Cusco Syndrome

11.  Inconsistent temperature of water (if it was available at all that day).  As a privileged American, I had no idea that second a third world countries have their water turned off for parts of the day.  Sometimes, water was turned off the entire day.  Different parts of Cusco were affected differently, but in the end, sometime syou just didn’t have water.  Somehow, that seemed to coincide exactly at the time I needed a shower.  The temperature of the water rarely stayed consistent.  The water would start off a pleasant water temperature, luring an unsuspecting dirty person into its trap.  Then, without warning it would turn scalding.  After you adjust, or not, suddenly the water would turn ice cold which usually involved some yelling an cursing at the devious shower.  Cusco showers- I will not miss you one bit.

10.    Venders consistently harassing anything with a white face or camera around its neck to buy their product or use their services: finger puppets, shoe shine, sun glasses, picture with the lady and her llama or children selling ANYTHING at all hours of  the night with that annoying pout on their face and “Why, senora?  Why not?  Where are you from?”

9. Calling them cobblestone streets was an understatement.  Some ingenius Inka discovered that if you take an oval rock about the size of your hand and turn its narrow side up, and space them out about 2 inches apart, the streets will be more prepared for an earthquake.  Unfortunately, this Inka did not think of the billions of shoes it would rip up and the amount of foot pain and increased tripping incidents it would cause from this invention.  At least the streets will be safe when an earthquake occurs.  To be fair, only half of the streets are like that.  The other half are slick, uneven stone that are slanted or jagged rock.  Most of my time in Cusco was spent looking down to avoid tripping.  Although, those rebellious times I was not looking down, I tripped and fell on my right knee.  Four times total.  The first fall required painkillers and a day off of work.  When it rained, these rocks became slick and even MORE dangerous.  Thank goodness I left at the beginning of rainy season, or else I might not have knee caps by the end of my journey.

8. The speed at which Cuscenians walk.  In many parts of life in Cusco, the slow pace is a nice break from the American-paced life.  Unfortunately, when you’re running late, or even just want to not waste time in the commute from one place to the next, too bad.  Not only do Cuscenians move slower than sloths, but they somehow have developed over the years, through genetic mutation, this sixth sense of where people are walking behind them and move in the direct path of where that person is walking.  At all times.  So passing them is near-impossible because of this keen sense.  Literally, these people will weave in the exact pattern you are to block your ability to pass.

7. Along with their slow walking habits, Cuscenians also have the slowest service I have seen in my life.  Literally, you will never get the check at the end of a meal at a restaurant if you don’t ask for it.

6. Undrinkable tap water.  This felt like some ploy from a huge, all-empowered corporation.  Cusco is suffocatingly dry for Gringos (and not for Peruvians for theorized genetic reasons).  If you are not prepared, that thirst will hit you when you’re out, far away from home and are forced to buy water you would easily get for free in a developed country.  I miss you, water fountains.

5. Well-built houses.  In the US, we having something called “building codes.”  In Peru, the only code is, if it’s standing, it’s a building.  So, it is fairly common to see shoddy patchwork and plastic roofs.  Also, what it meant for living conditions, was a severe lack of sound proof walls and doors as well as a house that constantly sheds plaster. 

My first apartment was well lit with sunlight during the day and stayed warm at night.  Unfortunately, our walls were made from plywood and windows.  Some of the windows were missing in these walls, as well.  Every sound and every visitor was heard in the entire house.

In 10 years, the house I was last living in (affectionately called the “Ice House” for its ability to keep in the cold at night) will probably not be there anymore because of the amount of fallen plaster found all aroundthe house each day.  In some places, the house was literally held together with hot glue. 

4. The informal-ness of business.  Receipts were written on scraps of paper, or receipts with other companies’ names on the top of them.  Also, there were no rent contracts.  For example, in the states, you can essentially reserve an apartment or house for a certain number of months by signing a contract.  Peruvians don’t work that way.  They get rent every month and it reserves that apartment or house for one month.  That’s it.  So, more than once, a duena (landlord) has raised the rent unnecessarily or asked us to leave just because.  It’s a brutal world renting a place in Cusco.

3. Construction.  Every country has construction.  But usually, it has a logical beginning and ending as well as an appropriate time it is done in.  In Cusco, that is not the case.  When construction is done on a street or a sidewalk, the entire thing is shut down. That means an entire sidewalk is ripped up, without regard for the people that enjoy walking safely in that place.  There is no alternative route.  The sentiment is, “Good luck walking down the side of this lane of traffic.  I hope the cars swerve in time and don’t hit you.”   Then, when the cement is dry and is able to be walked on, for some reason, the sidewalk is only halfway done.  So you’re walking on have-paved sidewalks and skipping down the maze of cement tiles they have laid down.  This stayed for two months and never was completed by the time I left.

