Peru 2015: Sacred Valley/Pisaq (10, 11 December 2016)

     I stayed in a sharing community called Namaste House near San Blas Plaza. It was interesting because it is like an ultra cheap version of a hostel with travellers sharing stories with one an other. Also, vegetarians were encouraged and sometimes the hosts' friends would come over and have some interesting conversations and activities. Also, only vegetarian food was allowed to prepare. There also a dog that followed Damodhar Priya, the owner of the house, around.

     I asked my housemates in Namaste about Pisaq because it seemed to be a fairly large and interesting place on the other parts of Sacred Valley and it is easily accessible from Namaste House as well. I took a colectivo from Cusco, and it took about 45 minutes to Pisaq. I took off at about 9 in the morning, and I figured it would took almost half a day to see. The trip was not a disappointment, and in fact, I thought I had found some hidden gems.

The farm terrace

     Pisaq is a small town in the Sacred Valley, situated on the Urubamba River and it is northeast of Cusco. There is a large craft market, as well as there are ruins on the north side of the city. I was more interested into the ruin because the stuff that the markets sell are kind of generic and I had no idea which merchandise are good or not good.

The huge market

Clouds over hut

  







    The ruin is the mountain that overlooked the city from about 400 meters high. It was said that there were several cities there. There were some forts, tunnels, castle, and farm terraces on the hill. I was exhausted and there were a few showers along the way. I came across with some road workers and they shared some bread with me and we had some chats. It took me about another hour to climb to the top, and there was a few ruins that were quite scenic.

The Sacred Valley

The fort

     I spent about five hours walking on the top and I came across with different people. I took a less scenic and more quiet route downhill, and recorded some videos for my friend (for those who know me, they will know who I am talking about). I made it to the market and was a recommended to buy my lunch from a lady who harvests her only flower for her Menu of the Day. It was really yummy and the soup was excellent too. Market food are some of the better experience in dining in Peru. Usually the price is very fair and those ladies could make amazing homemade meals.

The delicious creamy rice and squash

     After that, I took another colectivo back to Cusco. I took some rest, and headed to Avenida del Sol for the coca ice cream and the traditional show at Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo. I almost cried in tears when I heard El Condor Pasa played the 11 men orchestra.

The 11 piece orchestra at Nativo

Coca ice cream!

Thoughts on April and the Extraordinary World (Avril et le monde truqué)

   April and the Extraordinary World (French: Avril et le monde truqué) is an adventure cartoon which has some science fiction and steam punk element. It was produced by the same production team as Persepolis, an autobiopic about the life a Iranian-French artist Marjane Satrapi.

   The film was set in a 'what-if' scenario in the following two conditions: 1) oil was never discovered; and 2) the brilliant physicists in the last half of 19th century were abducted. The story was set in the 1940's and Paris was filled with soots that were released because of coal burning in the cities. Arvil, the protagonist, was a teenager and the only child of scientist family linage.

    Avril's parents invented a serum that could give eternity to all kind of lives, as a result, the authoritarian and oppressive regime of Napoleon V, was after them so he could become the king forever. Avril lived in a solitary after her parents were apparently electrocuted by a strange cloud. A talking cat, Darwin, was her only friend.

    The adventure story began there and the story was a fair pace. I liked the imagination of the author of the original comic, Jacques Tardi. I am not going to spoil more on the movie so I'll stop here. Here is the trailer:

Peru 2015: Sacred Valley/Cusco City Tour (09 December 2016)

The residential part of Ollantaytambo

   I got up at about 7 in the morning, dressed up, had some toast and coca tea for my breakfast. I walked around the wall-town too before decided to get my bread for the breakfast. Peruvians tend to get up very early so people are already starting to work in Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a wall city next to the ruin. It is very small but has its own charm I liked the wall part, as well as its sewage system, and it is right along a river too so irrigation was easy.

     I agreed to meet the taxi driver at 8 in the morning. Kat, the owner of hostel Chaska Wasi, gave me a lecture of how to store money properly in Peru.

   When I met the taxi driver, it was a different driver and the he was a younger man from the taxi driver I met on the previous night. I do not like this kind of dishonesty, and I should have rejected his offer on the spot. One thing I should have done was that I should have taken pictures and showed him that he had to keep his words. The taxi driver could have benefited and continue to be dishonest if he is allowed to and it is not good for the tourism of Peru. We only ended up on to Moray, Salinas, Chinchero, and a demonstration of dye near Chinchero. I was fairly disappointed that the taxi driver was not passionate (probably he was bored of seeing the same things all over) and did not enter chinchero (he just wanted to get things through) and go back to Cusco.

