Baby Moose is almost a cowboy now

On his way back from South American jungles, ruins and beaches, being such a brave soul who boldly ventures to unexplored terrains (Well, almost! But don't expect too much yet, Baby Moose is still a baby!), Baby Moose felt he needs some additional adventures and decided to try cowboy lifestyle in Texas. Eager to meet the famous longhorn cows, wear cowboy boots and perhaps even ride a real horse, Baby Moose landed at Houston airport.

Baby Moose was a little disappointed to find out that T's plan was somewhat different and that she was going to drag Baby Moose to visit some people called Antia&Carlos. Oh well, Taitti claims they are very nice people so Baby Moose was not too upset about the cowboy adventure changing into chit-chat and meeting the two puppies Deco and Laksa.

Baby Moose arrived on a Big Bus from Houston airport to Houston City and started making its way to the Greyhound station for the bus to Austin. It was quite happy it was getting a free ride on Taitti's small backpack while Taitti was carrying both the big and the small backpack.
BM: "Faster, Taitti, faster, I'm used to flying."
T: "Shut up, Baby Moose, we've got more than 3 hours before the bus leaves."
BM: "Ok, I understand. Faster, Taitti, faster. You're slower than a snail."

After buying tickets and having a chicken burger breakfast at the cafe, Baby Moose headed for the gate. At the security check Baby Moose tried to wave at the friendly security guard from his pocket where he was hiding but the security guard did not notice him at all. Oh well. Sometimes being small is not an advantage.

Immediately after arriving at Antia's & Carlos's house Baby Moose got introduced to the longhorn. Perfect, this is a good start to a trip to Texas. First longhorn friend already!

In the evening Baby Moose went to a TexMex restaurant. Good thing Baby Moose was not carrying any unlicensed weapons because otherwise they may not have let him in at this TexMex place. Not that baby Moose carries any licensed weapons either but if he had had one, he could have brought it with him. Just in case he would need a gun while eating his taco.

Instead of unlicensed or licensed weapons Baby Moose decided to focus on today's speacials, margarita's and half price fajitas.
BM: "What drink do you think Taitti will order me?"

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BM: "Oh, that bitch did not order me any drinks this time so I had to steal  some of Antia's fajitas...

The next day Baby Moose went on town and found this really lovely old style candy store. They had wonderful truffles, the biggest selection of jellybeans ever, really cute scorpions packed in jelly (well, just tiny little ones), the biggest jelly rats and jelly snakes Baby Moose has ever seen (the snakes were about one meter long) - and they had bacon chocolate. Although Baby Moose is mostly vegetarian he was very impressed by the bacon chocolate. He also bought some presents for his friends at Living Seas.

The next day it was cake time! Baby Moose had a difficult time choosing from all the pretty little cupcakes and almond florentines. In the end he decided just to eat some salad instead of pretty little cupcake since he could not decide which one he wants.

When Baby Moose got back home he got to play with Deco...

...and baby Laksa. Laksa also was kind and friendly, licked Baby Moose a little bit.

In the evening Baby Moose went out and met the egg at van at the Local Yolk. But since Baby Moose was in a mood for a real meal he could not stay and headed for the Showroom instead. They played some funky jazz at showroom that night.

Baby Moose was thinking about ordering some Cheap Ass Beer...

... but then Antia ordered him  a pisco sour, which made Baby Moose feel very nostalgic since he had only just come back from Peru. Hooray for Antia! It was Baby Moose's last night in Austin and the next day he had to get up early to pack his bag, go to Greyhound station in Austin and make his way to the airport in Houston.

Baby Moose on the Metro bus on his way from Houston centre to Houston IAH airport.

Baby Moose was pleased with the fact that Singapore airlines open their check-in counters so early in Houston so he did not need to spend too much time at the boring airport where the only coffee shop in terminal D was not even open.

At Ruby's diner Baby Moose had a granola yogurt while Taitti was having a chicken burger, and he also got a picture together with his favourite waitress, Courtney.

After the meal Baby Moose had to rush to the Continental President lounge since he had some important phone calls to make. Or at least Baby Moose liked to pretend that he did while Taitti was reading her emails.
On the flight back Baby Moose slept in the carry on luggage compartment for most of the flight. It was nice&quiet in there and the cabin lights did not disturb his sleep at all.

