Starbucks and Fiestas

The interior of the new Starbucks.  So plush

The statue of Saint Sebastian himself.  In real life, this statue is huge.

Hello rainy season!  When it rains, it pours in Cusco.  One night after French class, me and my two friends had to wait for an hour-and-a-half for a taxi because it was raining so hard and everyone was in a taxi.  When we finally did get a taxi, the trip back home was scary - sometimes the wheels of the car did not make contact with the road because there was so much water.  Where is the Stanford sun when I need it?

So, a new Starbucks has opened in Cusco.  After McDonalds and KFC, western businesses are slowly opening in the Plaza de Armas.  It is very interesting - when I went to Starbucks to try out their tea, I did not see one person from Cusco inside.  It was inhabited by the ¨upper class¨ of Cusco - the tourists and foreigners who live here.  While the prices are comparable to those in the United States, 7 soles for a tea is absolutely unheard of in Cusco.  Despite the cost, the tea was definitely worth it. 

Other than that, life here has settled down.  I went with a friend to the annual fiestas in San Sebastian (a district in Cusco), celebrating the saint´s day of St. Sebastian.  Everyone was there, and the main plaza of San Sebastian was packed!  We literally had to push and shove to even think about seeing some of the traditional dances that took place to honor the saint.  It was definitely well worth the effort.  There were dance groups that came from Puno (a town eight hours away from Cusco, close to Lake Titicaca) that performed at this festival.  In total, there were over 10 different types of dances!  Here are youtube links to the Diablada dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUq9qYSwz8 and the Morenada dance:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZe0Mmf1NvM, two of the dances that were performed. 

One part of the Morenada dance.  The dance itself is around 15 minutes long with non-stop movement.  That does´t even include the procession to accompany Saint Sebastian around the town, which lasts around an hour.  These dancers must have been very tired by the end of the day.

Chiriuchu!  Yummm

We also ate a traditional plate called ¨chiriuchu.¨ It is composed of chicken, cuy al horno (baked cuy), pig, seaweed, squahs bread, and a bit of rocotto pepper.  It was delicious, but I am glad that I asked about the ingredients after I ate it.

Other than that, French exams next week and work to be done.  (We will be developing an exhibit at the Kusikancha - so exciting but still a lot of work to be done.)  Will blog more soon...

Adventuring in Argentina and Life After

OK, my vacation from the blog is over!  Some updates:

Empanadas!  Each shape represented a different
filling.  The half moon ones had meat and the
weird spiky ones had chicken.  I think...

Buenos Aires – Last month, I spent a week in Buenos Aires visiting a friend.  It was absolutely incredible!!!  Buenos Aires is known for its bookstores, and its cuisine, which includes yummy empanadas (with every possible filling – we had one with corn and cheese!  Que rico…), meat, and pasta. 

El Ateneo, one of the top 5 most beautiful
bookstores in the world!  Seriously, I was in heaven.

One of my work related jobs in Buenos Aires was to obtain an official visa from Peru to be in Cusco.  I had to wait at the Peruvian embassy for this visa.  It was an interesting experience to see the blatant discrimination against Peruvians (and Bolivians) firsthand.  If there was a nicely dressed person, he/she would be given instant priority over everyone else.  And if there was a foreigner…you can imagine how much faster it was for me (3 hours as opposed to 6!).  Given my conversation with the people waiting there, there is the Argentinian Dream; you can make it big in Argentina.  Hence, the move from smaller Peruvian towns to the big Argentinian city.

Campaign posters!

I was also there during the Argentinian presidential elections!  Cristina Fernandez, the candidate who won, used many references to Evita in her campaign posters.  It was fascinating to see how relevant she is to Argentinian pride and view of themselves.

Shrine Project – we have identified over 80 shrines so far, and have not stopped yet!  Here are pictures of one of the more “Indiana Jones-esque” ones.

A fountain that was once an Inca shrine.  Probably
one of the most beautiful spots I have seen in Cusco.

