Game 6

Took a bus to Pisac, 2nd biggest market in Peru. 

3 of these for a sol (about 35 cents):

 The rest of our time in Cusco was spent exploring.  We all got hour long massages for 5 bucks, courtesy of some enthusiastic Peruvian girls that are always posted up on the same street.  Massage avenue I think it's called.

Game 5

 So we wake up at our hostel in Aguas Calientes at 3:00, so as to be the first people in line to get on the bus that goes up to MP.  The 4 of us need to split up.  Lucy and Toby go to wait in the MP ticket line (the ticket office opens at 515), and Kelly and I go wait in the MP bus ticket line (buses start leaving at 530).  With a million people visiting every year, you gotta get there very early.  This is because the first 400 people on the mountain get a stamp, which allows them to hike up to the top of the nearby mountain, Waynapicchu, which has the very best view of all that is Machu Picchu:

 

 Show owner asleep amidst a maze of coca-cola, bug spray and tampons. 

 

Cliche Ray-ban, mountaintop, sunny shot #1.  Thanks Luce.

So we walk up to Wayna, chill for a while, come down and hop in on some canadians guided tour of the ancient city.  It's hard to get fully into it, as most everything about the site is speculative.  "It's not about coming to Machu Picchu" attested our guide, "it is about leaving.  Go out and change the world".  "The Incas believed in 3 things: patience, love, and personality."

We hiked back down, all the way back to the hostel, and it was only about 2.  We stopped by a market and bought rice, peppers, tomatoes, avocado, plantain, carrots, a 2.5 liter of coke, etc for a guacamole stir-fry.  We took full advantage of our hostel's kitchen, in part because the one we would return to in Cusco did not have one.  The food was dank, the meal was delicious, and we all passed out around 3 with the intention of going swimming in Aguas Calientes later.  

We woke at 9, too late to swim.  Wandered around Aguas Calientes a bit, came back and went to sleep.  In the morning Toby had gotten a bunch of fruit and potatoes, we made breakfast, checked out, and began our trip back to Cusco.  Stopping at Pisac, Cusco's second biggest market, on the way.

Game 4

Friday.

We opted to do the whole Machu Picchu excursion on our own.  Organized trips through the hostel or a travel agency would have been a good 50 dollars more, minus a night. 

 We took a car to Ollentaytambo, but not before doing some grocery shopping.  The mercado had "pan de maiz", bread of corn.  Strictly corn.  In Ollentaytambo, we got an avocado and made some sandwiches whilst we waited for our train to leave for Aguas Calientes (at the base of Machu) 4 hours later.  4 hours went quickly, I bought a soccer ball, we all played 4 square in the main plaza, soccer, volleyball with some little chicas, we took a lot of pictures, and met a frenchman named Sala.  There was a baby in a orange jumpsuit that liked playing soccer with us, and we all took probably 100 pictures of her.  Or maybe just me.  There's something about South American babies in monochromatic outfits that the camera just loves.  Sala took a year off of work to travel, which is apparently quite easy in France.  If you ask your employer for a year off, they can say no.  If you ask again 6 months later, your bosses are mandated to let you go run around the world.  You get your job back at the end of your year travelling.  I'm sure I misinterpreted some of what Sala was saying, but until someone tells me otherwise, I will continue thinking that France lets people leave their jobs whenever they want.

Finally the time came for our train.  Tons of people were waiting to board, and someone taps me on the shoulder.  Or maybe yells.  "Abe?"  Mi amiga Aislinn from Tucson is there with her family, waiting for the same train to go to the same Machu Picchu. 

Game 3

Ok so I was just going to start a new blog because this whole Bulls thing has gone to hell, but let's just move on entirely.

So it's been a week since we went to Machu Picchu, but hopefully all of the memories come flooding back.  The 3 musketeers came on Thursday, and we set out for the day.  Toby's camera had been lost/stolen, so we made our way to the bus station, via a 1 dollar cam ride to try and find it.  To no avail.  On the way back to the hostel, we made a couple of stops.  We tried some Chicha de quinoa and some Chicha de manzanas (apples).  Chicha is a staple of Peruvian drinking cuisine: a fermented corn drink that comes in many flavors: most commonly Chicha Morada.  It's purple.  On the way back to the hostel we stopped at what would be our first of many mercados (markets).  I bought a beanie that I immediately regret buying, but now that I'm out of Peru I feel much less gaudy wearing it.  It's orange.  It says Cusco on it.  Bought some stuff, stopped by a travel agent to talk about Machu Picchu, bought some train tickets, and ultimately ended up back at the hostel.

