The Dirt Cricket Abides

Usually I try to come up with a marginally or pitifully witty title for each posting but I simply love the actual names of the places I had visited on this turn, so I left them as is for the entry header.

After my time in Mancora I took another unsuccessful overnight bus to Chiclayo. Unsuccessful because even with a sleeping pill I barely slept and for the first time ever the damn thing arrived EARLY. It is not fun being all alone in a dicey bus station at 4AM. Now it may not have been dicey, but anywhere alone in a foreign country at 4AM feels a bit scary. After a taxi that tried to rip me off, I finally found a room and feel asleep for a few hours.

There was only one reason for me to come to this stark ugly town, and they were the sites I wanted to see. Chichlayo really has very little to offer the tourist. The city was scorching hot, the sun really hurt the flesh, and it simply is ugly. I realize the town has economic importance to Peru but its only—and very impressive at that—redeeming features are the surrounding historical sites. The sites are all a part of the ancient Moche culture that well preceded the Inca and lasted for much longer than the Inca. Most associate the Inca as being the most glamorous ancient culture of Peru, and it is a point hotly debated here in this country. Now the Inca were the most powerful culture in existence when the Spaniards came and started sacking the entire continent, and left behind the most indelible image—Machu Picchu; but they only had power for 150 years. However, because of the Inca’s lasting architecture and encounter with Westerners they are now the cultural image of Peru’s past.

Obviously I am setting you up for the fact that in ways I found what the Moche accomplished as equally impressive as the legacy of the Inca. Before I get into the tour, I did complete my first day wandering around Chiclayo to randomly run into my friend Thierry again. It was a nice treat because I had assumed the entire time in Chiclayo would be a solo adventure, as the city did not draw many backpackers. Thierry had been working his charm on a local Peruvian girl and had found himself stuck for a couple weeks. The side benefit of this was that I was able to go out with the two of them and all her friends. It’s always cool to get locals to take you around their city. Either way they couldn’t change my mind…I think their town kinda sucks. Thierry and I did manage to visit one of the best markets I had come across thus far. There was one part in specific that had a Brujo’s (witch doctor’s) section. One could find all sorts of dead animals, hallucinogenic plants, powders, tobacco mixtures, and god knows what else. The market was highly chaotic and left me taking what I call the “snap and run.” Essentially this “snap and run” is when I see a photo I want but I am scared for the safety of my camera and myself. I stand still until there is an acceptable break in the human traffic, quickly take out my hulking DSLR snap a picture, stuff it back in the bag and basically run before any opportunistic thief can plan an ambush. So far so good, but I am waiting for the day when someone makes a leap for my camera. Anyhow, the market had a dizzying array of seafood, produce, grains, spices and even a huge section of blacksmiths. All in all it was a visual and olfactory orgy that was not always so pleasant. I even found a man who was selling the service of his trusty monkey. For $0.15 you could have monkey deftly work a scale so you could know your weight…don’t ask me, but it’s real.

So back to the tours. I was able to see the tomb of The Lord of Sipan and the museums housing his treasures. This amazingly has been the richest discovery in the new world, and I believe the entire world outside of King Tutankhamun. The museum at Lambayeque sadly does not allow photos but it houses a dizzying display of gemstones, gold, silver, copper, seashells and textiles. All of this was even more impressive when one considers that what we saw was only what the huaqueros—grave robbers—had not yet stolen. There was a small side exhibit allowing photos and here you can see one of the gold masks that would have been one of a string of five composing a stately necklace. I really cannot give the museum justice but it ranks as the best museum display I have seen to date. Yes there are much larger exhibits I have seen in my life, but nothing matches the sheer beauty and amount of objects taken out of one single location.

Tucume was the last stop on my tour and was the remnants of an adobe city. All the structures after a thousand years of weather now look like mounds of dirt, but the immensity of the location is what makes it impressive. The only way to appreciate the scope of their accomplishment is to climb a nearby mountain and scan the horizon. Here is one tiny sliver of their old city behind me, but to help with perspective it took almost a dozen side-by-side photos to capture the entire image.

I am off to the Spanish colonial town of Trujillo and another beach town.

Chirp a touch more cultured chirp

Saying farewell to Cuenca was a actually not as hard as I thought. I have a very hard time staying still for very long periods of time. Yes admittedly I move much slower than most backpackers, but two weeks in one place was just too much. My life has been such a whirlwind of stimulation that even a foreign city was becoming dull. Let us not forget to mention the fact that I was heading back to the beach for a bit more sun, girls, and surfing. I was also excited to finally be making it to Peru and much closer to my family in Lima.

The journey to Mancora was an interesting one. Hearing that the border crossing at the costal intersect of Ecuador and Peru was the most dangerous in South America my friend Elle and I decided that going for it in the middle of the night was best. This strategy may seem counterintuitive, but the reality—as we heard from others—is that the thieves are taking advantage of the tourists that arrive in droves during daylight hours. Therefore this produced a rare breed of thief…the nine to fiver. A quick summation was that everything worked smoothly and we were not robbed between the two border crossings (8KM of the hinter land in which you are not legally on any foreign soil). This likely only worked out because a very kind Chilean saw how hopeless we were and took us under his wing making sure that we found the right border protection service. No joke, this border is so bad they have a service to help foreigners get across without being robbed or forced into bribes. This also proved to be a slap in my face reminding me that my Spanish, while much better, is really not that good.

