Two Days in the White City

Arequipa - Cusco

We arrived this morning in Cusco around 530 am, and our hostel insisted on picking us up from the bus terminal. Initially, I thought this was a nice, if unusual, service used to edge the hostel ahead of fierce local competition. Halfway through the drive, however, I realized that it was a necessity. Cusco is a maze of impossibly miniscule streets moving through the hills, and without a local to carry us to our hostel, we would have been two lost gringos, angrily looking through our maps to get a clue of where this place is.

I can already tell that this is going to be a place I like a lot, although Josh sleepily made it clear to me that I wasn't allowed to like it too much, as our experience in Valparaiso was slightly obnoxious for him (see his post on the matter). I say sleepily because our bus ride was uncomfortable and accompanied by outrageously amplified speakers that blasted the dubbed movie Taken into our ears. We each received about 3 hours of sleep, and while this will not be enough to last me through the day, we are currently without a room and are therefore making do with a few spare blankets in the common room. Josh is desperately trying to grasp some sleep despite the dawn and the breakfast sounds below. I'm too hungry to get good sleep at the moment.

Arequipa

As you can expect, there will be a lengthy Cusco post, perhaps two, to follow. After all, this is the Inca's "Navel of the World," the center of their empire, the historical center of Peru, the gateway to Machu Picchu, and a beautiful mountain town besides. For now, I think a few things should be said about Arequipa, which is where we spent the last few days.

Arequipa is known as the White City, a result of its use of a stone material called sillar that comes from neighboring quarries. This is more or less true, although to be honest the whiteness was not really a defining feature. Far more notable are the massive volcanoes that provide backdrops to the beautiful colonial architecture. I know this can sound repetitive, but the cathedral was magnificent, the Plaza de Armas (main town square) lively and extremely pleasant, and the X historical sight (in this case the Monasterio de Santa Catalina) was really cool. Our dining experiences ranged from marginal to terrific, our hostel had nice staff, and taxis were cheap.

OK, so in many cases it fit the trip's standards pretty well, providing a nice, comfortable, enjoyable place to be for a few days. Unlike other places, however, it seemed to lack a certain life of its own. It fit the bill, but did not provide a unique life of its own. I think a big part of this had to do with a certain social stratification that is strong throughout South America, but seems to be exagerated here. Arequipa is famous for being a center of right wing power, and most of the major coup attempts have begun in the living rooms of affluent citizens. Certainly there is a lot of wealth, especially in the town center, which is where we were staying. Any trip outside the center, however, revealed a city that has a severely marginalized underclass. In other words, by spending most of our time in the center, we (as relatively wealthy Americans) were at the epicenter of an upper-class atmosphere, fake citizens that represented dollar signs to the locals and not much else. This is unavoidable anywhere, of course, but I really felt it most strongly in Arequipa.

That said, I was happy throughout my stay. Here are a few things that stand out:

1. Churros: Delicious, on the way, about 66 cents, and when the vendor realized we were repeat customers, they became more plentiful (and warmer).
2. Taxis: So cheap (a dollar for about ten minutes driving) and so, so insane. I thought I was a big man for driving in Argentina. No longer.
3. The color blue: Painted over white Greek island style. Beautiful.
4. Andean folk music: I've always secretly loved the sound of Andean pipes and that tiny little guitar they play, but I always feel like it's so fake (in the county fair, outside DC metros, in a mall). We went to a bar and had a great time watching some legit Peruvian folk music.
5. The Star Spangled Banner: Nothing to do with Arequipa. Josh woke up one morning and told me that he had dreamed that he had jumped in front of a bullet for the French President. They threw him a parade in Paris and played the Star Spangled Banner in the streets. France and the U.S. began a period of unparalled brotherhood and partnership. Later, when I was brushing my teeth, I heard him happilly humming the national anthem quietly to himself.

A few things that were not so good:

1. Prawn stew: Appearance? Amazing. Aroma? Enticing. Eatability? It was a twenty napkin meal at a nice restaurant.
2. Inca Kola: Ever wanted to know what would happen if Coca Cola made a Crest toothpaste flavored soft drink? Go to Peru.
3. Walking into a major cathedral in the middle of mass with a t-shirt and a camera and a funny hat: Just embarassing. I swear some old lady gave me the finger.