The Devil's Bartender

Cuba, Hell Yea!

In a word, it was Paradise. Beautiful beaches, water, good food, lots of booze and fine coffee and cigars- yes, it's all a man could ask for. A week wasn't long enough so next winter I think I'll have to make ammends...

Check out the picture of Shazzy in the pictures section. Revenge for the picture she posted of me on her blog!!!
http://thedevilsbartender.typepad.com/photos/cuba_2006/

Cuba bound un otra vez!

One of the highlights of this past week was a blamy +2 C day that allowed me to ride by bike.  It's been, as Hemingway would put it, cold and wet. Wet and gray.  Gray and cold.  And that's why i've finally snapped and bought a ticket for Cuba!

Yes, the lovely Miss Coucke and I are leaving tomorrow for a week of sun, sand, and seemingly free booze.  I'm normally not a package tour kinda guy but I'm really looking forward to this.  Hasta la proxima vez, adios chicos!

Fucked up!

Being robbed a month ago; in a hostal my last night in Lima where an American girl was going on and on about how she was robbed; and then an English woman walked in with bandages on her hand and blood splatterings on her shirt.  A cabbie took her down an alleyway and, as she resisted the stealing of her second bag with all the important documents in it, he stabbed her hand with a screwdriver.  Fucked up shit but she's lucky because that whole situation could've been a whole lot worse.  And the night before a girl in the band i jammed with had a gun pointed at her by a guy who wanted her Fender.  The collectivo driver intervened and after a couple of drinks to calm her nerves afterwards she was all right again.

So there's a lot of theft in Peru but it's a third world country built on a history of corrupt Spanish colonizers (more on that in a second)  All of the above is fucked up but it's the kind of fucked up I can understand.  What I can't understand is this:  On American Airlines flight 1258 from Lima to Dallas on March 3rd they served everyone a brown bread sandwich I.E.- Two slices of white bread with a slice of brown bread in the middle and all the crusts cut off.  What the fuck is that!!??!?!  America gets a bit crazier every day.

But back to Peru.  Understanding where they come from explains a lot of what's going on today. The Spaniards came in, killed everyone, and stole all the gold.  Unlike the British the Spanish were not interested in leaving a socially conscious legacy of government and reform (in theory, this is what they believed they were doing).  They just wanted to get rich quick and maybe spread some Catholicism along the way.  So it came down to just one Incan Emperor left standing, Atahualpa.  All the Incas realized that if he died they were screwed so after the Spanish invited him to a friendly meeting they kidnapped him and demanded a hefty ransom.  Gold and Silver were collected from all over the empire to keep him alive.  Apparently enough to fill two rooms with silver and one with gold all up to neck height. 

After the Incas had done everything that was asked of them and the Spanish had a shit load of gold and silver they thought about it all and then killed Atahualpa anyways.  That's what Peru was born of.

So if you let your guard down someone may not be able to resist the temptation to rob you.  If you bribe a cop they may except the bribe and then take you in anyways.  Don't get me wrong, it's a great country and I met a lot of amazing people and saw a lot of beautiful places.  But it's very different from the first world and you really need to think differently if you're going to have a safe and enjoyable trip.

And most gloriously of all, there are no brown bread sandwiches...

Haucachina/ One last jam

Besides the cool name, Haucachina is a little piece of paradise.  We ended up spending about 4 nights there at a hostal that knows what the hell is going on.  This village of about 500 is built around a lagoon in the desert surrounded by sand dunes.  An actual oasis.  Besides the lounging around the hostal's pool, late night parties, lady boy chef who made a huge bar-b-que for everyone, and the cool backpackers we met, the most memorable part of the place was the dune buggy ride through the dunes with a couple of stops to sand board down them.  Even more of a rush then I thought it would be.  Since I suck at snowboarding I went for the 'lie on your belly like it's a mini toboggan' method and it was exhilarating.  Nothing like a bit of sand in yer eye to get the blood going.

Cool backpackers including an Aussie who was making a living as a DJ and an Englishman who drank excessively even by English standards!  They both have law degrees and an encyclopedic knowledge of music so there were a lot good conversations mixed into the madness and partying.  Good guys.

After two days there we said our goodbyes and left for Pisco which is one of the ugliest, dirtiest, and most impoverished cities on earth.  Sharon got a bad feeling about the place so we said screw it and went back to Haucachina for another couple of torturous days of lounging around the pool and drinking all night.  Good times.

Sharon flew out of Lima last night and after she was safely on her way I went to meet a friend of Marco's, Marcos.  I have now played with three of the best blues guitarists I've ever heard of and definitely the best in Peru.  We had a jam in a bar last night that went on until 3:30 am even though there was no one listening.  Just a bunch of musicians playing because they love the music.  Since everyone was a guitarist we all took turns on the drums and bass.  It was an amazing jam and I'm still buzzed about it today. 

