10% Litteral, 90% Metaphor (Machu Picchu)

Back from heaven. There aren´t really words to describe it, which is cliche but never more true than today. There is something going on there that I haven´t quite digested and maybe never will. I will post some photos, but the majority of the photos that I took were with print film. I know there are better, colour corrected and framed photos on the web that were taken on days with more sunshine and less gringos. It doesn't matter what picture anyone takes, they will pale in comparrison to the real thing. Take it for what it is, but I am a changed man.

Cuzco

Got met at the airport by Krista which was a nice bonus to say the least. Cuzco is a dirty, compact little town with 400k or so folks living at altitude among the Andean mountains. Its shocking in that you feel like you could walk most of it in an afternoon but its got such a sizable population. I have only a city like Hamilton, Ontario to compare it to. Good luck walking from end to end of that sprawl. Maybe its the definition of the word suburb as when you look at the hillsides there are houses that go WAY up there.

Definitely felt the altitude (and started feeling it on the plane - I had thought that cabin pressure was fairly standardized - strange). Some folks that I have met have some serious signs of altitude sickness, but I have gratefully escaped it. When I was in Nepal I was a wreck so I was a bit concerned about how I would react. Looking good.

We got me checked into a hostel just off the main square (the tourist Mecca, but where the action is). Got sorted out with some Coca tea and then took a walk around the town a bit. Finally ended up drinking beers on a balcony as I swear 10 different parades took place below us. The next day I slept - a LOT. Woke up at noon which was pretty luxurious to say the least. Can't remember the last time I slept for 12 hours.

Spent a good couple of days wondering around and taking in the sights. My traveling life is starting to be a little bit of a dichotomy. I am equally at ease eating corn with suspicious looking cheese from the sketchy looking bag of some street vendor for 30 cents as I am eating $25 westernized fish dinners in a tourist trap on my visa. In terms of food, it was actually quite good here. You can get fried chicken, salad and fries for 3.50 soles (just over $1). Scrumptious street meat on a stick cooked in a lemon cilantro sauce complete with a potato on top for 1 sole. We also went to a funky place that I liked quite a bit (owned by a guy who takes the profits to support his orphanage) that had cheap red wine and some hand made tortilla chips and guacamole that was _seriously_ good. Medium priced and medium tasting food to be had in the square with varying quality and authenticity.

We took a trip out to the ruins at Pisac which was a phenomenal day. It was nice to take a local bus out to the village at the base of the ruins and finally get away from the dirt and smog that I have been living in. It was something. 5km, steep walk up and a 10km walk out through some rich, rural landscape. Take a look at the photos (link, top right). I am realizing that my digital camera needs a polarizing filter (which it can't take). I need to start shooting raw and then fake it later I guess, but I think I will invest in a digital SLR one day. The browns and blues were really deep in life. For both of us, the day in total with an hour ride bus trip each way, three drinks and 2 chocolate bars came to about 5 USD. And mountains. God I love mountains.

Krista lives in a boarding house of sorts as she volunteers in a medical clinic placement for 6 weeks. Filled with what seems to be an endless gaggle of 17-22ish year old girls / women (and couple of bewildered dudes) it takes on a little bit of college dorm type of feel. Its odd to me that they seem so worldly. I have something to learn from everyone I am coming to realize. It takes a certain type of person to go to South America to work / volunteer before college. I can't remember the last time I partied with 19 year olds (probably when I was 19) but it was pretty fun. We had a rousing drinking game before hitting the town hard. Went to a couple of 'clubs' and danced the night away. I realize that have become a bit of an electronic music snob from my days in Toronto. Mixing electro to trance to Michael Jackson to hip-hop blah blah blah just seemed so comical to me (especially with the day-glo Goa trance strings all over the ceiling). More of a wedding DJ medley than anything I am used to hearing on a Saturday night. I won't go into the track list and weird mash-ups here, but I was actually laughing out loud (as I sang along).

I made my exit, not before we sat on the steps and sparred with some of the street kids trying to sell us crap. I never even give them the time of day but it seemed like a good way to spend some change. We worked them into a frenzy and I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time. 2 hours of sleep later, it was off to catch the train. Lets just say that I don't bounce back like a 19 year old anymore.

I have to say that it was important for me to spend this time with Krista. She knows me from a different time and place and having not seen her for 4 years or so she has a unique viewpoint of who I am today vs. way back when. So much talk with piercing questions and brutally honest answers about both of our lives, past and present. Its refreshing to be completely without guard. Its a good sign that I have these types in my life, both away and at home.

Krista has been a little bit of a tour guide of late, chauffeuring her boyfriend Len around prior to tackling my tourist requirements. (Kris - Thanks for taking the time out and sharing a wonderfully good time.)

I have changed my plans about eight times so far. The latest has me leaving tomorrow back to Lima to try and get a ticket to see Roger Waters perform Dark of the moon in its entirety. My lack of planning continues to bite me in the ass. I hope this works out. (My mother is queen of the power of positive thought, she always wants me to say things _will_ happen. I am getting there as I no longer say they _won't_ happen but that I hope they will. A work in progress :)

Spanish Keyboards suck

ALT + 63 = ?
ALT + 64 = @

Goodbye Lima - hello anything else

I feel like I need to apologize for living high on the hog in Lima. But as soon as I have written this, I have let it go. I need some pampering and I've earned my stars for living on the cheap in a previous life. Won't be a long stint in any event as pampering is costing me more money than I have :) If I need to play tourist for this week of my life then that’s what I am going to do. Damnit.

