Peru: Part 1

Brad and I had the opportunity to go to Peru a few weeks ago before he left for the United States because our previous flight to Iguazu Falls got cancelled and we needed to use our flight vouchers with LAN airlines. So we took the plunge and headed to Peru to see Machu Picchu for the 100th anniversary. Not a bad deal…except getting to Machu Picchu from Mendoza, Argentina takes longer than it takes to get from Mendoza, Argentina to Raleigh, North Carolina due to the many layovers. On our way there, we left my apartment at 1:30 p.m., flew from the Mendoza airport at 4:30 p.m., arrived in Santiago, Chile at 6:30 p.m., left Santiago, Chile at 8:30 and arrived in Lima, Peru at 10:00 p.m.

I have a lovely friend, Chiara, who I know from high school, who is Peruvian and was living in Lima with her grandparents. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see her in Lima so we took advantage of our eight-hour layover to go out with her in the city. We ate anticuchos (cow heart on skewers!!) and had pisco sours (pisco with egg white, lemon and cinnamon) We stayed in the city until around 3 a.m. and then headed back to the airport (45 minutes away) for the last leg of our flight. We arrived in Cusco, Peru at 7:00 a.m. but at that point I was so tired, I hardly knew my own name.

Day 1-Cuzco
Brad slept until about 3 p.m. but since I slept on the plane a bit more than he did, I went out and explored. By the way, we stayed in a four-person dorm (four bunk beds in a room) and the other couple in the room was from Raleigh, N.C. What are the chances!! They warned us that the tickets to Machu Picchu were actually sold out until Thursday so I ran around town all day changing our train tickets, buying our Machu Picchu train tickets online, rebooking hostels, etc. It was a mess, but luckily by the time Brad woke up, I had mostly figured it all out.

We stayed pretty low key at night since Brad had a cold. Also, Cuzco is at a very high altitude so when you get there you have to rest for a few days and drink tea with coca leaves.

Day 2
We got up with plans to head to the Sunday market and ruins in Pisaq, a small pueblo just outside Cuzco. We walked past the bus station four times because it was nothing more than a small gated gravel driveway, and the buses are actually small white 12-passenger mini-vans. We got in the van and chatted with a local for the whole time. Once we got there, we decided to go local and eat at a picnic table where a woman was cooking a pasta dish. It was good but my American cultural background really jarred against our cook's cultural background as she was serving the food with her bare hands and I saw no antibacterial hand sanitizer. However, we both decided to loosen up and just enjoy the meal, thinking perhaps it adds a little flavor…;)

No one ever talks about the Pisaq ruins, but they’re absolutely amazing.


Day 3
We visited some nice museums on Monday to try to get the most of our tourist museum pass. Photos (from top left to bottom right):

• Recipe for Pisco Sour
  
• Reenactment of how Peruvians cook the guinea pigs (yes, guinea pig is part of local cuisine)
  
• Another view of the main plaza—it was nice and warm while we were there which is a nice contrast from Mendoza’s winter;
  
• At the Chocolate museum they serve a clear/yellowish tea that is made from cocoa and tastes wonderfully like chocolate tea. We also splurged for hot chocolate. Brad knows how to make me happy

Day 4
We left Cuzco to start our voyage up to Machu Picchu, stopping at Ollantaytambo on the way. We stayed at the BEST HOSTEL called Casa de Wow, which is actually run by a woman named Winn from Asheville. Seems North Carolinians are loving Peru. Wow, the owner of the hostel, pretty much built the place and made all the furniture inside, but he was quite a mysterious guy as we only caught a glimpse of him once the whole time; he was drinking tea and pondering life and didn't say a word to us. I think it added to his mystique.

We got to the Ollantaytambo ruins and climbed the ruins immediately. Absolutely amazing—and we got lucky because right when we reached the base again, three or four tour buses showed up with hundreds of tourists pouring out. We quickly returned to our hostel to avoid them.

Ollantaytambo (48 miles from Cusco): A beautiful town that preserves Inca urban planning of houses, streets and waterways, safeguarded by a breathtaking fortress with temples, hillside farming terraces and walls. The Incans built this military, religious, administrative and farming complex strategically on top of two mountains to view the whole valley.

Look for Peru Part 2 later this week!

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Weekend Trip to Malargüe

I wanted to make a weekend getaway to Malargüe to do basically one thing: eat chivo (goat). Supposedly, they have the best in the region, perhaps even in the country. However, my housemates and I made a grievous error when heading out on the 6:30 Catamarca bus to Malargüe: we had no plans for transportation outside our round-trip bus fare. It takes about six and a half hours by bus to get to Malargüe and getting there is no issue. Yet, there is little to nothing to do within the city—all of the attractions are at least 12 km away, most MUCH farther. So after visiting the tourist office and realizing there really were no public transportation options, we made a plan B.

