Thoughts Cusqueño

Today I finally had an extremely successful meeting with Elena Pardo, director of an organization called CEPROSI which works specifically with rural schools to help indigenous students learn to value their own culture and language...basically exactly what I want to learn about. Unfortunately Elena has been traveling on business for the last week so we weren´t able to meet until today; the day before I leave. It was great talking with her though and she almost immediately suggested that I live with a Quechua family and do a few community talks in a cultural exchange. Why couldn´t this have happened a week ago?! I´m pretty sure that I´ll have to come back this year to take advantage of that awesome opportunity. I think Elena was as enthusiastic about it as I was too.

I´ve been in Cusco for over a week now and have gathered some interesting observations, anecdotes, and quotations. Starting with the quotations I´ve overheard on the street, ahem:

British girl: I´m going to have to go wash my face now, I can´t believe this!
British friend: Oh my god I know, that was probably the most disgusting thing I´ve ever seen.
British girl: Right?! I mean, he kissed me! I wasn´t expecting that, I´m going to go Purell my whole head right now.

British guy to street vender (in English): No, no thanks, I already have an alpaca sweater. Yeah, but it´s better than the ones you have.

American girl to mom: Wait, was this the Incas or Aztecs?
Mom: Oh come on sweetheart.

Angry Southern woman waiting for bus to Machu Picchu: They were saving seats for their friends! We couldn´t get on because they were saving seats, you can´t save seats! That´s not fair!

Same woman in line to Huayna Picchu: Hey, no cuts! Hey come on! We´re all waiting too!

Same woman as I passed her climbing Huayna Picchu (thankfully this was our final interaction): Well fine, if you´re in such a rush push me over the edge, see if I care!

Australian woman climbing Huayna Picchu: No wonder the Incas had a shorter life span; their knees went out by age 25.

American dad at Machu Picchu: So, do they have a Machu Picchu in Vegas yet?

...and finally and favoritely...

Woman to friend during a Machu Picchu tour: Do you think I can ask where the red-light-district was?

Although I have definitely enjoyed my time here in Cusco and absolutely intend to return (possibly even within the year) a brief respite from the blinding tourism of this travel epicenter will be nice. Even the beggars and people drawing business into restaurants are more tourist savvy. When you walk past beggars they call after you "come back, please, come back" while drug dealers call you "buddy" rather than "friend" when you walk by. The former is certainly more effective but both still surprise me.

Another interesting aspect of Cusco is the international/confusingly cosmopolitan feel it tries to cultivate. I´ve seen Korean, Turkish, Japanese, and Israeli restaurants and I´m pretty sure I´ve heard most languages spoken on Cusco´s streets. Also, I think one of the more memorable images I have from Machu Picchu would have to be the Japanese women carrying their high-heels and I´m sure complaining in Japanese about the Incas´ fashion insensitivity with their impossibly cobbled streets.

Finally, I´m staying in a hostal right now with 65-year-old American, Bill. He´s been an endless source of entertainment for the past couple days as he regales me with stories of his recent adventures and in general, crazy life. He says he´s traveled through every town in Canada and the US and is just walking around Peru until they kick him out for visa violations (which by most indicators will happen soon). For various reasons I sleep with one eye open but he´s been hilarious and informative.

And now I head to Bolivia. Chao amigos (or, buddies)!

Coming soon: Lake Titicaca, Islas de Sol y Luna, and probably La Paz