Link to the Cuzco Flickr set is here and also at the bottom of this post. Plenty more pictures than included here.

From the living room of my Cuzco hotel, my shirt says it all:

My New Favorite Grocery Store. (Just try not to step on the skinned, severed cow heads after you’ve enjoyed your $1 lunch.)

The plain exterior of this building belies the awesomeness within. I’ve been in Cuzco for the last few days, and I’ve found a new and wonderful way to shop – in the Cuzco Municipal Market. Out of curiosity, I randomly walked in to see what was inside.

Before my eyes, aisles upon aisles of small vendor’s booths spread out before me. This place has everything: fruits, vegetables, cheese, bread, flowers, restaurants booths, and meat, MEAT, M E A T ! A full lunch is available for $1 and repared before your eyes by little old ladies. Two cups of fresh-squoze orange juice is 70 cents.

Everything is just piled up. Especially the meat. It sits on the floor, the counter, on top of other meat and various animal parts. At night when it’s time to close up the market, the meat is covered with tarps. As I was speaking with this young meat-seller and admiring the pile of intestines lying before him, I did not realize that my feet were literally inches from a skinned, severed cow head lying on the floor. It even came complete with a small pool of blood! (Click the image below if you’re ready for the cow head!)

I love the market. I sat down at one of the booths for soup. This was the incredible potato soup I ate for about 40 cents. I then washed it down with two glasses of orange juice prepared by this lady. (Sorry, Lady. Not the most flattering picture.)

The Soup:

The (not actually) Crazy-Eyed Juice Lady:

In summary: Right store, Right price! Take that, Kroger.

Welcome to Cuzco, Nathan

Well, the 21-hour bus ride is over. Even with kitten-top seats, that is a really long time to be on a bus that even included some nice bi-lingual signs telling me what parts of my anatomy the bus is not. Fortunately, my bag was not mis-routed to some other city.

I like Cuzco, though it’s a bit on the touristy side. The city itself has a really cool look to it. Nestled in the mountains, there are great views about anywhere you look. The temperature here varies much more than Lima. I’ve been wearing a heavier jacket and my IndyCar Series pull-over when I walk around at night.

A lot of people are affected by the altitude here, but I don’t seem to have any issues with it. I’m able to walk around without getting winded. My first day, I ran in to a friend from my hostel in Lima and he and I took a walk up to the hill at the top of the city. Not only is there a magnificent view, but a great big statue of our man, JC looking down on everybody.

I’m also enjoying the fact that if I smile at little kids around town, the usual reply is, “Gringo!” with a big smile back at me. It’s not limited to kids, either: even middle aged ladies will look at me and say “Gringo” as I’m walking down the street. Awesome.

Pirate DVDs for only 50 cents!

Machu Picchu: The Glory of the Incas and the IndyCar Series

After an early night on my first day in town recovering from the long bus ride, I got up at 5:30 in the morning to catch the train to Machu Picchu. It’s a beautiful four-hour train ride from Cuzco to the city of Aguascalientes, which is at the base of Machu Picchu. The train passes through the country side where you see farmers working and eventually gets to the mountains. Through the mountains, the tracks follow a beautiful river and pass through lots of forest.

Once you arrive in Aguascalientes, you take a bus up a winding mountain road to get to Machu Picchu itself. I met up with my tour guide and group and elected for the tour in Spanish rather than English. I think I even understood almost half of the general gist of what he said!

Machu Picchu is stunning. Maybe it’s cliché to say, but the picture that you’ve all seen of the Inca ruins against the picturesque mountain backdrop really doesn’t do it justice. Many people I’ve talked to about it say that they feel “magic” and “an energy” there. I’m not sure if I’d say that, but it was totally incredible. Quite worth the fairly expensive price to get there. Even a bumbling tour group full of overweight, gasping senoras could do little to tamp the spectacular views.

What’s more, I even brought my Nike Golf IndyCar Series pull over for it’s own Machu Picchu photo op! Way to go, IndyCar Series.