Our next option was an organized outing. Karen Travel on the main drag (San Martin street, of course) was very friendly and informative and only 200 meters away from the tourist office. However, all of the day trips had obviously already left and for the trip the next day, it would be 200 pesos to go see La Caverna de la Bruja (Witches’ Cave) and maybe Lake Llancalemo, weather permitting. However, for three of us, it would be 600 pesos, which is a good amount of money for young travellers, and we figured we could rent a car for cheaper.

Lastly, we investigated car rentals. By investigating, I mean we went to the car rental business, Nord Patagonia, and waited until they opened. Malargüe takes their siesta very seriously so business hours were as follows: 9-12:30, break for siesta, 5:30-9. We waited and waited for it to open at 5:30 and by 6:15, we gave up. At this point, my roommates had basically given up and were opting to either take the 1:00 a.m. bus back to Mendoza after eating a lot of chivo for dinner, or taking the morning bus back after eating a lot of chivo from the night before.

We had a few more strokes of bad luck before our fate turned around: our hostel informed us the rental agency was closed because all of the cars were already rented until Tuesday. We also went to a few local places that had run out of chivo.

Finally, our luck really turned around when a local offered to show us around the next day. He dropped us off at La Cima to eat chivo (great restaurant: both the chivo stew and parrilla were delicious!) and promised to meet us the next morning at our hostel. We were skeptical after a day of such bad luck (or rather poor planning) so when he showed up the next day at 8:30 a.m., we knew our Saturday would be much better than our Friday.

El Pozo de Los Animos: On Route 222 you can see several attractions: Laguna de la Nina Encantada, Valle de Los Molles, Pozo de los Animos (below) and Valle Hermoso.

Las Lenas: ski resort with 14 lifts, 29 slopes, open for day and night ski, 10 miles to ski free, and 1,500 meters Terrain Park with jumps, bumps and rails. (Height above sea level: Base: 2,240 meters; Summit with access: 3,430 meters)

^^They even drink mate on the slopes!

Los Castillos de Pincheira: volcanic cliffs 27 km west of Malargüe where you can hike to a cave, cross a pedestrian suspension bridge and eat malargüino goat at the local restaurant. You pay 15 pesos to enter, place your chivo order at the restaurant and go hiking for an hour to return just in time for fresh chivo, all you can eat. Absolutely delicious (note: Our Malargüino friend informed us it is acceptable to eat chivo ribs with your hands)

Other sites to check out near Malargue:

The Manqui Malal cascade, The Payunia Natural Reserve, Malacara volcano, Laguna Llancanelo, Caverna de las Brujas, hot springs, golf course and food route (goat and trout road). More information available at www.malargueamatur.com.ar

A week in Buenos Aires

It’s been a few weeks since Brad and I were actually in the capital city of Buenos Aires but I needed time to relax before I could blog about it—very fun and vibrant city, but like all big cities and travel, it comes with stress, crime, expenses, etc. Not to mention Brad and I are used to the very laid-back Mendocino lifestyle…

Here are some highlights from our trip. To see a slideshow of all of our photos: click here.

Japanese Gardens: A beautiful garden in Palermo just to walk around in, especially if you can manage to go when a there isn’t a field trip there (we failed in this aspect); we just barely missed the Manga and Anima Event from the weekend before…

Bomba Del Tiempo

Bomba del Tiempo, or Time Bomb. It’s a fantastic drum show on Monday nights. This is actually their guest drum group that came before them, which I liked better than the real deal. A very “free” atmosphere (people dancing in circles by themselves, etc); take that as you will.

Our hostel, The Art Factory, had several live bands while we were there.

 

Copa America Semi-Finals

My housemates and I decided to go to the Copa America Semi-finals on Wednesday night to see Venezuela play against Paraguay. It was actually the first soccer game I’ve ever gone to, despite the fact I lived in Sevilla, Spain for six months (shameful, I know) so I wasn’t sure what to expect or even how to go about getting tickets.

For this particular game, we knew Chileans would be trying to scalp their tickets since Chile didn’t make it to the semi-finals as they had hoped. We started walking to the stadium at 5:30 p.m. the day of the game and didn’t even make it a block before three people offered to sell us tickets. We bargained to pay half price (100 pesos) and as a bonus, our seller said he would give us a ride to the game as well.

