Peru, Part IV -- Parting Thoughts

      The end of visiting a distant land always comes with a mix of emotions, a wish that you could stay longer and yet a tugging that urges you to move on to the next place (or to head home).  But the fact was that we were indeed leaving, and leaving early, as in 4 AM early, for the morning drive to the airport.  But at 11,000 feet, getting up in the wee hours didn't seem as bad since the thin air had already partially fogged our brains, making us feel as if we had survived a wild night of partying and yet didn't have a hangover.  All of which was ironic because Cusco is a city that does indeed seem to come alive at night, the evenings being the time when festivals and rallies just start to begin; even the street vendors seem to noticeably liven up despite sitting all day plying their wares to us tourists: pose with my llamas, look at my original art (it's the same art everywhere), my name is Tom Cruise, my name is Kevin Costner, my name is Martha Washington (those three names were repeated at each city we visited).  But for those of you who haven't been to this part of Peru, or have been here but not in awhile, here are a few of my closing observations (slanted as they may be) on our quick but rather wonderful visit to Peru.

 

     So to begin, let's just get the icky questions out of way first (if you've read the guidebooks you'll have these questions pop up right away). #1) Yes it's true, you don't flush your toilet paper.  This means exactly what you think...yup, when you go to the bathroom you "wrap" what you have and delicately put it in a wastebasket on the side of the toilet (each place you stay at will have a covered basket next to the toilet for placing your "used" tp).  Don't fret for this is pretty much the way it is throughout both Peru and Ecuador (not sure, but I assume that this may be true for most of the other countries in South America as well).  This is primarily due to an infrastructure that simply wasn't designed to handle the growing population (think much smaller diameter pipes overall).  And the population is indeed booming here (many foreign investors and expats continue to make their way down and with good reason, as noted by one expat in Cusco).  All fears and gagging aside, having to do this was nowhere near as awful as we thought (the baskets are picked up daily); and let's face it, it was just one more thing to make you realize what we take for granted in the U.S.  So yes, get ready for that if you visit Peru (or Ecuador) because it's pretty much the rule everywhere, even in the nicer hotels.  

Dried coca leaves

      And of course, you're probably wondering about the coca tea you read about (the tea bags are  everywhere but more often in the higher elevation cities such as Cusco).  So onto question #2): Will drinking cups of this tea make you feel high, and not in the altitude sense?  As a general rule, each individual bag of coca tea contains 4+ mg. of the cocaine alkaloid, and a "line" of cocaine runs a little over 20 mg.  So one would think that five cups of the tea would be about like doing a line of cocaine.  Well, was it?  Now understand that by already living at an altitude of 5000 feet, my wife and I felt that we would be fine and wouldn’t need to drink the tea since we wouldnt feel the altitude, as so many of our friends had told us.  But we weren't (we were now sitting at 12,000').  Nothing bad of course, but we felt it, the light-headedness, the lack of stamina, the shortness of breath.  So I drank the tea, which is often given as an alternative to Diamox, the diuretic so commonly prescribed to counter the effects of high altitude.  And I drank 4 cups of it.  Now perhaps the tea did help; perhaps we could have or would have felt much worse (as a comparison, our friend who did take the Diamox felt about the same as we did after the tea, still fuzzy headed and "hit" by the altitude).  But I never felt as if I'd done a line of cocaine (but then the only time I even tried cocaine was 50 years ago).  Still, don't try to bring any back, even in the tea bag form, said several guidebooks (drug and meat dogs are typically waiting at the U.S. customs arrival booth, although I'm not sure how strict they are about a few tea bags); but the penalties for drug use in Peru are swift and non-negotiable. 'Nuff said (just reading about how they soak the leaves in kerosene and other harsh chemicals just to "make" cocaine should give you pause).  And if you're wondering what the heck coca tea taste like, despite the stories of it tasting like "leaves" (which may be true for those just chewing the raw leaves), to me it seemed little different than the taste of a weak cup of chamomile or hibiscus tea (but then again, I rarely drink herbal tea so take that opinion for what it's worth).  I should note that while there you may be tempted to drink the popular Inka Cola (it outsells Coca Cola in Peru) instead of the tea; but alas, there is no coca alkaloids at all in the soft drink, one which admittedly (by the locals) tastes like a sweet combination of banana and bubble gum (what??)...

