Chapter 11 - Gigs in Cusco

Chapter 11 - Gigs in Cusco

29.12.12
Cusco has a really good music scene and it is surprisingly easy to break into! Since the first gig in Go Bananas there have been 2 more. I played at the Ayamama bar before Amuru Pumac Kuntur which was literally my dream the first time I saw them only one week before!! Now however the dream is to be playing with them! I really enjoyed the Ayamama gig because it was so fast and energetic, both in the lead up to playing and the actual gig!! I had to be totally ready, no one was going to wait for me because i was expected to be as professional and organised as the other musicians or i shouldn't be on the bill. It was a hard act but a great learning experience! I also got paid in weed to play reggae music ... Yes I.

30.12.12
I then organised another Live music and Jam session at Go Bananas and enjoyed a more relaxed set, for the first time ever I remained seated for an entire show, but really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere it brought to the music and the people!  I have been asked to play in a lounge bar too , its called El Duende and the owner is really cool. There are two levels to this place and I play upstairs. There is a video camera upstairs which films you play and shows it on screens downstairs. Hilarious. absoloutley class. I'm really excited to be getting involved in this music scene here. I have also been jamming with Ras Dante, a rasta Mc who has invited me to sing with him in concert. He is part of soundsystem Seventh Seal who i have not met or heard yet. The more I stay here the more I love it and the more I realise no matter where I go in the world I will be making music and oppertunities for others to make music. Musica es vida .

Chapter 10 - Machu Picchu

Chapter 10 - Machu Picchu

26/12/12 – 28/12/12

We got up at four in the morning and left in a small bus to a town called Ollintitambo and from there we walked 28km to Aquas Callientes. I spent my time trekking with Jamie, talking of spiritual matters, observing the beauty of the landscape all around us, playing with beautiful horses, balancing as we walked along the train tracks through the jungle and relaxing on a suspension bridge that held us safely above ferocious river that ran below. We had a really good time together and I learnt a lot in 28km. We arrived in Aquas Callientes an hour after the rest of the group and ate a big meal. We then went to buy Machu Picchu tickets. I had decided before I left I would not actually pay to see Machu Michu for an hour. We played some music and went to bed. I spent the next day feeling ill I had a stomach bug and so didn’t do anything until the rest of the group returned from Machu Picchu and we hiked another 10km through the jungle to our next destination. Hot Mountain Springs. They were great. Like gigantic hot baths under an open sky surrounded by jungle and mountains! It was brilliant. We returned on a bus the next day that took us 6 hours through winding jungle roads above clouds and past huge landslides. I was really happy to be back in Cusco when we arrived that night, it felt like home!

Chapter 9 - Christmas

Chapter 9 - Christmas

24/12/12

Go Bananas Xmas party: We returned to Cusco for a feast. It was a party posted on couch surfing so there was travellers from all over the world at the event and each brought there own dish. I represented Scotland with a bowl of bread sauce to go with the chicken and Maggie for the first time ever didn't cook something and brought loads of croissants and sweet pastries. We ate and ate and ate and ate and ate and talked and then the live music began. There was a French guy there who had a song book of classic songs and in the end the majority of the night was spent playing cheesy covers but it was a lot of fun! Check out the French musician and his adventure at www.kikiaroundtheworld.com.

25/12/12

We woke on Xmas morning and after a shower I realised I had almost completely grown a beard of bumfluff. I was going that day to buy a razor. Maggie and I had both received a christmas stocking from my parents before we left Scotland and so we opened them first thing in the morning. I GOT A RAZOR!! I also got a really nice hat from Cécile and Théo, wich makes me look like French! And Maggie got a nice little pipe. We spent the rest of the day chilling in Cusco drinking smoothies with our new friends Jamie and Mariano before returning to the Banana palace for Christmas Lunch. More bread sauce and chicken... WELLL GEEED. We did skyping with our parents and went for dinner and I had alpaca steak and chips with real Heinz tomato sauce!!! That night Jacob ( the hotel owner) asked us if we wanted to come on a trip to Machu Picchu with him that he was organising. He was taking a group but would take us for free. I agreed to go and Maggie decided to stay, in order to work on Chris and Connie's Christmas present: a crochet door curtain...

