Massaging Cusco

We are staying in the city of Cusco for a few days. It is pretty touristy because it is the main stopping point if you want to go to Machu Picchu. As with most tourism driven cities, there are "special tourist prices" for many things, one of which is massage. Hundreds of little local gals stalk the streets with fliers for their massage joint and tout "special price for you" as tourists pass by. I know that this is sounding creepy but let me just put your fears to rest and tell you that my story does NOT end with a naughty happy ending! Gross. So, these cheap-o massages are all the rage and after an intense day of bungee jumping Janine and I really wanted one. Janine called several places to get price quotes and we finally settled on one that could accommodate us immediately and cost $20 for an hour and a half massage (with tip included). If you are wondering what $20 gets you in the Peruvian massage world, let me tell you. The massage place, well, let`s call it a "parlor" for fun, was more or less someone`s back storage room - ok that is exactly what it was but they had made some upgrades to make it look sleek and fancy. There were sheets hanging from the ceiling so that they could keep the... well, let`s call them "rooms" separate. And they keep the massage tables on rugs so they can easily move you when someone needs to get in or out of one of the other "rooms." They also made sure to keep it good and dark so the mood would be right... I don`t even think that they realized how well the darkness hid the pealing paint and in some places holes in the flooring... In the end the physical aspect of the massage was fantastic, aside from some odd bum slapping... but we clearly got what we paid for in regards to the ambiance... all in all I believe it was $20 well spent!

Bungee? Yes, please!

The morning started off innocently enough with tea and fresh bread but as I sat, writing in my journal Janine´s (daughter) phone rang. It was a friend asking if we might be interested in a bit of bungee jumping. Despite the fact that the very nature of this type of activity is in direct violation with the "Play it Safe Plan," my immediate response was, "sure." * side note* for those of you who worry, I obviously checking into the safety of the place providing the service and once that checked out, I was def in!.Fortunately, everything happened quickly and within two hours we were on our way with no time to talk myself out of it. Janine, her pal, Diego, and I stood under the tiny orange cage suspended high in the sky and watched about ten kids jump. Ok, no one died or was hauled off because of any broken bones... so at that moment I felt pretty good about it all. The cage was anchored to four nearby mountain tops and once the jumper was harnessed in, the cage would pick up them up on the ground then float off into the clouds. Finally Diego was up, it was literally hours after our arrival (the crew went on a "20 minute lunch break" right before our turn but of course that was a Peruvian lunch break) and I had talked myself in an out of actually following through about 48 times. Diego returned to the ground safely and was all smiles. But I`ll tell you now that my sweaty hands weren`t nearly as excited as I tried to make my face appear. Within seconds of my name being called I was weighed, buckled into a harness and had both legs independently strapped with what felt like 15 tie-downs. I blinked again and I was in the cage slowly creeping up and up and up... How far up, you ask? ohh no big deal only 400 feet... When I inquired about the details of how I was to perform my instructions included the following: "don`t look down and scream, scream the whole way, it is more fun that way." Umm thanks I guess I`ll figure out the rest after I pitch my perfectly intact body out of this dumb little cage. Thanks for the help man! Eventually, he offered one more bit of advice and that was to cover my face with my arms on the first rebound. Why? Just in case the rope comes back and hits you in the face. Wow, bungee face. Great. This guy is making me feel fantastic about the whole thing... With only ten meters to go he asked if I was also going to do the giant sling shot. Um, no! Absolutely not that thing looks mega scary. Then he told me that he had done the sling shots hundreds of times and bungee only 40 because bungee is way scarier. Again, thank you, kind sir, my hands are not sweating at all anymore. The cage stops and the gate opens, I step out on the platform and ignore the very first and probably only worthwhile piece of advice the guy gave; I looked down. I just wanted to see what my friends looked like from so far away. My conclusion, they look very tiny, surprise. Cage man asks if I am ready and I say "yes...but wait...yes, wait...wait..wait, yes but just wait, ok just a second... I am ready... ok...ok, but wait ok, ok, ok..." This was the do or die a pansy moment and without another thought I yelled "YES!" and was flying! My arms out stretched, I flew, bounced, covered my face then just soared! WOW! Are you serious? That was amazing, let`s do it again!!! But this time bigger, something higher!

Comida

This morning I woke up hungry and wanted a little something something before my run. In the kitchen I found something like said Quaker and gave the impression of a porridge similar to oatmeal or maybe more like cream of wheat. That sounded perfect so I quickly prepared the stuff and came to the immediate conclusion that either my Spanish isn´t quite to the point where I can follow a recipe or that eating sticky apple flavored paste is what all the cool kids do in Peru... Either way, I don´t feel like a cool kid...

Safety

Another song to add to the soundtrack of my life, that Gwen Steffani song that says something about the "shit is bananas..." Everyday that I am in Peru I say that exact statement to myself about one thing or another. Here are a few gems that I have gathered in my few short days:

Fried chicken and Burger King delivery motorcycles, like that crap isn´t accessible enough? Umm they call it fast food for a reason, because it only takes about a minute to get it once you order it!! Apparently, that isn´t fast enough and people need to have it delivered to them. But I suppose if you are looking for a way to fast track yourself to being a fatty then that may be just the ticket for you.