     Of course you could use the tea to wash down some of the interesting food which you'll discover, corn kernels about the size of a dime, for one; they taste more like hominy than the sweet corn we're used to (which means there wasn't much taste at all): and the roasted potatoes do look nearly identical to those British roasties hot out of the oven, but sadly proved a but drier.  So question #3): do they eat a lot of strange (to us) meats?  Right off the bat, Peru is a carnivores' delight (our guide said this about a place we visited: this is not a good restaurant for a vegetarian); pork, lamb and beef are often rudely hacked or skewered (beef heart is a regular dish on most menus) and served in Army-sized portions, making you feel a bit aboriginal. Then there's the alpaca steaks and the Guinea pig.  Wait, what was that last one?  Called cuy (coo-ee, the Spanish version of the name), the Guinea pig that most of us find cute and cuddly is still found running around many homes here, but in Peru it is anything but a pet.  Skewered, roasted, stuffed or deep-fried, the "delicacy" has been served in Peru since the 1400s and is a regular offering on menus (and a delight, say the locals), despite it apparently being as bony as a river fish (we never tried it, but we're surprised at how sharp its bottom teeth were...who knew that Guinea pigs even had bottom incisors).  Friends who stepped up to the plate said that the cuy tasted like a mix of rabbit and ham (which says something), but also felt that it would be an acquired taste for most, despite the many food vendors proudly displaying freshly roasted cuy skewers like hot dog sticks.  Now before you pass judgement, the guinea pig basically came from the Andes and were raised as a food source by the Inca (and perhaps earlier peoples), domesticated a few hundred years after the llama.  It was the Spanish who introduced cows and pigs (and rats) and whatever else arrived on those early expeditions.  But ecologists are today taking a second look at the hamster-like animal (which is not related to a pig and is not from Guinea, by the way).  High in protein and low in cholesterol, the guinea pig easily survives off of kitchen scraps, huddles together in "pens" and takes up little space, and basically is not as damaging to the environment in the way other meat sources are; in fact efforts are underway to bring small-scale raising of them to places such as Africa which often don't have the water or grassland space needed for cows and sheep.  But guinea pigs?  Still, the bony tilapia was once considered a "garbage" fish until it was discovered how quickly it reproduced and could be commercially processed.  Before long, tilapia had prevented famine in rural lake areas, and was soon on menus here in the U.S.  Cuy-it be possible that this Andean creature could not only solve the hunger crisis in other parts of the world, but could also save our rainforests, rangelands, and waters as well?

     Okay, let move on to other foods because as long as we're talking fish, the fish in Peru is excellent.  Remember that Peru's 1800 miles of coastline is often hailed as one of the world's greatest fisheries (which has led to some conflicts with Japanese fishing fleets).  And perhaps because of all that available fish, Peru is home to ceviche, a natural "cooking" of raw seafoods (and for the vegetarian side, hearts of palm) with lemon juice or some other acidic mixture; and there is ceviche of all sorts with all sorts of fish such as what we had, a ceviche made with the salmon-like river trout.  On the other side, the Andes brings you to the Amazon and its own variety of fish (we tried jerky made from the prehistoric-like Amazonian paiche, a fish that can grow large enough that it can take 3 or 4 men just to pick it up).  Shrimp, beef, and for the vegetarians (me) a variety of quinoas in all colors and tastes accompanied most dishes (quinoa is a delicious and healthy grain substitute prepared in ways we just don't see up here; as one example, breakfast buffets often featured a toasted and puffed version to add a crunchy, nutty topping to your yogurt or cereal).  And one needs to note the variety of fruits that come from that the tropical side: passionfruit, gooseberry, papaya, and mango to name a few.  While there we had mango juice, papaya juice, and even passionfruit juice, each a bit thicker than one would think but then these fruits were so plentiful that these slurries were both unique and delicious!  And that fruit in the left corner of the bowl of fruit in the picture?  Prickly pear from cacti (did I mention the diversity of climate on both sides of the Andes).  

     Here again is what the Moon guide had to say:

One server showing the variety of tubers served

Peru is located in the heart of the richest and most diverse region in the world.  Eleven ecoregions with a unique combination of climate and geography contain a sixth of all plant life in only 1 percent of the planet's land area...Few countries can rival Peru's biodiversity, which holds world records for highest diversity of birds (1,800 species), butterflies (more than 3,500) and orchids (3,500).  There are at least 6,300 species of endemic plants and animals, along with an estimated 30 million insects.  Most of this diversity is found in the cloud forest and Amazon jungle; the Andes have relatively low biodiversity but a high rate of endemic species (the Andes are the second highest mountain chain on Earth, beaten only by the Himalayas)...From Cusco, the terrain drops gradually through the Sacred Valley...the fertile valley and páramo grasslands are the breadbasket of the region, where the majority of its indigenous highlanders live and produce about half the country's food supply.  The Inca and other cultures terraced and irrigated this landscape to grow a range of crops, including maize, hardy grains such as kiwicha and quinoa, and indigeous tubers such potatoes, olluco, and oca.  It was its capacity to produce food that led the Inca to consider the valley sacred.

