The den of thieves

About two weeks before we left for Peru, I got this text from Mom:

Reading that book is scary. Cuzco sounds like a den of thieves & robbers. 

I had leant her a book I'd just finished reading called Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams. The author is a magazine editor who, despite his career in the travel/adventure magazine field, hasn't camped out since spending one night in a backyard tent as a child. He gets the idea that he should re-trace the steps of Hiram Bingham, the explorer who announced the discovery* of Machu Picchu 100 years earlier. So Adams hires a guide and sets off to trek the various Inca trails that Bingham had trekked. 

The book goes back and forth between descriptions of Bingham's expedition, and Adams's own experiences shlepping about the Andes. I found it amusing, descriptive and highly informative (though I felt in the second half he got away from story-telling and it read a little more like a logbook**).

Between reading some of Adams's experiences in Cusco before he embarked on the trip (including having to be smuggled out of the city because of some sort of strike or government protest or something), and reading the safety advice on our tour operator's web site, Mom was convinced that we'd fall victims to pick-pocketers within minutes of stepping off the plane, and our lives would be in tremendous peril. 

Thankfully, she could not have been more wrong. 

Cusco and the surrounding areas were lovely. Yes, lovely in a developing country kind of way, so poverty was apparent, dogs roamed around the city***, and many of the buildings were unfinished and/or in a state of disrepair, but lovely nonetheless. And all of the people we met were wonderful. Not one introduced their occupation as thief OR robber. 

We started our last day in Peru by driving out of the city to see a kindergarten. Our tour company contributes a portion of their profits to the schools in this rural community, so we'd been notified ahead of time that we'd be visiting the school, and were invited to bring school supplies to donate. 

The kids, ranging in age from three to five, were completely adorable. They each said hello, and told us their name and how old they were. We had an opportunity to ask their teacher questions about how the Peruvian school system works, talk about what the kids were learning, and then enjoy a little recess time with the kids on the playground. Head of the class went to a little boy named Nilson, who walked around and shared his snack- kernels of maíz gigante!!!- with us and his classmates.

After the school we visited a locally-owned alpaca textiles factory. (Mike and Kiki are definitely going to find the souvenirs we picked out for them, let's say, unique****.) 

We continued on to visit four additional archeological sites. The last was Saqsaywaman, which Saul helpfully told us is pronounced similarly to, but not exactly the same as, "sexy woman". The site overlooks the city of Cusco and features very impressive, intact examples of Incan architecture*****. Saqsaywaman is right next to the Christo Blanco(White Christ) statue, a gift to the city from the Palestinian Christian community in the 1940s and a felicitous but unintentional complement to the Black Jesus idol we'd seen the day before in the cathedral. 

We had time for lunch and a little last-minute shopping back in Cusco before departing for the airport. It rained, but you can't complain about the rain when it results in a view like this- 

Not a bad way to say goodbye to such an incredible place. 

*Scientific discovery. Though Hiram Bingham is largely credited with "discovering" Machu Picchu, there were actually two Peruvian families living at the site when he found it in 1911. And you can't really discover something if someone else knows already knows it's there, now can you. 

**This impressive literary critique brought to you by my perfect attendance (2/2 meetings) at book club. 

***The dogs seemed somewhat cared for and mostly kept to themselves so although they made me very nervous, I survived. I did at one point see what can only be described as a canine gang, with upwards of 20 dogs congregated on the side of the road, but luckily we were on the tour bus so they couldn't carry out any sort of group attack on me. 

****And I use the word "unique" in the most Midwestern, passive-aggressive way possible. 

*****I did not expect to learn so much about walls on this trip.