I'm in love with the Cusco

Overall, Casa Elena has treated us beautifully in Cusco, treating our luggage with great care when we left for weekend excursions, and serving us wonderful meals, my favorite of which was the avocado slices and beets mix for lunch one day. Cusco has a neat plaza, a great Greek restaurant right next to Casa Elena, Paddy's Irish Pub, Greens, and Jack's Cafe just to name a few of my favorite spots. I think most people in the group have acclimated nicely to the high elevation and there have been no serious illnesses thus far (knock on wood.) I think the whole group is excited for what our last week of classes in Cusco has in store before capping off the Maymester with a trip to Machu Picchu. 

         Greeted with maté de coca as we walked into the lobby of Casa Elena, I knew I would like Cusco even better than Lima. The first day of class we discussed Bartolomé de las Casas, the Dominican fighter for the indigenous peoples, father of liberation, and historian. The history of the huacas (temples) and cronistas was fascinating having lasted for very long periods of time as ancient relics. Papacho's was by far the best meal I have had on the trip. I ordered the Cusco burger which came with avocado and onion straws. Perfecto! Also, seeing a political rally (and even illegally participating a bit) was wild to say the least. Both the US and Peru have an intense election this year (happens once every 20 years when both country's elections coincide). If all works out, Trump will make America great again and PPK will come out on top. 

Because of the Quechuan influence, many names of places and things in Cusco are Quechuan as opposed to in Lima, where they are not. One would have to be several pisco sours deep to vote for crooked Hillary Clinton or socialist Bernie Sanders. In all seriousness, Cusco has been an incredible place for us to learn, explore, and have fun.

Never a Doubt on the Roads

 Never a Doubt on the Roads

As trip advisor says, "It's not a good idea to drive in Peru. Driving in Peru should be considered as an "Extreme Sport." The driving rule here is that the bigger you are the less you follow the driving rules. I think that you never know what a crooked line is, until you have an idea as to what a straight line is. Likewise, you don't know about unsafe driving, cutting people off, and coming within inches of other cars until you leave the United States, where a premium is put on greater distance between cars and in my opinion safer driving. Peruvian drivers define maximizing the use of space on roads, and a honk is not a "Fuck you get out of my way," as it is in the States but rather a friendly way of saying well... honks are just involuntarily for show or out of habit I guess. Surprisingly, I have yet to see a wreck thus far, probably due to the small sample size and the way in which drivers in Peru have learned to play bumper cars without running into one another. 

I have come up with a few theories as to why Peruvians drive so closely to one another. The first is that their cars are obviously cheaper on average than the cars in the States. You don't see many Mazaratis, BMWs, or Bentleys roaming the Peruvian streets, so maybe the effect of having a cheaper car calls for more reckless driving. Secondly, maybe Peruvians are just less precautionary, less anxious, and braver on the roads than their American counterparts. Or perhaps, Peruvians have developed a chemistry with other citizens on the roads that lends to more aggressive maneuvers unlike the Americans who don't trust each other as well. 

Body language of drivers is also very different in Peru from the United States. You don't see angry drivers flipping birds, yelling, or rolling down the windows to complain to a driver that rudely cut him off. Feelings are expressed with a short staccato beep of the horn, and then life returns back to normal. However, I feel like traffic is much better managed in the United States as there are more traffic lights, and pedestrians can cross streets in a more civilized fashion. People are always on-the-go in both countries, and both the US and Peru can learn from each other's traffic systems to create more safety, trust, and efficiency on the roads. 

Indefinite but Indispensable

In our game of questioning around the fire in Maras, someone asked Profe, “What do you miss the most about Peru, besides friends, family, and food?” Part of his response was the laidback attitude of the people. In Peru, plans are tentative, no one is ever on time, and the structure and surety that we can easily find back home is not as constant here in Peru. For most Vandy students, this is their worst nightmare. Us ‘Type A’ people, we love our structure. I’ve seen enough color coded Lilly Pulitzer planners to know this for sure. 

PC Jingyue

So it seems that this would be a downfall of Peru, not something someone would miss upon leaving Peru. However, I’ve grown to appreciate this aspect of Peruvian culture. I may have been a step ahead, planning vacations with my family the night before, with a mother who is hardly ever willing to commit to a sure answer (“Can I do this with so and so?” “I don’t know.” “Well when will you know?” “I don’t know.”), but I found it much easier to live in the moment. Knowing that my activities are taken care of, I’ve started to worry less about what is coming next and begun to appreciate what is happening now. This is such a stark contrast from being on campus, where we either relish in our past accomplishments or work tirelessly for the future (grades, internships, extra-curricular activities), leaving little time to fully enjoy ourselves. There are certainly benefits of dependability and structure, but a break from these is quite possibly what all of us Vandy kids needed.