     You can toss all of those flavors down with a host of craft beers, although their stouts are heavy on the malt and have a dash of sugar (what??); but at least they do list all the ingredients on each bottle of beer.  Or try a shot of Andean black whiskey, a corn whiskey that is like an herbal bourbon minus the sweetness  (the creamer they make with the black whiskey could put Bailey's out of business).  The bottom line: I rather liked it but couldn't find either version outside of Peru (having won so many international awards, the whisky IS beginning to appear for online orders).  But you probably don't care about that and just want to know about the famous drink of Peru, the pisco sour.  So right off the bat, I want you to think of Hawaii and Mai Tais.  Famous?  Certainly, but like Hawaii, few locals drink pisco sours.  Oh, Peruvians love pisco, but not sugary and topped with a frothy egg white.  It'd be like someone saying "I love bourbon" and pointing to an Old fashioned.  Typically, I was told, pisco is poured over ice and topped with a bit of ginger ale and a slice of lime.  We were lucky enough to attend a pisco tasting and tried 5 different piscos...and each was quite different in taste (picture attending a tasting of tequilas and mescals).  Some were smooth and others as raw as moonshine.  There was even a coffee pisco (Peru is known for its coffee, I might add).

          

One of the many festivals in Cusco

     So to sum up our visit, I admit to a wonderful time through admittedly sheltered eyes.  Drinking the water was fine, not only because bottled water was readily available, but most of the places we stayed at had purified filters as well as machines available to refill your water container; but this may not be the case in more rural areas or perhaps even the hostels.  But I drank fresh juices from the market, some blended with ice (truth be told, our guide said that it would be fine...and it was).  Same with the food, although we didn't try anything from a food truck or a small shop.  For those of you winging it, such options may be limited to your finances or to your adventure level; but common sense seemed to be the theme.  Same with the issues of theft and pickpocketing; we're sure that it existed but again we stayed aware of where we were and didn't drift too far off the beaten path.  The places we stayed often had in-room safes so in went the extra cash and our passports, saving us walking around with a bulging money belt; and transportation was arranged and waiting so we never had to hail a taxi or jump onto a bus, something we love to do when we visit Cornwall.  If it all sounds a bit pampered and paranoid, then I have to agree with you.  Our youthful abandon of earlier days where we dined and stayed wherever we landed seemed to have faded from the countries we weren't familiar with or had languages we didn't speak.  We had succumbed to the comfort of a tour group and actually enjoyed the carefree venture.  And while we knew that by being starry-eyed tourists we stood out in the crowd, we also always felt welcome.  One thing we did wonder about was why the locals we saw all had such thick, jet black hair, and our guide replied that Peruvians in general lack the gene for gray hair (it applies more to those of Incan descent); but as my friend noted, it was more likely due to a lack of stress.  Despite the apparent inequality of incomes (at least visually from both our walking and our bus rides) we saw people going about their day just shopping and talking and eating.  No arguing, no televisions or car horns blaring (okay, an occasional light honk along the smaller streets of Cusco, but only because the "sidewalks" were little more than a curb so everyone walked in the street or else risked twisting their ankle); the only "noise" we heard was that of festive fireworks that generally signaled the celebrating of a saint or a holiday.  Hey, this was a land where 4,000-year old hand weaving was still being practiced in Chinchero (although controversy looms as modernity arrives with the construction of a larger airport in that city, one which will replace the growing tourists' traffic into the older and smaller airport at Cusco).*  

Alpaca weavers in Chinchero

     Yes we were leaving this land of stone terraces and civilizations perhaps yet to be discovered.  This was a country booming with people and new foods, and yet struggling to encompass it all.  And that Nazca civilization,** the one overshadowed by the Inca and that left us only puzzling landscape lines and a way of life in a desert which we've yet to understand?  They did leave a plate, a subduction plate as large as the entire western coast of South America, a plate still pushing up those 5000 miles of mountains we call the Andes, a plate pushing ever inwards at a steady rate of close to 4 inches a year, a plate apparently not knowing when to stop.  We were heading to a place where those mountains now were volcanoes, ones that topped 20,000 feet and erupted about every 200 years.  We were heading to a place equally booming with a bursting of people and new foods, a place which is home to one of the largest collection of endemic vascular plants, those things we call flowers and fruits.  We were flying just over the border to a land of equal political unrest, a land trying to control its own crime and cartels and wanting to simply return to where its people could embrace their ancient and traditional culture; a land also drawing its own share of that invasive species we call expats.  We were heading to yet another part of what the Inca called Tawantinsuyu, the "four corners."  We were venturing to Ecuador...

One of the few remaining Inca structures in Cusco, one which shows the alignment of stonework...

*When I say that we felt safe, I should note that Peru has been downgraded to a Level 2 threat by the State Department (the same rating given Sweden, a rating which means "exercise increased caution").  But the world is getting a bit unstable these days, with 20 countries listed as Level 3 ("reconsider travel" and one which includes countries such as Mexico and Baja California...yikes!).  But with tensions rising in the Middle East, 21 countries are now Level 4 (Do Not Travel).  For a complete list, visit the State Department site (updated 10/21/2023)...

**The Nazca are actually credited with pioneering advanced irrigation techniques in directing water from the Andes to their desert landscape, no small feat since 90% of the water in those mountains heads to the Amazon, leaving just 10% for the coastal side.