Tales from the Loonybin

Peru Day 8: Machu Picchu–This entry was written on May 15, 2006

Today is the day we’ve been building up to–Machu Picchu! We got up at 4:30 this mornign so we could catch the first bus and watch the sun rise over the mountains as it illuminated the ruins. Unfortunately, our guide overslept, so we didn’t catch the sunrise, but we did see the ruins as the morning sun crept from the horizon to overhead.

The ruins themselves are nothing less than spectacular. The Incas must have been crazy to have undertaken such a feat! They built an entire city of stone on top of a mountain, irrigated water from kilometeres away, and all with such remarkable craftsmanship. It is truly a marvelous accomplishment.

That said, we’ve been so spoiled by the ruins along the trail and their desolation that Machu Picchu seemed to be the Disneyland of Incan ruins. There were people everywhere, crowding the narrow passages, spoiling great photo opportunities, and even smoking in the archaeological site.

Nonetheless, the place is amazing. The amount of craftsmanship, tehcnology, and labor that must have gone into such a thing is unfathomable–and for who knows what purpose?

After we got done with the ruins, we headed back to Aguas Calientes and our hotel, wandered the grounds some more, and took our bags to the train station. The train ride to Vusco is four hours, but we saved 45 minutes by getting off at the stop before and taking a bus the rest of the way.

The train was rather pleasant–they actually did an Aplaca fashion show–an effort to sell us stuff, of course!–during the trip. The steward and stewardess took turns walking up and down the car modeling various sweaters, scarves, and shawls. The stewardess was especially gorgeous, and when she modeled some of the shawls, she wore this beautiful gold lace bra underneath that was truly exquisite. But I digress….

When we eventually got back to the hotel in Cusco, we made sure our bags were still there from before the trip, and headed out to dinner. We tried some guinea pig, which was actually quite good, but it was too much work, what with all of the small bones. What does guinea pig taste like, you might ask? It’s hard to describe, but it’s not too dissimilar to pork. I only had a little because I’ve not been feeling so hot. Altitude or digestion issues, I’m not sure which, but I suspect the latter.

Pery Day 7: Inca Trail Day 4: Aguas Calientes–This entry was written on May 14, 2006

Today, we awoke in an entirely different world from the one in which we went to sleep. Overnight, the clouds rolled in and turned the valley into a lake of beautiful, fluffy, white clouds. Someone one wrote that Man is not meant to walk above the clouds, but this view, this experience is something all men should encounter. I tried to get pictures of it, and some of them even came out, but, as with so many of the pictures taken on this trip, film (or bits) just cannot do these scenes justice.

Once we broke camp, we descended to some more Incan ruins. We explored them briefly before continuing along. Along the way, we passed Intipata, an Inca site that was full of these magnificant terraces and gabled structures.

We ate lunch in an Incan temple at another site, Winay Wayna, then finished out descent to the river in the valley below. A quick walk along the railroad tracks, and we reached our hotel in Aguas Caliented, 5000 feet below where we broke camp this morning.

Our hotel, the Pueblo Machu Picchu, is gorgeous. They have all sorts of beautiful ponds and fountains done in a style vaguely reminiscent of the Incas. The rooms are in cute little bungalows, all surrounded by an incredible variety of flora. It’s a shame that we’re staying here only overnight.

I’ve finally put together a Universal version of my AttachmentScannerPlugin for Mail.app. You can download it from the linked page.

Unfortunately, the Universal version weighs in at a whopping 7.3 MB (zipped to just under 3MB), because it has to include its own Universal version of Python. The version that ships with Mac OS X doesn’t have proper Universal support (even though it appears to). Thus, the hefty footprint on disk. If you don’t need Universal support, you can still download the PowerPC-only version and save yourself about 7 MB.

Peru Day 6: Inca Trail Day 3: Runcuracay and Phuyupatmarka–This entry was written on May 14, 2006

Yesterday, we left camp for the second pass. We met up with a bunch of people from other groups along the way, including some from the Bay Area and a couple from Buckhead. What a small world! The first part of the day was the hardest–climbing to the second pass, up a thousand feet. When we reached the top, we made an offering to the mountains in what might have been traditional. It’s hard to say, since so much of the culture was wiped out by the Spanish colonialists.

