Author: rosequinlan

One incredible thing about Peru is that it has beaches, a desert, snowcapped mountains, massive canyons, an enormous lake, and dense jungle all within driving distance of one another. While I haven’t had time to see the entire country, I’ve been able to see many of these natural wonders, usually through guided weekend trips with some of my friends I’ve made here or day trips that usually start with a 3 hour bus ride at around 4:00 AM.

The most famous mountain near Cusco is Rainbow Mountain (Montaña de Siete Colores in Spanish, Vinicunca in Quechua), which has layers of colored sediment that give it the famous rainbow. We summited at a staggering 17,060 feet, which is more than three times the altitude of Boulder, Colorado and about 3,000 feet higher than Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States. The altitude made it difficult to breath and even think straight, but by chewing coca leaves, a natural stimulant that natives have used to stave off hunger and exhaustion for thousands of years, we were able to make it up the steep hike.

Some other hikes that I’ve done the Cusco and Sacred Valley included the Seven Lagoons of Mt. Ausangate, the hike to the Huamantay Glacier, and a hike to Waqrapukara, an ancient site that overlooks the Apurimac canyon. I also took tours of the Sacred Valley and South Valley to see dozens of Inca and pre-Inca sites. On the full moon on July 13, my friends and I even took a midnight horseback tour of the Inca moon temple! The cool thing about being here for 10 weeks is that as I complete all the popular tours and move on to the less touristy ones, my tour groups have fewer Americans and Europeans and many more locals, allowing me to make new friends and practice my Spanish even more.

In addition to these hikes around Cusco, I’ve done two longer trips to explore Peru. My friend Elisa, a student volunteer from the University of Florida, and I went to the famous Lake Titicaca for two days by taking an overnight bus. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, covering a massive 3,232 square miles between Peru and Bolivia. It is the site of the oldest native ruins in Peru and was inhabited more than 2,000 years before the Incas came to power. We visited floating islands made out of taro roots that have been built by hand and inhabited by natives for hundred of years. The communities on these islands survive by fishing for Titicaca’s famous rainbow trout and selling handmade crafts and boat rides to visitors, but they have poor access to proper healthcare and education, especially during the recent pandemic. We then visited Taquile Island, an island with lots of ancient temples and a very Catholic community with traditions that blend native and colonial practices into one. Elissa and I stayed with a host family there for one very cold night and enjoyed the picturesque night sky.

One other adventure I’ve had the opportunity to go on is a trip to the Tambopata Rainforest Preserve in the Amazon Rainforest. By taking another overnight bus to the town of Puerto Maldonado and a riverboat down the massive Madre de Dios River, I delved deep into the jungle with my friends Elisa and Clayton Glasgow, whose page you can also visit on this site! We fed bananas to monkeys, saw piranhas and caymans while canoeing in an oxbow lake, and evesn swam in the river, which is at tributary of the Amazon (don’t worry, nobody was attacked by a piranha). On a nightlife tour in the jungle, we saw plenty of jungle creepy crawlies, including lots of frogs, snakes and more tarantulas than I ever cared to see in my lifetime.

That’s almost all the experiences I have space to recount from my trip, but stay tuned to hear a little more about what I’ve learned along the way!

The history of Cusco is one full of conquest and tragedy. Some 700 years ago, Cusco was the capital of the largest empire in the world, named by the Spanish for the title of its emperor, the Inca. Despite Spanish efforts to expunge all evidence of native culture, Cusco has preserved its language and traditions remarkably well. Many Cusqueños speak the native Quechua language and respect Inca deities like Pachamama (Mother Earth). This respect for native history constantly surprises me because native culture suffers from such lack of recognition in the United States.

June is Cusqueño history month. That means that the iconic rainbow flag of Cusco, which I mistook for a Pride flag until I saw one hanging in the Cathedral, hangs from every building. All the students and teachers in the elementary schools wear traditional Cusqueño rainbow ponchos. University graduates parade through the Plaza De Armas in full traditional dress from their native regions of Peru, performing traditional Inca dances as they finish their education in a packed public ceremony. Street artists play pan pipes and indigenous instruments along with acoustic guitars. The appreciation and celebration of native heritage is everywhere.

