* how high people in chavin used to get?

we have a mniamy breakfast and set off to chavin to see the 2900 years old ruins. the bus ride to get there is fun and slightly crazy itself. first a guy gets on, makes some figures from a newspaper and than expects to be tipped for it. later a sales representative selling some dental care product makes his show. he seems more like a standup comedian. among the lines he uses are: ´i have heard on the tv recently that a high percentage of the peruvians brush their teeth only once a day´, ´how much do you spend for drinks and cigaretts when you go out?´people say : ´30, 40, 100 soles´ then he goes: ´so you spend so much money to hurt yourself and you wont spend a few soles to improve your body?´ and then he goes: ´do you know that kids with bad teehth are laughted at? do you want your kids to be the one who is laughted at?¨ and half of the bus rides passes...
the ruins are amazing! we walk around the underground maze-like corridors and galeries, that were constructed either to drain the water or maybe for the water acoustic effects. warick says that with the amount of drugs and hallucynogenic substances they took they rather needed a place to hide. and they really seem to have been taking a lot of stuff. there are figurs with the stuff coming from their noses - a sing of blood running noses- an effect of the sniff. loads of figures with human and animal features mixed together - probably an effect of some visions and highs stimulated by san pedro cactus and plants brought from amazonia. in one of the underground coridors there is a sculpture of lanzon, most probably their main deity, but the way it is lighted up now among the huge blocks of rock, it well spooked me out. one of its hands is lifted which is supposed to simbolise the balance and order that lanzon brought. there is loads of the opposites simbolism too - like the earth and the sky, the earth and the sea etc. we walk around and get spooked out and this is without any hallucynogenic substances!
beautiful site, if only it was not raining! im wearing my flip flops and no raincoat coz in the morning when faced with a decision what to take i stupidly decided that sun glasses and sun screen would be more useful than a raincoat! should have known better after a month in peru...
i make it just in time in the evening to catch a night bus to lima. on the station a senora asks me what is the name of my village and once i tell her im from poland she asks me if we speak english in my village, she cant belive im by myself and tells me if im ever back to huaraz i need to ask for alexanra and visit her. then her husband appears and wants my email address. i get the last seat on a bus and wake up in lima

*huaraz - konie i troche wieksze tatry

dotarabanilysmy sie do huaraz, przepieknie polozonego miedzy cordiliera blanca i negra i wybieramy sie pojezdzic konna. poznajemy bardzo fajnych ludzi gosie i waricka i to z nimi idziemy na konie, a potem jak sie okaze tez na lagune 69 i do chaviz. jak na pierwszy raz w siodle to mi sie podoba, chociaz po kilku godzinach tylek blaga juz tylko o wysiadke z siodla. mam konia o imieniu toledo ktory nie bardzo sie mnie slucha (ale mysle raczej ze to brak mojej umiejetnosci wladania lejcami niz jego niepokornosc) i co chwile zatrzymuje sie zeby pojesc trawy. jaki pan taki kon?
ktos powiedzial ze sa fantastyczne gorace zrodla w jaskiniach, wiec zbaczamy troche z drogi powrotnej ale okazuja sie to smierdzace dziury w skalach. nie wiemy czy to od mineralow na skalach ten smrod czy to ludzkie poty ale nie specjalnie nam sie usmiecha rozebranie sie i przesiakanie smrodnymi oparami wiec czym predzej wracamy do huaraz.
agnieszki kolezanka jest w limie w delegacji,wiec aga jedzie sie z nia spotkac a ja umawiam sie z gosia i warickiem na lagune 69. idziemy miedzy przepieknymi gorami (cos jakby nasze tatry i stawy gasienicowe, no moze odrobine wyzsze (pare setek czy tysiecy metrow wyzsze) i troche wiecej tu lodowcow. momentami ciezko sie idzie i se mysle na co mi to wszystko przezciez jestem tu zeby odpoczac a nie sie spocic, ale jak dochodzimy do laguny 69 ktora jest idealna, lazurowa i bajkowa to az podskakujemy z radosci :) droga jest fatalnie oznaczona (tzn nie jest prawie wcale oznaczona) wiec na poczatku sie gubimy ale nasz kierowca widzac z daleka ze idziemy w zla strona krzyczy i macha rekami i wchodzimy na wlasciwy szlak. wieczorem wracamy do huaraz, wciagamy pysznego kurczaka z rozna, umawiamy sie na jutro na ruiny chavin i idziemy spac.