Yes, this is an Inca wall hidden by moss.

Kusikancha – the resident alpaca and vicuñas now have official Instituto Nacional de Cultura nametags.  Seriously, if the INC need suggestions of what to do with their $$, I have a couple of suggestions.  Also, naming an aggressive alpaca “Kusi” (or happy in Quechua) has got to be a joke. 

More news and photos coming soon!

Cusco!

An aerial view of the historical center of Cusco.

First week in Cusco (when this was written…I swear)!  This week is all about straightening out my projects, meeting with experts and friends, and getting used to the altitude and Spanish.  Since Cusco is at 3,500 meters, side effects are to be expected.  Mine include heavier breathing whenever I am walking.  As most of you know, I love to walk everywhere, but it is difficult to do so with the altitude – one senior citizen even offered me her cane when I was walking up the street to my hostal.  It was so sweet, but a bit embarrassing at the same time.

The resident llama of the site.

A bit about the work that I will be doing here:  One of my projects here is assembling what we know about an important ritualistic site called the Kusikancha in the center of Cusco.  The purpose of the site (we think) was to house foreign head priests of indigenous cults outside of Cusco.  In the past, there has only been one book published about it.  Unfortunately, the book goes off on a tangent and talks about another site for the majority of it.  My job right now is to organize what we have, publish the excavation records, and create a 3-D model of what was there.  Another feature of the site is the fauna; there are two vicunas and one llama that make the Kusikancha their home.  While they look cute, they are quite aggressive because they chase and spit at people – the archaeologists at the site have learned to avoid them.

The Kusikancha!  It does not look like much right now,
but it was one of the most important ritual sites in the Inca Empire.

My second (and principal) project here is creating a map of Inca shrines in the northeastern part of Cusco.  These shrines can be fountains, caves, manmade constructions, and other prominent natural formations.  I am limiting my study to carved stone.   So far, we have identified 15-20 of these shrines!  It is really incredible how thorough the Inca were at leaving their mark around the landscape.   More details about this project later.

A cave that was once a shrine.
There is a small rock in the middle
that is perfectly round and was probably
brought here from a distance.

An alligator carving in a rock that was once a shrine.

My third (and second unofficial project) is about how two poets (Pablo Neruda and Martin Adan) approach Machu Picchu in their work.   It was quite difficult to acquire a copy of the Adan book – since he died in 1985, his books have not been widely circulated.   To get this book, I went to the local university and met some poetry experts who work there.  More about this later…

The famous cuy.  

Food here is absolutely incredible!  Perhaps the most famous type of food here is the cuy.  According to locals, it is not guinea pig.  From how it was explained to me, a cuy is uglier than a guinea pig but cleaner than a rat.  Apparently, it is a clean but ugly rodent.  Other dishes include lomo saltado (my favorite!), chicha morada (a purple corn drink), and LOTS of desserts.   (Cusco even has separate cake shops and chains.)  OK, I need to get lunch, these descriptions are making me hungry.

Chicha morada

More updates soon…

Into the North!

As promised, a brief description of my four day trip into the north.  (Yes, it was mysterious for me as it sounds - I had never been north of Lima before this trip.)

Mount Huascaran!

To get to Chavin de Huantar, you have to take a bus from Lima to Huaraz and then a bus/car from Huaraz to Chavin.  The bus ride takes eight hours, and the car ride can be three hours.  In other words, Chavin is in the middle of nowhere.  After arriving in Huaraz at 6am, I jumped into a car headed for Chavin.  While the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, with gorgeous views of Mount Huascaran, the tallest mountain in Peru, the road was anything but smooth.

The main facade of the principal temple of Chavin.