At the end of June is Inti Raymi, the Inca celebration of the sun. Originally celebrated on June 21, the winter solstice, this massive ceremony takes the whole day on June 24. Cusqueños dressed in full traditional attire reenact the original process of the Inti Raymi celebration. They start with a blessing and short ceremony at the Qoricancha (Temple of the Sun) and move on to the Plaza, where they perform a dance and bless the mayor of the city with all of Cusco watching. After that, the performers climb to Saqsaywaman, the ancient ceremonial site overlooking the city, and reenact the ceremony and dance that has been performed there for over a thousand years. I watched this ceremony with hundreds of people from all over the world, reading translations of Quechua as I watched. Before the ceremony, I was interviewed in Spanish for the Peruvian national news and asked why I came to Inti Raymi and what I thought of Cusco! Practicing my quickly improving Spanish, I told the reporter that I was stunned by the level of respect Peruvians have for their native history, as this is not the case in my country.

The Inti Raymi celebration at Saqsaywaman is about three hours long. First, representatives from the four regions of the empire enter with servants and offerings for the Inca and the head priest. The head priest asks the gods to protect Cusco and ensure its success, and predicts the fortune of the Quechua people. Servants capture and sacrifice a llama (a fake llama is used now) and burn it in offering. Other sacrifices to Inti, the sun god, include grain and chicha morada, a sweet drink made from fermented purple corn. After all of the official proceedings were over, people crowd in the Plaza for concerts, traditional dancing, drinks and fireworks.

That’s all for now, but I’ll update soon with some pictures of my adventures around Peru!

Peruvian culture is an amazing blend of Inca, colonial, and immigrant tradition. This is most evident in the food here, which I’ve quickly learned is famous throughout South America and the world for its richness and diversity. Most of the foods I’ve tried here I haven’t had to leave the house for because my host mother, Marlene, always makes a traditional dish for dinner. I eat around 8 o’clock with my host family and housemates. My host family is comprised of the dad, Leo, the mom, Marlene, and their two sons, Franco (age 22) and Thiago (age 11).

Something I did not know before coming here is that we have Peru to thank for the world’s potatoes! As someone with lots of Irish heritage, I’ve always associated potatoes with Ireland, but they were actually introduced to Ireland from Peru by the Spanish in the 1500’s. Peru has more than 4,000 native varieties of potatoes, which are cooked in various ways and included along with rice in almost every Peruvian dish. Other foods that are common in Peruvian cuisine are cow (and I mean every part of the cow), pig, chicken, and onions. Many of these foods are not actually native to the Americas but introduced by Spanish colonists and adopted into Peruvian cuisine.

One classic and historically significant dish that remains popular in Cusco is cooked guinea pig, known here as cuy. Cuy might be known as a household pet in the United States, but it was enjoyed as a special dish by the Incas. It’s typically served as the entire animal, with the teeth, eyes and limbs still intact. It took me a minute to get over my initial apprehension to try cuy, but it’s surprisingly rich and I’ve had it several times now since getting here. I’ve tried many foods that are outside my comfort zone, including alpaca steak and anticuchos (heart), quail eggs (sold on kebabs in the street), and cow liver.

Peruvian dishes are also heavily influenced by immigrants, especially from Japan and China. Japanese-Peruvian fusion is called Nikkei, and Chinese-Peruvian fusion is called Chifa. Restaurants for these types of cuisine are everywhere. Chaufa, or Peruvian fried rice, is an example of Chifa that is served with Peruvian takes on Chinese dishes. Peru’s famous ceviche, a delicious soup of raw seafood and vegetables served with spicy sauce, is influenced by Nikkei cuisine.

Finally, one Peruvian food I can’t go without mentioning is Pollo a la Brasa. Typically served with fries and different semi-spicy sauces, this chicken is cooked in a massive oven and is a comfort food for many Peruvians.

That’s all for now, but I’ll update soon with some details on the history and traditions of Cusco!

Rose here – due to one or two technical difficulties, I’m posting my blogs a bit later than expected. While it might have been better to relate my experience in real time, perhaps one advantage of my procrastination is my ability to recognize in hindsight what misconceptions I had about Cusco when I arrived. With the strong understanding of Peruvian history and culture that I have now, I can appreciate more fully everything that I’ve seen as I look back on the more than 20 full-day tours, hikes and experiences that I’ve done so far. I have more to say than I can possibly fit into a series of blog posts, but I’d like to relate my experience here as thoroughly as I can, starting with my arrival of Cusco.