Thought of the day

I am feeling that my life is pretty quantized at this point (maybe binary, but that sounds wrong). Things are either in process of being wrapped up, or not finished but at a level that I have let them go. Once they are off my plate, they are have been pushed out of from my conscious operating level and they no longer exist. If at the centre of the Mike ´atom´ is where I am trying to get to then each of these particles of crap that are circling it only need a push of energy to get them to an orbit which is farther away from the core. This rambling of course breaks down as once particles don’t have enough energy to exist at their promoted level they will naturally fall down from whence they came. And the whole process makes the mess unstable, but maybe that’s the point? I guess the trick is get deeper before they all come back to haunt me ;)

Meat market Peruvian styles

As the Beastie Boys song goes, "Looking for a girl, I ran into a horse".... wait - I mean guy.... actually, I don't know what the fuck this thing actually is. Sure looks tasty though.

Lima Beans

Made it into Peru.

I continue to impress myself with my ability to leave everything to the last minute and then cram impossible amounts of work into slivers of time at the mere cost of sleep. Well, not entirely my fault this time, there were a few circumstances that reared their ugly head.

I slept through most of the 8 hour flight out of Toronto, leaving me with enough energy to drop my bags off and hit the casino for a few hands. Yes - surprisingly breaking even although old Roulette favorites such as "19/22" and the new upstart "6" (hitting twice after its strong debut in Panama last year) made for an interesting night.

Now my sleep is completely screwed and I sit here staring at the wall trying to finish up crap that should have been finished a long time ago.

I am going to try and keep up with this blogging thing although much of my thoughts will be in notebook format while traveling and my updates will get bottlenecked a bit. I will also try to not filter out the stuff that sounds inane and vacuous in retrospect, as hard as that may be for me.

My Random recollections so far:

1. Leopard print high heels are funny in any country. Especially in airports.
2. Boring people and people who aren't comfortable with English use the word "Interesting" too much. I am quite comfortable with English so I had better find a new word so that people don't catch on.
3. Met the bartender at the hotel named Cesar who re-opened the piano bar for me for no other reason than to allow me to get a free drink at 2:00am. We watched a Uruguay vs. Venezuela soccer match and he explained to me that he used to be a professional soccer player before an injury sidelined him. He liked to use the word "complicated". He was fairly interesting - perhaps I should make this word my word. Cesar also had a quiet pride about him as when I asked him whether or not he was a good player in his day he just touched his nose and said "yes". Not a boast in any way, just a statement of fact. He also patiently explained proper tipping etiquette and then refused to accept my tip when offered.
4. The people in Peru appear to be quite friendly, both on (hotel) and off (late night shenanigans) the beaten path. Lima itself seems fairly unforgiving. I am glad to be in the safe part of town.
5. Late night cabbies like to use the word "Chicca". They say it with such glee that one is tempted to start saying it so as to appear not boring. I think I will pass on this one though.

Off to sort out some flights.

Touched

I can't believe the generosity and kindness that I have experienced over the last week.

So many people have come out of the woodwork to offer their support in the 11th hour. I believe that there is family out there which isn't born of blood. It takes the form of little folded pieces of encouragement found in your pocket, chauffer service, courier service, meaningful cards with Peruvian beer money stapled to the back, Greyhounds buses, books, dinners, much needed tech, people pulling you aside and letting you know that something you said months ago meant something, shelter, little emails of encouragement, letters whose delayed opening is mandated, much needed advice and even cash, lending, giving and offering.

Then of course there is blood, who have done most of this and more. I couldn´t ask for better.

I don't really know what to say.

Tired

Me and the Wong went to the cottage today. For those of you who don't know him, he is the master of the selfless give. Two gringos against the north (sorry thats 1 gringo) - long slog across the frozen lake followed by shoveling off approximately 10 tones of snow off the at points 18ft high roof (there are complex calculations behind this - trust me). By all estimates, it was at the upper end of what the cottage could bear. What does one do after 5 hours of shoveling? That’s right - walk back across the lake and rush home. Great experience and it was great way to see me (and him) off.



Right into McCools for the last installment of the 2 week "this is the last time I do X" going away extravaganza. Thanks all who participated - you know who you obviously socially bankrupt folks are.

Back for some legal crap and starting the packing.

Bon Voyage

SO. This is my first attempt at this. I don't know how it is that I can be involved in computers all my life and be an Evite virgin. Given this, I should probably pack it in for a bit and think about why that is. I can't face the shame - I need to leave town.

Shocking I know, but I am organizing a party and giving more than 3 days notice. I need to get a rough idea of the numbers so that I can find a place for all of us.

If there are 3'ish of us, then we will likely go to a place like Wide Open and hoist a couple of pints.

If there are about 20 of us, then we might want to consider a place like Wide Open. We would be more than welcome and who's kidding who, its good times.

However if I am popular, or if people are very excited about not seeing me for a time and want to present me with tomatoes at high velocity, we will likely have to resort to a place called Wide Open. Mike (owner) has agreed to shut the place down if there are oodles of folks. It holds 70 (which would be tightly packed to say the least), drinks are cheap, people are friendly and screw it - its my party and I like the place.

For people who haven't been, it used to be an alley that they put a roof on and called it a bar. We can get some trays of food and pretend its sophisticated, but under no circumstances should you bring the tux.

After party and After After parties to be determined. Make no mistake - I intend on being the last man standing.... yeah - right ;)

My thoughts around parties have not changed. Although there are a bunch of names on this list, there are a bunch of other names who belong to people who should definitely come. You guys know who I know and make sure that you add them to the list, or as a guest - whatever. You guys also know who I am and if you know someone who you would like to bring who doesn't suck then my party is your party.

I can't ask you to sign in blood, but if you say that you will make, please try your hardest to do so. I'd hate to have a proprietor of a bar shut it down on a Saturday night so that I can sit there and say "They are coming! I got 35 for sure's on my Evite - have you heard about Evite?". I have enough awkward situations in my life already.

Looking forward to it. More concrete details after you do your jobs.