Baby Moose in Lake Titicaca

12-13 Sep 2010

Baby Moose arrived in Puno on September 11 and despite the negative connotations of the date he was rather happy in Puno and decided he wants to see the reed islands built by the Uros Indians. Therefore baby Moose got up early on the 12th and hopped on a little bus with a lot of other travellers to go down to the jetty where the boats for Uros, Amantani and Taquile islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.

Baby Moose's first stop was Amanecer island about half an hour boat ride from Puno. Amancer is one of the Uros floating islands built of reed. Baby Moose thinks it was fun the jump up and down on the reed - the island surface was bouncy - kind of like an ancient version of a bouncy castle.

Baby Moose listened to the presentation on how the islands are made of reed roots and layers of reed with great interest. He was particularly pleased that this presentation was aimed at travellers of his size with little reed houses and boats.

After the presentation Baby Moose enjoyed the hospitality of the Uros indians. There clearly was some kind of language and communication barrier as the inhabitants of these two beautiful houses did not speak nor move at all during Baby Moose's visit. But they seemed rather friendly so Baby Moose was pleased to ahve had the opportunity to look in an almost genuine Uros indian house on a floating island while Taitti explored the bigger houses. The people living in those houses seemed a lot livelier than these two whom Baby Moose visited. But it's ok because these two did not try to make Baby Moose buy a silly reed boat, a silly necklace or any other silly handicrafts. Baby Moose thinks all handicrafts that are not made to his size really suck.

Baby Moose also admired the view from the 4-meter high viewing tower...

...and enjoyed the lovely singing of the local ladies. Baby Moose is not quite sure though whether "Twinkle, twinkle Little Star" is a completely authentic song of the Uros indians... 

Baby Moose continued his journey to Amantani island and was given a room to share with Taitti.

Baby Moose quite liked the Harry Potter sheets so he decided to sleep in the same bed with Taitti because the other bed had Spiderman sheets and Baby Moose like Harry Potter better even though Harry Potter flies around with one of those uncool old-fashioned broomsticks. Maybe it's retro to fly around with a broomstick, who knows. Baby Moose is not very well up to date on the latest fashion trends regarding transportation methods. At least broomsticks are ecologically friendlier than cars so that's kind of awesome.

Baby Moose also went to admire the sunset - although he did not see one since the sun was hiding behind a cloud. The trip was not completely useless because Baby Moose found another friendly lady who was selling hats in his size. Baby Moose had already lost the hat he bought the day before. This time he bought a hat that could be secured under his chin with a nice knot, not to lose the hat again.

After the hike up and down the hill Baby Moose was a little tired and thirsty - no wonder since Lake Titicaca is at 3,800 meters from sea level and the hill where he climbed was at about 4,100 meters. Therefore Baby Moose found his way to the local pub on the main square and enjoyed a drink of pisco and a beer.

Later on that night the local villagers took the entire group out to a little party and dressed up everyone in local clothes. Baby Moose thinks his hat was enough for teh occasion and laughed at Taitti looking silly in her Peruvian clothes.

Baby Moose was even more amused when the dancing started and everyone was hopping around to the rhythm of traditional songs and looked rather clueless about the very simple steps of this dance. It was very entertaining, says Baby Moose, well worth attending.

On the morning of the last day Baby Moose enjoyed his last muña tea on Amantani island, said goodbye to the friendly host family and headed towards Taquile island.

On Taquile Baby Moose found a lady who was selling scarfs in Baby Moose's size. Most people wore those scarves tied around their wrist but that did not bother Baby Moose at all, he thinks it was a very nice scarf indeed and nicely knitted too. And it only cost one sol! What a bargain again.

 Baby Moose enjoyed the handicraft market on the main square of Taquile island and also the views from the building rooftop. Baby Moose did think these villagers were really handicraft crazy: Little girls seemed to want to learn spinning at the age of 4 and even men were sitting on the marketplace knitting their hats.

On the way back to the boat Baby Moose decided to get a picture together with Taitti at the famous arch. It was somewhat unclear to Baby Moose why was the arch famous but since his tour guide said it was famous it was best to tkae a picture here, just in case.

