Cuzco the second time around

I have a tendency to not want to visit places I´ve already been to.  There are places I would like to visit again one day because I loved them (like Paris), but not until I´ve been to all the places that I want to go to that I haven´t been.  That being said, when I was planning this trip, I planned on 5 months, 5 countries - Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. I didn´t think there was time for anything else, and didn´t even look into going to Peru since I´d already gone to Machu Picchu in ´09. However, a few things happened, including my best friend Caryn planning a trip to Machu Picchu that coincided with the exact timing I was planning on flying right past Peru to head up to Ecuador, and there was a big festival (the 2nd largest in South America after Carnival), Inti Raymi, the same week. I decided that even if it was a week-long detour, it was worth going to see Caryn, so off I went.

And so glad I did.  I´ve had a few places that I´ve loved so far, including the glacier in Calafate, Iguazu Falls, and climbing the volcano in Pucon. But overall as an experience, I have loved every second of being in Cuzco.  I don´t know if it was the group of people I was with that are just awesome, or the fact that we´ve done some really fun things like rented a llama to parade around the city, or bought the most neon happy pants we could find, or found a bar with a cover band that let us rock out to Bohemian Rhapsody, but I love it here. And for the first time since I´ve left home, I´m homesick for here. I´ve met so many amazing people, and it´s finally hit me that after we split ways, I might never see them again.  I was traveling off and on with Cassie and Kenzie for nearly 3 months now, and whenever we went separate ways we knew we were meeting up again within a couple of weeks. Now there´s no more meeting up, and I´m sad about it. On the other end of the sad spectrum, seeing Caryn made me miss her and people from home. I´m excited to come back, but also scared, because I have NO idea what I want to do when I get back. I keep toying with different options - moving to a completely new city and deciding if I want to stay in advertising or not. Coming home for a while and then heading to SE Asia for a few months.  Coming home and working for my dream company. Staying here forever because I can´t decide what to do. I just really don´t know.  I have 2 more months in SA, so hopefully something will happen that will make it all just fall into place...

But getting back to Cuzco.
Let's give a little history on the wonderful city of Cuzco (as learned from the Peru Lonely Planet that Cjap so graciously donated to me!)  Hundreds of years ago, the sun god Inti looked down on the earth and wanted to organize people better. He created the first Inca, Manco Capac, on Isla del Sol, and told him and his wife, Mama Ocllo to settle in the spot where he could plunge a golden rod into the ground until it disappeared. This would be the navel of the earth (Qosq'o).
So the first Inca felt something magical there, and centuries later I showed up and felt that same magical something. I remember getting off the plane after my first long-term travel experience (an overnight bus from Rio to Sao Paolo, flight to Lima, followed by a flight to Cuzco.) Rather then get out tired or jet lagged, I stepped out of the Cuzco airport and told Becca that I loved this place. She laughed at me because we hadn't even left the airport, but I saw the sign 'Viva Peru' etched into the mountain and just knew. Sure enough, not only did I fall in love with Cuzco, but it became the trip that changed my life. The one that made me realize how much of the world I wanted to see and never would if I didn't leave New York. I think I was nervous about coming back because what if it was changed in some way, what if I didn't like it as much? But thank god I did, because I was proven wrong and would have missed out in so may ways.

Despite all of everyone´s separate border crossing issues (worst I heard was Dan´s 5 bus, 36 hour journey over dead animal carcasses and rocks being pelted at his bus), we all made it in time.  The day before the festival was one of my favorite days in Cuzco. The day started out with breakfast at Jack´s, which is my new favorite restaurant.  I ate here every single day since I got to Cuzco, sometimes for multiple meals.  It was like my Moonstruck Cafe of South America.  After breakfast, David and Andrew wanted to rent a llama. I thought they were kidding at first, but no they weren´t - so off we went towards the plaza and they selected Pablo Picasso, their llama of choice. After a little bit of negotiating (thank you Rosetta Stone for teaching me the Spanish word for rent), we did indeed rent a llama for the going rate of 50 Soles for an hour and a half.  The Peruvian lady handed David the leash, and we had our very own llama to explore the city with! We had a great photo shoot, and were sad to see the llama go after the hour and a half was up.  We went down to the big market to get costumes for the Inti Raymi festival. We found THE most obnoxious, brightly colored happy pants that have ever been created.  After a shopping spree where I spent all of my soles, we came back to the hostel and Caryn and Mike were here!!  We all met up with the girls we had met on the Colca Canyon hike at Fallen Angel, a restaurant Becca & I had found and loved the last time we were here.  The restaurant is decorated with modern art of angels and other random things, and the tables are bathtubs filled with fish tanks.  The place was as good as I remembered it, and I even decided to be adventurous and try ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice). And I LIKED it! Seriously, South America agrees with me.  I´m way more experimental with food here. For dinner a few nights later I had alpaca, which made me a little bit sad since I love llama´s and their cousins, but it was really pretty tasty.  Still no guinea pig for me though, thank you.

The next morning was the festival.  Inti Raymi, which means ´Festival of the Sun´in Quechuan, is a celebration on the winter solstice to the sun god. We all woke up at the crack of dawn and headed up to the ruins at Sacsayhuaman, which used to be an Incan fortress.  We got there around 8 and got seats close up, and hung around until the festival started around 1. The ceremony was all in Quechuan and we didn´t really understand it, but it was still cool to be there since it´s so important to the Incas.  When we got back, after dinner (at where else but Jack´s!), we spent the night wandering the town and buying more llama gear. It´s funny how after running around for months, making sure to do and see everything a city had to offer, I could have such a good time just wandering around the same streets doing nothing.

On the last day in Cuzco everyone started heading out.  David and Andrew were already gone for the Inca trail and I didn´t even get to say goodbye because there were some super noisy people in the bunk which prevented me from sleeping at all, so I slept right through and started off the day cranky and refusing to speak to Joel because of that. Then little by little everyone started heading out.  Cassie and Liam left for their morning flights, then Caryn and Mike left right after.  Kenzie took off after breakfast.  Joel and I went to a new market where I couldn´t even find the urge to buy anything except for coconut water straight from the coconut.  I took off for the bus station in the afternoon to head to Nasca to see the famous, crop-circle like lines that no one knows why they´re there.  After this point in my trip I´m completely clueless about where I´m going.  The gringo trail is pretty common down in Patagonia, and even Argentina people are going east or west to specific cities.  Bolivia is small enough that everyone is going to the same places, but for northern Peru, Ecuador and Colombia I´m clueless about where I´m going and what I¨m doing.  From here on I´m taking it one day at a time, and we´ll see where I end up!
One thing I've noticed is that the farther along I'm getting in my trip, the more changes I'm finding in myself. I worry so much less about everything here. Even during the border crossing issues, I was of course frustrated by not knowing how to get from one side to the other safely, but I was surprisingly cool about it all. Every once in a while I stare out the bus window and feel like I'm in a dream. Did I really give everything up to come down here? Is this all for real? Have I really spent the last 3 months bussing my way up from the southernmost point in the world? Do I really wake up every morning with nothing to do on my agenda except what I want? Yes, yes and yes. It still amazes me, and I'm still so glad I stopped worrying long enough to book my one way ticket. What happens when I get back doesn't matter, as long as I make the most out of what I'm doing now :)