宁静致远

I will be toasted before I get eating disorder…

I will probably develop an eating disorder before I finish writing my travel diary.

Estoy aquí, pero mi corazón no esta aquí.

My cell phone still sucked, but it wasn’t too bad as I woke up 5 minutes after
when I should had gotten up. J also ordered a wakeup call from the reception
desk - a phone call rang once and then stopped. I wouldn’t really call it a
wakeup call. Anyways, we got to the train station on time. I had my ticket so I got on
the train first. J lined up to buy his and he went to a different compartment
for locals. Another boring train trip. Of course I slept on the train again.

We got back to Cusco, sharing a taxi with two other people. There was supposed
to be a strike on Monday, but we didn’t know too much about it. The rest of the
day was quite relaxing. I almost got the entire evening ‘off’. J could finally
take a break from me and do something useful - attending his English class.
I didn’t do much except for walking around the downtown area and napping in my room.
We had dinner in a Chinese place (Chifa). I talked to the owner in Chinese and
ask for some recommendations. The owner is from Fujian but he lives in Shanghai
for a couple of years. He only recommended one thing and told me that nothing
in the restaurant is really Chinese. Of course that was obvious to me, but not so
to J. We ordered Fen in the end. J liked it and managed to remember its name.
I don’t think he still remembers how to say gracias in Chinese though.

I planned to get up as early as possible to catch the first bus to Machu
Picchu. However, this didn’t happen due to laziness. I got up at 6:30 AM
instead of 5:00 AM (my stupid cell phone didn’t work properly and the alarm
clock didn’t go off). After buying me the entrance tickets for the site, we got
some fresh fruit from the market. I also bought some water and crackers last
night. We had a simple breakfast while buying the bus tickets, and then got on
the bus.

Everything seemed so familiar to me, and I know to J it’s just a routine. He
doesn’t remember how many times he has been here. He told me he started off as
a Machu Picchu tour guide working twice a week, then he became a trek
guide, including the Inka trail and alternatives. It’s been five years. I
didn’t bother to do the math.

It was a cloudy day. Many parts were covered with the mysterious cloud in
the morning. As usual, we ascended in the agricultural sector, looked around, and then
descended to the entrance to Wayna Picchu. At the beginning J walked really
fast. He definitely overestimated me. I soon started panting and asked him to
slow down. After all I’m way less fit than he is. Need to be stronger. The
destination was the temple of moon, which I was not able to visit the last
time. Soon after we diverged from the path to Wayna Picchu peak, we got to the
ladder. I was stepping down, and J said something like ‘fortunately you
practiced karate’. Just at that moment, I slipped and hurt my shin a bit. How
fortunately that was. I joked with him that he shall not say any fortunately or
luckily anymore.

It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get down to the temple of the moon. I
don’t remember how long it took us to get there. All I remember is that it was
very peaceful and quiet. It’s incredible how the Inkas put the rocks there,
especially the pieces in the corner. J and I sat in the niche. He started to
meditate and I watched him. Maybe I should have thought about something useful
too, but I didn’t. Instead I just sat there, watching him and the rocks, with a
blank mind. Sometimes it is nice to not think about anything, and that moment
was like that.

Later we got out of the niches and climbed up a bit to have lunch. Bananas,
mandarins, and crackers. Several couples arrived from the path of Wayna Picchu.
One couple from Argentina asked J whether it’s far to go up (the path that we took
down). J answered mas o menos (more or less). The girls said ’shit, mas o menos
simpre es sí’. I found it amusing. This is how it is like to be in Machu
Picchu. You need to climb up, then down, then up, then down. You can be so
exhausted and yet so impressed by what is around you.

I don’t know how long we sat there and basked in the sun. J told me it’s about
an hour. I followed him after this extended break. It was tiring to climb up,
but I think my body got used to it after a while. Of course we weren’t walking
very fast and that’s the main reason I didn’t feel terribly tired. Three hours
after I got into the Wayna Picchu gate, I came out.

