Foot in the World
Peru
Fabio Junior, the handsome guy...
After visiting Brazil, because it was important in case anyone asked us anything about our country, we decided to visit Peru, and that was our first international trip. Since there was no internet available at that time, we looked for information in travel magazines, guides and consulates. With some information in hand, we bought tickets to Lima with Aero Peru.
We packed our bags and off we went, on a DC8 plane with the backrest of one of our seats broken. Depending on the movement, the seat almost turned into a bed.
We arrived in Lima at almost midnight, without any hotel reservations. The airport lobby was busy, with reporters and many taxi drivers approaching passengers. But where to go? We didn't know yet. Luckily, we saw a Tourist Information desk open. We managed to find a small hotel in Miraflores. After that, we discovered the reason for all the commotion at that time of night. At the time, the soap opera “Roque Santeiro” was a hit and Fábio Júnior was the heartthrob of the soap opera. He was on our flight because he was going to perform in Lima. That was the reason for all the reporters.
With the hotel booked, we took one of those huge, old and noisy taxis. The next day, we went out to see a bit of the city. We walked around Miraflores and San Isidro. We also went to the city center, to the Plaza de Armas. We saw many armed police officers and huge tanks. Security in the country was heightened because it was a turbulent time, due to the Sendero Luminoso guerrilla group. But we didn't let that scare us and went to some "peñas", which are bars with live music.
Our idea was to go to Cuzco, but we still needed to know how to get there. We discovered that the best way would be to buy plane tickets, which were very cheap. So off we went, in a very small plane. We arrived and, when we got off the plane on the runway, our heads started to spin. A bad feeling because of the altitude.
We stayed in a very central hotel, in Plaza de Armas. They served us a “tea de coca” to help us get over our altitude sickness as soon as we arrived. We rested a bit and were ready to explore the city.
Early in the evening we went to a bar with Creole music, “El Tronquito”. It was live music. Really fun! We had our first pisco sour. Then we had some more and then went for the pisco straight. We talked, laughed, and taught each other how to make caipirinha, with some linguistic blunders – never say “pinga” there, say cachaça! Anyway, we left “drunk”. We caught a taxi right in front of the bar, gave the name of the hotel and the taxi driver went around the square, stopping almost next to the bar where we were. He told us we had arrived. We couldn’t believe it, but it was really there. That was probably the shortest ride this taxi driver had ever taken. But it was all the “pisco”’s fault.
Machu Pichu and our friend Cesar...
After recovering from our hangovers, we went to see Saqsaywaman, an Inca fortress that supposedly had military purposes. We took the road that connects Cuzco to the Sacred Valley with an indigenous taxi driver in one of those old cars. He spoke Quechua, the native language, and in his Spanish, which was quite difficult to understand, he taught us a little about Inca history.
Most tourists visited the ruins very early. Since we went later, there were no tourists. The silence was only broken by music played on the “zampoña”, the Peruvian flute. The scene was unforgettable. An indigenous family was planting potatoes on the hill. The musician went ahead playing. The women and men planted the potatoes in the ground. There, we got into the spirit of the country and the trip, which was just beginning.
With this same taxi driver, we visited Ollantaytambo, which is an archaeological park, the Urubamba River and other ruins and nearby towns.
Afterwards, we went to Machu Picchu by train, because it was safer at that time. Peru had just undergone an agrarian reform and the situation was not very calm, and the Shining Path threatened the tranquility of the place. The view of the lost city, high in the Andes, was one of the most impressive. A feeling of calm, mystery and restlessness all at the same time. We spent the day and left in the afternoon, promising ourselves that we would return one day. We were a little frustrated, because we wanted to go on the trails, but it was impossible at the time. In addition, going by train allowed us to meet and form a friendship that still lasts to this day.
On the train we met Cesar Orbegoso, who we had already mentioned in our adventures in Alaska. Cesar is a Peruvian who has lived in Arizona for many years and whom we made a point of visiting during our Alaska Expedition 2001. We talked throughout the trip. And we agreed to have dinner together at our favorite bar, El Tronquito. The Creole music, piscos and beers were flowing freely when a dancer came in. She had a very short skirt, a ribbon behind her skirt and a lit candle in her hand. The tradition was that a guest who received this candle had to burn the ribbon. She almost always blew it out with a sway and a swipe of her skirt. Everyone cheered.
What happened next was very funny. Helinho was chosen for the dance, or ritual. The scene was hilarious. Too bad, at that time, we didn't have a cell phone to film. Everyone cried with laughter. And Helinho, like everyone else, couldn't burn the ribbon on the dancer's skirt. Despite that, it was worth it for the fun.
Early the next day, we saw a note under our bedroom door. It was from Cesar saying goodbye and leaving his address. We kept in touch with him all these years and only 15 years later, we met again in Safford, in the United States. Today we talk via WhatsApp.
Helinho, the handsome guy...
We traveled around Peru by plane, train and bus. We went to Arequipa and saw the three volcanoes - El Misti, Pichu Pichu and Chachani. Arequipa has beautiful architecture, all in white volcanic stone. We felt the famous “temblor”, which are the frequent small earthquakes.
We visited the Coca Valley and continued on to Puno. We visited the Uros, which are floating islands made of reeds taken from Lake Titicaca. The people are very welcoming. They survive by fishing, hunting birds and collecting their eggs. But tourism is also a source of income. The children are beautiful. Their round faces and very red cheeks, burned by the cold and the sun.
Then we returned to Lima. This time, we stayed right in the city center, where we met a very pretty police officer who was enchanted by Helinho. That night, she came to our hotel to bring us a gift. They were earrings. We thought it was strange, but the gift was accepted and we thanked her. The next day, someone warned us that it was witchcraft. The earrings were thrown away, but Helinho still swears that I threw them away out of jealousy. Helinho, the handsome guy...
On our first trip, we tried a little bit of everything, even llama meat. We drank coca tea, pisco and Inka Cola, we felt the temblores and soroche, which is altitude sickness. We witnessed the fear of the Shining Path attacks and saw political demonstrations, both for and against agrarian reform. We visited many Inca ruins. We met many people. We returned home and saw that everything had worked out well. So, we thought: if our way of traveling works in Brazil, it worked in Peru, it will work in the rest of the world... And that was how our world travel saga began...