Back To Peru

BACK TO PERU

For nearly ten years I have traveled with my son. 

 He has had a passport since before he ate food and has basically been attached to my hip and carry on luggage every trip I have taken since his birth.

 Hawaii, Bali, Singapore, France, Belgium, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to name some of the places we have been together.

 

So it was monumental when I returned to the little village in Peru last month where we use to live last year, without him.

For a decade I have maneuvered my way through airports, onto planes and through customs with him constantly by my side. 

My trusty side kick through airport lounge after airport lounge.

I was leaving Lima after flying from Cusco to board a plane direct to San Jose, Costa Rica, all on my own.
 And it felt Good. 
I had only been away for a week and I was not sure if I should be missing him more or if this new found freedom of solo travel was something I could really get use to.

We had lived in Urubamba in the Sacred Valley of Peru for seven months the year before. An experience that touched us both so deeply that it became indescribable to talk about. It was a feeling so deep that we did not even really know how profoundly it had effected us until we left. I came away from Peru with a deeper understanding of how it is to be truly humble and grateful for what we have in this gift simply called life.

My return trip to Peru was one of sorting things out.
We had left suitcases and large storage bags of cloth, rugs, gifts and clothes as we had entertained the idea of returning to maybe live there again.
But now that we call Costa Rica home, it was time to bring these things here.

From the moment the small plane started to descend into the valley of Cusco and head for the tarmac my heart was open. A smile crept onto my face and stayed there for the whole 9 days. I had a list of people I wanted to see yet had made no fixed plans and had not even contacted some of them knowing that it would all flow.

As soon as I had bargained a taxi ride for ten soles way up to the Rincon area where mass slaughters use to take place eons ago to drop my bags at my friends house, I descended down the rocky steps towards San Blas then onto the San Pedro market to get myself a green smoothie. 

Although it is cold in Cusco a green smoothie from my "cascera" was high on my must do list. 

I always went to the same woman, which is how it generally works in Peru. Once you have linked a relationship of some kind to someone that serves you your smoothie or juice just how you like it, you stick to them like glue.

 This relationship enables the privilege of having your favorite drink begin to be prepared for you before you even sit down if you are spotted in the area beforehand.

It also means that often the best greens and mangoes are kept aside in anticipation of your visit.  To this day I still can not remember the name of my "Casera" in the San Pedro market, but she looks after me and fills my smoothies with so much goodness that I can feel the love sliding down my throat each time I order my breakfast from her.

 In the same place you order your smoothie filled 

 with goodness of fruit and greens, you can also get a smoothie made from beer, eggs and condensed milk. Mixed with a hell of a lot of sugar this is literally a bomb that slides down into your belly waiting for disaster.

 

Next stop, before the real shopping began was "Green Point" a vegan restaurant in a back lane near San Blas Plaza. Why Green Point? for the HUGE dark chocolate Vegan cake that they serve. 

Enough on its own this cake is certainly something not to miss. I was so looking forward to tasting its richness that I was taken a back by the time it was actually served to me. On a huge round white plate it came with a toffee sculpture on top, mango and raspberry sauce and a load of vegan whipped cream. I bow down to this chocolate cake. 

A meal in itself it kept the smile on my face all day.

Aside from the incredible architecture and history that is so deep in the small streets of Cusco that surrounds you every where you go, it is the Peruvian women that touch my heart so deeply. They have a sense of humour that is sometimes hidden but if you take a moment to connect with a smile and small joke to break the ice then a whole new world opens up.  

Some of my most favourite moments in Peru are spending time with these women in the markets giggling like young teenagers.  It also means I get quite the bargain when buying their wares and even more humbling is I am gifted so much from them.
 After spending time talking about our children, swapping recipes and telling them stories of afar I never leave with out bags of coffee, an extra block of cacao, a small container of pure special honey or an extra bag of coca leaves given to me as a gift.  These women have taught me a lot about giving. They have next to nothing compared to the standards I hold my life in yet they give all the time. They give freely and from their heart and I am often leaving with tears pooling in my eyes of immense gratitude for their gesture which is more than just about the cacao, coffee or tea. It is a gesture a woman recognising something of herself in another. 