There was one incident that was so amusing that we would never forget. We were
doing our little adventure here and there (trying to avoid the rain at the same
time). We got into a small cave, and J checked the place with his light. I wasn’t
paying attention until he started digging stuff - he found coins in the mud,
some of which were pretty old. ‘We are rich’, he joked. I said that we could
take the coins, someone probably just left them here. J pointed me to some coca
leaves on the ground and said that the coins were offerings. ‘Oh, then we
should put them back’, I said. He threw the coins back. Soon after we found
that there was actually a group of people practicing Andian religion right
beside us. They were meditating while we exclaimed ‘we are rich’. It must be
pretty amusing for them. After they finish meditating, the shaman
asked several people to pass the secret passage, which connects to the small
cave that we were in. We looked at each other and couldn’t help laughing.

I attempted to climb Machu Picchu (the mountain), but gave up halfway after J
told me that it’d take me a hour to get to the peak (it was 3:00 PM already).
On our way back there was a boy trying to get to the peak. He asked us how long
it’d take and I told him an hour. I don’t know if he made it in the end. I hope
so. For me, that’s something for my third time there. I need to leave myself
some excuses to come back (there is no lack of excuses anyway).

We left Machu Picchu at around 5 PM. Dinner was at a small place near the
Plaza. Food was not bad and the price was much cheaper than the gringo places.
Unfortunately I forgot its name. We had a bottle of black beer back at the
hotel. It was my first cusqueña cerveza experience.

I woke up at 6:30 AM, and then finally got up at 7:30 AM. I had the same type
of breakfast as Janet and I had last year - bread with butter and jam, fresh
juice, and local coffee. I met Veronica in the lounge. She was leading a group
of people and they were discussing the travel details. J arrived a bit late, as
usual. We talked to Veronica and then started our day. Hours later I found out
that I forgot to leave the key at the hotel.

Out first destination was Chinchero. We shared a taxi with other people, and
more people got on later. The taxi was packed. We had to squeeze together,
trying in vane to make some space. Of course no one wore the safety belts,
which can be quite freaky for gringos. We went to a small hill. J found
the secret cave. ‘Your life depends on one finger’, he said. I was confused. He
asked me to leave my backpack at the top of the hill, and I went down the rocks
with him. It was like rock climbing, just without all the safety measures. No ropes.
No nothing. Just several holes on the rock to give some support. There is one hole
so small that it can only fit one finger. I need to hold my upper body
using this one finger. At that moment I understood what he meant. I was scared for
a second when I couldn’t change fingers (from left index to right index…). It was a
reborn process. You went through all the difficulties. You felt anxious and scared. Then
you reach a place where you squeeze yourself through a small passage, just like what
we all did in our mothers’ uteri to be born. I was deeply impressed.

I had half a cup of chicha at Chinchero’s market. Gringos are not supposed to drink too
much chicha because our stomachs are not used to it. The drink can ferment inside.
After Chinchero, we shared taxis first to Urubamba, then to Ollantaytambo. We
had lunch at the same place as last year, and then climbed up to the ruins. J
loves the place. To him, Ollantaytambo is perfect. I looked at the storehouses,
and the faces on the mountains. I don’t have so deep an affection as J, and I’m
not sure if it is really perfect, but it was definitely beautiful.

I took the 4:05 train to Aguas Calientes, and J bought tickets for 8:35 PM
train (thanks to my stupidity). The train trip was boring. I fell asleep (it is
always so easy for me to fall asleep on the train or the bus). Two hours later
I got off the train. J already called the hostel to pick me up. The hotel boy
spelt my name wrong, but it was still obvious enough to be my name. I followed
him to the hostel, and we talked in Spanish. I could understand most of it
since he talked slowly (of course I told him right away that I only understand
a tiny bit of Spanish). It’s funny that most of the Peruvian guys that I met
would ask me how old I am and whether I have boyfriend and such (not that I’ve
met many). He even took his friend to my room and they ask me for my email
address.

