Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ica, Nasca, Cusco, Salkantay, the jungle, and MORE CUSCO




HOLA MIS AMIGOS! These past couple weeks have been spent jumping from place to place. Traveling is always so exhausting... but well worthwhile. I have to admit that I am missing my roommates back home and am really stressed out about work business while here, but I know I will miss Peru terribly come September 12. My next travel destination is already planned out for next year: India to visit Sanmathi and Vietnam to visit my beautiful family. Any takers? ;)

Our first destination since Lima was Ica where we went SANDBOARDING, ATVing, and wine tasting! It was such an incredible experience. We slide down 100 foot drops on our boards, and of course, I went screaming down like a 10 y/o girl. At one point, I hit a bump and my crotch got majorly bruised from the board. :( That´s when I thanked the higher being I am not a guy. Then we rode through the sand dunes in a 9-seat ATV and felt like we were on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. What I would do to relive that day. The city Ica itself was very overwhelming with mototaxis, taxis, and pedestrians EVERYWHERE. In 2007 though, Ica was hit by an 8.0 earthquake. All their historical buildings and catherals went down in ruins. There are still so many areas of Ica that still need renovating and it has been two years since the earthquake. It´s pretty depressing to see. As for wine tasting, I was not really impressed with any of their wine, but I do believe Peruvian wines do have potential. I plan to keep an eye out on these wines in the years to come. What was most interesting about our wine tasting experience was not the wine tasting, but the drive to the wineries. There was one particular winery that was surrounded by major poverty. As I was snapping away on Sanmathi's awesome Nikon D50, the driver told me that I should really close my window before someone runs by to snatch the camera right out of my hands... or even worse. It really put a damper on wine tasting to sit inside the gates of a beautiful estate sipping on wine, while surrounded by Peruanos who worry day to day about how they are gonna put food on the table and have to resort to crime... In much of my time here in Peru, there is something constantly pounding at my heart to leave the States for awhile and do some volunteer work for a few years. I can´t shake the feeling.

Next, Nasca... in a nutshell, we saw the Nasca Lines, puked out guts out, spent the rest of the day in misery, explored the laid back city, ate food at a very sketchy place that ended up actually being pretty damn good, waited for the bus for days, then embarked on a long ass uncomfortable bus ride through the Andes to Cusco. Nasca was a very quaint city but def a one day trip (or maybe just in my motion sick experience).

And as for CUSCO... swoon. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cusco. Despite being bombarded by sales pitches - "masajes?", "pedicure?", "manicure?", "Machu Picchu?", "informaciones", "paintings?", "taxi?", "rafting?", and little kids selling finger puppets for "un sol?" - every five seconds... literally, I am still in love. I learned not to be fazed by the sales people because it is their way of life after all, and it's because of us tourists that they do this kind of work. We all noticed the immense amount of Ex-Pats living in Cusco, which once again reenforces the charm of this city. The city reminds me of Granada and Sevilla in Spain in some ways, obviously because of the layout and Spanish colonization. Yet, there are so many remnants of Incan times that the Spanish tried to cover up/destroy that could not be avoided. In the 1950s, a huge earthquake was both a tragedy and blessing in disguise. The shake up knocked down Spanish facades only to reveal walls from Incan times. Very dope to think that just six decades ago, Cusco was a whole different world. Anyway, I need to get back to my travels. I was just in Arequipa, Colca Conyon, and am now in Mancora. Sorry ya'll. I need to soak up the sun and enjoy my beach time in Peru (aka my only real relaxing days since being here). Will try to write more mas tarde. I still haven´t talked about my Machu Picchu trip, Salkantay, and the jungle... to be continued...

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