Day 1—Wednesday/Thursday, July 20/21—To Cuzco

the andes from the plane
Originally uploaded by rswells.

Since my flight was scheduled to leave on the morning of the 21st at 6.10am, I decided not to sleep at all on Wednesday night, the 30th. That evening I saw a friend’s band called La Ira de Díos in concert. They rocked pretty hard and I had a difficult time understanding their lyrics, save for when the frontman screamed about something being “en fuego.” Actually, La Ira opened up for this other band composed of grandpa rockers that covered groups like Iron Butterfly, Grand Funk Railroad, and The Kinks. The 60+year-old frontman—dressed in corduroys and a turtleneck sweater, topped off with a beautiful, silver bigote—wielded a commanding voice and is relatively well known here in Lima. He used to host radio and television programs, or something. After the show I went back to Tali’s house and watched tv until a taxi came to pick me up around 3.30. By this point in the night, my stomach was beginning to test me—I think because of some yuquitas that I had eaten earlier at the concert. Indeed, as soon as I got in line to check in at the airport, I got out of line to hustle to the bathroom. When I returned to the line, I moved the pink stuff from my check-in bag to my carry on—and in front of an attractive girl, no less. I moved forward a few steps when it hit again. This time proved to be more of a false alarm, though, and I eventually got myself checked in, paid the airport tax, and got myself to the proper gate. Once seated, I started to listen to my favorite airport record, The Velvet Underground s/t.

On the plane, I watched the sunrise over the Andes.

My friend, Adam, was at the airport to greet me when I arrived in Cuzco around 7.30. We taxied to his current lodgings/volunteer site at an albergue that houses and educates impoverished children from Cuzco’s mountain communities. Most of the kids speak Quechua but not so much Spanish. At the albergue, Adam works as the liaison between the local directo, Carlota, and the American volunteers that come in every other week to do some community building projects and play with the kids. Oddly enough, when I arrived there was a family of volunteers there from Ann Arbor. I talked to the oldest son about Big Ten Burrito and The Fleetwood Diner. Anyways, since I hadn’t slept a wink the night before, I slept that day from 9.30am to 6.00pm. When I woke up, Adam and I went to go get pizza for the group’s dinner. After the meal, the volunteers watched somebody’s pirated version of Seabiscuit. I couldn’t really get to sleep later that night, however, because my levels were so off. Plus, the pills I was taking to combat the probable onslaught of altitude sickness made me temporarily loose feeling in my digits and lips.