Not much different has been happening lately apart from a few visits to Cusco. I went last week having arranged to meet Juan in Plaza de Armas at 12 noon and I charged up my camera the night before so I could take more photos of him and the other guys. I made my way to Lan´s main office and changed the return date of my flight ticket to 18th February which is probably the latest I will stay here. It cost 78 dollars to change it which I thought was reasonable, and I can change it again if I end up going home sooner. I had to make a decision on how much longer to stay as the date on the return part of my ticket was 1st November, only a week hence.
I had a lovely time with the musicians after having changed my flight ticket date. I wasnt with them as long as last time but the 3 hours I was with them were lovely. Juan met me at 12 and we listened to some music on my iPod whilst sitting on the cathedral steps. It started out a hot sunny day then suddenly deteriorated into wind and cold so we walked up to Qori Chaska restaurant where he thought we would find the others but they weren´t there. I decided to treat Juan to lunch as they had a set menu for 15 soles a head, and ordered a litre of beer to go with it. Next minute the heavens opened so we moved from the outside tables to one by the entrance which was covered. We had just placed our food order when the other guys arrived to get their instruments and said they had been called to play somewhere nearby. So Juan left me there and said he would come straight back afterwards.
I chatted to the owner and shared the beer with him - he is a really nice guy called Andres and you can see him in my last upload of photos to flickr, playing the bombo drum. My food arrived and it was really delicious - we had both ordered the same - a yummy chicken and vegetable soup with plenty of chicken breast, and trout in a delicious sauce with rice and potato - which I ate inside the restaurant as despite being under cover it was rather cold outside. Thank goodness I had taken a long sleeved top with me to put on if it was cold in Cusco.
When he reappeared he only had 15 minutes to eat his food and had to shovel it down! The three of us finished off the beer and then I went with him to catch up with the others, saying goodbye to Andres. He had told me he was like a brother to the musicians and it was clear they all thought a lot of each other. Juan said after playing nearby they had been called to play for 2 or 3 hours at a place outside Cusco quite far away. Although I could have gone with them, I was worried about getting back, bearing in mind the last carro to Urubamba leaves around 7.30.
The restaurant where they were playing was on the corner of Plaza de Armas and Avenida el sol, upstairs on the second floor - a really posh place called Fusiones. There were lots of Japanese or Chinese tourists seated at several tables. Juan got me a seat and I was sitting next to where they were playing (so will feature as well in various photos that were taken of them!) - they began with my favourite Chuklla and also included Pobre Corazon in their repertoire as they all know these two are my favourites.
Right from the start the tourists were enthusiastically clapping and some got up to dance. One woman was right in Juan´s face as he sang and played guitar and he was almost backed into a corner - it was really funny and I got a photo of that. Considering another guy on the same table had his mask on, that surprised me somewhat. There were just four guys that day and Juan was out front and the other three alongside me. They did well on CD sales and sold at least 4, so at least they made some money, which isn´t always the case. It was about 3 pm when I said goodbye to them, and before leaving arranged to meet up with them again the following week.
I probably took about a dozen photos altogether and these are being uploaded as I write this long overdue blog entry. Luckily it had stopped raining when I left them outside Fusiones as I had a tidy walk down Avenida el sol to collect some photos I had taken (passport style) - I am going to apply for a photo driving licence. With this I will have the second piece of photo ID needed and I can open a bank account here in my own name instead of the one I have as a separate account of Alfredos.
I know how to walk to the carro station now rather than wasting 3 soles on a taxi - it only takes about 15 minutes and right by it is a supermarket so I went in and bought a few more provisions as things are cheaper and there is a lot more variety than in Urubamba. The 3 soles saved by walking to Plaza de Armas this morning went to 3 women in Cusco dresses and their baby lamb who remembered me from last time and wanted me to take their picture and of course I had to give them all a sol each!
