who shall remain nameless, since he pretty much filled us in on what is what in Cusco. His take was this, "if you want to eat local, you need to get away from Plaza de Armas, and as a matter of fact San Blas as well. Though the Novo Andina cuisine around here is good, it is pretty tame." He also could not, for the life of him, explain why so many people love pizzas in Cusco. He also told us that the Chicha de Jora at Pachapapa is made with Chicha with the addition of Black Beer and sugar to smooth out and sweeten the flavor. The really nice young man(who got a nice tip from us), also gave us some suggestions as to where to get some good local grinds, and though we weren’t able to make it to all the places, we managed to make it to a few.

More on on our hotel…..we really enjoyed Rumi Punku, though the rooms are small, they are very cozy and very clean. The staff is very friendly and helpful. There is a free breakfast (we never partook) that starts at 5am, for those going on an early trip to Aguas Calientes and Macchu Picchu. There’s always Coca Tea available, though the Internet connection can be flaky….I couldn’t access this blog at all from here.

The courtyard and surroundings are very peaceful and relaxing.

Like I mentioned, the rooms are small, but very cozy, and the beds comfortable…for $60(US) a night.

A couple of items to note….the water system is flaky, so if someone next door flushes the toilet….you get the picture. We also found that what is considered "Central Heating", is this:

Which worked just as well as other more advanced "central heating" systems we’ve encountered in US hotels. We  returned to take a short rest…believe it or not, we still had entire half day of touring in front of us…..