* blotne ruiny w trujillo

trujillo samo w sobie wydaje sie niezaciekawe i jakies ospale. trafiamy tylko na pokaz brazylijskiej capoeiry i kiepskawy wystep lokalnego zespolu. miasto jak miasto ale okoliczne ruiny sa imponujace! godna zanotowania jest jeszcze senora z naszego hostelu ktora otwiera nam rano drzwi powiewajac koszula nocna i szlafrokiem i w pelnym, krzyczacym makijazu jak na disco. na drugi dzien wieczorem mowi ze musi sobie naparzyc ziolek bo sobie popila ze znajomymi: pisco (lokalny alkohol) i rum i czego to tam jeszcze nie bylo.
chcemy zaczac od ruin huaca del sol i de la luna i pytamy sie nawolywacza w busiku (w peru i boliwi jest funkcja nawolywacza w autobusach ktory przez okno wykrzykuje nazwy przystankow) czy tam jedzie a on na to ze tak. potem sie okazuje ze jedziemy w przeciwna strone wiec wdaje sie w klotnie z nawolywaczem ze czemu nam zle powiedzial co musi brzmiec komicznie bo nie bardzo sie czasem przeszlym umiem poslugiwac... w kazdym razie nie ma tego zlego, rzucamy okiem na potwornie turystyczna plazowa wioske Huanchaco, do ktorej pewnie bysmy specjanie nie przyjechaly i udajemy sie do ruin chan chan, zbudowanych przez lud chimu w okolo 1300 roku jako administarcyjne i religijne centrum. w 15 wieku inkowie podbili chimu ale to dopiero hiszpanie zrabowali te ruiny. podobnie jak te w limie sa zbudowane z mieszaniny gliny, blota i muszelek. najwieksze przedkolumbijskie miasto. i to jeszcze na pustyni z widokiem na ocean. pelno tu symboli zwiazanych z morzem, ryb, muszli itd. w koncu morze ich karmilo. ale wielbili tez slonce i ksiezyc.w koncu im oswietlaly droge. nastepni tacy co to ofiary z ludzi skladali.
na drugi dzien udaje nam sie dotrzec tam gdzie nie udalo nam sie pierwszego dnia. ogladamy tylko huaca de la luna (swiatynie slonca) bo huaca del sol (slonca) nie jest udostepniona dla turystow bo nie ma pieniedzy na wykopaliska ani na prace wiec staraja sie ja tylko strzec przed rabusiami. wyglada jak zwala zwiru i czeka na lepsze czasy. bylo tu centrum ludu moche, ktory to zachowal niesamowita jednorodnosc kultury. miedzy 1 a 7 wiekiem naszej ery wielbili tego samego boga, zachowali te same zwyczaje, budowali w tym samym stylu. co najciekawsze jak rosli w sile to do okola istniejacej swiatyni budowali identyczna tylko wyzsza i szersza. doslownie grzebali jedna swiatynie pod druga. jak teraz archeolodzy kopia i kopia to sie dokopuja do identycznych warstw pieciu swiatyn zbudowanych na przestrzeni 700 lat. wow. my myslimy ze lepiej by bylo nowa obok postawic a oni ponoc woleli zeby bogowie coraz wieksze widzieli. fascynujace.
wsiadamy w nocy autobus do huaraz zeby pochodzic po gorach.

