Iquitos

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t written in many days. Well, I’ll tell you… Our last day in Lima was spent at a wonderful museum full of Incan artefacts. We packed our bags, Patrick interviewed Johnny while I went off to buy a battery charger with Ruben. The next day we got up early and flew to Cuzco.

CUSCO- 4th of July-We were picked up at the airport by a tour guide named Genaro who stopped at Perurail so that we could buy our tickets to Machu Picchu. He then took us to our hotel, a nice little Dutch owned, socially responsible place, in the colonial section of town. Genaro recommended a typical restaurant that served Adobo (beef stew) and chicharron (fried pork w/fat). It was really yummy and there was an accordion player. Patrick was in Peru bliss. I on the other hand was starting to feel the ill effects of 11,000 feet mixed with a belly full of meat. This was the beginning of a 5 day odessey of sickness. I was so sick that I sent Patrick on a tour of the Sacred Valley alone. On Monday I was well enough to take a tour of Cuzco and the surrounding ruins, which was quite impressive. On Tuesday we got up at 4:30 to take the train to Machu Picchu and discovered that the labor strike, which was to start the next day, was starting a day earlier in Cuzco. I went to the Perurail office and got our money back, while Patrick packed all of our bags. We figured we’d better fly out before the strike so we changed our reservations and flew to Iquitos that day. We arrived in Iquitos at sunset and Anthony (former SUNY student of mine and owner of Otorongo Lodge) picked us up from the airport and took us to a small, quaint, family run hotel in downtown Iquitos. I guess I got the opposite of altitude sickness, but I had the same symptoms. I was grateful for a hotel off the main st with a nice tropical garden to be sick during the labor strike. Outside of our little oasis people were burning tires and chanting revolutionary phrases while marching in large groups. This started at midnight and continued until a downpour at dawn put a damper on the protesting.  The next day most businesses and restaurants were closed. We were fed breakfast by our hotel and Anthony and his wife Evey fed us a late lunch. Of course we had to walk to their house to eat it, not very far to walk, but a little disconcerting during a countrywide labor strike. Armed police were very present and we were grateful for their presence. There was no violence in Iquitos, just a few burning tires and some broken glass. Evey said it had been much worse in previous years, but because of the heightened police presence there was no violence and things were back to normal today. That brings us up to date. Today is the 10th of July.  We are in Casa Fitzcarraldo ,a nice place, apparently in the sawmill district, by the ever present sound of chainsaws…Tomorrow I will hopefully write a little more before we leave for the jungle.

Lima Day 2

July 2- We both slept marvelously on circa 1970’s mattresses that were hard as rocks. Patrick took a cold shower and we had our free pastery and coffee breakfast in the hotel cafe. Thus fortified, we headed out into the streets of Lima. Conveniently there is a lovely stone paved pedestrian street right next to our hotel and many architectural beauties along the way. We walked to the Plaza de las Armas were we watched the changing of the royal guard and and observed the wooden balconies where the rich can watch the goings on in the plaza without being seen. Then we walked to The Iglesia de San Francisco, where we were taken on a tour of the subterranean catacombs that were just littered with human bones representing hundreds of thousands of dead people. We found a marvelous open air restaurant that served delicious seafood. We had marinated sliced octopus with a pureed olive dipping sauce and Tiradito, a typical marinated fish with a delicious pepper sauce. We teturned to our luxury hotel for the mandatory siesta and went out later for chicken that rivaled Brooks. The walking street “El Jiron” comes alive after dark and everyone walks and eats and shops, away from the stinky traffic.  We had a great day!

Photos Lima

View from Miraflores

The Plaza de Armas Lima

In front of our hotel in Lima

The floor of our hotel room

Lima,Peru

Tuesday, July 1st- We arrived safe and sound in Lima after a long trip that began in Cobleskill on Sunday at noon. We took the bus to Albany and changed buses to NYC Port Authority. Then we took the A line to Rockaway Blvd and a car service to our hotel (Howard Johnson Express). Our driver, Frank, was very friendly and offered to pick us up at 4:00am and deliver us to JFK. We had no problems in the airport, except I caught my nail on my luggage in the rush to grab my recently scanned luggage from the conveyer belt and screamed in pain as my nail was torn way lower than a nail should tear. Patrick scorned my love of long nails and warned me to cut them before any adventure. The nice stewardess on the flight to Costa Rica gave me a bandaid. It was strange being in the familiar airport of San Jose. While I was waiting for my flight I emailed my friend and colleague Lindsay, who is studying in Costa Rica. Our flight to Bogota was uneventful except for some stomach churning turbulence. I sat next to a Spanish teacher from Utica who was going to teach English in Huancayo. Chaz Hamilton was his name.  On our flight to Lima the air was extremely hazy, I assume due to the massive burning of the Amazon. The sunset was spectacular! We met a young girl from Lima who was studying in NYC and hadn’t been home in two years. She invited us to call her and go out to lunch. Her name is Rosa, she is very nice. We had arranged with our hotel to send a taxi to pick us up at the airport. We stood there for a while looking for a sign with our names on it.  We were getting a little anxious when we saw our man with “Maribel y Patricio Clark” on a piece of paper. After the harrowing ride though third world traffic we arrived at our beautiful turn of the last century hotel”The Grand Hotel Bolivar”. My father stayed in this same hotel 45 years ago. It was like stepping into a time machine, with a Model T in the Reception and a huge stained glass dome with faux marble pillars. The furniture is also of the same period. I will download some photos of this remarkable hotel. After our arrival we went down to the elegant cocktail bar where waiters in black served us our first Pisco Sours (a drink made from clear grape brandy) We also had some snacks of fried fish,calamar,potatos, and yuca. We then retired to our luxurious room for the night.

Welcome to Peru