   Anyway, I was carpooled with two American tourists (whose name I have long forgotten). We drove through the back route to Maras. It was a curvy and hilly drive up to the to of the mountain range. Maras is a small village which is about an hour of drive from Ollaytatambo and is fairly remote. I saw a few Quechua people walking along the highway and was certainly a long walk.

   Moray was an experimental farm site built by the Incan Empire and it was built in circles. It was explained that different crops were planted on different levels of the terraces and there, because there was a significant differences in terms of the climate in between those terraces. There was also an irrigation system when water can be drawn to the terraces.

Moray, the experimental terraces built by the Incans

   After that, we visited Salinas. Salinas is a community-owned salt mine in the Sacred Valley. It was still a working salt mine, and it was breathtaking in terms of its scale. I liked the way that it has a good balance between a working mine and limited tourism. It educates people of how Andean people got their salt, as well a scenic site.

Salinas, salt terraces that has been used for centuries

   The taxi driver drove us to Chinchero, which is a small town known for its dye and its half Incan and Spanish architectures. We first arrived to the dye demostration/market. We saw some amazing demonstrations of natural dyes, and of course we were led to the market, which the lady started to sell us things. They expect you to buy some souvenirs and I understand they need money, so I bought a few of the arts (later I found them very generic, so they maybe factory-made), at least they were made in Peru.

   We saw Chinchero ruins from a far, which is a huge disappointment, because I did not have a and I didn't like the taxi driver for not driving into Chinchero. He drove the most direct route back to Cusco. Once I was dropped off at Plaza del Armas in Cusco, I was approached by a lady. She persuaded me to join the last minute city tour by offering me a discount. I took it and the following places were included: Qorincancha, Q'enco, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara.

The Spanish built their own churches over the Incan again in Chinchero

These Incans are master stone masons

    Qorincancha is about 400 southeast of Plaza de Aramas. It was the religious center of the Incan Empire. After the Incan were conquered by Spain. The Spanish superimposed their own Catholic church onto the foundation of the Incan temple, probably used it as a gesture by the Spanish dominate the Incans. Interesting, the part that was built by the Spanish collapsed during an earthquake in 1950, while the the Incan foundation stood well.

    We visited Q'enko, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara within 2 hours. It was such as little time for all those sites. The tour guide was very good and very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and willing to learn new things. I was lucky to have such a tour guide.

Sacsayhuaman, a very large ruin which was just above the city center of Cusco

   

Peru 2015 - Cusco (06 & 07 Dec 2015)

   Cusco was the first city that I visited in Peru and was the city which I spent the longest time in Peru. For those of you who don't know, Cusco is located on a valley in the Andes, and is the most visited city by tourists in Peru. It was the capital of the Incan Empire, which dominated the Andes for about 150 years before the civil war and the arrival of the conquistadors from Spain. What is special about it is it does not have a visible river that flows through the old historic town so water must be irrigated from elsewhere. The old city is listed as UNESCO heritage site (the other two are the Old Town of Lima and Arequipa) because of its cobble stone roads and beautiful architecture.

   I have learned previously that the taxi drivers will overcharge tourists with the taxi to the city so I decided to walk to the city itself. It was 5:30 on 06 Dec in the morning so I figured it would be a good time to walk around and get myself familiarise with the city.

   I took me a while to figure out the location of Namaste House (the place owned by a Hare Krishna practitioner and I would like to experience different types of accommodations  and it would fun to interact with travellers and locals). I was exhausted by the lack of sleep in my two legged flight from Seattle to Lima so I went to a two hour massage session (later I regretted about it and I should have asked Dhruva instead.

   I walked around the Old Town aimlessly and bought some fake hoodies & There are tourist operators all over in Cusco. I went to a pastry shop called Pantastico in Barrio San Blas and the storekeeper (Naysha) showed me different sites (Qorinkancha and Saqsaywaman) and I decided to buy a tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico) to see the various sites. Later two Asian tourists (Calvin and Sofia) came over and we had a good chat for about an hour. I was tired enough and I walked back to Nameste House. Ana, a Romanian Fulbright Scholar that works in Quito, invited me to come to a concert with Incan rock band. It was an awesome performance, but I was too tired to enjoy it. Ana was also tired because of excess rock climbing. We went back to Nameste House by 12:30 at night.