In the end it was time to head back to the boat and commence the 3-hour journey back to Puno. Baby Moose was very pleased with his trip, in particular the Harrry Potter sheets, the hat and the scarf made him smile. Next, Baby Moose will be heading to Austin to meet Antia, Carlos, Deco and Laksa.

The Most Famous of All Piles of Rock in Peru - Machu Picchu

09-10 Sep 2010

The stop most travelers to Peru really look forward to is the visit to the old Inca town of Machu Picchu at the height of 2,400 meters above sea level. The closer the day to hopping on a train to Aguas Calientes – or “Machu Picchu village” – came the more I felt that happy, bubbly, tingly feeling spreading all over my body. I’m going to Machu Picchu! I can’t believe how lucky I am.

I made friends on the way to the Ollantaytambo train station with two Argentinean men, Roberto and Enrique, who were travelling in the same car as I was, crammed in with 6 other passengers. We had a cup of coffee and a burger in the café closest to the train station and boarded the train to Aguas Calientes. There was a man waiting for me at the train station to show me to my hotel, which I found absolutely hilarious since Aguas Calientes is a small village with two main streets and no hotel can be further than 200-300 meters from the station. Yet they wanted to make sure I don’t get lost…

Exiting the train station in Aguas Calientes

Hotel Santuario in my opinion was pretty nice, particularly considering I had spent most of the time on this trip either living in a tent or sleeping in a hostel dorm. Hey, this place had a private bathroom and two beds in the room (and they were real beds, not camping mats or bunk beds). There also was tv in the room. It was so long since I’ve seen a tv in my room I did not know what do with it anymore - so I decided to have a nap instead. I could have enjoyed a bath at the famous hot springs that gave their name to the village of Aguas Calientes (i.e. “Hot Waters”). But no. Instead I happily slept for a couple of hours in the privacy of my Real Hotel Room and felt extremely refreshed upon waking up.

Later that day I went looking for my two newly found friends Patricia&Andrew. I met them at the Flying Dog Hostel in Cusco and after having exchanged travel stories and tips, we realised that we will be in machu Picchu on the same day. Fabulous! So we decided we shall meet for dinner after P&A’s train gets to Aguas Calientes. I went looking for their hostel Oro Verde in the small village. (btw, Oro Verde is the hostel you do NOT want to stay in if you ever visit Machu Picchu. It had moldy, smelly rooms with broken locks on the doors and no breakfast on time despite the fact that breakfast was supposed to be included in room price.) We had a stroll in the village, bought some snacks , wondered about the train tracks that run down on the main street of the village (the “city train”) and eventually settled in a small restaurant near Oro Verde. We had a not-so-impressive dinner at the place – although we did manage to recruit a new friend. His name was Alfonso and he was studying medicine in Chile. He was having dinner all by himself so we invited him to join us. The impressive part of the dinner was that the cook had some talent in turning carrots into sculptures. We found a flamingo, a dog, a llama and a turtle on our plates when the food arrived.

The Flamingo in the salad

We had planned to get up early so we all headed back to our hostels after dinner. I was planning on taking a 7am bus whilst Patricia, Andrew and Alfonso were thinking about being on the first bus at 5.30am. In the end I was so excited about going to Machu Picchu that I was at the bus station already at 6.45am. To my great surprise I found both my two Argentinean friends and Patricia&Andrew on the same bus. What a great start to a day!

Map of Machu Picchu

All the travellers flocking in to Machu Picchu at 8am...

 

P,A&me all got on the same guided tour. The tour was excellent and well worth the money. Apart from getting a comprehensive view of the old Inca town we also learned that Peru has over 400 species of orchids and that coca plants don’t grow well at altitude.

One of those 400 species of orchids

We viewed the town from the official “National Geographic” viewing point from where all those fabulous Nat Geo photos have been taken from, entered  the town through the main gate, visited the observatory (the Incas were quite good astronomers), saw the Temple of the Sun – Temples of Sun were only located in important Inca cities, got familiar with Inca’s ways of creating echoes in the main square and in the building structures and admired the carved stone walls that have survived almost intact for so many centuries and earthquakes. 