However, to buy a ticket directly you can also go to Ticketek or to the stadium ticket office. Hint: Careful buying scalped tickets. Apparently, if you rip the corner of the ticket and it’s red, then it’s a real ticket.

For this particular game, it wasn’t important to arrive early.  In fact, it was very odd to be at the Copa America semi-final game and see the stadium half full, if that, and unfortunately, the game was pretty uneventful (no goals). However, the crowd of Chileans, who apparently were unable to sell their tickets, were quite entertaining. They broke out into spontaneous cheers for Chile, nevermind the fact that Chile wasn’t playing. There was also a heavyset man running around with the Chilean flag for the majority of the game.

As you might expect, there were very few women in the crowd; it will probably be one of the only instances in which the men’s bathroom is more crowded than the women’s. As you might NOT expect, they only serve non-alcoholic beer at the stadiums. My boyfriend quickly canceled his order when he found out. The only food they serve is hot dogs and hamburgers and for drinks, coffee and soda. That said, I saw several people bring food in; I was very surprised that both at the stadium and at the movie theaters in Mendoza, you can bring your own food.

 

Finally, my last impression was that for whatever reason, penalty kicks are less tense to watch in person than on t.v. I usually can hardly watch them at my house, but at the stadium, it was no big deal. But that might have to do with the freezing temperatures. Overall, I would highly recommend going to any games in Mendoza if you have the chance.

Martin & Martina

We have a very fun and silly Argentine friend named Martin who we met through Dali. His family has hosted several study abroad students so he knows what’s up with Americans. Anyhow, so he found a kitten in the park one day and decided to take it home, despite the fact his mom is allergic or something. So, as good-hearted people who can’t put a kitten out on the streets, we said we’d take the kitten for a few days. Martin, very modestly, decided to name the kitten Martina.

^^we tried skyping with Martina to our friend Ann Marie; a good family photo I think

He brings the kitten over in its box along with its food, which is a pound of meat that we’re supposed to feed it raw. Martina is absolutely adorable—sleeps all day, easygoing—everything you always wanted in a kitten. But then she kinda turned on us. Walked around the bed all night, peed on Dali’s bed…and then two weeks after she left, I find she pooped all over a pink scarf of mine in the closet!

Of course, Martin didn’t come to get her until a few days after he promised. Unfortunately, he left her outside because someone told him she would just “hang out,” and she ran away. I think she was really more of an outdoor cat anyway.

So that was our stint with a cat.

Tea time with the Ambassador

All of the Fulbright ETAs were invited by the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Vilma Socorro Martínez, to tea at the ambassador’s residence.

Before being appointed by Barack Obama to this position, she was a lawyer, civil rights activist and diplomat. Born into a Mexican American family in San Antonio, Texas in 1943, she was discouraged to pursue college, but she went on to study at the University of Texas at Austin and then on to law school at Columbia. She’s the first female to be the U.S. ambassador to Argentina!!

It was very kind of her to make time for us, and she was a very down-to-earth, personable woman. The best moment for me, however, was when she started talking about her trip onboard an aircraft carrier. One of the Fulbrighter’s boyfriends (in the plaid shirt) who joined for the tea party is an army pilot and was sitting right next to her. Not only was it interesting to hear about how planes are catapulted up into the air since they have a much shorter runway, etc., but to me, it was also a kind of special moment where the politician meets the person who actually carries out U.S. policy.

Check out the photos of where the ambassador lives…she actually lives on the third floor, which is more modern and practical, but how great would it be to saw you lived here??

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Good Australian Woman

I haven’t had the chance to post about my new amazing roommate Dali in the last month! Brad is leaving on August 9 so we thought it would be wise to start looking for a roommate. I mentioned in passing to my friend Amanda that I would have a spare room in my apartment and the very next day she sent her Australian friend Dali over to meet us.

I should preface that it is HARD to find apartments here because you don’t have residency, Argentine bank account, etc. but most difficult is that most leases are for TWO YEARS MINIMUM.

Anyhow, I mentioned it on a Wednesday night to Amanda, we met Dali at 3:30 on Thursday and by 6:00 she had moved in. A very nice surprise!!

She’s a little bit older than Brad and I and has traveled the whole world practically. Originally from Croatia, her family was displaced in the Serbian-Croatian conflict and moved to Australia when she was 19. So far she’s taught us how to make preschka (a bread without yeast) and hummus, taken us Latin Dancing, made us ginger tea, organized a trip to the thermal baths…the list really goes on forever.

^^^On our night out to Latin Dance… 

Unfortunately, I think she’s probably going to move on about the same time Brad is for her next adventure. However, it’s only been about a month since she moved in and we’ve all done so much together already…we will definitely all make the most of July!