The entire trip I had high hopes for Mancora. I had heard for years about this ideal beach town in the north of Peru with great waves and beautiful girls. The reality was a hot very dusty beach town that did little to hold my interest. The Pan American runs through the center of town sending dirt and dust in every direction and the locals are simply rude. This has been the town that I most felt like a walking ATM machine thus far.

Fortunately I found a great crew in a great hostel and we practiced our synchronized swimming and drank each night in the swimming pool until about 5AM. Typical of the trip so far we were an Irish, Swede, Canadian, South African, Brit, Peruvian, the two obligatory Aussies, and myself. I’ll tell you that considering how few Aussies there are in the world they represent very well on the backpacking circuit.

Next up, more ancient dead people and cultures.

Chirp…I’m very dark now

Up to this point I have been generally down on Ecuador. Cuenca was a massive relief and saved face on Ecuador for me.

First off the city is clean. The sight of trash did not constantly assault me, as it seemed to everywhere else in Ecuador. Another nice part about Cuenca is that there is a very nice blend of Colonial Architecture and modern flair. Another nice part about the city of Cuenca is that there is a blend of both French and Spanish influence. It’s quite obvious as you wander around the city that it is one that promotes and fosters any form of art. In fact every art museum in Cuenca is free.

Now the only downer is that I am now dealing with illness number two. I am back to spiking a fever and rolling with a sore throat. In fact it blew up into full on strept throat…thank god I was carrying my sack of antibiotics to clean it all out. I did have to change hostels each night for the first three nights, as I was trying to find a nice place to settle for the two weeks + I planned on spending here. After finally finding the perfect guest house I was happy to have some semblance of a routine enter my life. Spanish classes for 4hours a day one on one with a tutor was a excellent but sobering. I quickly realized that my dreams of full fluency were going to take more than this trip were going to provide. I am certainly going back to the states with much more Spanish than I had ever had in my life and this is something I will not give up on. One day I hope to be fully fluent but the improvements to date are still dramatic.

So an interesting tidbit I learned about Cuenca is that the Panama Hat is actually from here. Where the confusion has stemmed from is that the hats were exported through Panama, hence the moniker we all know. I also found out that Ecuador’s best football team is from Cuenca. Now this is where I had my most memorable experiences…at the football stadium. An English guy in the hostel informed me there was a match for the Copa Liberatadores (South America’s version of the Premiership) between Cuenca and Maracaibo, Venezuela. It was actually a very important match because the loser would be eliminated and could not advance to later stages. Nonetheless, those who have seen football in South America know very well the energy far surpasses any NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB game. We may get louder through sheer numbers, but I have never seen us form a mamba line and march behind a monster drum, throw water balloons relentlessly (which the cops were convinced came from the gringos) at the opposing team, or light flares and dance like a madman through a packed stadium. Truly we could learn a few things from these fans. I wonder if the pole is too far up the ass of the stadium security in Philly, but I am trying to bring in a 5-foot tall drum next Phillies game. I can still hear the deep thud of the drum and the entire stadium yelling Cuenca! Cuenca! Cuenca! Cuenca!….

I managed to squeak out to see an interesting ruin about 3 hours away form Cuenca. Ingapirica is sitting a couple valleys over and is the largest standing Inca ruin in all of Ecuador. Though the ruins are paltry by Peruvian standards, it is still impressive to see evidence of how this culture was able to dominate the entire Andean mountain range. It was also interesting because the Inca were not bashful…they simply built directly on top of what the Canari Indians had left behind. So you could see rough hewn rock composing the bottom third of the structures and the perfect Inca stonework simply sitting on top of what had once been their culture’s work.

Cuenca also had its host of museums but the most interesting thing I saw were the shrunken heads. Yes folks, the legend is real. There is actually an indigenous tribe in the Amazon where if you cross them they will shrink your head and keep it as a trophy. If you ask me this kind of looks like my friend Adam. While on the mystical topic, I had my aura cleansed by a medicine woman. This consisted of her beating me about the face and upper body with a bundle of herbs (which did make me feel lightheaded), rubbing an egg in a shell all over my body (the egg picks up the bad pieces of my aura), and spitting some sort of alcohol all over me to make sure that I stay protected. It was right out of the movies, but I suppose the big difference is that there was a line of normal looking people waiting for the same to be done to them. While I found it novel and humorous, educated professionals were going through what was a normal weekly routine.

Now just a little culinary side note, until this point the food in Ecuador has basically been sautéed cardboard. If I were lucky the cardboard came with salt. However, Cuenca has this odd specialty of Pork & Turkey sandwiches. They look plain and the sauces look even duller, but if god did not come down and put the flavor of heaven in these seemingly simple sandwiches then I cannot explain what makes them so good. The words will haunt me as I ordered it over dozen times “Un sanduche de pernil y un otro de pavo, y un jugo de coco.” Emmm just wiped the saliva off my chin

Tomorrow I go to Peru!!! Oh and what is considered the most dangerous border in South America…grrrrreat.

Chirp get ready to bribe my first oficial? Chirp