Not all walls have survived the years and the earthquakes completely intact The purpose of the canal on the left side of the terraces is to absorb earthquakes (and don't ask me how - I'm not an engineer nor an Inca architect)

Machu Picchu is truly marvelous, beautiful, impressive and brilliant. The mere size of the place is awe-inspiring. It's an entire Inca town that used to have 500 people living in it - and 90-95% of the buildings are almost intact. That's because the Spanish conquistadors never found the place. Only 5-10% of the place needed to be reconstructed after Mr Hiram Bingham wandered upon the place in 1911. He effectively paid the locals only one sol each (a day's pay at the time, to be fair) for finding him mummies of the Incas. He removed them, as well as all the precious artifacts that had any historical or monetary value, shipped them to his university in the US with a promise the objects will be returned as soon as they have been evaluated and listed. US Mail or Fed Ex must have run into some serious trouble with the shipping since the Peruvians are still waiting for the objects to arrive back to their home country and it has been nearly 100 years since Bingham promised to ship them back...

What also really impressed me was the Incas' relationship to nature. Mountains were considered gods and before one would attempt a long trip he would ask permission from the mountains to pass through. (Maybe I would have had better luck with the weather during my hike in Huayhuash if I had paid due respects to the mountains before wandering off and Happily Heidi-Hopping on the Hills during my 8 days in Huayhuash?) One of the impressive carvings that is still on display in Machu Picchu (it was probably too big&heavy for Bingham to steal and ship to the US) represents a condor carved in stone. What's very clever about the statue is that although the body and head of the condor are carved in a flat stone, two natural rock formations behind the slate depict its wings. 

The Condor. I did not get a decent picture of it with its wings so you will have to use your imagination to figure out what the wings look like

After a snack break in the only place with shade (which smelled of wee, btw) we made some plans of how to best use the remaining hours that we had left for tackling Machu Picchu. We had already decided in the morning not to climb the Wayna Picchu peak which is limited to 400 climbers a day due to the steep and narrow path that leads to the top as we were informed that the views from Puerta del Sol (Sungate) and Machu Picchu mountain top would be better. Therefore we set route towards Puerta del Sol where the Inca Trail ends. The 30-45 minute sloping uphill walk in scorching sun to Puerta del Sol was well worth it. The view that opened in front of us was spectacular, making the entire Inca town look like a toy model city surrounded by the majestic mountains. I can really imagine how impressed those arriving at Machu Picchu along the Inca trail must be when they are rewarded with the view of the entire Machu Picchu town after four days of hiking on the mountains.

View of Macchu Picchu and the road leading to Machu Picchu viewed from the Sungate

As that would not have been enough, Andrew and I spent another hour climbing up Machu Picchu mountain while Patricia explored the ruins further. The views from the peak were well worth the climb - although I do think the best views were still from the Sungate.

On top of the world - I mean, on top of machu Picchu peak

After a long day of walking and climbing we needed to reward ourselves with Pizza&Beer. Oh boy, was a cold Cusquena the best thing I've ever tasted after the steamy and dusty day! We were also very amused by the "city train" passing by a couple of times on the street. "A train on the main street of a village? No, I have not seen that before" I had to explain to our handsome waiter Leo who did not quite understand what was so amusing and worth taking photos of about the little train that was making its way towards the station.

The city choo-choo train

Eventually we too got back on the train and the trip towards Ollantaytambo and Cusco started. I was seated with two British guys and a German girl in their 20s. They had just been 9 days in the jungle and trekking. Ed who was sitting next to me suggested we'd play games to make the train journey pass quicker and as we did not have playing cards we ended up playing the alphabet game with names of countries and animals. We also ended up in silly discussions over whether Wales and England count as countries - according to our two British representatives they do count as sovereign states as they do have their own governments. Oh well, although me and the Germal girl did have a bit of a differing opinion about this we eventually counted them as countries... A few rounds of the game and some banter took us to Ollantaytambo more entertained than bored.

It took me while to find my bus in Ollantaytambo but eventually we did find the buses, got back to cusco and reached the flying Dog together with Patricia&Andrew and half past midnight. Oh no, and tomorrow I will get picked up from the hostel at 7am to go to Puno! Not much sleep - but it does not matter. I had so much fun and I was so impressed by The Old Pile of Rocks of Machu Picchu it makes up for any lack of sleep.

Famous Rock

07-08 Sep 2010

One thing that a traveler typically ends up doing is visiting historic sites in the countries she’s visiting. One walks around or drives around, either independently or following a tour guide, to see cathedrals, temples, monuments, statues, plazas, buildings, museums and ruins. Wandering around looking at tons of famous rock.