Chris & Connie Xmas present

Tom's new French-style hat

Chapter 8 - IncaTek

Chapter 8 - IncaTek (this chapter will be as short as IncaTek was shit)

IncaTek was not at all what it was meant to be: we've been promised an ecosystem festival, with workshops and good wibes, and it ended up to be a French rave. 95% of the 300 people (at most!!) were French people, who are at first place really gifted for complaining, and were here relly disappointed to end up in a mess of French techno music... I understand those who said that they could have had the same at home, but still it was quite unpleasant to have constantly people complaining, not happy to be here.

One soundsystem by the organiser (only 2 tiny speakers), until a second soundsystem from Holland arrived on the 21st (unfortunately, or not, they didn't fuse); some poor string art with Macramé (what a loss!), a site not adapted at all for a festival, a camping totally improvised because the rain season didn't allow much... Well, In Lak'Ech does better than that, I swear!

Still we met some really nice people: a French couple, Rémi & Elodie, who, I discovered
later, were my neighbours in France; funny thing is, I discovered this news at the same right moment were Tom met the only other Scottish guy of the festival, Ben, a really sound guy from Too Much Fun Club; Ollie, an English dude of a friend of mine (Mike, from the US, for those who know him), who offered to travel with him North after New Year; Mariano, from Argentina, travelling with Jaime, who own an enterprise in England but dropped everything for a year (We met again in Cusco, he had had a punky mohawk hair style done, and said: "You know what, it's the 1st time ever in my life where... I don't give a fucking shit!!!"); A group of French/Holland people who had a nice campfire, where Tom brought some good musical wibes for the 2 other nights after the 21st,, and many other sound people....

The last day of our stay was the only workshop we've seen, hoola whoop workshop, were we joined with some juggling stuffs; and at night we had some trance music for the first time... But still quite poor.

We stayed until the 24th because we had promise to Connie & Chris to be back at Go Banana's for Xmas Eve, to celebrate in "family". We were not bother to leave the festival, actually there were very few people left.

Chapter 7 - Journey to Pisac

Chapter 7 - Journey to Pisac

18.12.12
We finally started our journey to Pisac: we decided to walk there, through the mountains. Chris had shown me a map indicating 20km in 6 to 7hours from Tombo Machay (a ruin some 10km away from Cusco), 600m up, 1400m down the mountain. We thought: “OK, let's take our time, and do it in 2 days.”... MY BUM! IT TOOK US 4 DAYS!!!

So here we go, little Tom and Maggie, starting this awesome journey in the nature of the Andes, with 10 to 15 kg each on the back. First challenge was to get outside of Cusco, which is deep in the valley, so we had to climb I-don't-know-how-many steps, to reach the Christo Blanco over-watching the city. Just next to it, the Inca ruins of Saqsay Waman (pronounce approx. Sexy Woman :p ), followed soon by the ruins of Q'enco.

Q'enco's ruins

Between Q'enco and the next ruins, Puca Pucara, we heard previously of a way through the fields. We asked for that way, and both had the feeling that our travel finally started =) We were finally walking in the Peruvian nature, surprised to find edible mushrooms similar to the ones you can find in Europe, amazed by beautiful flowers and land snails looking like see shells... At the top of the first hill, Tom's guitar bag cracked: he had to stop to fix it, while I would catch up (I was often behind, surprisingly hehe); but going just a very little bit on the right, the next ruins would appear to my eyes! I was maybe 50m away from Tom! We were wondering if it was Puca Pucara, but it was obviously no ruins shown on the map. We discovered later that it was El Templo de la Luna. Already a bit knackered (I know, we are chickens, but keep in mind that we thought the rest of the walk would be only 7hours...), and very pleased to find such a holy place for free, we decided to set the tent there, right on top of the ruins. The tent was almost set, when a local guy walked past and warned of the danger to be robed, since we could be seen from the next village. Night was falling, panic was rising: “What shall we do, we are tired, it's almost night, we can't stay here but can't go further...”. We finally found a little space in the bushes, quite hidden from any view. Still, the whole night was quite scary, and I spent it waking up every hour, alert to any noise, my knife at my side. In the end, everything went fiiiiiine =)

Let's call it chiuaua's cactus

Mushroom or flower?