And now it's just a waiting game.  Waiting for Wild Javier, waiting for the 2am flight, and in 26 hours I'll be back in Toronto and the Peruvian adventure will be over (and a new adventure beginning in Toronto)

Macchu Picchu Revisited

Macchu Picchu is still amazing.  I could sit there for days just thinking about it all and still be clueless but happy.  The picture just doesn't do it any justice.

Sharon and I got up at 6am and first hiked up to the Sun Gate(sorry Ed Velvet, didn't get the tip until after) to see the site from above in the morning sun.  Well, there wasn't any sun.  But the clouds and mist parted for the half hour we were up there so we got a great view before hiking back down in the mist.

We explored the site a bit more and then hiked up huayna picchu (the peak in the background).  Absolutely amazing.  We had to crawl through a couple of caves and slide down a rock face at the top to get to the other side of the peak where there are more ruins.  To build all of this on the ground would be impressive but at the top of a mountain 500 years ago?!?  It's inexplicable.  After seeing it all again I'm beginning to think that the idea of UFO intervention isn't as laughable as it was when i first heard it and laughed in the person's face. 

And since we snuck in (dumb luck) and did the whole thing ourselves we may have actually out-cheaped the Dutchman!!  I'll do another entry of the logistics for backpackers when i'm back in Toronto (one week!).

Now I Feel Like I'm Travelling

From the beautiful beach of Mancora to the good-byes in Chiclayo, back to Lima for one night and then onto Cusco and here- Ollantaytambo, a village in the Sacred Valley.  And now I finally feel like I'm backpacking again.

Ahhhhh.... Mancora!

After Sharon arrived we had dinner with Cesar and Mary and then got the hell out of Lima!  Chiclayo was hectic.  A fine meal out in Pimental and then a gig with the blues band in a cool little bar.  Considering that we hadn't practiced and had to play all night (4 hour set) we did pretty good. 

The next day was 'a day at the beach with Jose' in Pto. Eten where everybody comes back drunk and as pale as they were when they left.  Back in Chiclayo we went to the bus station where i was robbed and Jose almost got into a brawl with the driver.  So we had to go out for a beer after that to calm our nerves.  Sharon hit the hay at this stage and Jose and I hit the town for a sunday night pub crawl.  Probably one of our last.

And now Sharon and I are in Mancora and living it up.  Hotel on the beach overlooking the ocean and now that the Equadorians have gone back to Equador after the weekend the beach is clean and quiet and warm.  Went surfing today and managed to stay on the board for a whole 2 seconds!  Major accomplishment.  So we're going to relax here and work on our tans/ boogie boarding techniques for a couple of more days before heading back down south to Chiclayo.

Lima

It was a rough start to Lima- getting robbed, spending a few hours in the police station, followed by thieves in the downtown core until José waved a knife at them (with a big smile on his face), pools of blood filled vomit and drunken thug bouncers outside of the 'restaurant' José went to take a crap in.  He got harassed to pay after his business was finished (which of course, he didn't) and we high-tailed it outta there. All of this was in the first afternoon.  But now that i'm in Miraflores and laying low, I still don't like this city!

Cesar, a friend of José's, has put me up for the past few nights and this guy is a great guy.  He's a dentist and sleeps in the waiting room of his office, so i've been sleeping on the floor of the waiting room for the past couple of nights, and each day he goes out for a feast with either his girlfriend or other female friend and takes me along for the ride.  I've been eating like a king.  He also signed my passport photo for me so i owe this guy huge!  Once Sharon gets here we'll all have to hit the town courtesy of me.  And then of course get the hell out of Lima.

Blues al aire libre

First, the good news. 

Me and the guys played a helluva set at an outdoor concert on Friday, my last official night of living in Chiclayo.  After only two practices together we were all full of piss and vinegar and it was a freakin great show.  All blues, all the time.  There are more pictues here but alas, no audio: http://chiclayo.2night.com/home.asp?Canal=Adventure&AlbumID=19945&Titulo=Rock+and+reggae+%40+Estirpe+Campera&Fecha=Vie+28+de+Enero

And now for the bad news.

I got robbed blind last night on the overnight bus to Lima.  They had a bag check on a fairly nice bus so i figured that was more secure than bringing valuables on board and being robbed as I slept.  In the morning i discovered that someone had stolen my passport, about $300, and my digital camera.  Chiclayo is known as 'La Ciudad de la Amnistad' (the city of friendship) and a student of mine in the first week i was there said it should be called 'the city of friendly thieves'.  True to his prophetic words, the thief left my second wallet that had my driver's license and visa card in it. So after i visit the Canadian consulate tomorrow i should be fine.  Broke and pissed off, but fine. I guess I've just gotten comfortable here and let my gaurd down so this was a much needed wake up call. 

A friend of Jose's and his girlfriend took us out tonight for beers and then to a very expensive Italian restaurant.  For a guy with no money, I'm doing all right.

Eat yer heart out, Perringer!!!

Yesterday was my last day of work and let me tell ya, it feels great.  I'll miss some of the students and teachers but the school itself I can do without for a while.  This is a picture of me and some of the students.  (I had just finished doing a music class with Dido's 'Thank You' in case you're wondering about the notes on the board...)