Thoughts of a Nomadic One

Written: September 19, 2007

Being at Machu Picchu feels like being in a distant land back in time and history, or a fantasy land. It didn't feel like that at first with the ridiculous legions of tourists each trying to snap as many pictures of the ruins and themselves. But as the afternoon wanes and crowds die down, the wonder and amazement sets in, especially as I write this sitting on a ledge overlooking the Inca city.

I arrived early from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes by a 4 hour train ride. After getting tickets and a bus ride, I entered Machu Picchu national park and feasted my eyes on the new World Wonder. Unfortunately, instead of doing the Inca Trail and arriving at dawn when the crowds of day trippers haven't arrived yet, my schedule only allowed me to do a day trip from Cuzco and in fact take the overnight bus to La Paz and fly out. This is the result of my extensions in Africa and New Zealand, unfortunate but not regrettable. It is truly amazing to see the structures and engineering work of the Incas constructed so long ago. Even in Cuzco you can see examples of their superior engineering compared to the Spanish. There is a joke from "The Motorcycle Diaries": In Cusqueña, there are two varieties of engineering: Inca or Incompetent.

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I arrived at the Buenos Aires airport about 5 hours early. In that time, I entertained myself by looking at the prices of airport duty free goods and the beautiful Argentinian saleswomen. The only incident to note was that at one point, a Chinese kid came up and asked me whether I was Chinese.

Me: No, Canadian ... Taiwanese!
Him: Do you speak Mandarin?
Me: A little, why?
Him: Can you help me?

He and his friend were going to Caracas via Lima but their flight to Lima was overbooked. Since neither of them spoke Spanish or English, they were pretty useless and clueless. Using my limited Spanish, I helped them confirm that they were indeed leaving the next day. Two hours later, one of them found me resting and asked me to help translate again. However, this time there was Chinese dude, myself, another man (who spoke English and could translate)and the airline staff standing in a circle answering/asking questions. We probably looked like we were playing telephone.

What really pissed me off the most was the ineptitude of the 2 Chinese kids who traveled without any knowing Spanish or English. At one point one of them asked me, "How come they don't have Chinese translators?" I briskly replied, "Because English is the world language and you don't even know that!"

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After sleeping in the Lima airport on the mat provided by London Heathrow Airport, I took a flight to Cuzco in the early morning. My eyes hurt but I wasn't sure if it was from tiredness or air pollution. I spent half the day running around to get tickets to Machu Picchu and ensure that I arrive in La Paz in time to fly home. I then spent the rest of the day getting familiar with Cuzco and going to bed early. Unfortunately, the headache I was developing from altitude sickness assaulted me all night and it was only after chugging 1L of water and 2 ibuprofens later that I felt better. Being at 2500m really takes it out of you. Your body feels tingly and you get out of breath really quickly. It was also discouraging and humorous to see see the locals just strolling or running the steep roads.

Cuzco is amazing. Even with all the tourists, you can't help but feel transported back in time. Locals wear their distinctly patterned Alpaca-wool made clothes. Some of the older women wear Bowler hats on top of their braids. This tradition originated when a European shipment of Bowler hats were given to locals since they were too small. I didn't get to take a lot of pictures but was greatly reminiscent of the end credit scenes of The Motorcycle Diaries.

In Cuzco, I walked around the Inca walls, the 12-sided stone, checked out the cathedral that had a very interesting version of The Last Supper. I suppose even religion isn't above advertisements as a big juicy cuy (Guinea pig) was the centerpiece. Imagine the captions: "Jesus goes to Casa Mama and has cuy with his mates when he celebrates! Where do YOU go?"

Headed to La Paz tonight and then flying home. Only 3 more taxi rides away from safety!

Ciao!