19.12.12
After some meditation and nice breakfast (porridge!), we carried on to Puca Pucara, followed right after by Tombo Machay, the starting point of our journey on the map. We asked our way to be sure, and the local guy showed us the very top of the mountain: holy shit! That was at least 300m walk straight up in the Andes! Let's go! We struggled for maybe 3 to 4 hours, but arrived on top the landscape was obviously amazing!

Puca Pucara's ruins

And going down was exiting! We arrived in a village called Queser, which was basically not supposed to be on our way; we went too much on the left :/ Pfffiu, carried on on the road to get back to our planned route to Qorimarca. We only had to climb another mountain to reach a lake indicated on the map, where I wanted to spend the night. But when we saw the mountain, we decided to keep it for the next morning... I set up the tent while Tom was cooking. A good and safe night, apart our leaking tent.

20.12.12
We climbed the 500m up to the top of the mountain, breaking often because of heavy bags, having nice chats, but also totally burning under the sun. The lake revealed itself, seemingly very nice; but once down there, it was actually quite dirty, the place was totally deserted, very windy, and thunder was breaking in the next valley. Quite scarring.

After quick lunch we carried on up the next mountain to the next village on the map, Patabamba, where we realised we wouldn't reach Pisac on that day... again. A woman offered us to stay in her gestrooms; she cooked a tasty meal for us while Tom showed the guitar to his son and I did a crochet flower for her daughter.

Chilling in Patabamba's guesthouse

View from the guesthouse

Patabamba's guesthouse

21.12.12
 D-Day! After full breakfast for 3soles (£1), we took the road, found a nice place for a long and energy-filling meditation session, and carried on to Pisac. The road was going down, we thought it easy, until we got blisters very soon. But at least no more going up! For the last km on the road we took a mototaxi. Arrived in Pisac, we had lunch and headed directly to IncaTek, 30min walk away.

The Andes, good place for meditation...

Chapter 6 - At Go Bananas

Chapter 6 - At Go Bananas

Connie & Chris

16.12.12

After a quite animated night (music in the café next door until 4 in the morning), Tom went to town for some busking, while I was hanging around with Théo and Cécile, a Franco-Spanish couple staying long term at Go Bananas. At the end we came across in the street and busked altogether, helping Tom to earn his night! We were glad to see that most of the people who gave us money were Peruvian, and that we didn't steel tourists's money from Peru. During the day, we met loooaaads of French people, most of them going to IncaTek, all of them really sound. Wonderful smiley time =)

At night, we met Edgar who just arrived in Cusco, like we'd planned when we left him in Lima; but finally didn't eat cuy for it was to expensive (almost $20), and Edgar had tried it already. Then we went to the Ukukus cultural bar to see an illusionist show by one of our fellow in the hostel, which was followed by a wicked Peruvian band, the Amaru Pumac Kuntur (Puma is the sacred animal in Cusco). We were totally amazed: 7 musicians, maybe 20 instruments, most of them we didn't even know the name of... and such a spiritual energy! After maybe 10 min we couldn't stay on our seats, and stood up to dance crazily... just for a few thought, because the altitude wouldn't allow us such strong movements! We really recommend you to check this link, it's as good as Highlight Tribe!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNBvxEZotSY

