Buenos Buenos Finalmente!
Hello Finally, I guess finaly is an exageration as it has been about
2 1/2 weeks. It certainly feels like longer.
First off let me say this is a strange environment to be writting in. It feels like I´m improvising a speech to an empty room which will be broadcast to the ones I love. Odd.
I currently reside on the edge of Cuzco for roughly $3 per night. I came to this place by way of Lima,Ayacucho, and Andahuaylas. A pretty straight cut though the middle of Peru. The 1st cut of this journey was a blaze of Swimming in Spanish, Bus rides (on roads crazy as they have been said to be) and tearing through Shantaram (thanks to Legend) Shantaram is the best novel I have read in a very long time. I´ll lend it to you when I get back. There was a was a lost feeling in an illusory world of rooms, buses, restaurants and the lifting of my bag. That was the dominant yet temporary feeling in the beggining. There were highlights though. Such as:
So upon Nigels suggestion I looked for and found the train from Lima to Ayacucho. The train rises approximately really high in altitude over the 9 hour trip. The change took me by suprise forcing me to the ground to swim in the blurred collision of my body and the space around me at the zennith, high in the Andes. Fortunately it passed as we headed downhill again. I must admit I felt happy at the fact of my body handlng something in stride for the first time in a while.
The Space around me was and is, magnificent. The high Andes are like misty pictures I´ve seen of Ireland or Montana. Except peppered sporadically with the plants of the desert in all there punk glory. Spotted also by the extravagant colors of dress of the (just where the hell did they come from there isn´t anything around here) local people. White rock cliffs exposed like bone as we threaded our way deeper still.
The train itself was a blast! I could sneak into first class real easy for naps, etc. On a social level the highlight was a small lie I told and its report. I told one of the train staff I was a DJ in the states and he gave me nearly free reign over the trains soundsystem. Yeah. I played a lot but Bookashade, The Cure, Scissor Sistors, PearlJam, Moby, Orishas, Manu Negra, and Trentemoller were present. It also inspired a fuggin great conversation about music with Train Dude from which I gathered several new names. Tight. I was going for a drunken dance party in the bar car but that just wasn´t gonna happen.
Part of the delay for this blog is that in Andahuaylas my camera was stolen from out of my bag. I have a new one now like the tourist I am but it does prevent me from showing yall a picture of the (no shit) 60ft high slide that had about half as many kids (and me) on it. There was a spiral staircase (where, check this, the protective fencing started about 40ft. off the ground!) that shot up to a 5 sq.ft. platform with like 14 children, mostly under that age, squabaling like popcorn for the slide. The slide which plunged toward the ground at a 45 degree angle then a 65 degree angle before returning to a flat plain. The transition between the 2 latter trajectories being the only governor of speed in sight. I testify, it hurt. I asked a kid, "don´t kids die here?" and he said, "nah, somtimes they fall off the plane ride is all." That thing was about 10 ft. off the ground and spun. I say again, we lose So much, in the pursuit of safety.
Cuzco. Cuzco is tight. It is dirty and smells very bad of unregulated exhaust. But, it is thick in options for ones experience. From the local and cheap (extremely, most local meals are about $1) side of the spectrum to the touristicly inspired - like cameras and American food. It is hella rich in Local Crafts. Amazing things are here and I hope I can send some home with my excess travel gear via snail mail. (Anybody know if it is illegal to import coca leaves?) The people here and all across Peru and the Latin America I´ve been too, are beautiful. Considering the intense and long suffering they have endured under Pre-colonization cultures, the Incas, Aztecs, etc. ; The Colonizing forces of Cortes and other influences of Europe; and more recently the Extreme political Fucking-with of the North American Empire, I am floored and amazed by the amiability and honesty (sometimes) that the people here express and live and treat me with.
Cuzco was a confluence zone for the Incas (and previous cultures) as well and there are preserved areas. Not to mention the fact that almost all the colonial buildings are either built on or with the original shaped stone of the incan architecture. Both the Colonial and Incan workmanships are nothing short of art. Hard art, work art. It is amazing and inspiring. It is a Beautiful city. (Side note: There is a ruin here called Sacshayhuaman and on the way locals kept asking me (I thought), "you gonna see sexywoman!" to which I´d reply with a mock of thumbs up and "Oh yeah man." Duh Kevin.)
Cuzco is also the jump off point to Machu Piqchu, a destination that took me 3 tries to reach. I first went to Olantaytambo to turn right around after I found out that I arrived the day they closed the Inca Trail. So then I decided to go through with my origninal idea which was to sneak into Machu Piqchu up the back side of the mountain (inspired by Alyssa Martins trip 2 years ago where she almost died!). That fell flat on its face. The closest I got was a wierd situation in a small-not even really a town I arrived at at night after hopping on a cargo truck for the last leg of that day. I thought I would just walk down the road to Cuchoro (east of machu pichu, look it up for the location) but a kid I met told me the people down the road would kill me and take my shit. It was the first time I felt the presence of fear here. I took him up on his offer and stayed the night with his friend.