*lima siakas taka nie peruwianska

na czym to nam zeszlo te kilka dni w limie?
acha, poszlysmy do kina na dwie hollywodzkie produkcje (na swoje usprawiedliwienie mam li i jedynie fakt ze nie bylam w kinie w tym roku ani na tym kontynencie). ogladamy tez troche filmow u chlopakow w hostelu. spedzamy jeden wieczor w kasynie, nie wygrywamy za duzo (za duzo tez nie przegrywamy). zalapujemy sie na wieczor karaoke gdzie uczestnicy w kazdym wieku spiewaja latino hiciory o amor i corazon.
wszedzie mcdonaldsy, kefece, starbucksy. bardziej tu jak w stanach niz w peru. przynajmniej miraflores, gdzie sie ulokowalysmy jest takie. cala lima ma okolo 8 milonow mieszkancow i rzeczywiscie, zeby sie przedostac na drugi koniec miasta sie jedzie i jedzie i jedzie. centrum ma juz bardziej peruwianski klimat, ale jest tez bardziej niebezpieczne. a na obrzezach slumsy, zgnile owoce i ludzie spiacy na ulicy.zahaczamy o china town, ale nie jest tu az tak chinsko az jak sie spodziewalysmy. musieli sie dosc pomieszac. taka lima.
idziemy na plaze ale jest brudna i kamienista a niebo w chmurach albo mgle wiec odkladamy plaze na kube i meksyk.
wybieramy sie na poszukiwanie maki dla ciotki magdy, ale instytut medycyny naturalnej gdzies przeniesli. na drugi dzien guglujemy nowy adres i jedziemy tam ale sie okazuje ze ten tez zlikwidowali. zakupujemy make w supermarkecie i liczymy ze tez bedzie dobra. po miesiacu w boliwi gdzie supermarkety nie istnieja, jest to ogromna przyjemnosc chodzic miedzy polkami pelnymi dobra :)
lazimy w spiekocie z wycieczka gejow z san fransico po Huaca Pucllana - ruinach z 2-7 wieku, zbudowanych z mieszaniny gliny, piasku i muszelek. to administracyjno-ceremonialne centrum zbudowali z pionowo poukadanych cegiel bo taka struktura jest bardziej odporna na trzesienia ziemi. fiu fiu. calkiem zmysle.
a i maja tam psy bez sierci!
aga sie nie czuje najlepiej wiec idziemy do lekarza, tam robia jej badania a ze nic nie wynajduja to tylko jej nasciemniaja ze to od ciaglych zmian wysokosci i ze ma sie dobrze odzywiac.dzieka Bogu juz jej lepiej wiec pakujemy manatki i jedziemy na polnoc do trujillo. za pozno juz niestety na wyjazd do iquitos i podroz lodka na ktora tak czekalysmy. beda musialy poczekac do nastepnego razu(lodka i amazonia).

