Hustled

When Mark woke at 5:00 am do to Peru-poo platter, he thought the smaller town of Cusco wouldn't be as loud as Lima. At 5:25am, a crew started pick axing the cobblestones out of the staircase leading up to and past the hostel. Semi-used to construction noises almost all night long from Lima, he caught a few more hours of shut eye. He awoke to Anna moaning out the bedroom door. Peru-poo platter had us wrapped around it's finger.

Another employee/family member was at the front desk that morning. He had yellow lensed sun glasses, curly hair in a ponytail, and the enire futbol get up including the knee hight's. A jovial type of guy who pulled out a map and drew out directions to the post office for us. We said "Hasta la Vista" after hearty coca leaf breakfast. That's when we realized that Lima and Cusco both can be fairly easy to navigate if you have a correct map and get a little help first. We took a stupid map and just started walking. Several times. Lost. Oh well, our first time traveling out of the country. The post office was about a fifteen minute walk down a busy street full of taxis honking and zipping through the lanes. We paid an outstanding amount for international stamps and decided no more post cards if we wanna finish Peru without hooking or bus husslin'.

After a bit of wondering, a little fresh juice hit the spot, then we headed back up the mountain cobblestone stairway through Saqsaywaman on to another temple. We were told it was a ten minute walk past Saqsaywaman, so our calves got wake up call, more than they should have. Again. With Saqsaywaman behind us, we decided to check with a local woman upon reaching a fork in the road. "Si, Q'enqo" she said as she pointed towards the road that lead behind the 30 foot Jesus, so behind it we walked for about fifteen minutes downhill before we stopped a cab for help. He turned around and drove us back past where the lady lied to us and dropped s off at the temple gates, where a hole punched our tickets.

Q'enqo is not as big as Saqsaywaman, but it was an important temple just the same. It means "Labyrinth" and was the religious temple for fertility. With a phallic twenty foot tall monolith as the entrance piece, this was a religion that used common sense. Probably why the Spaniards vandalized and defaced it. Their thought provoking artwork can still be seen etched into something their religion makes awkward and dark. This temple was our first experience with the Incan religious symbolism of the Condor, Puma and Snake. On top of a giant rock outcropping are staircases and seats that lead into intricate waterways which ended in a circular depression, representing first a snake, then the head of a great cat, and finally a bird.

Next to Q'qenqo is a small eucalyptus grove where we took a much needed shade break. A cute little girl came up with four of those cloth sun hats archeologist's and old people always wear. Mark felt like being nice so he tried em all on saying "mi cabeza es muy grande," over and over. She was more than excited to take off running screaming "madre, grande cabeza!" Mark instantly knew he lead her to believe that she had made a sale if the hat would fit. She came sprinting down the hill out of reath, with three giant leather, Cusco branded, cowboy hats. Mark balanced the hats on his ponytail and still acted as it they didn't fit. The poor girl's eyes looked as though the tears welling up from behind were a mix of disappointment, anger and disgust that a human's head can really be that big.

Feeling bad, we grabbed the first bus out of there to the next temple. We paid S/. 3 (3 soles) each as a little snot nosed six year old Peruvian boy, who got on with us, spoke perfect Spanish to the 13 or 14 year old bus hustler... both of them looked at Mark and the young boy said something again, in between sniffles. The hustler then gave him some extra change. Anna sat in back taking photos out the window and Mark was eyeing both boys as the six year old's glare never left his face. It must be the goatee or the long curly diablo hair, or maybe the sunburn? The bus stopped and the hustler pointed us in the direction of the Tambombachay water temple. The booger faced boy got off too, still staring as the bus drove away. We were crossing the street as Mark kept doble taking over his shoulder; red sweatpants with booger streaks on thighs, red and blue sweatshirt with dirt on the belly and dried snot on the sleeves, and a cute little Peruvian nose hidden under caked mucus, finally those dark little eyes. The six year old was right there. Mark turned, "Hola?" The kid spat out about three sentences in quick Spanish and all we heard was "Uno Sole." The kid booked it up a little mountain staircase, for locals only, leaving a smug cloud of booger crystals that broke off his cheeks when he smiled vengefully. The realization that Mark got suckered and this kid got bribed to keep it on the down low was fully sinking in. Kids do the darnedest things.

Tambombachay Temple is an Incan bathing site that is situated on top of a natural spring. Toads, hummingbirds and livestock are all over the place, as were tourist taking photos. Anna got mad as Mark was jumping up and down on an flimsy bridge, fulling knowing she would be too scared to step food on it. Day became night and Mark kept jumping and jumping. Just kidding. He stopped and Anna crossed the twelve foot span with a three foot lift over a one inch deep brook. Eventually.

Anna started up a trail, weaving in and out of boulders and bushes, following the natural spring water coming down the mountain. She saw a picture of a goose on the information plaque at bottom of the hill and thought that meant a lake up top. It didn't and we soon realized, as the local dogs began barking up a storm sprinting towards us, we were on some Peruvian farmer's land filled with grazing sheep. Not wanting to kick dogs in the face we went back downhill. But first detoured to the right to do a quick head dunk in the babbling brook. Niiiice...

Tambombachay is a very small temple with intricate aqueducts and several Incan made waterfalls. It's main use was for bathing, that's why it's so small, but the spring and surrounding areas had ample wildlife which we were told was a major hunting grounds as well. Looking out in the distance with a view out to the Andes we saw ominous dark thunder clouds brewing while feeling the wind suddenly picking up speed.

We hustled ourselves down to the road where we could see the next temple, up the hill a half a mile away. Puka Pukara is the second biggest temple of the Saqsaywaman park. Puka was used as a military headquarters and a food storage facility. Puka Pukara means "Red Fortress." It also contains aqueducts with running water. The Inca were dedicated to controlling water since it was worshiped as a source of life. A quick trip around the temple grounds and soon back on a bus, to the cobblestone staircases and back to our room.

As we got back to our room and could hear the street dancers blowing their pan flutes and chanting to their drums beats for hours and hours. Mean while the night sky was flickering, at a progressive rate, with one of the most amazing lightening storms we'd ever seen. We tossed open our french doors windows, letting in the noises of Cusco at night and the cool mountain air, opened a bottle of wine and watched the sky flash more than thirty times a minute. It is hard to describe the feeling of awe as the Andes lit up with the natural strobe light going off above them. The nights sky was just as active as the busy bulb lit Plazas filled with dancers and bystanders making their way through the town. We watched the light show move out of view past the mountains to the right and then hit the hay.