17.12.12

That morning we found out that Go Gananas was having some management problems: one of the holder left, taking everything from the building, cooker, sugar and energy. The café was shut for the day. Theo came up with a brilliant idea for us to make a happening that night in Go Bananas and all agreed. We printed flyers “In Lak'Ech Reggae de Escosia”, and by 4 in the afternoon the flyers were in the hands of many and shared amongst Cusco. Maggy went to a huge wholesale market to help Chris and Connie to restock the cafe and came back with a huge smile on her face and stories of the biggest fruits she had ever seen! I went busking/flyering and had a total ball. Moving from place to place, when a head strong police officer came past and even getting a job playing in a bar between Xmas and new year!! That night around 9 oclock the sound system was set up: maggy on kahon and me on the guitar and vocals. After 30 minutes the bar was filling up, and when we started again the bar was almost full and the energy was brilliant. A guy Called Adam, that I met in the street earlier on, joined us with his trumpet. The bar was full of good people and good feeling. Another 30 minutes and we finished with an acapella of redemption song, followed with a big jam: Théo singing, Cécile at the flute, and soon after some columbians came to play. .The whole bar joined in and  we sang and danced all night... and went totally bananas!!! IN LAK'ECH !!!

Cusqueña, the local beer

Scottish Tom with French Cécile, Adam and Maggie

Chapter 5 - Cusco

Chapter 5 - Cusco

13.12.12

The first thing  in Cusco was to meet our couchsurfing host, Danny, at the Plaza De Armas (there is one in every city in Peru, its basically the central square). While waiting for him, we spotted Vanessa & Jean, a young French couple we met during our delayed flight in Panama. We spoke for a while and agreed to meet for lunch the next day.

(= Vanessa & Jean =)

Soon after, Danny appeared and told us he had to leave for university but gave us his address, up one of the many mountains that surround Cusco. His place was in the Peruvian equivalent of the Brazilian favellas, but much safer! 200 steps leading up the mountain, a street dissecting after every 50 steps, leading to a pack of dogs and an array of apartments hosting three or four families, and a shared toilet inside, which actually had no running water during our stay there... that means we had no wash since Lima!

The apartment was one room, hosting up to ten couch-surfers at once! His young son let us in with a huge smile on his face. He introduced us to his little brother and showed us his toy cars. That night was spent playing with the kids, they loved the UV laser and we played until Danny came home. We went to buy some food at the local shop and were directed by about 6 locals, and they even helped us buy our groceries! The people in Picchu San Martin were really kind. Shortly after that we crashed out. The long bus ride took its tole.

Dudes from the bus journey on Piza de Armas

14.12.12

We met Jean and Vanessa for lunch. We were similar ages and on similar adventures so we got on really well and prepared a wicked lunch together after visiting the local market San Pedro (also how they call mescaline here haha). After that, they showed us to a local Luthier (string instrument crafter) where they were going to buy an instrument.

The place was astonishing... A large bench for visitors to sit, a smiling old man and over 30 beautiful hand crafted instruments lined the walls. 90 percent of which we'd never seen before!

I played a few and then asked him if he could fix my guitar, he agreed and also told me I could come tomorrow to work with his family to help the cost. Jean and Vanessa bought a beautiful little instrument... I cant remember the name but it was like a 12 string ukulele!

We left the Luthier with our heads in the clouds and went to eat at the top of the mountain where Danny stayed, just in time to catch the illumination of Cusco beneath us. We said goodbye to Jean and Vanessa for now. Again we were in bed fairly early as we had to be up first thing in the morning.

15.12.12

After a night of incredible dreams, Maggie and I said goodbye to Danny and the kids and parted ways for the morning. I spent a few hours drinking sweet tea, eating toast and teaching English to the Luthier's grandchildren, whilst Maggy went to hang out with Jean and Vanessa again. Eventually with a fixed guitar, we met at a nice little juice bar run by really young and sound people from Austria, Chris and Connie. The Juice bar (Go Bannanas) is attached to a hostel next door with who they've set up a partnership and use both buildings as a base for travellers. Actually we knew about them from couchsurfing.

http://www.facebook.com/gobananascusco?fref=ts

Chapter 4 - Lima to Cusco by bus

Chapter 4 - Lima to Cusco by bus

11.12.12

Ola amigos estar Tom aqui! So after 5 days enjoying the madness of Peru's capital Christian took us to the main bus depot where we found tickets for the 24 hour journey to Cusco (sacred valley of Inca's) The tickets are well cheap, 20 USD for roughly the same distance as north of France to south of Spain! For our final night Pepe prepared us a meal and then we swapped all our music, he's a big reggae fan too so now we've got groovy Latin American reggae infusions to share with you all :)

12.12.12

Pepe borrowed his mates car and drove us through the whirlwind of noise and colour that is Lima until we reached the bus depot, Pepe left but Omar stayed with us and Christian came from work to wish us adios! The Bendesu family were really really good to us, and we're really grateful we found such caring people.