Car seats, obviously an impractical concept. I guess it is totally normal to fit 9 people in a vehicle intended to haul 5... and to let your 18 month old roam around the car as she pleases... I suppose if you are going with this logic it may also be totally legit to allow her to wake the foreign girl by ripping one of her earrings right out of her head and it is probably not gross at all if she sneezes on the stranger girl´s face...twice... Understanding that she is a child, I assume one may note that her desired position on the center console would make her an ideal projectile if any sort of collision may occur... but why interfere when this post was most appealing to the child and brought her such joy as it provided her with the perfect position to repeatedly beat me with a beaded hat...

Red lights are totally optional, as long as you honk as you fly through the intersection it will somehow provide a blanket of protection from oncoming traffic.

I am certain that I will have more to say on the topic of safely in the next few weeks...

Shaman y Otros Cosas Naturales

Janine (mother) has me doing this lemon cleanse with her right now... This is nothing like the lemonade diet or the master cleanse of which I am sure you have all heard. No, this is nothing like that... You begin each morning with a small glass of pure lemon juice made from the tiniest lemons you have ever seen. They are green, not yellow, they look similar to a key lime but have a distinct lemon flavor. The cleanse follows a simple pyramid program in that you begin day one with one lemon, then day two with the juice of two lemons and so on until you reach 10 on day 10 and then you scale back down to only one lemon. This all sounds well and good and I buy that it probably helps restore proper PH balance within the body due to the alkaline effects lemon has once ingested. But it doesn´t stop with just drinking the lemon juice...nope, you have to actually rub the rind all over yourself after you are done juicing. Yeah, I do that everyday and then I walk around with little bits of lemon crap crusted to my body while Janine and I practice yoga and drink tea. Afterwards, I shower and go about my day as a normal person... totally normal, right?

On Sunday, Janine (mother), her youngest daughter, Sofia, Sofia´s friend, the shaman, his family (wife and three small kids) and I all piled into Janine´s 5-seating SUV and headed for Pacacamac. Here Janine has a sanctuary/retreat type of place there are a few small cottages, loads of hens, a goat, geese, gardens, an orchard, a freakin heard of dogs who are only interested in getting all up in your business or trying to eat the new baby kittens. After lunch, the kids busied themselves by chasing the kittens around with the dogs until one got stuck up in a tree and they had a new task of attempting to remove said cat from the treetop with a long stick...safe...
While the kids were occupied preserving the sanctity of the sanctuary the adults began to prepare to make an offering to the earth and God asking for safety on our trek to Ausangate next week. Now mind you, the shaman and his wife basically do not speak English and while I currently can understand some Spanish, my spoken word is pretty much crap. So at this point I really had no clue what was to go down and was mildly terrified that this "offering" was to be that lonely old goat I had seen around lunch time. Fortunately for me, I was pleasantly surprised to find that is consisted of many prayers, blessings from the shaman as he smoked the sacred tobacco pipe, loads of flowers and other benign components completely unrelated to animal slaughter. All in all it was a very interesting and intriguing ceremony. I am grateful for the opportunity to have experienced it.

So much in so few days...

Who knew I could fall in love so fast? The people, the culture, the food are amazing here in Peru! I have been fortunate to have been introduced to an incredible couple of women, Janine (mother) and Janine (daughter) who have taken me in and make me feel as comfortable and welcome as family. A special thanks to Sebastian and Laura for introducing me to their family.
The first day I was in Miraflores (the city right outside of Lima) the weather was unbelievably gorgeous!!! This time of year it is typical to have the coast covered in a thick fog; probably similar to basically everyday in San Francisco... I was able to cruise around the city, through the various parks and along the beautiful coastline. After a few hours of exploration I went to meet Janine (daughter) at her photo studio and gallery. From there Janine (mother), the little girls and I ventured to Putno Hermosa to visit Janine´s (mom) boyfriend Manuel. The beach was lovely, the water not as cold as at home but still not warm enough to warrant me fully immersing myself in it. After some time in the sun we went back to the house (by back I mean we walked the 20 feet from the shore back to the porch) and ate a delicious typical Peruvian meal followed by decadent desserts! Wow, yum!
The next day we went to explore a bio/organic market where we again ate a delicious feast of super healthy (and this time totally vegetarian Peruvian foods). A delightful couple who are friends with Janine and Manuel met us at the market. There was so much to see and taste that we left only after purchasing enough stuff that we nearly had to hire a donkey to carry it all back to the car. With stomachs not nearly empty enoughh we headed to a lovely joint called LA73 where we ate tuna tartar, leek pie, corn y queso, sol with artichoke puree, tuna with sweet potato and cheese, then came the desserts... oh my!!! After several hours we finally rolled ourselves back to the car and headed into the center of Lima so we could do a bit of evening sightseeing.
Bottom line. 16 hours of travel was totally worth it!!!