After 1.5 hours (or the last half of the car ride) of traveling over crumbling pavement and sharp curves, the town of Chavin was a welcome sight.  The site of Chavin de Huantar is a 10-15 minute walk from the center of the town.  It dates to the first millenia BCE and has numerous galleries and canals that served both a practical and ceremonial purpose; there is evidence that the sound of rushing water was timed with certain parts of the ceremonies that were practiced at this temple complex.  The galleries are tunnels that make up a labyrinth and are big enough for people to travel through.  At the end (or middle?) of some of these galleries, there are chambers in which ceramics and other fine artifacts were found.  Needless to say, walking through these galleries that were open to tourists was surreal.  After spending three days exploring this site and the town (including attending a mass on Sunday), I traveled back to Huaraz.

One of the galleries that I walked through.  Without the artificial light, I could not see a thing. This is seriously the most Indiana Jones-esque thing that I have seen in Peru.

The unfinished cathedral in the central part of
Huaraz.  It is as beautiful as it looks.

I had seven hours to explore Huaraz before catching my bus back to Lima.  A friend of a friend showed me around, but it was definitely not enough time.  We hiked up to a site dating to the 16th or 17th century that hasn't been studied before (future PhD project perhaps?) and saw a beautiful park with a Greek amphitheater outside of the city.  Of course, we hung out in the Plaza de Armas and feasted on pollo a la brasa (baked chicken with fries and a salad).

Manjar Blanco - one of the most sugary,
unhealthy yet best tasting spreads in existence.

Since Peruvian gastronomy is one of the loves of my life, I am obligated to include an incredibly brief description of food in the North.  Huaraz and its surrounding areas is famous for its manjar blanco, a sweet white milky spread.  Not only did they have the best manjar blanco in all of Peru, but they had different flavors (lucuma, orange, among others).  Naturally, I had to contribute to the local economy by purchasing some of this stuff.

MK, enough about the North.  Blog post about my first week in Cusco coming soon...

Lima!

I am finally in Peru!  (OK, this entry was written earlier, but I am finally getting to posting it now.)  Before going to Cuzco to start my research, I will be staying in Lima for a couple of days getting used to Spanish and meeting with friends and others here AND watching a couple of movies in a local movie theater.  Included in the next couple of days is a trip to Chavin de Huantar, a ceremonial site dating back to the first millennia BCE, and Huaraz, home of the nearby Mt. Huascaran, the tallest and probably one of the most beautiful mountains in Peru.

The official logo of the Dallas Restaurant
in San Borja, Lima.

In Lima, I spend most of my time in Miraflores, one of many (43) districts in Lima and one of the safest.  Everything here is very far apart - Miraflores is like its own city with its own mayor and central square.  Imagine coordinating 40-some people from different political parties and you can see why it is so difficult for Lima as a whole to agree on policies and actions.  The city has also definitely been influenced by Western culture; chains such as Starbucks, Pinkberry and the ever ubiquitous McDonalds are here along with a plethora of bookstores, Western music, and English speakers.  (There is even a restaurant in a local part of Lima called "Dallas," and it serves ribs, steak, and other American influenced types of meat.  It is funny to see what other people think about American food.)

Cerviche!

Of course, Lima is one of the centers of Peruvian gastronomy.  I have already had lomo saltado (beef, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and rice in a sweet brown sauce) and am planning on having cerviche (raw fish bathed in lemon sauce) before very long.




Off to the Archaeology Museum and then an evening with Captain America at Larcomar!  Post about Chavin/Huaraz/Cusco coming soon...

A blurry picture of Larcomar - an incredibly touristy (but safe) shopping mall overlooking the ocean.  The big deal?  It has a movie theater!

Just so everyone knows, this is my first blog ever.  Just a warning :).

Less than two weeks till Peru!  I am trying to enjoy American luxuries before I leave (i.e. constant and fast internet connection, a seemingly never-ending hot water supply, and hanging out with family and friends in Oregon).  I just got my visa and medical clearance, so things are coming together very quickly!

To give you an idea of where I am heading off to, here are some pics:

Miraflores, Lima, where I will be spending half of my time.  Usually, it is never this sunny.

The main square of Cusco - home of 16th century cathedrals, lots of tourists, and sketch Peruvian males.

Where I work - it is so beautiful!