Chincero and a Hike to Urquillos

Ruinas de Chincero

Well, damn, this was much prettier than I expected.  I had the lovely Annette Stephens visiting for ten days and after she did her Machu Picchu pilgrimage, we had a ladies getaway to the town of Chincero. Chincero is a town about an hour away from Cusco that has pretty spectacular ruins, an amazing old Spanish church built atop an Incan foundation (of what I can't say), and a pretty cool Sunday markets with everything from vegetables to antiques.

Unfortunately, Chincero is not accessible with just a day pass. Annette had her tourist pass but I didn't want or need to pay 40 soles for a few day pass but luckily, after explaining the situation the woman at the gate waved me in.  Yay!

 I wish I could explain how awesome this church is inside.  As soon as I saw the church, I remembered being here from 2007.  In classic, freaky latin american catholic style, there are ceiling-high carved wood alters with built in cubbies that hold flowers and dolls and other secret stuff.  Oh I found a picture on the internet! (see below).

Also, pretty much every square inch of it is painted or a fresco.  Its a weird mix of incan/traditional art and then european paintings.  Pretty fascinating.

so awesomely weird.

lounging

the water still runs

Incredible stonework (no mortar)

Lauren, Jose, Annette

We just showed up in Chincero and found a hostel pretty easy.  A woman dressed in traditional Chincero-area clothing was very friendly and led us to a hostel.  Our host really liked us, even though (or especially because?) I gave him a hard time about what he was charging us. He dropped the price and then wanted a picture with us before we left.  Really nice guy. 

After a bit of breakfast at the hostel, we went ahead and set out for the trail. Our plan was to hike from Chincero to a small town called Urquillos.  Here is a map below:

The trail was beautiful, lush, and full of waterfalls.  There were bits of ruins along the way as well.

You can see this mountain from the satellite image.

Annette and waterfalls

This is so Peruvian.

getting close to Urquillos.


This was an amazingly beautiful hike and the perfect amount of difficultly for someone still adjusting to the altitude - its all downhill!  Can't wait to bring Ashley and Scott when they come in TWO WEEKS.

Cusco's Carneval

Turns out in South America, Carneval is not reserved only for Rio.  Carneval takes place everywhere, and for weeks.  In Cusco, they have some pretty funny traditions.  While there is the typical feasting and day-drinking of any holiday that takes place anywhere, there are also street attacks with water and foam. These attacks are gender-oriented - guys attacks girls/women and ladies attack the men/boys. 

 Last week we saw some pretty hilarious stuff. On Sunday, Patrick and I went for a hike in the city only to get bombed by water balloons and foam (I got a bucket of water to the the back too). Its too 'dangerous' to bring the camera so unfortunately I don't have photos.  However, there were people perched on rooftops tossing balloons, small mobs of people with spray foam, and we witnessed a car attack of foam on two little kids (who thought it was hilarious) and a brutal attack by two teenage girls who dumped a large bucket of blue tinted water from the back of a pickup truck right on the head on an unexpecting boy.

Yesterday, my colleague warned me that Carneval was not over.  Foolishly, Patrick and I dressed to go for a run today and quickly ran into a street corner lined with attackers. I was swarmed by 5 teenage boys (pretty sure they are the SAME that got me last week) while a group of young women ran after Patrick.  

The results are below:

Paro (Strike)

I would like to share some interesting photos from the recent city-wide "paro" - or strike.  This was a highly organized event which successfully shut down the city for two days.  My office was closed and we worked from home.

Many mayors of the cities within the Cusco metro area were in agreement that the demonstration needed to take place.  Therefore, in large meetings, the activities were organized and made public. This involved marching in the streets with home-made signs, blocking roads with rocks and trash, and meeting up at central locations to show the numbers of people involved.  Activities took place all around "el centro" - the center - but the entire city was shut down.  Everyone knew that it was not a day to work.

The issues that inflamed both the general public and local officials are related to the presidential office in Cusco, lack of fulfilled of campaign promises to the Cusco region.  Primary issues are the continued stalling of the construction of an international airport, high gas prices, and alignment with the US in opening markets.