The Inca Space Race

As we traveled from the Spanish re-located town of Pisac up the slopes of the valley toward the original Inca pueblo, the slopes of the mountains began to take on a peculiar shape. Hundreds of feet of terraced land constructed over 500 years ago during the Incan empire helped shape this area and turn the steep sides of Andes’ peaks into farmable and productive land. The construction is nothing short of genius. Not only does terracing the slopes create more land to be farmed, it creates microclimates from which multiple crops can be grown at different levels. For example, the sinkhole-like terraces at Moray, which we visited this past Sunday, trap heat and create different climates at each level, allowing crops to grow tens of feet from each other that normally require thousands of feet of separation to thrive. Furthermore, the rock walls of these terraces are built at an angle in order to ensure support of the land above it. Large terraces are supported by small terraces right below as extra support, and all is crisscrossed with old pathways and stairs up the sides.

            

• These ancient techniques of farming have fallen out of use since the Spanish conquest, but recent challenges due to climate change have caused some areas of the Andes to reexamine the Inca way of agriculture. Terraces and irrigation systems are being rebuilt, not only because it is more productive, but because it ensures greater protection from drought in the face of global warming. Unfortunately, a lot of the farming and terracing knowledge also disappeared along with traditional Incan farming due to Spanish pressures. The influence of the Spanish can be seen by the relocation of the entire town of Pisac from the mountainside at least a thousand feet up to the valley below, substituting Incan architecture for Spanish-style buildings and Christian churches. It is now the job of anthropologists and archeologists to reconstruct the Inca way of farming if these terracing systems are to be put into use again. Much of the small populations and towns high in the mountains suffer from malnutrition due to lack of variety of foods consumed. Hundreds of years ago the Inca found a solution to this, by terracing the land, creating microclimates in which multiple different crops could grow. This is a beautiful example of the use of space, taking one of the harshest climates and molding it in their favor. While the Spanish may have come for gold and left satisfied, some of the real treasure left in South America is the knowledge and adaptivity of the Inca empire, still do this day seen throughout the mountains etched in stone.

From Old Town Pisac to New

During our first weekend trip away from Cuzco, we visited various Incan ruins such as Sacsayhuamán and Puca Pucara before staying the night in the town of Pisac. I soon learned that the location we were staying that night was not in fact the original Pisac, but rather a new town built based on the old town of Pisac located higher above in the mountains. After visiting the old town Pisac, I found it incredible that ancient Incans built a town at such high elevations on the peaks of mountains. In class Profe even told us that the unique architecture of old town Pisac is comparable to building a town at the top of Machu Picchu. If the Incans successfully achieved near complete isolation through old town Pisac in the high mountains, then why create a new town?

There most likely exists many historical answers (which I have not researched), but one of the simplest answers that comes to my mind is the Incan’s use of space and land. By choosing to build a town in the mountains, the Incans did achieve isolation to practice their traditions, however, this location does not lend itself well to many other practical purposes. During the Spanish invasion, a town built on top of mountains can’t be defended and therefore it is simply more practical to create a new town lower in more of a mountain valley. The contrast in locations of the old town Pisac and the new town Pisac describes the Incan use of space and more specifically, how war and foreign invasion can influence a people’s decision to settle in certain locations.

While currently living in the new town of Pisac, our guide Javier, told us he still feels strong ties to the old town Pisac. When visiting the old town in the mountains, Javier shared with our group that he regularly comes to old town Pisac to practice certain religious ceremonies and pay his respects to his ancestors. The specific manner in which Javier referred to the founders of old town Pisac as “mis abuelos” displays how close he feels to his Incan ancestors. Despite relocating to new town Pisac, one can say that the old town of Pisac has not lost its value in the hearts of Incan descendants like Javier.  

Pisco Sours - The Importance of a Shaker!

Last week, we were lucky enough to have cooking lessons at El Bolivariano. While we were lucky enough to learn the steps to make fresh ceviche and lomo saltado, the real treat was learning how to make the perfect Pisco Sour – a typical Peruvian cocktail that uses Pisco, an alcohol from fermented grapes. Whilst Pisco Sours can be found in every bar, restaurant, and even café throughout Peru, El Bolivariano gave us the real secret to making the best-tasting version of the drink – a cocktail shaker. Before I explain the importance of this apparatus, here is the recipe (straight from the bartenders at El Bolivariano!):

2 oz Pisco

½ oz lemon juice

¾ oz simple syrup

1 egg white

After all these ingredients are added to the shaker (in order, of course), our bartender explained that the perfect Pisco Sour must be shaken vigorously for at least two full minutes. Once he finished and poured the concoction into a small glass, we all tasted a small sip. When servers brought us all our own a few minutes later, there was an obvious difference in taste, and it seemed, quality, of the drinks. Our bartender explained to us that the Pisco Sours we had been given had been mass-produced in a blender back in the kitchen. The difference, then, was obviously the shaker. But why? It turns out that using a shaker and making each cocktail individually increases the aeration of the egg white, which makes for a lighter drink. This, in turn, makes the lemon flavor more prominent. So now you know – never skimp on a shaker, especially when it comes to Pisco Sours!