Most of these women are single mothers.
Most of them have stories of domestic abuse and abandonment and horrendous family sexual abuse. They live in a culture that is stuck between machoism and a displacement of identity where alcohol is a common form of escapism and a catalyst for abuse that is as common as rising for breakfast. 

These women live a hard life here in the cold with no hot water if any running water at all. Most houses are never finished creating living conditions as an extra challenge against the cold. Life is hard and they often wear the same clothes until they fall apart and just add on another layer. Their feet are constantly exposed as they wear sandals made from old car tyres and yet they always have a smile. 
And their smiles are precious.
Their smiles show the light that glimmers behind their long day of hard work. 

Arriving into the village of Urubamba I was really excited to see my Casera Maria from whom I always bought my stores. She always kept aside the best honey, the freshest milled flours from quinoa and Kiwicha for Allandes pancakes and the freshest organic coffee that she grinds herself. She is now making her own cacao paste in her back yard. 

And it is GOOD ! 

The day she gifted me some to try i went home to my friends house straight away to make chocolate and I could taste and feel the love and attention she puts into her work. It was like silk sliding down my throat.
I returned the next day and bought three kilos of it.

 Even though Urubamba is deep in the dry snow peaked mountains of the Sacred Valley it is only three hours from the beginning of the jungle that takes you to Machu Pichu. This means the markets are filled with mangoes, Lucuma, avocados, passionfruit, papayas, pineapples and so many other good fruits. Eating well in the valley is easy. But the water is an issue. Every household, juice bar and restaurant spends all day boiling water and transferring the boiled water to flasks lined up on the counters ready to use. If you arrive too early in the mornings to the juice bars your smoothie will be made with water that is still warm or even quite hot needing to add ice made from the boiled water from the day before. 

This is constant work and still most of us suffer from stomach problems much of the time. Gas is a constant companion and a bloated stomach becomes the norm. 

Not always comfortable but you are never alone.

There are two things I really love doing in Peru.
 Shopping and going out to restaurants.

Reason being they are both so affordable.

All traditional Peruvian restaurants serve a daily menu that includes, an entree, soup and main meal with a juice all for the one price. My favourite Vegan restaurant includes a dessert with theirs. A Bargain and ever so good. 


 The colours in the Sacred Valley of Peru are mind blowing. Considering the surroundings of dry rocky mountains it is even more astounding what comes from their natural dyes.

 Collecting lichen off of the mountain sides, gathering leaves and flowers from plants that grow all around and ochre from the rocks that line the river beds the women make powders and boil the plants with other elements to bring the colors out. Whilst traveling on these dusty roads the colors of a woman's skirt or the Poncho of man on horseback will catch your eye as it shines brilliant against the landscape. Children run around dressed in bright red and orange ponchos and hot pink with irredescent greens and yellows in their skirts.  The brightness of these colors distracts from the grubbiness of their skin and feet and how dirty their clothes really are.

 

The heat of the day from high elevation and the sharp coldness of the night causes your skin to crack and dry out until it hurts. Aging in these conditions is rapid. Whilst running around in ponchos, leg warmers and up to three scarves at a time you also need a sun hat. The young children are often seen with dark rosy cheeks. Mostly caused from malnutrition.

 The sun also burns their skin. 

All Peruvians in the Sacred Valley wear long sleeves in the form of woollen sweaters no matter how hot it is to avoid getting burnt form the searing sun.  Hot days and freezing nights cause for hard living conditions. Oh how I love Peru but to live there is not something I want to endure. It feel alike that so much of the time. It is hard work. As beautiful as the place is and as humble and soft the people are, the conditions for life are hard. Heating is scarce and proper insulation in the housing is all but non existent.
This trip back to Peru made me see how Costa Rica is definitely home.
Pura Vida.
Bacan.

Sacred Valley you are always deep in my heart.

Melissa Boord
Yes Life Is Awesome
A Traveling Mother & her Son.
October 2015