I went out for dinner and had a salad. When I finish my food, it started to
rain really hard. One Chilean guy in the restaurant talked to me for a while
(in English…Chilean Spanish is notoriously difficult to understand). Then I
walked back to the hostel. The rain wetted my pants entirely. I took off the
pants and took a shower, not really expecting it to be dry the next day. I
tried to review some of my Spanish notes while lying on the bed. That didn’t
work very well - I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, J arrived.

My uneventful evening turned out to be quite eventful for him. His colleague
called him, saying that the passengers that were supposed to appear in
Ollantaytambo didn’t appear. The señorita was really scared, and J called his
other friends to see if those two went to the station in Cusco instead.
Fortunately his friend got there on time, and found the two people, and things
worked out.

I passed the custom at around 1:40 AM. My next flight was at 6:15 AM. During
the nest 4 hours, I re-read the papers for compiler error recovery, I browsed
through a couple of chapters of level set method with a strong cup of coffee,
and I made a simple TO-DO list along with the aftereffect of coffee. I finally
started passing out when I opened the SE textbook and tried to read Chapter 10.
I didn’t get though many pages, 5 at most, and in the end I gave up. Using the
book with my winter jacket as a pillow was a way better idea than actually
reading it. Talking about some fun activities in the airport at 4 in the
morning.

Flight from Lima to Cusco was not bad. I ordered orange juice in Spanish but
the flight attendant asked me if I want ice in English. Of course I got the
hint, but I was determined to be a thickly-faced Spanish language butcher.
Veronica met me right after I stepped out of the plane. Everything went smoothly.
I got my luggage, I got all the instructions for the day (mainly about the
train tickets for Machu Picchu), and I was escorted to a taxi that took me to
the hotel. This is just a bit too convenient. I don’t think I’ve ever travelled
like this in the past few years. I freaked out in Toronto when I knew that
everything on the first day will be taken care of. I was still freaking out
in the taxi on my way to the hotel.

The taxi driver and I talked a bit. He speaks way more slowly, and I was actually
able to follow most of the conversation. (Of course I stated upfront that I
don’t know much Spanish.) The reservation was already made. After saying chau
to the kind driver, the young boy led me to my room. He doesn’t speak English.
I barely made him understand me (and vice versa). I took a quick shower.
Meanwhile someone sent me a small bouquet of flowers, with a note saying
‘Welcome to Cusco’. That is very nice. All woman love flowers. I’m no
exception.

The trip to the train station was interesting. I’ve been to the train station,
but it was dark and Janet and I simply haled a cab, so I don’t remember at all
which station we were at and where it is. I walked long Ave Sol till I wasn’t
sure whether I turned at the correct intersection. And then when I asked
people, different people told me different things! I ended up walking uphill
and downhill several times. A 15 minutes walk turned into 45 minutes. I
honestly felt stupid near the end.

I don’t have altitude sickness. I wasn’t sure about that last time (since we
ascended slowly from Arequipa). This time I was able to run up and down with an
almost empty stomach right after the flight from Lima (didn’t expected myself
to be so stupid and thought I could get something to eat pretty fast).

The afternoon was not so eventful. I bought a new adapter at 4.50 soles, talked
to some random guy from England at Plaza de Armas, took an extended nap, and
finally started to look at my TODO list. Unfortunately I didn’t get too much
done because of a stupid bug in my CS467 code (which I found out days later).

I had to miss IRC for Cusco.

The airways transit was 20 minutes late and the lineup for Air Canada
international flights was ridiculous. Luckily all the people who are ‘late’ for
the Lima flight (40 minutes before the cutoff time (60 min) obviously was
considered very late) were put into a separate line. I was able to get through
everything in 55 minutes.

I sat besides a French guy from Canada who can’t speak or read any English at
all. Therefore we ended up talking to each other in beginner Spanish (neither
of us knows much Spanish). I met a limeña who worked in China as an intern for
3 months. We talked about various things, mostly in English. I deeply regretted
when I asked her to switch to Spanish. I couldn’t understand a thing. She
smiled and said that she talks fast.

People in Lima generally talk VERY fast. It’s not just her.