* machu picchu - free-style

we have decided that we dont wanna go to machu picchu with any agency, porters, crowds nor via the inka trail, so we set off to get there free style :) it all starts well with heavy partying the night before (how will i go on without the inka team club in cusco?)so when im woken up by knocking to my door in the late morning it takes me a while to get up and realize what we are supposed to be up to. it sheen who wants to go with us to moray - our first stop on the way to machu picchu and he says i reek alcohol and notices i have the same clothes on as last night and wear slightly melted mascara... oh well, i´ll take a shower, brush my teeth and will be brand new and ready to set off, claro?
we say goodbye to cusco by having breakfast in the restaurant with the pretty waiters and set off to moray around 2pm. so much for an early start...
we make our first stop in moray - a hypnotic place of terrace fields, where the inkas had their ´agricultural laboratory´. they grew diffrent crops and vegs on diffrent levels and sides of this ´valley´ and this way tried to figure out the best way and place for old and new plants. pretty impressive.
via urubamba village we get to ollaytantambo and we spend a night here. we dine and breakfast in a lovely non-profit cafe run by an old english lady who got here a few years ago and decided to open a place which from all the profits go to the communities of the high mountain villages. she runs variuos projects from teaching kechua-speaking kids spanish, providing antybiotics, contraceptives and housing for beaten women.
next morning we go to the ruins of ollaytantambo fortress. really the whole town is like one big ruin...not that everything is falling apart, rather coz the cobblestones streets and huge rock walls are well preserved and it seems like they have not changed much from the inka times. our next step is to take a bus to santa maria and here the mess begins. we ask around and some people say it leaves at 12am from plaza del armas and it takes 4 hours, others say it leaves at 1pm from the bus station, some others that it leaves at 2pm from the street near the river...we get as many versions as many people we ask. oh well. we sit down on the plaza and wait to see what happens. while we are waiting an old lady with a bread stall askes me to mind her business while she disappears (maybe for the loo?). i run her business very smoothly and even sell some buns and earn one sol for here:) bored and hungry we go to have some food and once we order the bus comes! we cancell our order, run for the bus and... are told there are no free sits! we beg and beg and they let us sit on the stairs. after a few houts of a very bumpy ride we get to santa maria and here the real trouble starts. there is no buses to santa maria and as we really want to get there by night we agree to get an overpriced taxi with 2 local men and one doggy-looking old traveller. agnieszka doesnt like the driver´s face from the start but that isnt really time for the nice face contest... or is it?
we get into the back of the car (i mean to the boot as it is a hatchback) and start driving through the night. very narrow, bumpy road. on one side: mountains, on the other side: deep drop...we try not to look at the road and keep ourselves busy with a chat.then all of the sudden the front lights stop working and what does the driver do? keep driving! we are petrified! after a while we stop and all the men look under the mask. as they cant seem to be able to fix it, the driver rings his mate who is supposed to come with a replacement car. while we are waitnig there in the middle of the dark road with 4 strange men we really wish we were more sensible and went with a tour, but it is too late now and there is really nowhere to go. so we wait... after a while another car comes but it has already 3 passangers inside. it turnes out it is not a problem and we fit 9 people (!) into a passanger car! we take our place in the boot again and continue driving. then again we stop in the middle of the night and in the middle of nowhere and the driver tells us to get off. we see a huge mud slide in front of us and the whole road is blocked. we argue with the driver, refuse to pay the whole amount, as the ride was arranged to santa teresa and we are clearly not anywhere close to santa teresa. we climb the mud slight, the mud is reaching almost our knees (i exagerated a bit here, it was reaching our calves). it is raining at this stage and it is not very jolly but when we see the rest of the passangers running through the mud we get really scared thinking that maybe some more mud and rocks are falling. but they only run coz they see some cars waiting on the other side of the slide. we get to santa teresa soaked but happy to be around a human settlement again and out of darkness and the boot. we get the best looking hostel (no running water) and go to sleep in a cocroach-infested room.
in the morning we manage to get a ride to the urubamba river crossing and cross it in a so called ´cabel car´. it really remainds more of a few metal sticks on a rope. but it is fun, feels much better and safer than it looks. we climb through the palm and bannana trees and luckily meet a candian family who has a guide, otherwise we would be lost many times. we walk among the mountais and trees and it is all nice and pleasant again. we get to hydroelectric plant and later to the rail tracks and we know that we are on the right way. we walk for 2 more hours down the railway tracks, through the clouds-hidden mountains and we are happy again and glad that we are doing it the way we are doing it :)
we make it to aguas calientes in the afternoon, but decide to leave machu picchu for tomorrow as we would have very little time if we go straing away. aguas calientes, maybe isnt as ugly as everyone says, but is deffinetely ridiculously overpriced. they ask for 7 soles for a snickers! we choose some local buscuits instead.
as we have the whole day tomorrow we sleep till late and miss wayna picchu! the guide book says (never blindly trust your guide book!) that you need to be in machu picchu by 1pm to be able to climb wayna picchu, but when we get on a bus around 12, the ticket lady tells us that we should have been there by 10am to make it!!! we feel like crying! all the way here, all the cartoons watched when i was little (tajemnicze zlote miasta) and we wont be able to see the ruins from the nearby mountain! we are in a terrible mood. but once we get there, walk around and admire everything, we are finally consolled. later it turns out that even at 1pm they would have let us up so here is anothetr lesson: never trust what a ticket lady tells you! anyway, machu picchu is trully beautiful! we walk around the temples, industrial parts, agricultural terrases and residential sites. a bit crazy how everything is named as its ´dicoverer´ Bingham called it. you go to a place named as ´prison´and think it was a prison but then you find out that inkas did not keep prisoners... so it is all how they guy imagined it but not necessary in accordance with history. still amazing, nested among cloudy mountains site. another dream coming true:)
i want to come back the same way as we got here, but it is a bit complcated and whichever way we do it we will lose too much time, so we decide to take a crazily expensive train back, which wont even get us directly to cusco coz the rails are damaged! anyhow, we decide not to talk about the price anymore and about the fact that it only takes us 30 km towards cusco and just enjoy the ride.
we get back to cusco and find out about the plane crush in poland. being so far away, by ourselves, we dont even know how to deal with it.
our trip continues.

*back to cusco for easter and agnieszka´s birthday

i have just managed to come back to cusco in time to celebrate easter and agnes´s birthday (im not allowed to say the number). the easter in peru seems to be celebrated mainly with processions. each day they take out a different figure from one of the churches and walk with it around all the plazas. one day it is the black Christo, another day Mother Mary and another day Christo in the coffin. the streets fill out with people and orchestras. we walk around with them a bit. on sunday morning according to the polish tradition we paint eggs. back home we have proper colouring powders but here we resolve to the nail polish, marker pens and patterns of coffee and chewing gum. thank God my grandma doesnt see this. later we have an egg fight (you are supposed to hit the opponents´egg with your egg so their egg breaks and yours remains whole) and as the eggs were not properlly hardboiled it ends up with a terrible mess around the balcony and all over our clean easter outfits.
we celebrate agnieszka´s birthday with a breakfast at pretty boys´ place. we actutally celebrate every second morning in this place, but they trully have the best breakfast in town plus they are the most good looking, so this is a good start for a day. i got agnieszka a bungie jump for her birthday, which at start seemed like a brilliant idea, as she likes extrme sports, but as she was going up the elevator (120 meters!!!!!!) to do the jump i was so freaked out i was just hoping she would chicken out and come down without jumping. i saw myself calling her mum and saying that i killed her daughter! but all went well, she bravelly jumped out and even said she liked it :)
we spent a day around the town and ruins of pisaq and the next stop : machu picchu! we have not really planned it too carefully and dont wanna go with the agency, just free-style with some instructions scribbled down, so that might be interesting....