Inti Raymi: The Glory of the Sun God, A Plaza-turned Human Sardine Can, and Sexy Woman.

So, the main reason I decided to come to Cuzco in the first place was for the Inca Inti Raymi festival, which is a traditional celebration of the Inca Sun God. Apparently a LOT of other people thought the same thing because this town is packed with people.

There have been all sorts of public shows, dances, ceremonies, fireworks, and vendors around. It’s been quite a spectacle to behold. Especially yesterday on Tuesday, which is the actual day of the main celebration. It’s immediately evident that the people here take a lot of pride in the history of the event.

It’s also immediately evident that there is not enough room in the main plaza to watch the event. I was smashed like a sardine in a sea of people around the square. It was a bit unnerving if you let yourself think about what could happen if there was a stampede. People were constantly pushing as more and more tried to squeeze their way in to the limited space. Some people got panicky and had to leave, but once the parade finally arrived, it was pretty cool to see the people in traditional Inca garb doing traditional Inca ceremonies.

From the Plaza Mayor, the festival moves to the top of the hill to the Sacsayhuaman ruins that I walked to on my first day. No one that doesn’t speak Quechua seems to be able to say it without it sounding like “sexy woman.” I’ve enjoyed asking people if went to the sexy woman for the show.

Walking through the Inti Raymi Herd from Nathan Shipley on Vimeo.

Evening Inti Raymi Music and Dance! from Nathan Shipley on Vimeo.

Peruvian Cuisine: The Glory of Meat, Fries, and Rice!

French fries count as vegetables, right?

Ask a Peruvian and they’d probably say yes. It’s a bit hard to order a balanced meal at a restaurant, but, di-zamn, do I love this food. If you like lots of really tasty meat, fries, and rice with eggs on top, stop what you’re doing right now and come to Peru.

I still don’t have faith that I’ll actually gain any weight with this Peru’s caloric conquest of my stomach, but I’m enjoying the cholesterol like a person who’s never heard of the food pyramid.

Mobs of Gringos and Touts: Thoughts on touristy versus less-toursity things.

I think this will probably turn in to a more complete thought and perhaps it’s own entry as I spend more time traveling, but I really don’t get super-stoked about touristy things. Cuzco is touristy. It’s been interesting being in Machu Picchu after being in Lima. As I’ve mentioned, I like it here, but I’m just as happy (if not more) walking through Decapitated Cow Head Market with the locals as I am watching the dancers and parade of the Inti Raymi festival. The dusty, dirty little towns we passed through on the bus ride to Cuzco seem just as interesting to me as the decadent Plaza de Armas in Cuzco.

I think it comes down to an interest in talking to people and getting to know them for me. I have pointedly avoided going to crazy, bumping clubs full of Europeans in the evenings here and found a smaller, more local watering hole. It was both fun and enlightening to talk to the 18 year-old bartender named Junior, the owner of the bar, and the waitress for a few hours. Not that I wouldn’t have a grand old time grinding my junk (“dancing”) on drunk Euro girls in a smoky, bumpin’, flashy club, but I think good conversations can fit the bill nicely at times.

Maybe I’m getting old? I’ve just said no to the people trying to get me in to the tourist night clubs thus far. I don’t even slow my roll when the guys in the alley tell me they’ve got cocaine and weed. Thanks, elementary school drug PSAs.

Who knows. The good thing about going solo on this trip is that I can do whatever I want to do, even if it’s just sitting in a plaza and watching people go by for an hour and a half.

The next thing I’m going to do is head to Arequipa for a four night stay before heading back to Lima. My bus leaves in 4 hours. No idea what I’ll do there, but I look forward to it!

I Won’t Deny It. I’m a Straight Rider. (For Dan)

So many battlefield scars while driving in plush cars.

Finally, I managed to capture an image of the elusive Tupac combi here in Cuzco.

Here’s a link to the Flickr set for Cuzco!

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