To Colca (Con Coca)

As I was saying about the food: I dont think i had realized that peruvian cuisine is its own thing, primarily ceviche dishes and potato based things, with some other interesting Andean surprises. Arequipa is also the cuisine capital of Peru, making for some great eating experiences.

Ive now tried rocoto relleno, a stuffed pepper dish witha potoato and cheese pancake this, which was quite delicious. Similarly, Ocopa Arequipena, a potato in dried cream with spices, cheese, olives and a few other ingredients and excellent. Had a abodo last night, a stewed pork chop in vinegar, beer and onions, similarly tasty and very tender. On the more exotic side, I did give the alpaca chops a try, and cant say i´d do so again. Thankfully they were smothered in garlic butter, but otherwise tasted basically like a tough piece of lamb. ¨Cuy¨ of course, is the most infamous Andean dish, yes, the translation is in fact Guinea Pig. I tried some of Ben´s who had it in the traditional deep fried style, and though it literally ¨tasted like fried chicken.¨ The shape of it was quite undeniably guinea piggish, ´further reinforcing my lack of need to eat it ever again. It should also be noted that potatoes are a major part of every meal, predating Columbus, who introduced them to Europe. Local women sell spuds of all shapes, sizes and colors (white to red to blue to yellow) on the street corners, and any meal you get has french fries on it. Steak- with french fries on top, garlic bread, with french fries on top, pizza- with french fries on top. Even rice- as in, a plate of rice with french fries on top is what a lot of vegetarians down here seem to eat. I also am dying to try some ceviche, but apparently you cant get it at night- peruvians believe it makes you sick to eat at night, same with ice cream, which in Arequipa they call queso helado or frozen cheese. The coffee has been surprisingly awful, usually nescafe, and I´ve actually weaned myself off of coffee, close to a miracle for those who know me and my 6 cup a day habit. Of course, the coca leaf mate helps a bit, but I don´t even drink much of that.

I dont think I mentioned we are taking some conversation classes and staying with a family. They are quite a lovely and kind family, though the breakfasts leave something to be desired (ie, hot dogs and cheese microwaved on stale bread, washed down with coca mate tea or nescafe). My converstaion teacher is also quite intense, we were talking about the power of institutions, and whether they exist solely to prepetuate themselves or for any other reason. Then, she literally asks me if I´ve read Foucault and what I think of him. Now, my Spanish is okay, but come on! I was able to explain in spanish that ¨¨Yes I have read Foucault and barely understand him in English, I do not think I can have a conversation about him in Spanish!¨¨ Thankfully, she steered the conversation to simpler topics!! However, she has a tendency to steer toward heavy and difficult subjects, like culture, history, economics, politics. Weve read and discussed testimonials by female prisoners during the civil war, opinions on drug policy, the rise of indigenous movements and neo-progressivism is latin america, US imperialism, and the social and individual origins of mental illness. Ive also learned how to say indie rock in Spanish ¨el indiroc.¨ She also warned me about human sacrafice still happening near Lake Titicaca where we are going, though I personally think its a leyenda urbana.

So we spent the weekend taking a tour to Colca Canyon, the worlds second deepest canyon and some indian villages in the surrounding area. its one of those experiences that is far better understood with pictures than with an explanation. But- i will try, and I will also try to get some pictures up on here one of these days.

The area where were, aroud the town of Chivay, is far higher than we are here, about 10,000 ft up, and yet still manages to be in a valley. The mountains all around are cut with pre-incan terraces, (see picture) essentially stone retaining walls that create flat areas for growing crops like corn, potatos and quinoa, but give a very strange and otherworldly look to the mountainsides, especially when each terrace has a different colored crop. The region remains one of the fertilest in Peru, still thanks to the 1000 year old irrigation systems and stone aqueducts that carrywater down from the mountains. We hiked our way up past some terraces, through the still standing ruins of incan villages destroyed during the conquest in the 16th century. The walls of the village and the clifftop temple of the sun were still crumbling from where the spanish calvary had shot them with cannons. So high in the mountains, with more snow-capped peaks behind, it looked (to sound super-nerdy) a lot like the Lord of The Rings.

The Spanish then rounded up the population and killed them or forcing them into collective towns, laid out in the grid pattern so common to the Americas, but its origins were in controlling the populace. And, I had never known until I started researching this trip how advanced the Incans were, and how close to actually beating the Spanish as each carried cannons and armor into these stunningly high mountains where we could barely catch our breath sitting still. We viewed some ancient pre-Incan tombs, which i was somewhat shocked to discover when I looked in that they still actually contained piles and piles of bones of forgotten Incan nobles. The current Indian villages dont look much different from the ruins sadly, some wild boars or alpacas in the stone wall enclosed yard, with cactuses planted atop the walls for security. Brightly dressed indiginous women wash clothes in the creekbed. The churches, spanish-catholic in name only, still retain iconography and gods of Incan beliefs carefully hidden into the church decorations without the spanish noticing.

We hiked down as the sun set, with looming snow-capped Mt. Mismi in the background, now understood to be the source of the Amazon. If a raindrop falls on one side, it travels 40 miles to the pacific, if it lands on the other side, it travels 4000 miles to the Atlantic. Dinner was unmemorable, though we did spend some time in the local hot springs.

The next morning we were off to an early start to see the canyon more clearly and hope to catch sight of a condor as the left the canyon for the day. We strolled around, taking a few pictures of the canyon when suddenly out of the depths condor came flying right above us, about twenty feet away, hardly flapping its 6 ft wings once. It was incredible, but then more and more kept spiralling out of the canyon, there must have been about 20 or 25 in all that we saw, one of the best days for condor viewing, apparently you are lucky to see just one!