Me and a 14 year old kid watched fear factor and a Van Dam movie in his room and talked about where his parents were, which wasn´t there. I slept on the floor there and met his rents in the morning. They were I think the 16th and 17th people to tell me my thinking was wrong and I couldn´t make it to Machu Pichu cuz it was 8 days away by horse. Thinking I could take mechanized transportation al the way to the base of the mountain, I had only given myself 4 days before 2 different friends were gonna call the authorities to look for my body. I finally conceeded and turned around for Cuzco again.
I spent the last 5 days in Aguas Calientes and Machu Piqchu/Huayna Piqchu. The ruins are Glorious. Incredible. I was wrong, not every stone in the city is formed so tight you can´t slip piece of paper between 2. Most however, are. Imagine the attention to detail and TIME it took to shape so many stones. My God. I´ll have to l
et the pictures do a lot of the talking in this regard. 
Hello Finally, I guess finaly is an exageration as it has been about
2 1/2 weeks. It certainly feels like longer.
First off let me say this is a strange environment to be writting in. It feels like I´m improvising a speech to an empty room which will be broadcast to the ones I love. Odd.
I currently reside on the edge of Cuzco for roughly $3 per night. I came to this place by way of Lima,Ayacucho, and Andahuaylas. A pretty straight cut though the middle of Peru. The 1st cut of this journey was a blaze of Swimming in Spanish, Bus rides (on roads crazy as they have been said to be) and tearing through Shantaram (thanks to Legend) Shantaram is the best novel I have read in a very long time. I´ll lend it to you when I get back. There was a was a lost feeling in an illusory world of rooms, buses, restaurants and the lifting of my bag. That was the dominant yet temporary feeling in the beggining. There were highlights though. Such as:
So upon Nigels suggestion I looked for and found the train from Lima to Ayacucho. The train rises approximately really high in altitude over the 9 hour trip. The change took me by suprise forcing me to the ground to swim in the blurred collision of my body and the space around me at the zennith, high in the Andes. Fortunately it passed as we headed downhill again. I must admit I felt happy at the fact of my body handlng something in stride for the first time in a while.
The Space around me was and is, magnificent. The high Andes are like misty pictures I´ve seen of Ireland or Montana. Except peppered sporadically with the plants of the desert in all there punk glory. Spotted also by the extravagant colors of dress of the (just where the hell did they come from there isn´t anything around here) local people. White rock cliffs exposed like bone as we threaded our way deeper still.
The train itself was a blast! I could sneak into first class real easy for naps, etc. On a social level the highlight was a small lie I told and its report. I told one of the train staff I was a DJ in the states and he gave me nearly free reign over the trains soundsystem. Yeah. I played a lot but Bookashade, The Cure, Scissor Sistors, PearlJam, Moby, Orishas, Manu Negra, and Trentemoller were present. It also inspired a fuggin great conversation about music with Train Dude from which I gathered several new names. Tight. I was going for a drunken dance party in the bar car but that just wasn´t gonna happen.
Part of the delay for this blog is that in Andahuaylas my camera was stolen from out of my bag. I have a new one now like the tourist I am but it does prevent me from showing yall a picture of the (no shit) 60ft high slide that had about half as many kids (and me) on it. There was a spiral staircase (where, check this, the protective fencing started about 40ft. off the ground!) that shot up to a 5 sq.ft. platform with like 14 children, mostly under that age, squabaling like popcorn for the slide. The slide which plunged toward the ground at a 45 degree angle then a 65 degree angle before returning to a flat plain. The transition between the 2 latter trajectories being the only governor of speed in sight. I testify, it hurt. I asked a kid, "don´t kids die here?" and he said, "nah, somtimes they fall off the plane ride is all." That thing was about 10 ft. off the ground and spun. I say again, we lose So much, in the pursuit of safety.
Cuzco. Cuzco is tight. It is dirty and smells very bad of unregulated exhaust. But, it is thick in options for ones experience. From the local and cheap (extremely, most local meals are about $1) side of the spectrum to the touristicly inspired - like cameras and American food. It is hella rich in Local Crafts. Amazing things are here and I hope I can send some home with my excess travel gear via snail mail. (Anybody know if it is illegal to import coca leaves?) The people here and all across Peru and the Latin America I´ve been too, are beautiful. Considering the intense and long suffering they have endured under Pre-colonization cultures, the Incas, Aztecs, etc. ; The Colonizing forces of Cortes and other influences of Europe; and more recently the Extreme political Fucking-with of the North American Empire, I am floored and amazed by the amiability and honesty (sometimes) that the people here express and live and treat me with.
Cuzco was a confluence zone for the Incas (and previous cultures) as well and there are preserved areas. Not to mention the fact that almost all the colonial buildings are either built on or with the original shaped stone of the incan architecture. Both the Colonial and Incan workmanships are nothing short of art. Hard art, work art. It is amazing and inspiring. It is a Beautiful city. (Side note: There is a ruin here called Sacshayhuaman and on the way locals kept asking me (I thought), "you gonna see sexywoman!" to which I´d reply with a mock of thumbs up and "Oh yeah man." Duh Kevin.)
