Even after three months of living in Cusco, the time of leaving came as a bit of a shock. For all of the places we have visited, we spent the most time in Cusco and became the most "at home" there. Whether visiting with our landlord Javier and his parents, walking the narrow cobbled streets weaving around the ever present dog bombs, or dodging cars seemingly blind to the presence of pedestrians, we felt as comfortable as if we were in our hometown. As a reminder of my youth, I became completely accustomed to walking in the rain again, which is something I learned to avoid after living in the desert for so many years. Now it impresses me how a place can imprint itself so much on one's soul.
It is not that Cusco is especially more beautiful than other places we visited. It is really about the people we met who showed us a side of this part of Peru we could never have seen had we merely traveled through on our way to somewhere else. Elizabeth, Alain, and Iris at the South American Explorer's Club first opened the door of the Cusquena and Inka cultures to us. Our teachers at Amauta School patiently taught us culture and history through language. Our friends Nathalie and Rusbell and their children Killa and Qori shared days, evenings, and dinners with us. Just as we had pulled all our hair out trying to home school, John and Maria Renee rescued us by opening their one room school to our boys. Jane at Jack's Cafe welcomed us with wonderfully prepared (and safe - even the salads!) food. This whole community of folks made our time in and around Cusco unforgettable.
As I walked through the alleys of the old city for the last time, running my fingers over stone walls meticulously crafted by Inka laborers,which have withstood innumerable tremors for over half a millennium, I realized it is the sharp edge of leaving that pares an experience to its essential qualities. Despite leaving our friends with no set date for reunion the satisfaction of having been part of a community that might continue to grow won the day and made it much easier to catch our next flights to Lima and Ecuador.
We dropped out of the clouds and landed on a runway that suddenly appeared, arriving in Lima for a one night layover. We planned this as a transit stop on the way to Quito, Ecuador to break up the flights and to take advantage of the highly acclaimed ceviche Lima is known for. We booked a hostal in Miraflores. While sections of Miraflores were beautiful and the local ceviche as excellent as advertised, the hostal was forgettable and a pleasure to leave. Even the lovely walk through a beautiful park on a high bluff above the Pacific could not move us to spend more time in the big city. It was time to go to Ecuador.
Quito! Squeezed between a mountain ridge and a volcano, this largest of colonial cities grew up from the ruins of the northern reaches of the Inka empire to become the capital of the Spanish conquistadors. Nearly straddling the equator, the indigenous people understood that they lived in a special place on earth naming it Quito - Quichua for center of the earth. To ease our sensory overload caused by arriving in a big city, we were met at the airport by Heather, volunteer coordinator for the project we are volunteering with during the last two weeks of our time here. Not only did she ensure we found the hostal we booked, but she gave us a quick primer on safety. It seems that Quito has a reputation for petty crimes against tourists and Heather made sure we understood how to move about the city and hold onto our stuff. Nothing like the shock of reality to make us feel welcomed in our new place.
Contrast that feeling of vulnerability to the big smiles and warm reception we received upon entering our hostal. Ornelia and Ali made us feel completely at home in this old colonial house - maybe we could stay inside for our entire stay? After the arrival of my mother and her partner Steve we made our way out into the streets. With Heather's and Ali's advice in mind we found our way into the central historic city by ourselves and then with Felix, our city tour guide. From the vantage of the balcony of the Basilica, we could see such a mix of colonial architecture built upon the organization of the indigenous people vanquished by the conquistadors and then rebuilt after earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and then beyond all of that to modern Quito stretching to the north and south. During our walk today, the streets of the old city were closed to cars and filled with people strolling about or riding bicycles, musicians playing, and jugglers entertaining - so vibrant and energetic, and very much fun.
Just like we discovered in Cusco, getting out of the city is the best way to see the city with fresh eyes. We made three separate day trips: one to the cloud forest at a preserve called Bella Vista, one to the equator where we discovered the magic of the middle line around the earth, and another to Otavalo, a pueblo that hosts the largest artisanal handcrafts market in all of South America. At Bella Vista we saw many different species of hummingbirds and gained an appreciation for the vast diversity of life that exists in Ecuador. Aidan was especially intrigued by the hummingbirds and donned his red rain jacket becoming a massive flower to them. They swarmed around him and even landed on his fingers resting on the bird feeders. At the equator, we balanced raw eggs on the head of a 16d nail (try it yourselves you non-equatorians) and watched water drain straight down a sink without spinning, while just a mere 10 feet to either side of the line the water swirled the usual counterclockwise (north) or clockwise (south) directions - very cool! In Otavalo we touched and bought some of the vast diversity of hand work produced by the peoples of the Andes Mountains. I know I had a very different sensory overload than what I experienced when we arrived in Quito - so much to see and do, with such little time left on this journey.
For the next several days, we will leave Quito to visit Cotopaxi National Park - at nearly 20,000 feet the highest active volcano in the world. We are looking forward to hiking, mountain biking, and enjoying the mountain environment there before we head to the ocean world of the Galapagos Islands.
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