Kisses from Cuzco

I want to start by admitting that I’m not sure how to spell Cuzco, Peru– heart of the Inca empire. My plane ticket spells it with a “z” but the book I’m reading, Right Turn at Machu Picchu uses Cusco. My family will understand. Is this yet another example of my phonetic spelling disability or do I just prefer Spanish spellings. Stay tuned. 

Anyway, I arrived without any mishaps– luggage and all.  Although the Lima airport was chaotic, it can’t hold a candle to LAX where I had to ask several people what TBIT was. That’s Tom Bradley International Terminal (now we all know) and you have to go out so you can enjoy a second round of TSA screening — oh my!! 

 
I sat next to a gal on the plane who attempted a Machu Picchu visit six years ago but heavy rains washed out the railroad passes up there. Hmmmm. Really don’t know what to say about that. Can that happen? Presumably so. It doesn’t fill my heart with confidence about the railway I’ll be taking but that worry is over my pay grade. 

As I sat in the Lima airport, I was reminded what a diverse indigenous population makes up Peru– something like over 50 distinct tribes. And I remembered an interesting tidbit from my overpriced undergraduate education. There are a whole series of Spanish words used to describe your race based on how much Spanish blood you had versus indigenous –words like mestizo, mezclavo etc.  During colonial periods these designations determined your social standing across Latin America and often determined what education, jobs, and marriages you could have. See Mom, it’s still paying dividends. 

Cuzco is at 11,000+ feet so I’m experiencing some altitude adjustment- general sluggishness which I hope to shake tomorrow. My first impression was about the dramatic brown mountains against green fields. I didn’t have much time to explore Cuzco today, so I’ll leave you with just a few thoughts and some iPhone pictures. I break out the big guns tomorrow. 

(1)  I’m trying to obey traffic rules but there don’t seem to be any. The small streets are filled with cars and people just dart randomly around them. Wish me luck. 

(2) interesting fact of the day: Lima gets an average of 0.3 inches of rain a year–a third what Cairo, Egypt gets. That’s from the LAN airline magazine, all in Spanish. Again pulling up those long lost talents from undergrad😬

(3) I thought everyone was exaggerating with these rain gear warnings, but I got caught in a hail downpour and turned into a deluge within about 3 minutes. Shout out to Dan and Julie for supplying me with a very stylish plastic poncho. Worth it’s weight in gold and it’s only Day 1. 

(4) It is seriously dark here but the stars are incredible. 

I’m off to bed. Tomorrow I’m exploring an artistic neighborhood, the markets (of course) and the planetarium.