*arequipa i kanion colca

dotarlam do kolejnego przepieknego kolonialnego miasta. arequipa jest z bialego kamienia, a z glownego placu za katedra widac wulkany i gore - el misti, chacahni i pichu pichu. no i w koncu cieplutko! co za ulga i przyjemnosc po nieprzewidywalnej pogodzie w cusco. i palmy! cos jest w tych palmach ze jak gdzies dotre i one tam sa to sie ciesze.
zwiedzam 400-letni zakon santa catalina - cos jak miasto w miescie, gdzie kiedys zakonnice sobie mieszkaly odciete od swiata, mialy tylko cos jakby okienko gdzie kupowaly rzeczy z zewnatrz. rosna drzewa pomaranczowe. calosc czerwono-niebieska z widokiem na wulkany. nic tylko sie modlic. ksiazka mowi ze jak zalozono ten klasztor w 1580 to zyly tam glownie zakonnice z bogatych domow i se zyly tak jakby byly na zewnatrz, az przyszla zakonnica dominikanka i zrobila z tym porzadek. urokliwe miejsce.
ide tez do muzeum gdzie trzymaja mumie sciagnieta z wulkanu. znaleziono 18cioro dzieci zlozonych w ofierze bogom na terenie imeperium inkow (od poludnia ekwadoru az po srodkowe chile). wyruszali z cusco i szli ( w sandalach!!!!) na rozne gory zeby tam upic dzieci chicha i zabic ciosem w glowe w celu przeblagania bogow.wiekszosc dzieci pochodzilo z krolewskiego rodu ale byly tez dzieci z plebsu. zazwyczaj wystawiaja w muzeum juanite ale chwilowo jest ona w sanatorium, bo ja troche konserwuja wiec jest inne dziecko do ogladania - sarita. w argentynie podobno byly glosne protesty przeciwku usuwaniu dzieci z ich grobow zeby sie bogowie nie pogniewali...
nastepnego dnia o 3 rano odbiera mnie busik i jedziemy do kanionu kolka. powiedzieli mi ci co niedawno wrocili, ze jest goraco wiec mam krotkie spodenki i szczekam z zimna w drodze. ale jak dojezdzamy rano rzeczywiscie jest cieplo a w ciagu dnia potwornie goraco. lataja nad nami kondory, ale troche nie wiem skad to cale halo wokol ich, ot lataja sobie ptaki...potem widzimy zdechlego osla a kondor tylko czeka az przejdziemy zeby sie posilic. schodzimy w dol, do dna kanionu - powalajace widoki, ale kolana sie az trzesa od schodzenia po tej stromizmie. 4 godziny w dol, lanczyk i potem jeszcze 3 godziny w gore i dol zeby dojsc do oazy na noc. oaza w rzeczy samej bajeczna z palmami, blekitnymi basenami i bez pradu. troche zimno, ale i tak wskakujemy sie wykapac, bo jak basen jest to nie mozna tylko patrzec, czyz nie? idziemy spac szybko, bo co tu robic na dnie kanionu bez pradu, w chacie z blota? rano wyruszamy jak jest jeszcze ciemno. wspinaczka zajmuje 3 godziny. przepieknie! nasz przewodnik jest pelen pochwal dla bylego prezydenta fujimori za to ze wprowadzil bezplatna opieke zdrowotna dla dzieci i starszych ludzi i bezplatne kliniki planowania rodziny. fujimori zostal skazany na 25 lat wiezieni za pogwalcienie praw czlowieka, mordersta opozycjonistow i korupcje. ale o tym nasz przewodnik jakos nie mowi. potem nas wioza jeszcze do wioski, ktora wydaje sie istniec tylko na potrzeby turystow - mozna sobie zrobic zdjecie z llama, kondorem, pania w ubranku kolorowym, skorzystac z toalety i kupic wode. wracam do arequipy i pedze na dworzec zlapac nocny autobus do cusco bo jutro wielki piatek i zaraz agi urodziny!