San Blas Plaza in Cusco

Peruvian and Incan flag in Plaza de Armas

Easy tourist money for the local Peruvians

   I got up at about 6:30 in the morning on 07 Dec. I walked to Avenida el Sol to get some Peruvian currency - sol. After that, I walked to the museum and the garden of Qorinkancha to check out some history and artifacts of the Incan time and bought boleto turistico (the ticket where many of the Incan sites would require). At about 11:00, I walked south to Monumneto Inca Pachacutec and learned about the famous Inca Pachacutec and saw the skyline of Cusco from the observation deck. The view was okay. After that, I walked to Pavitos to catch the Coletivo to Ollantaytambo.

   I had some conversations with Sebastien about various topics and experiences in travelling and I admire his willingness to trek despite on . The colectivo went up to the hill to the much less desirable areas of Cusco and it was interesting to see that part of daily lives of poorer Peruvians. The colectivo drove by Chinchero, Urubamba, and finally to Ollantaytambo. Sebastien and I parted way, and I walked up to the ruin using my boleto turistica. It was the first ruin I walked and the scenery was stunning. I stayed there long enough, and made it to the train station to catch the IncaRail to Aguas Calientes six minutes before the train would take off.

   

   

Peru 2015 - Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu & Ollantaytambo (08 Dec 2015)

   The trains from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes are operated by IncaRail and PeruRail. Both are considered some of the most expensive railway per mile in the world. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the scenery along the train ride was amazing.

   The train went along Urumbamba River and was parallel to some parts of the Inca Trail. The nice thing about travelling to South America is that South Americans are generally more extroverted and for those who can afford to travel, they are usually very educated and are interested in the outside world. I was lucky to sit by a woman who worked as a travel agency in Puno. She was travelling to Machu Picchu with her daughter and we had some nice conversations on various topics, and I thought that was a good cultural exchange with local people.

The statue in Aguas Calientes

   Aguas Calientes is a small town that existed only because of Machu Picchu. The town was fairly pretty, because it was at the valley on Urubamba River, and one could constantly hear the water. It was easy to walk around and has a population of about 1800. I was told that everything was overpriced in Aguas Calientes because its location is very remote, and everything has to be shipped by rail. My guess is that there are different prices on merchandise that are being sold to the tourists and Peruvians.

   I stayed in a place called Pirwa Hostel, which was almost the farthest hostel away from Machu Picchu. The hostel was very empty and I ventured out on Avenida Pachucutec for some dinner. I ended up at a place called Dolce Gourmet and they offered a variety of vegetarian tourist/typical menus for S/.15 including soup, salad, and segundo. It was good and I walked around the residential part of Aguas Calientes before I headed back to the hostel.

   There were two boring tourists (Gringos!) in my room after 10PM, and they wanted to drink more before they were heading up to Machu Picchu and I thought it was the foolish idea ever but it's their trip, not mine. I headed to sleep and I expected myself to get up at 4:30'ish AM.

   I got up at 5:00 and I thought I should had gotten up earlier. I had the brief breakfast and I dashed out to Machu Picchu after I checked out. The sun was already out and I was too stingy to spend S/.50 on a short bus trip so I decided to hike 500 meters up to Machu Picchu.

   The hike was really nice and I was stopped by two friendly and young security guards to check my tickets when I arrived the station in front of the bridge. They asked for my ticket and I told them I had a reservation. They went through all the trouble to check the tickets with the tourist office for me and there was none. I had to go back to Plaza de Armas to buy the ticket and the ticket for Machu Picchu and the mountain. The security guards actually saved me a lot of trouble for climbing up 500m to the entrance of Machu Picchu only to get rejected right at the entrance.

   The hike from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu was pretty exhausting, but I was hiking around the very green and lush forest so it was not too bad. It was about 8:20 by the time I hiked up to the top. Luckily I hung out with a couple from Chile so time went by easier. I personally liked to chat with the South American travellers. They don't tend to be as stuck up as some American tourists and they are friendly and nice.

   There are many tourist guides around Machu Picchu should anyone needed more explanation on different parts of sites. They will solicit for business and  It turned out that it was a mistake to climb to the mountain. The mountain was 500 meters above the ruin of Machu Picchu and the climb was quite steep. I met many European travellers on the hike to Machu Picchu mountain. The weather was very foggy in the morning and the only thing I can see from the top of the mountain was the sign itself.

