Lima to Cusco

Hi everyone,

To cap our wonderful first day in Lima, we went out for dinner to a local restaurant blasting a diverse array of music from Aventura to Metallica.  After chicharrones de pollo (a tasty fried version of chicken fingers) and a chilcano de pisco (pisco with grapefruit and lime), we decided to try a piece of the pastra known as Turron de Dona Juana.  It looks like layered graham crackers swimming in caramel or syrup and topped with colorful sugar candy, and has some sort of religious affiliation.  I'm glad I tried it, but the simultaneously sticky and dry pastry will not be repeated in my Peru diet.  Popping our heads out the door for a last look at the plaza after dark (still totally full of people), we heard the strains of 'Billy Jean' and went to investigate.  Sure enough, a street performer was honoring the King of Pop with a spot-on rendition of the moonwalk.  I would contest that it was Michael Jackson himself, as even the voice crooning to the crowd in an appeal for applause was accurate.

A fascinating cab driver to the airport this morning helped me piece together more information about the political history of Peru.  I'd been Reading parts of Alma Guillermoprieto´s compilation of articles about Latin America.  Her two essays on Peru talked about Fujimori and his shock doctrine of raising prices to lower demand and thus cut inflation (this was a University of Chicago idea, thanks Milton Friedman and his cronies, and has never really worked in Latin America, yet somehow those "gentlemen" thought it was a great idea to instate all over the continent).  Pardon the rant.  Anyway, I figured since the taxista was an older man, he might be able to  give me his opinions onf Fujimori.  He told me something interesting, that while he did not vote for the man and was not a "Fujimorista", he thought it was arguable that for his first five years in office, he could be considered the best modern president of the country.  The cabbie, Jorge, felt this because Fujimori had instated order where none had previously been present- prior to his election thousands and thousands of people were dying because of what Jorge called internal terrorism and scuffs between paramilitary groups.  So Fujimori helped restore order and security, plus tried to get rid of corruption.  According to Jorge, after 5 years a scandal broke out where Peru,s Minister of Finance was embezzling money from the country; between 200-300 million dollares left the country under his watch.  The scandal, and blow to Fujimori´s long-term popularity, was that although he knew about this egregious corruption, he did nothing to stop it.   Boo on him. 

Our flight to Cusco was brief and pleasant (I finished 7 lessons worth of planning for a weekly guided Reading group that I run, so I felt very productive).  Getting off the plane was a little bit shocking- both of us immediately felt our hearts beating faster, it was easier to become short of breath, and there was a new sense of dizziness and pressure in our head.  Let´s talk altitude:

Lima	5080	1550
Cusco	10800	3300
Ollantaytambo	9150	2790
Machu Picchu	8040	2450

So you can see that we have doubled our previous altitude, which should be a fun new challenge.  On the plus side, when we were in Brighton for Sara's wedding, the base altitude was 8755 ft, and at that altitude as well, you needed an extra breath after climbing one flight of stairs.  Also at Sara´s wedding, we hiked near to the top of the mountain as part of frisbee golf, and the elevation there was 10750.  I´m just looking up this information now, and I´m pleasantly surprised to see that I´ve already hiked in similar elevations without issue.  Yay!  I  do have to say, when we got out of the taxi and I had to walk (granted, with my entire backpacker bag) up about 7 stairs and then a slightly inclined street, it made me huff and puff a bit.  We were welcomed to our hostel with some traditional coca tea.  This is tea steeped from the leaves of the coca plant (same plant from which cocaine and basuco, a street drug, are derived.  It does not cause the same effects as the drug, and instead actually aids in combating the altitude (helps with headaches and nausea).  Right now we are sitting and waiting for our room, then we´re off to explore and see how many blocks we can walk without losing our breath!