Lunch was a stuffed avocado (papa relleno), dinner was happy hour mojitos, steak and rice, and instant coffee that was actually barley.  A coffee substitute.  On to something more exciting....

Game 2

Greetings. 

Yes, there are bulls games in Peru.  This question was answered for me within a couple hours of reaching my current hostel, the scenic ¨Loki Hostal¨ in Cuzco.  Loki is essentially a frat party mixed with disney land.  There are people of all races, colors and creeds, but mostly English and Israeli.  I have met more Israelis in Peru than in Israel.  This would be great for working on my hebrew, but all that comes out of my mouth is spanish. 

An average day at Loki functions as follows: wake up - surf your iPad - sit in the bar biding your time while the soft sounds of Jack Johnson and Oasis lull you into a hangover induced coma that lasts until about 4.  At this point, the owners put on a film.  Finally something to do!  If you thought Road Trip was good in the states, than you absolutely need to watch it in Peru.  The film ends, the night begins, Black Eyed Peas begin blaring on the speakers, the bar starts raking in the soles (3 sol is about 1 american dollar) and the rest is history.  I asked my English friend what his plans were for the day.  He replied that he was going to hang out.  ¨There´s karaoke here later, so I´ll stick around for that.¨

I promise that Peru has more to offer.  At this point I stop talking about the hostel.  I´m barely going to touch the bulls game.  But we watched it at the hostel and gathered a little crowd (again, something on the telly, finally something to do!)  I bet a drink on the game with Odid, the Israeli die-hard Heat fan.  I lost the bet.  Miami´s containing the hell out of D Rose and we scored something like 10 points in the 4th quarter.  Que horible.

I was woken the next morning by Lucy, Tobiah and Kelly.  So as to preserve their privacy, I will from now on be referring to them as Lucy, Toby, and Kelly.  Over the next 3 days we went from Cusco, to Ollentaytambo, to Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, back to Aguas Calientes, to Pisac back to Cusco yesterday.  Short of Machu Picchu, these names meant nothing to me before this week.  Now they mean so much more: Aguas Calientes translates to Hot Waters. 

Details coming, I need to cut this short and go tend to my flock.  I´d predict game 3 but it happened last night.  We lost.

Ciao

Game 1

Hello world,

I write from Bogota, Colombia right now.  It's a beautiful city.  All I have really experienced is the bathrooms and the carpets at the airport, but I'm sure the next two hours of my layover will yield even more amazing finds.  In my haze of airplanes, airports and air-rogance, I have decided to start this bull-log.  It's only mostly to satisfy my inner thirst for attention, and minimally to document the next two months of my life.  I say this tentatively.  I know what happens when people expect others to take an overly active interest in their lives.  Just look at Skeeter.

Anyway, let me get to the key points.  In efforts to show my friends and family little glimpses of where I'm at, I'm starting this.  In efforts to stay hood, I'm making this blog half about me and half about the Chicago Bulls because at this point, they are 3 wins away from the finals bebe!  I will make key game predictions, key physical comparisons between bulls players and men I meet on the streets (of Cusco, Peru and Guanajuato, Mexico, fyi) but my comparisons will always be tasteful and morally sound.  Most importantly, I will answer the age old question, "is it possible to watch Bulls game in Peru?" 

Let me wrap up Game 1.  The Bulls beat the Heat and Taj Gibson went off.  As for South America Game 1:  I stopped in El Salvador and ate some Pupusas with a coke.  The coke wasn't in a glass bottle, but the man did put a straw in the plastic bottle.  I was fascinated.  If Central and South America continue to be this full of material, I will probably run out of room on the internet to bullog.  More likely though, I will forget about this whole Bogota-layover-haze-blog-start-up and never update this again.  But hey, if that happens...we had a good run.

So.  Not much cultural info on this post, but stay tuned.  By the time I fly to Lima, wait 6 hours and fly to Cusco, I imagine something new will have happened.  And I'm not talking about watching "No Strings Attached" ("Sin Compromiso" en espanol) again on the plane.  I woke up into it with a half hour left, spoiled the whole thing, they get together at the end. 

Kinda like the Bulls!  Game 2:  102-97, Bulls win again at home. 
-Abe