2. Let’s talk about bathrooms.  What Americans consider a proper bathroom, Peruvians consider very flexible.  What is deemed optional:

·         toilet seats

·         toilet paper

·         soap

·         doors to stalls

You better bring your ETP (emergency toilet paper)!

1. Adjusting to altitude.  Suddenly I became the fat kid again, huffing and puffing up stairs.  Hiking anywhere became near impossible for a while.  And, knowing my affinity for sleep, I felt an exaggerated amount of exhaustion all of the time.  I was lucky because some people feel altitude sickness in more severe ways, such as nausea and even vomiting.  Although, whenever we had an ailment, we were easily able to blame it on the altitude.

In many ways, Cusco was the perfect city to start my travels.  My directionally challenged brain didn’t have to figure out the streets of a big city.  It’s VERY tourist friendly, making it very accessible to ease into learning Spanish (sometimes too easy).  It was relatively safe, the worse crime was pick-pocketing (except a couple of instances of taxi drivers kidnapping people, taking money and beating up tourists and leaving them in the middle of nowhere).  Besides the perfectness of Cusco being my starter city, there are absolutely unique and charming aspects of the city I will miss.

When Americans are taught in school about seasons, we are taught there are four of them. In Cusco, only two seasons are present:  wet and dry.  And the extremes very much exist.  Dry season is during what we consider winter and is like an absolutely perfect autumn day everyday.  During dry season, it did not rain once.  There was always a very slight breeze and the ideal temperature of around 70-75 during the day.  The temperature did drastically change when the sun went down.  So, you learn the wear layers and are prepared for any temperatures.  I mostly adjusted to this, but was still ignorantly caught by “surprise” (the temperature drop was not a surprise at all, seeing as it happened every night, without fail) about a quarter of the time.  My fault.  I take responsibility.

As I was making friends with the city, Cusco’s beauty immediately struck me.  In many cities, you can go to certain spots in the city and see its beauty, but this city has beauty everywhere.  Even dirty alleys appear to have character.  Also, because Cusco is in a bowl, surrounded by mountains in every direction, each view has mountains peaking over the top.  Those of us gringos staying for a while in Cusco got used to tourists stopping in the middle of a sidewalk to take a picture.  You had to walk with awareness because this could happen at any second.  All of us have bumped into our fair share of picture-taking tourists.

The gringos that have settled in Cusco for a longer stay didn’t like to think of ourselves as tourists, (even though we clearly were).  We were snobby about knowing the “ways of Cusco” as well as the secrets, such as where to find cheap, delicious food and alternative routes to avoid the harassing street vendors that spot a gringo a mile away.  We also acclimated to the relaxed way of life.  We learned to accept that our bill won’t come at a restaurant unless asked for.  When meeting a Peruvian, agree to a time 30-45 min before you actually want to be there.  They only operate on “Peruvian time.”  Even the most on-time gringos learned to accept this immoveable part of the culture. 

When I asked a Peruvian once about why they are so late all of the time, the response was somewhere along the lines of, “enjoy life in this moment.”  I can get behind that mentality.  So, in Cusco, I learned to enjoy life outside of work in a much more casual way.  Rarely did I worry about the exact timing of activities or even about committing to activities at all until I felt like doing them.  It’s easy to adopt this attitude when every else has adopted it as well.  I’m curious if I’m able to continue a much more relaxed approach when I’m in a big, rushing city.  I think, unfortunately, in those situations, people with this mind-set, when surrounded by a faster society, appear flaky and undependable. 

One of my favorite parts of my Cusco experience was my students.  The unadulterated sense of admiration and respect automatically given to the English teachers was astounding.  Much to the dismay of the gringo teachers, the English teachers were stubbornly called “teacher” and not by our first or last name.  This was just one of the ways they showed their deference towards “teacher.”  For a brief 6 months, I felt like a celebrity in this little city.  Cusco was small enough to bump into my students on the street as well as at their jobs.  My students were bartenders, tour guides, salespeople in camping stores and receptions at fancy hotels.  I even accidentally found two of my students working at the hotel my brother and sister-in-law stayed at after they booked it!  This meant the English teachers in Cusco got “hooked up” with free booze, free food and highly discounted tours and services.  On the street, I was introduced to my students’ families and invited to parties just because I was their teacher.  Even on a tour of the Sacred Valley, when the tour guide found out I was an English teacher, he started referring to me as “profe” and told all other tour guides about my profession.  Apparently, I was the celebrity on this trip.

All in all, Cusco was an eye opening experience that will always be a part of who I am.  The people I met and opportunities I was fortunate enough to have, will be part of my life story forever.  Thank you, Cusco, for challenging me, looking out for me, helping me grow and thoroughly preparing me for my next adventure.