The sign entitles you the bragging right

   I walked down with slightly disappointment. I met two Brazilian couple from São Paulo, Thiago and Meg. We walked around the ruin for about two hours and chatted in many different topics. They were very intelligent people and invited me to visit them in São Paulo if I have a chance. We parted away when they decided it to take a rest in Aguas Calientes, while I was busy taking pictures of Machu Picchu, after the majority of tourists were gone. It was very fun. I hung out until 5, then I took the hike down, went to the butterfly house, and took the train back to Ollantaytambo.
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I took the classical shot of Machu Picchu

 

More shots of Machu Picchu

  

The residential llamas are so used to people

   In the train I met a group of recently graduated college students from Piura. They were very talkative and we talked about different topics again. We exchanged contact information and I went to take a rest at the hostel.

 

Peru Trip 2015 - Foreword

   Peru (or any South American countries) is never at the top of my list of country to go, due to my lack of ability to speak Spanish, and my worries about the safety in South America in general (which turned out that I was rather ignorant and bigoted).
 
   My main motivation was very simple and rash (you could say it is immature). A dear friend of mine whom I felt I have a strong connection with made a half-joke to me on meeting her in Peru in December 2015. I have not seen her in more than a year and I really wanted to see her. Also, Peru has a rich history with Incas Empire and Andean culture that would be fascinating to see, and I bought a book (A Sacred Landscape: the Search of Ancient Peru, written by Hugh Thompson) in March 2015 during the Seattle Vegfest. I also picked up another used book (Journey to Machu Picchu: Spirtual Wisdom from the Andes by Carol Cumes and Romulo Lizarraga Valencia) and those two had became my read during my stay in Cusco. I left the first book to another traveller Nora (whom I really enjoyed spending two days roaming around Cusco with) and someone else took the second book. I hope both books would be utilized and gives some interesting info to those who are interested in the Andean culture.

 

Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 8/Summary)

Day 8

Taichung -> Hong Kong

   Day 8 was very short, since we had to catch a flight in the morning. We got up early in the morning, packed our bags, and walked around to look for a veggie breakfast. Then, we bought several packages of suncake (太陽餅) near the Taichung Central Station as souvenir. We chatted with one of the shopkeepers and she noticed there were an increase of tourists from Mainland China and we chatted what ECFA (a joint agreement of free trade between China and Taiwan) would affect the economy of Taiwan in the future.We walked through some alleys including a street market and had a quick breakfast before heading to the bus station for the bus en route to Taichung Airport.

Morning street market

Waiting in the bus station

Finally, a nice morning after 3 days of rain in Taichung, @ Taichung Central Station

Humid morning

Flying home over Tsing Yi, Hong Kong

   The flight took 90 minutes. We went our separate ways after getting off the plane at Hong Kong International Airport. I was glad that I did not fight with Ben and Kevin during the trip, although I was accused of exploring areas on my own without notifying them and they were a little bit upset about it.

   The trip was slightly different from what I had originally planned. I was very ambitious by planning to go to Alishan and Guanziling, in addition to Taichung, Fengyuan but Ben said there would be too little time to do so. I also avoided Taipei and Kaohsiung (the two largest cities in Taiwan) because we wanted to see the more 'local' side of Taiwan. 

   I had a very good impression of Taiwan. First, Taiwan is a beautiful country with amazing scenery from the Pacific coast to snow-covered mountains that stand over 3500 meters above the sea level. Most people I came across during the Taiwan trip (albeit it took me a while to understand how car traffic works) were very friendly and helpful. Taiwanese food is to die for (a combination of Minnan, Hakka, Eastern Chinese, and Japanese cuisine) and we were lucky to find many good eateries during the trip. It is also one of the most vegetarian friendly countries in the world (among with India), due to the number of Buddhists. The pace is certainly much slower than Hong Kong and they are much more cheerful and laid-back (or at least they show) than Hong Kongers. I would like to visit there again (Kelvin already cycled around Taiwan in 2013!), as there are many places that I have not been to yet, and I have made some Taiwanese friends as well.

   In the future, I would love to experience more on the little island which is known as the true successor of the Chinese culture (sorry PRC, but Cultural Revolution destroyed many things irreversibly, including the soul and root of Chinese culture). I would also recommend people who wants to experience the Chinese culture to pay a visit to Taiwan. It might not have the stunning scenery that can be found in Mainland China, but it is easier to travel and get around, and infrastructures in Taiwan are tend to be better than China.

   Thanks for those who are willing to read my blog. I hope you enjoy the read and get to learn and understand more about this sub-tropical little island on the West Pacific. Also, many thanks to Ben and Kelvin for putting up with my during the trip, as well as their permission for using their photographs on the blog.