 Dusty:Starlight:Culture
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Cuzco, pre-maldonado
2005-07-26 4:10 p.m. Hola from dusty Cuzco, at a much more comfortable 3,300 m or so. Things have been crazy here. We had either the misforune or opportunity (depending on how you look at things) of arriving on a festival day. The streets have been swarming with people, marching bands, grand flags and dancing. It´s been quite a sight to behold, but was a bit too reminiscent of the riots and political demonstrations in Arequipa for our liking. Once we figured out that this was a happy storming of the streets, though, we relaxed and wound our way around cobble-stoned, narrow hills. The architecture in Cuzco is impossible to describe - it´s an odd mix of leftover Inca stone work and colonial architecture, with some ugly, practical mid-20th century efficient square buildings built in. Our Spanish is still el sucko, but we´ve had friends we´ve met here and there helping us to make reservations for hostels in Pisac and Aguas Calientes, both of which are typically booked at least a week ahead of time in this busy season. Tomorrow we fly into Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon Basin, to volunteer at Picaflor research station. Since the only contact there is short wave radio, I won´t be checking in for some time - at least until we get to Pisac, and since that´s pretty rustic too, I´m not too sure about internet availablity or speed. I´ve been writing and writing and writing, so I´m sure I´ll chronicle everything again at some point. I´ve managed to make an ass out of myself at least once or twice already, and today was maybe the worst: having a fit in a train station that was as disorganized and chaotic as anything I´d seen in West Africa, and I´d swore that was as bad as it would ever get. I got over it, though, and we got our appropriate train tickets (after a two hour wait in a questionable line that didn´t seem to have any sort of organized pattern). Steve is a trooper. I am tired. I need the lushness of the jungle. The mountains are beautiful, but I miss trees, water, and green, green, green. xoxox t |
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