In population, Cusco is about the size of my hometown, Buffalo, but in appearance it could not be more different. Nestled in a valley in the middle of the indescribably large Andes, Cusco is a mass of of brick and concrete buildings that all seem stacked precariously on top of one another. The streets are lined with hostels, small restaurants and cafés, and markets that sell everything from bike chains to underwear. The sidewalks are full of pedestrians, stray dogs, and women selling delicious picarones, kebabs, or fresh fruit juices from carts. Kids walk to school in school uniforms consisting of tracksuits and brightly colored traditional ponchos. Taxis, motorcyles and tour buses honk to get your attention as they whip around the streets without any respect for traffic laws. Massive cacti and desert flowers decorate the parks and doorsteps of the houses.

The center of the city is full of hotels, murals and statues celebrating the history of Cusco, and plenty of the buildings and streets were constructed by the Incas in their distinct, immaculately cut stone style. At the very center of the city is the beautiful Plaza de Armas, which is full of tourists, expensive restaurants and vendors advertising massages, shoe shines, and souvenirs. Colonial Catholic churches surround the Plaza, which the Spanish conquistadors intentionally built on top of each of the most important Inca palaces and temples in order to establish their religious dominance. This is one of the many sad truths that the city remembers about the Spanish conquest, but the Plaza de Armas makes sure to commemorate the native history of Cusco with a massive golden statue of Pachacuteq, the most famous and successful Inca emperor.

North of the Plaza, as the narrow streets start to climb the steep mountains surrounding Cusco, are the picturesque areas of San Blas and San Cristobal. These areas are characterized by original Inca streets lined by white colonial-style houses with clay tiled roofs. I get my coffee at the Café Siete Borreguitos (Seven Lambs Cafe) in this area. A cappuccino, some ice cream and a picturesque view of the city comes out to just 10 soles, or about $2.75.

To finish out my first week of classes, I went with my private professor, Angela, to a viewpoint in San Blas that overlooks the whole city. From here you can see the Plaza, the futbal stadium, and my Spanish school, Maximo Nivel. Here I have private Spanish classes for four hours a day. Coming here, I thought I knew a good amount of Spanish, but it turns out that I’ve forgotten a lot of my Spanish in the semesters since I’ve taken language classes. Maximo Nivel started me in the most basic level, but I’m learning so quickly that it seems my Spanish skills double every day.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned so I can introduce my host family and more of my experiences in Cusco!

Armed with lots of rain gear, the strongest bug spray I could find, and my optimistically basic Spanish conversational skills, I’m finally ready to spend my summer in the oldest still-inhabited city in this hemisphere. Instead of spending another summer coaching my swim team in the suburbs of Western NY, I’ll be intensively studying Spanish for six hours a day in Cusco, Peru. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity and excited to meet my host family and make new friends, although I know that over the next few weeks I’ll have to adjust to more than just the extra 11,000 feet of altitude.

Without even arriving at Cusco, I’m already blown away by its Wikipedia page alone. The original Incan city wall is built in the shape of a puma. The city’s ancient indigenous architecture and engineering is said to be some of the most advanced of its time, despite the Incan people not having a written alphabet. The nearby Lake Titicaca, which I plan to visit, is comparable in size to the Great Lakes and is dotted with manmade floating islands, built out of taro roots by native tribes that are older than the Parthenon. I’ll be in the city for ten weeks, and I hope that’s enough time to see every single church, museum, temple, and cultural event I can find.

One event that I’m very excited for is the festival of Inti Raymi, a week-long Incan celebration of the sun god that will take place around the summer solstice (and my birthday!) in June. I have no idea what to expect from this festival, but I can’t wait. I’m also eager to make friends with students from all over the world, which is a unique benefit of going into my program alone. Having a host family in Cusco means that I’ll be surrounded by Peruvian language, food, music, and traditions at all times, which will be amazing, and I want to see my Spanish skills transform over my time here. On top of all this, I’ll be only a short drive from Machu Picchu, one of the wonders of the world.

Ten weeks from now, I hope that I will have a completely different understanding of Peru, its history and its people than I do now. I hope that I’ll be able to have a full conversation in Spanish with my host family, who I meet tomorrow. I’m excited to take my newfound knowledge, interests, and hopefully a few recipes home to my family and friends. !Hasta luego, Buffalo!