I got back to Urubamba just after 4.30 and as I was walking past La Chinita restaurant bar from terminal to home, I heard my name called and somone calling me inside and joined up with Daniel (Rosalio´s brother) and two more Wilbers and they shared their large bottle of Inka Kola with me and all greeted me with hugs, including the owner, Henry. I ordered another bottle which we all shared as well, as I always like to pay my way and I was with them about an hour and they were all interested to hear about Ilo.
A couple of days after this, Nohemy contracted 20 men so that the cement could be laid for the second floor of the extension to their house. She hired a young girl to help and the three of us prepared and cooked enough food for 26 people and then when the work began I was one of the watchers along with Hugo down by the cement mixer, Nohemy with a view of the patio from the verandah and Alfredo looking down from a balcony and me relieving them if they needed a break. You have to watch the workers at all times here because they either make off with the cement and other supplies or down tools if they think they can get away with it. The cement laying is done on the run, with one man adding the cement to the mixer, 2 or 3 others digging into the sand and throwing that into the mix, another guy adding water and the rest filling their buckets with wet cement and running in and up the ladder and pouring it onto the second floor, these guys running back down the ladder etc - a continuous cycle of fast activity. After a couple of hours work came to a half for the tea break but instead of providing tea, Nohemy had to supply a couple of gallons of chicha (a brew made from fermented maize) and all the guys sat around for half an hour drinking this and then work started again for another couple of hours until the water was getting dangerously low in the four giant containers so at this point they stopped for lunch to allow the water levels to creep up. The photos from this are being uploaded as I write as well, along with several taken during my visit to Ilo. After all the cement ran out and the floor was levelled, Nohemy supplied two bottles of pisco for the men to share along with a couple of crates of beer and we put half a crate of them into the fridge to cool for our own use once the men had gone!
This week I went into Cusco again, this time for the weekend with Nohemy and Alfredo, staying overnight Friday at their house there. I met up with Juan and the guys again and watched them play at El Emperador restaurant. Juan had to go after a while and left me at Qori Chaski restaurant again and I decided to have lunch there before going back to the house. I had an alpaca steak in mushroom sauce which was really delicious. Then I downloaded the latest photos from camera to DVD, so the photos uploaded now go up to Friday 30th October. I spent the evening with Nohemy and Alfredo, for a few beers at the corner shop first and later with dinner we enjoyed a bottle of rose wine from Ica, one of the best wine growing areas in Peru, which I had bought at the local supermarket earlier. Very nice it was too.
On Saturday we went to two huge street markets - the first one was at Santiago, much against Nohemy´s better judgement. We hopped on a bus which was very crowded and they were still cramming more passengers in when the aisles were packed like sardines too. You would never believe how many people can fit inside those little buses here. Santiago is one of the most dangerous parts of Cusco but I didnt feel uneasy there, what with the bright sun beating down, lots of people about, all the stall holders etc and Nohemy watching my back. I bought a few CDs and DVDs but then we were walking down a steep hill of stalls when I felt something wet and greasy on my neck and next minute Nohemy was shrieking saying I wasn´t there alone. As she shrieked I could feel the presence of a man right behind me and he was obviously poised to attack and only Nohemy´s vigilance had saved me from probably having my bag stolen. Even though anchored to my waist with a belt and a shoulder strap those thieves are adept at cutting and running. Had the bag been stolen it would have been a disaster as both my cards were in one of the pockets of the bag and I would have had no access to my funds without those cards. Luckily the man dropped back when she screamed at him and after that Nohemy couldnt get out of there quick enough and we were practically falling over ourselves to get back down the hill to the main road below, where Nohemy heaved a huge sigh of relief and hailed the nearest taxi! Alfredo said it isn´t unknown for gangs of thieves to attack with knives to obtain their objective. I never dreamt it could be as dangerous as that so definitely won´t be going there again!