Waiting for the bus...

The bus journey started by seeing a dead body coming off a bus that arrived before ours...maybe it was the heat or some dodgy food Omar said.

We spent 24 hours on the bus the first 6 reading and at at one stop we met one of the friends of the organisers of IncaTek festival where we are going. We were sure we were on the right bus then!

The next 6 hours we spent reading and slyly smoking joints in the bathroom.. no matter how much we smoked it still smelt like piss!
Another astonishing thing, is that instead of dead hedgehog we can find in France or Scotland on the road, here are dogs!

We slept for 6 and then awoke in the Andes! The colours and grandeur of the place is awesome. Many different types of plants lined the roads and deep brown rivers flowed past ferociously as the bus wound round the mountains until eventually reaching Cusco!

Los Andes

Cusco

Chapter 3 - Food

Chapter 3 - Food

The Peruvian speciality is “cuy”, or guinea pig. If you read this with a French person on your side, don't be surprised if he/she laughs hard, for “couille” in French means “testicle”! Apparently the best place to eat it is in Cusco, our next destination.

The most common sweet drink is Inka Cola, haven't tried it yet thought.

Amongst other specialities, we've also tried “cevecho”, which is raw fish cooked only in lemon. A bit sour, but very good.

10.12.12

Christian and Pepe took us to the restaurant. We first drunk something made from purple corn, and then before ordering Pepe made us promise to finish our plates. Challenge accepted! We do like challenges... Mistake! 2 enormous plates arrived. We were convinced that it was to share between the 4 of us, but no! One each! Bull's heart (sooo good and tender!), cow's stomach (not tender at all), and something from inside the chicken (didn't get exactly what, but maybe for our best). The whole experience was amazing! We were obviously the only foreigners in the tiny restaurant, and everyone smiled when I finished my plate victoriously. Challenge completed! For my part, for Tom collapsed before the end!

We went to the shop the other day. From habit, Tom took an apple and a pear, and from greed, I took a mango and a passion fruit... and we realised then that these lasts were actually cheaper than the firsts! We didn't see any potatoes, but a full shelf of sweet potatoes; many kind of corn of all colours; we tried a kind of banana that is half way between a banana and a sweet potato, you can cook it with savoury stuffs. Also a big difference is the milk: they don't have bottles of milk, but pouches! Because they have big families, a big pouch is for one breakfast, no way to keep it until the next day! But in the other hand they apparently drink lots of yoghurt. They also have many nice varieties of cheese. Another good surprise was to find French baguette, to my delight.

Big,sticky orange deep fried yehyehyeh!!!!

Chapter 2 - Lima

Chapter 2 - Lima

Lima is constantly in the clouds, always grey, never sunny! We've been explained that because of the mountains, the clouds can't get further in the country, that's why it's so humid and dusty all the time.

8.12.12 In order to meet Christian, our couch-surfer, we had to take the bus. It hardly stops, you have to jump on it with the help of a man who makes sure everyone gets safe in the bus. He then wander in the alley, shaking money in his hand, shouting words I'm not sure we would understand even if we could speak Spanish. He's not begging, he's actually selling tickets! And the bus carries on: tut tuuuuut biiip shouts tuut loud biip biiiiip noises tuuut! Lima's colors and noises swirl trough the dirty windows while we are crushed in our seats under our bags! An amazing experience that made us feel that our adventure finally started, for real!

We met with Christian at the cathedral. He's a really nice guy. He took us to his place, where he lives with his 2 cousins. The house is luxurious! 3 floors, 2 living rooms with giant sofas, a huge bathtub in the bathroom... and our room! 2 beds, each 1 and a half people sized!