From the second pass, we descended 1800 feet to our lunch site, where the porters already had everything prepared for our arrival. Lunch was quick and uneventful, after which we embarked on a climb of 800 feet, back up to 12000 feet, to the third pass, which was also our campsite for the night. Along the way, we passed through a cloud forest, an incredible collection of plants that thrive on the cool air and humidity of the clouds. Fortunately for us, it was clear as we hiked, so we could see some incredible flora. By the time we made it to camp, we were rewarded with the beautiful sights we had just seen and a great view over the whole valley below.

Peru Day 5: Inca Trail Day 2: Dead Woman’s Pass–This entry was written on May 12, 2006
Today was the most grueling part of the trail. We started from our campsite at 9800 feet, hiked up to 12000 feet by lunch, then hiked to 14000 feet over the next kilometer and a half. That brought us to Dead Woman’s Pass. Once we reached the top of the pass, we hiked back down to our campsite on the other side, at about 12000 feet. That 2000 foot descent was mostly over some fairly steep Incan steps.

The trip was pretty tiring for me, but not too bad. Unfortunately, the others in my group had a harder time of it. Two of them got sick, and were seriously pale and weak all day. I’m pretty impressed that they made it through the day! Another of my traveling companions seemed to completely run out of steam by lunch. I had to help her up the last hundred vertical feet, because she has mentally given up. Then, on the way down, the sun was setting and she didn’t know if she could make it to the camp before dark. The porters ended up having to come and pick us up because of the dark. But she did make it. Things do always seem to work out in the end.

Peru Day 4: Inca Trail Day 1–This entry was written on May 11, 2006
Today, we began out trek along the Inca Trail. Omar picked us up at the hotel. After an hour and a half drive through the tiniest villages and dirt roads, we eventually arrived at the trail head, kilometer 82.

Technically, the Inca Trail is actually a network of trails extending from Ecuador in the North down into Chile. When most people refer to “the Inca Trail,” however, what they really mean is the Royal Inca Trail, which is the stretch of the trail from Cusco to Machu Picchu along which the tourists typically hike. That starts at kilometer 82 of the trail.

From there, we handed our duffels, full of all of our personal gear and changes of clothes, to the porters and began our trek, carrying just our day packs. The first part of the trail gets going with a bang. We hike along the side of the Urubamba river, with brilliant green mountains to the side. As we round a bend, the hills turn arid, covered in cacti and bromeliads, with lush, green mountain visible just around the bend and frigid white ice caps off in the distance. Three distinct climates all within one view! The constrast was amazing.

When we got to our campsite for lunch, I found out just how spoiled we really are on this trip. First of all, we have the porters to carry all of our gear. For the four of us, we have our guide plus ten porters. The porters carry up to 10 kilos of stuff — changes of clothes, toiletries, etc, and all of our gear. We don’t need to worry about tents, sleeping bags, or any of that stuff. We need only to carry our day packs with any water, snacks, or changes of clothes we might need as we change climates along the trail.

When we arrived to the lunch site, the porters had set up a cook tent, a dining tent, and a toilet tent, and had set out bowls of hot water for us to wash our hands and faces. The dining tent had a table, chairs, tablecloth — the works! One of the porters even served as a waiter, complete with a “silver” tray (it was actually plastic), white gloves, and a vest. The meals were truly magnificent. They gave us three courses at every meal, and the food was better than I have eaten in many restaurants.

We even had the toilet tent, a portable latrine with a biodegradable chemical compound to absorb the liquid from the waste. Talk about luxury!

I really wish I could talk more about the trail, but it’s late and I need to sleep….

Day 3: The Sacred Valley–This entry was written on May 11, 2006
On Wednesday, we took a tour of the Sacred Valley, with all of hte little mountain towns and farming communities and the many Incan ruins scattered all around. It was pretty amazing.

We started out by driving down into the Pisac valley. After hiking around some ruins for a bit, we wandered around the Pisac market. This market is clearly aimed squarely at the tourists, with all kinds of knick-knacks and other souvenirs.

We then drove to lunch at this former hacienda. It was amazingly peaceful, with green grass all around, birds chirping, and the soft sounds of wind rustling through the leaves.

After lunch, we drove to Ollantaytambo, one of the oldest Incan towns left intact that is still in active use today. It’s also the site of an Incan palace, whose construction was halted before it was completed. It was really quite fascinating to get to look at all the stonework.

Day 2: Cusco–This entry was written on May 10, 2006
We got up early Tuesday morning and flew to Cusco. Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire and still boasts one of Peru’s strongest cities. I was expecting a back-woods tourist town, and, although it is a tourist town, it also has a thriving population of 400k in the city itself, and many more in the vicinity. Thus, to call Cusco a tourist town is much like calling Boston a college town.

