shutterstarr dot com!

I spent the next two nights in Iquitos shoring up my travel arrangements and taking it easy on myself. Wil and Grazyna introduced me to Mariella, a lovely young woman who was opening a new office as a travel agent. She arranged a flight and accomidation for me in Cusco. I did some shoping near the city center. My mood improved dramatically as I quickly adjusted back to the pace of urban life and after hearf-felt good-bys to my new friends I left Iquitos in seach of another adventure.

The airport in Iquitos was small, but modern and effecient. I was, however, annoyed to discover that Peru charges an airport tax, paid on-sight, before you are allowed to go through security. The price was less than $5 US, but it had to be paid in cash, and I had not expected it. The airport ATM wouldn’t take my card and I had just barely enough cash on me to scrape together the fee and catch my plane.

That’s not my plane.

This is my plane…

The flight was comfortable and uneventful. I had a layover in Lima and I intended to spend my time on the ground blogging and catching up on my email. After collecting my bags from one flight checking in for the second flight I had to go through security again, which meant paying another airport fee. If this wasn’t bad enough after I found my gate I asked about internet access and was told that it was available, but only on the other side of the security checkpoint. I would have to pay another fee to come back through security. I tried to negotiate, but in the end I sucked it up and paid my third airport fee of the day so I could get a little computer time while I waited. The internet cafe at the airport chared 7 sols/hour as opposed to the 1-2 sols/hour that I had been paying everywhere else.

The flight to Cusco was plesant and the mountain scenery was beautiful. As we landed I looked down on a mosaic of red-tile roofs. It was a bright, clear day and everything seemed to me to be shocklingly dissimilar from the jungle.

I managed to haggle 10 sols off of my cab fare and got a ride to Plaza San Blas for 15 sols. My cab driver gave me a little tour along the way. The thin mountain air was crisp and clear, sharpening edges and giving everything a sparkle. The mediteranian architechture and the mountains gave the place the feel of wine country. There were tourists everywhere. I was not longer off the beaten path.

My hostal was very nice, if a little on the new age/hippie side. The rooms surround a partially covered courtyard. There is a kitchen, a dinning room, a patio, a rec room, and communal baths. It is decorated with paintings of goddesses and hanging dreamcatchers, shards of broken pottery and cacti growing through cracks in the floor.

For 42 sols I rented a small two-level room with a small sitting area and ladder up to a loft with a single bed. It had a small window that looked past the angular rooftops to the mountains beyond. It was pretty and tranquil and just what I needed to rest and recouperate from my time in the jungle.

Casa de la Gringa was very keyed into plant teachers. They had postings for both Ayahuasca and San Pedro rituals. This peaked my interest. I was curious to try Ayahuasca again with another shaman in another setting and see what the differences were. I was also interested in a tune up. I could feel that I still had my soul, but my strength and vitality had not returned. However, my first priority was a shower and a shave.

After being cautioned by the hostal staff about the altitude, “plenty of water and lots of coca tea,” I followed their directions down to find a place where I could get a shave. I brought a water bottle filled with coca de matte along.

I found coca leaf tea mild, but pleasant. It’s effect is no stronger than regular tea, and it’s taste is vaguely similar to a green tea, but naturally sweeter. It seemed to help with the alititude as well. Cusco is high, the elevation is about 3300 meters or about 11,000 feet. At that altitude walking up a steep grade or a flight of stairs was enough to get me winded. Being that the entire city clings to mountainsides, just walking around town would have been difficult without time to adjust to the altitude.

I walked down through Plaza de Armas. There was some kind of protest going on in the square, but I was on a mission. On a street just downhill of the plaza I found my barbar. Her name was Vanessa, and it would be more accurate to say that she found me. As I walked by the shop she looked at my scraggly beard and asked, “Shave?”

She trimmed my hair, shaved me close with a straight razor, and gave me a deep conditioning and hot oil treatment, two shampoos, and a scalp massage. I reveled in the decadence of it all. It cost me 60 sols and was worth every penny. Now I really did feel like a whole new man.

After returning to the hostel I went out to dinner at a little place just around the corner called Inca Panaka. It was a cozy place with pleasant ambiance and amazing food. I had mashed yucca balls stuffed with olives and fruit for a started and alpaca steak for an entrée. I had never eaten alpaca before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was similar to pork but very tender and moist.

After a phenomenal meal I walked a few steps back to my hostel and tucked myself into bed under a thick layer of sheets and blankets.