Christian and his daughter Miha

In the evening Pepe – one of the cousin – arrived. Christian and Pepe are ridiculously cool! At some point, Pepe took of his pocket a bag of weed, to our delight (we hadn't smoke since we had left CD). We shared a joint and drunk some Pisco, the local liquor.

PEPE - “How much would you pay for that bag of weed in the UK?”

Tom and I, totally stoned, struggled for a good 10min to estimate the price and convert it in soles, the local currency.

ME (after 10min, desperate) - “I don't know, I have no clue!”

TOM - “Dunno, maybe $30, $40, which is 140 Soles if I'm right... How much did you pay?”

PEPE - “$4” he answer in the general hilarity!

These guys are legends. We are so blessed to be hosted by them. I feel that a couple of hours with them balanced the luck missing for 3 days of travelling!

Pépé playing the flute Tom offered to the house

9.12.12 Omar – Pepe's cousin – took us to the city centre for a tour. We saw San Martin's Plaza: San Martin was one of the leaders in the fight for Peru's independence. The funny thing is that the statue of the woman holding the writing has a lama on the head. Why? They say that the student who did the sculpture misunderstood the fire of liberty (Yama) for the lama of liberty (Ilama)!

Omar and Mitzi (centre) on the tour they gave to us and Edgar (left)

Then we saw some official monuments and went for some shopping in the centre. At some point we asked Omar were to buy tobacco, and there started the real tour! 5 hours around the whole centre, through the central market and Chinatown, Omar's girlfriend, Mitzi, leading us through the crowds, dodging between traditional dancers and sellers of all kind! We ended up finding a pouch of Domingo in Chinatown... The joke is, they had no rizzlas to go with! So we still couldn't smoke at the end of the day.

Tom in his element

video of Maggie dancing with local tribal dancers in the central market

Chapter 1 - Getting there

Chapter 1 - Getting there

5.12.12

The entire journey has been highlighted by unexpected surprises: on the way to get the bus, still in Castle Douglas, Tom's guitar started making an awful noise, a bit like a creaky bed on a horny night. Convinced that the guitar was broken, I was already calling Sam to get the guitar back before the bus would come, but it ended up that the guitar was still in working condition. You would have seen Tom's face when he realised his guitar was fine! He was celebrating this relief and playing the guitar on the pavement when the bus arrived.

6.12.12

After a 10 hours bus journey and some hours wandering London's streets, we arrived to the airport, go to check-in...where we realised that we were booked on different flights to Frankfurt! Oh well, it was only 1 hour an a half of our whole journey, it was OK, I could just wait for Tom in Frankfurt before getting the next flight to Santo Domingo. 10 hours later, we landed in Santo Domingo, just a break in the same plane before flying to Panama...Would have been too easy! Half way to Panama, after an hour, the driver announced a technical problem: we had to fly back to Santo Domingo! Once there, everyone had to get out of the plane, we waited for a good hour, got in the plane again, and finally fly to Panama. It was now too late for our flight to Lima, and we had to wait for AGES the time they would print new tickets for us! Once we had new tickets, we realised that we would be in the different flights again! Actually Tom's new ticket was for a flight that had just left, what a joke! So we waited 7 hours, Tom still had no ticket, I was unleashing my wrath to get Tom in the same flight than me, but nothing would help. He ended up flying 3 hours later, while I was waiting for him in Lima.

The good thing with all this mess, is that we had loads of time to meet very nice people. A couple of French guys travelling to see what would happen for the end of the world, a lovely German girl called Marie, who came to Peru for 6 months volunteering, and I could not carry on without speaking of Edgar! Edgar is German, he came to Peru for a 2 weeks trip, basically to meet a local girl, who broke up just after he bought his tickets! But nothing was stopping him from making the most of his trip. Such a strong guy!

7.12.12
We finally arrived in Lima, but too late to meet our couch-surfer, so we decided to follow Edgar to his hostel, the Loki hostel. Unfortunately, it was full, but Edgar offered us the blessing to share his room if we were OK to sleep on the floor. Of course we were! After such a long trip, anything would have suited us.