We then went to the huge market at Tupac Amaru Plaza which is in the Wanchaq district, not too far from the house in Cusco. Here it was much safer and one could walk around without having to worry about thieves. Apart from the huge plaza with stalls going round and round until in the centre were marquees with expositions going on, a band set up on a stage etc, outside were huge covered market areas. We left Alfredo sitting on a seat in a shady spot watching the world go by while Nohemy and I browsed the stalls and the exposition tents. In the latter I bought some concentrated eucalyptus oil to help me breathe at night as whenever I have a cold that is the only time I notice the symptoms of the high altitude, with breathing difficulties at night. Also I bought a gorgeous crochet waistcoat and more DVDs and a few other sundry items. At lunchtime we went to another area with about 40 outlets all with trestle tables and benches under canvas in the open air, and after checking out what was on offer we opted for Cabrito al Horno, which is roast goat, served with potatoes and salad. I had wanted a delicious potato dish at one of the stalls but the choice of meat to go with it was either chicken (which we have most days in Urubamba) or lechon, roast pork, but Nohemy thought the meat looked dodgy and thought it best to avoid it. She said there is a disease you can get here from eating contaminated pork which affects the brain, so is similar to Mad Cow´s. She said not to worry as she would be cooking lechon for our dinner the next day! By the time we got back to the house in the mid afternoon, we were all pretty tired as it was one of the hottest days on record and made us wonder if it was that hot in Cusco how hot it must have been in Urubamba. Nohemy and Alfredo had a siesta and I went to a nearby internet cafe for a while, and then in the evening we decided to head back to Urubamba. I had originally hoped to be able to go to Kamikase and hoped that Juan would accompany me, but he was travelling to Puno early Saturday evening in order to attend a family get together the following day. Once I knew I wouldnt be going out that evening we decided to head back, as otherwise it would have been a 5 am start on Sunday morning in order to have breakfast and get back to Urubamba in time for Nohemy to attend mass at their local church.
Yesterday was a family reunion type of day, similar to Christmas etc, with everyone having roast pork for lunch. I helped Nohemy with the preparation in the morning, peeling potatoes, marinating the pork in a selection of spices including a sauce made from different chillis, garlic, soy sauce etc. Then once the pork was in the oven I went off to the internet cafe round the corner. When I got back in time for lunch I was touched that Nohemy had prepared that potato dish that took my fancy the day before, a dish of layered potato slices, with onion, tomato slices, hard boiled egg slices, cheese and olives, baked in the oven. Lunch was delicious and afterwards we shared a litre bottle of sweet red wine. One of Nohemy´s tenants, a gay guy called Ruben who with his partner runs the hairdressing salon on one side of Nohemy´s house came in and Nohemy served him up a plate of lechon with red wine, and we really enjoyed his company. I already knew him as I had my hair trimmed in that salon a few weeks back, and might have my next perm there in a few weeks as the current one has almost grown out and the cost is only a fraction of what I have to pay back home. When the wine ran out Ruben went off and got a few litre bottles of Pilsen beer and we carried on drinking that. I had to leave them at 2.15 having prearranged to go to the restaurant where Wilber and his brother works, and whilst there was invited to join them for another roast pork lunch and that was fun too and I stayed a couple of hours until I said my goodbyes, and they insisted I come back for another free lunch the following day. I walked back, 20 minutes walk, instead of taking a moto, in order to walk off some of the affects of two roast pork dinners!
Back at the house Nohemy and I went out and got some more beers in and we drank them sitting on the patio as the sun went down. Another tenant from the bar on the other side of their house joined us for a while and before they left gave us all another 620 ml bottle of Cusquena each. By the time all the beer was finished we were feeling quite merry and we all slept well that night! The following day was ´The Day of the Dead´ and the intention after lunch at the restaurant was for me to accompany them to the cemetery and join in the family celebration (of Wilber and his brother), but unfortunately the heavens opened and it literally poured with rain, and I didn´t have anything suitable with me to keep dry other than a cardigan. My leather coat is still in my other suitcase at the house in Cusco, not having been needed until now. So we stayed on at the restaurant another couple of hours instead and shared a load of beers.