After arriving in town, we met with our facilitator, who took us to our hotel and introduced us to our guide, Omar. Over some coca tea, we discussed the plan for our hike along the trail, went over some basics, and made arrangements for a tour of Cusco. We saw so much that it’s hard to remember everything.

We first visited Koricancha, the cite of an ancient Incan temple on top of which the Spanish had built a monastery. Up until 1950, it was presumed that the temple had been completely destroyed, but after an earthquake razed the monastery, the remains of temple were exposed underneath. Although much of the temple was indeed destroyed by the Spanish, some of the interior rooms and foundation withstood both the Spanish and quake. The sanctuaries inside were amazingly built–the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Moon, and the Temple of hte Stars.

Afterwards, we visited the main cathedral, just off the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. The chapels and rectories inside were truly amazing. There was so much gold leaf and silver everywhere–stolen from the Incas and melted down by the Spanish. We also saw the Black Christ, but I can’t remember the historical significance.

Next, we visited Sacsayhuaman, another ancient temple that is so magnificent that it must be seen. The walls are constructed like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, with pieves the perfectly interlock to millimeter precision, and with stones that weigh as much as 120 tons … and which were quarries 3km away! Those Incas were crazy!

Our guide really is great. When Isabel expressed an interest in Alpaca wool, he took us to one of the reputable dealers–actually, the outlet for an Alpaca wholesaler–who taught us all about the natural dyes and how to tell real baby alpaca from the synthetics or blends or not-so-baby-alpaca. Hint: you can’t trust the label. As we entered the store, Omar emphasised to us that, whatever happens, we should not feel in any way obligated or pressured to buy. We, of course, did buy. I found this great scarf that I think Becky will enjoy.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I started feeling pretty sick. I’m not sure if it was the effects of the altitude sickness, since I was feeling a bit queasy when we were in Lima, along the coast. The symptoms of altitude sickness resemble the symptoms of the flu, so it really could have been either. Cusco is at about 11k feet, so my body was probably not ready for the thinner air. After having to explain to the poor waitress that my food was delicious (I assume it would have been) and that I just wasn’t hungry, I went back to the hotel and took some anti-nausea medicine. By morning, I felt much better.

I just returned this past week from a two week vacation in Peru.  Every day for the next two weeks, I’ll post my observations from the trip.  Today I’ll post the first in the series.

Day 1: Lima –This entry was written on May 8, 2006.
Lima is an amazing city.  We’re staying in the hotel Jose Antonio, in the Mira Flores neighborhood.  It’s a fairly new neighborhood with lots of shopping and and active mall along the ocean.  It has a really nice character to it, although the mall is a bit touristy, what with a KFC and a Pizza Hut mixed in with the variety of shops.  Nonetheless, the ocean and the fog and the Spanish-influenced architecture strongly remind me of home.

We took a tour of the city in the afternoon.  Seeing some of the various neighborhoods, Lima is a remarkable city.  It’s 9 million people spread out in 42 neighborhoods, spanning 40 by 20 miles.  Some of the neighborhoods are quite nice, with a real middle or even upper class feel to them.  Others are quite a bit more sketchy, with a shanty town on the hillside the looks like it would keep the red cross busy for years of even a small earthquake.

We also visited an old Franciscan monastery, which has been opened to the public.  It has a fantastic outer cloister with a beautifully kept garden in it.  Everything was so ornately decorated, from the wood carvings on the ceilings and furniture to the frescoes and murals on the walls.  Underneath, we visited the catacombs, where many of the Spanish colonialists were buried.  Their bones were neatly arranged for the tourists, but the concepts behind them were authentic–pits full of bones of buried bodies in pit after pit, cavern after cavern.  When one filled up, it was sealed off and another used.  Some individual pits went 30 feet deep!  It was like something out of Diablo!

For lunch, we went to this restaurant called Alfresco, with the most amazing octopus dish.  The tentacles were perfectly blanched, then seasoned with cumin, rosemary, and olive oil, and grilled to perfection. It was quite possibly the best seafood that I have ever had–in the Bay Area, Seattle, or in New England.

With all of the travel I’ve been doing lately, I haven’t had a chance to update the Mail.app Attachment Scanner Plugin with its new translation support. Thanks to the help of several generous translators, the plugin will now look for English and French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish words to indicate a possibly missing attachment, depending on the Mac OS X language preference.

Thank you so much to all of the people who have made this support possible!