Cuzco is also the jump off point to Machu Piqchu, a destination that took me 3 tries to reach. I first went to Olantaytambo to turn right around after I found out that I arrived the day they closed the Inca Trail. So then I decided to go through with my origninal idea which was to sneak into Machu Piqchu up the back side of the mountain (inspired by Alyssa Martins trip 2 years ago where she almost died!). That fell flat on its face. The closest I got was a wierd situation in a small-not even really a town I arrived at at night after hopping on a cargo truck for the last leg of that day. I thought I would just walk down the road to Cuchoro (east of machu pichu, look it up for the location) but a kid I met told me the people down the road would kill me and take my shit. It was the first time I felt the presence of fear here. I took him up on his offer and stayed the night with his friend.
Me and a 14 year old kid watched fear factor and a Van Dam movie in his room and talked about where his parents were, which wasn´t there. I slept on the floor there and met his rents in the morning. They were I think the 16th and 17th people to tell me my thinking was wrong and I couldn´t make it to Machu Pichu cuz it was 8 days away by horse. Thinking I could take mechanized transportation al the way to the base of the mountain, I had only given myself 4 days before 2 different friends were gonna call the authorities to look for my body. I finally conceeded and turned around for Cuzco again.I spent the last 5 days in Aguas Calientes and Machu Piqchu/Huayna Piqchu. The ruins are Glorious. Incredible. I was wrong, not every stone in the city is formed so tight you can´t slip piece of paper between 2. Most however, are. Imagine the attention to detail and TIME it took to shape so many stones. My God. I´ll have to l
et the pictures do a lot of the talking in this regard. 
It is also a playground for Kevin. There are stairways that lead - into thin air! And some mostly unexcavated areas that lead me to cubbies and caves. Risking being kicked out of the park if seen, I followed some Incan steps on the back side of Huaynapiqchu to a through cave and trail that lead across a thin ridge on the side of the mountain. Judging the contour of the land thought I could see a back route up to the top from that ridge. A route I attempted the next day. I
didn´t make it. But I did have lunch about 200 feet off the ground up a kinda of "jungle chimney" in technical rock climbing terms. My traveling companion "Twinky" fell off that same ledge down about 50 t., but when I found him, he was still smiling. I think he´s the most optomistic guy I know.I went to the Park twice to get my fill. Both times entering at dawn and climbing HuaynaPiqchu at some point during the day. For those who don´t know Machu Piqchu was a sanctuary of sorts. A place where great minds of various pursuasions; political, religous and other, met to enjoy discourse, perspective and the extreme beauty and solace the structures on/in that mountain and the land itself, offered. Huaynapiqchu is the above Machu Piqchu by an hours walk, straight up. On my second day and ascent I visited the Temple of the Moon and the Great Cavern.
Both structures are on the backside and over halfway down (lower than Machu Piqchu)the mountain that holds Huayna Pichu. I worked time so that when I went, I was the only person on that side of the mountain. I am so glad I was able to do that because it impressed upon me the extremely meditative energy of those places. It is a mystical place to engage in whatever activities but contemplative ones seemed to me to be particularly inspired there. It is a place of great majesty, both metropolitan in its time and Sylvapolitan for all time before and after.I had made fiends with a couple of the guards up top so that at the end of the day, they didn´t stop me when I lept into the back of their personel truck as it sped down the mountain. They gave me a ride all the way into town saving me about 1500 calories I didn´t really have at that point, and an hours walk in a down pour.
I still had enough heat in me from the days walking that I jumped into a little swimmng hole in the rain, in the river that goes through town, gathering a 3 minute crowd of about a hundred people. That was really fun. On my way back out the next day I had a similair kind of fun as I rode on the roof of our collectivo for about an hour and 1/2, all the way to Santa Maria. I had the Punk-mixed-album I made for Leah blairing in my ears and from my throat for most of that time and I was even able to cristen the moment with a cigarette and a heavy shot of Aguardiente ( local rot gut) from a broken down german tourist vehicle I gave a big bottle of water to, to feed to there radiator. That was also, Really Fucking Fun.I had planned on camping for a night and walking for a day in the mountains above Olantytambo but wisdom implored me to get back to Cuzco and rest. Which I did.
Today has been a day of feeling kinda crapy, recovering and spending a lot of time on the internet writting this. But before this, connecting with some of my friends in the north via computer. It has been several hours of realizing the amazing things the people I know do and realizing the amazing people that they are. I miss them. I miss you Sara. I miss you Nigel and Steph and Leah and Marina, Eric, Ami, Chad, Richard, Mikey, Alan, Jimmy, Harley, Cathy, Kathy, Gabi, Markiss, Bryce, Dan, Benjamin, Jeremy, Scott, The Andersons . . . OY! and so many others. But Hey! I´m not even 3 weeks in! We Will Have Time Soon. And I am so glad I get to come back to all of you.
OK. When I write I tend to let the words come. So, this has been a long entry and I believe the format will remain consistent. If it bores you stop reading it. I love You All.
Sorry for the spelling errors.
I wish you all the best. Love, Kevin