"President" "traitor" "gas" "airport" "medicines"

In nearby Chinceros an aeropuerto (airport) is supposed to be built, but many believe its 10 years of delays to be conspiracy related as many in Lima do not want competition from another international airport in Peru. Protestors are angry because people have already been forced from their land and yet there is no progress and no related opportunities.  Additionally, gas lines pump gas from the Amazon all the way to coastal Lima, resulting in prices a third of those in Cusco for 5 or 6 times the distance. Cusco is demanding they also receive the benefits of piped natural gas, considering it is both an important, large city very close to the gas fields.

My road was blocked

Most interesting to me is the anger against new market-opening policies undertaken by President Humala in signing bi-lateral trade agreement with the US.  Many of those in Cusco, and even more those outside of Cusco, do not believe that the market opening policies (aligning Peru more closely with western markets, including the US) will help small business owners and regular people.  It may help to raise the GDP, but they believe the profits will go to owners of large business and the politically powerful.  If the structure we have today United States is a model, they are probably right.

A surge of people move past, on their way to the center

These don't tend to be dangerous in the city, but outside of the city people do get hurt, sometimes even killed. I have no idea but I'd have to imagine its because the rural people are 1) more angry and 2) less respected by the government. In Cusco, store fronts are closed.  Any store seen open is at risk of having a window smashed.  I did see a crowd bang violently on a door near my house before dumping a box of garbage inside the metal outer door.  When I asked why, a woman told me it was because they drove their car today.

So, how to survive a paro: Do not drive.  Do not work.  Do not buy anything from stores that are open.  Bicycles are okay.  Walking is fine.  But on paro day just remember that you have no work, no where to go (driving), and nothing to buy.  Have respect for the demonstration and let them shut down the city.  Its quite refreshing to see that people's issues are taken seriously and respected by their community.

I don't have much to comment on the impact of the paro, but when I do hear I will add an update to this post.

Sunday Hiking

Well, we've really hit the jackpot here.  Patrick was exploring with Nahele and found some great trails just up the mountain from us that are part of the Inca Trail.  The name for this portion is the Ruta Troncal Antisuyo Wak'a Chillkapujio.

First, theres a relatively brutal climb up from our 'casita' (post to come soon on where we live), but we rise up and out of the city within 15-20 minutes. Here, we are greeted with the sign below.  Shout-out to my GIS friends out there who can quickly see this is a terrible map!!  There are legend items not in the map and map items not in the legend.  Generally, its not helpful because the scale includes Ecuador and Chile (this is interesting but we are on foot here people).

Worthless map

Still climbing out of the city

But luckily, the path is very well marked (which is unsurprising considering it is Incan-built), and its pretty hard to get lost with the panoramic views on every other mountain top.

The first thing you start to notice (besides the green space, tall trees, and clean air) is that there are most definitely ruins here.  Sort of everywhere.  The remains of buildings are the first thing you spot, then major carving work in stone, evidence of the typical Incan water systems, and magical boulders and caves (they are magical...just accept that and its much more fun).

One of the coolest things up here is the Temple of the Moon.  I'd heard of this temple but had not yet had an opportunity to visit. This building has caves that mummified remains of children have been found in, and various alters that are rumored to become bathed in moonlight on certain days. Its currently a bit roped off as there is some archeological work underway. Maybe next hike up we will do a full analysis with some better pictures.

Magic secret Inca caves in the Temple of the moon

Our goal today was to pretty much see the countryside. With Nahele unleashed and only a few small groups of Peruvians washing clothes, picnicking, playing soccer, and laughing loudly, we had this incredible landscape largely to ourselves.

playing in the mountain water,  cut stones in the background

Laundry day (blankets drying in the sun) and lots of laughing and relaxing outside of the city

The trail isn't necessarily easy, and there are few spots where you aren't ascending or descending.  Nahele is able to be completely free up here and its fun to watch him explore and crash into each water source as we come across them.

Then we sit, enjoy some water and nibbles from little black awful flies, and rest our glutes for the haul back.

Following the trail back into the city

Its feels great to have something so awesome to do every weekend. Next time I think we will ask my friend Raul to drive us out to a starting point 7 km away and we will hike the distance back home.

still can't believe he's here!!  love it!