Peru is definitely a country where one can admire various sites of famous rock. The most well-known ones are the ruins of the former Inca cities and Inca sites of worship. Although the Spanish conquistadors did a good job at eliminating most important Inca sites and signs of Inca culture in particular in the area around the Inca capital of Cusco, they also used the sites to build their own buildings and religious sites. The cathedral in Cusco, for example, has been built on the site where Wiracocha’s (the last Inca) palace was at the time the Spanish won over the Incas and killed Wiracocha on the main square by attaching a horse to each of his arms and legs and pulling them off his body. The Spanish tore down most of the strong, earthquake proof stone walls designed and built by the Inca architects and used the finely carved stones as materials for new buildings. To reinforce the new culture, where old stone walls were left in place to serve part of a new building the walls were often plastered over to reinforce the new culture through common objects, artefacts, churches (new sites of worship) and buildings.

Cusco Cathedral

The Cusco cathedral was one of the most interesting places I visited. It has got a curious mix of local Peruvian and traditional Spanish catholic elements.  For example, in the fresco of the last supper the food on the table is – a cuy (guinea pig) ! There are also some local fruit trees in the painting that do not grow either in Middle East nor in Spain.   

Last Supper

In the centre of the cathedral, in the choir which was probably mostly used as the “meeting room” for the priests and bishops, there are beautifully carved cedar wood chairs. Some of the decorations on the seats are women with Peruvian facial features – and bare breasts and big bellies with clear belly buttons. This symbolism is probably referring to “Pachamama” (Mother earth), the most important god in Peru for the 4,000 years before the arrival of the conquistadors. 

Choir in Cusco Cathedral

 In another chapel in the cathedral there is a black statue of Jesus Christ known as “El Señor de los Temblores” (The Lord of Tremors/Earthquakes). He received the name in 1650 when Cusco was hit by a strong earthquake followed by numerous aftershakes. The story claims that when the aftershakes would not stop, the church organised a big procession on town carrying this particular statue of Jesus in the procession. This made the earth calm down and hence the statue has since then been called “The Lord of Earthquakes” and has a special place in the hearts of the citizens of Cusco.

As Incas also worshipped the sun, converting them to Catholics was not all straightforward. One of the elements that is seen in the altars of all catholic churches in Peru that I visited was mirrors placed around the altar. This was done to give the newly converted Catholics a representation of the sun.  Often the altars even had a sun and stars constellation made of gold high on top of the altar, in addition to the mirrors.

The Inca citadels and temples – or their ruins – Qorikancha (The temple of the Sun) in Cusco and the two citadels in Pisac and Ollantaytambo also served as a good introduction to Inca architecture, way of life and how Incas cultivated vegetables and fruits on terraced lands on the hills around the citadels. The terraces on both sites are well preserved and restored. We also got a good understanding of how Incas made their most important buildings stand against earthquakes by the way they carved the stones, made the walls incline inwards at a carefully set angle, inserted tall, narrow vertical pieces of rock in between the bigger rocks to absorb shocks from earthquakes, used temperature changes (contraction when weather cooled down at night) to make pieces fall in place perfectly and carved them to fit each other - just like legos! Rocks were also carved and organized in place to depict the important Inca symbolism: Miniatures of surrounding mountains since mountains were considered gods, snakes such as Urubamba river in the sacred valley (snake was the guardian of the underworld), pumas (the guardian of “here” world), condors (the guardian of the above world) and for example llamas were still found in the ruins.

Pisac terraces

Legos! Ok, no, theyr are not legos, they're display pieces of rock at Qorikancha to show how Incas carved the rocks they used to construct the important buildings and sites

I was very impressed by all this famous rock that I was introduced to over the two days tours in Cusco. I cannot wait to get to Machu Picchu now that I’ve received a basic education to Inca culture, architecture and important symbols of the Inca religion!

(PS - the pictures of Cusco cathedral inside and outside are not mine - I've stolen them form the web since no pictures are allowed inside the cathedral haha!)

Piece of rock that weighs over 3 tonnes in Saqsayhuaman near Cusco

 

Can you see the llama made of the rocks?

Sacred Valley and Urubamba river

 Face of an Inca prince carved on a mountain side in Ollantaytambo