Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Keeping Fit in Cusco

When traveling in different countries I like to keep to my routine as much as possible, which for me includes working out of some kind 4-5 times a week. With the exception of India, I have managed to do at least some kind of exercise in every country. I decided when I arrived in Cusco that it would be no different.

Cusco is at 3400 meters or 10,900 feet above sea level so it presents a whole new challenge to working out- just managing to breath is at times hard. When you add the fact that nearly every car here probably wouldn't pass emissions standards in the US or Europe, I knew that running here was not going to be an option. After giving myself a week to acclimate to the new altitude and actually not really being bothered by it, I found a gym in Cusco. 

I read that it is the "best gym" in Cusco online and decided to give it a try. I want to preface that I know that things in the USA are different than in Latin America, but the gym is a lot different.

The gym is in the basement of a shopping complex and is pretty small. It has 3 choices of memberships- aerobics, spinning or free weights/machines, since there are only some 30 year old elliptical machines I decided to try the spinning and aerobics classes. There are classes from 7am until 8pm. I, being a morning person, decided that I would go every weekday at 7am that I didn't go out or travel the night before.

From the first day I went and signed up I knew it was going to be drastically different. I arrived at the gym at 6:50am in order to have time to pay and become a member before class starts. The thing about the gym though is that the first class is at 7am and the gym opens at 7am. This means that the front desk person and the teachers arrive at about 7:05am to open the doors, sometimes later. You have to knock on the door to the shopping center in order to even be let into the building about 5 minutes before the security guard opens the door. 

After entering and paying for the gym, I decided to try the spinning class first since I like it more than aerobics. I made the start of the class since the teachers are always late. After about 10 minutes of standing on the bike and only switching hand positions I realized that this was all the teacher did. There are no sprints, jumps or even hill climbs. It's the same resistance for 45 minutes with a 2 minute break in between and only switching hand positions. I have had two teachers and both times it was the same. I have since decided to do my own thing during in the class, but every time I put on the resistance to do a climb the teacher comes over and tries to put it down- clearly they have no idea that it is good to put on resistance and you can actually sit on the bike and be working out.

Feeling a little discouraged I tried aerobics the next day. Unfortunately it's even worse. The teacher does a series of the same moves give or take some spinning in circles for an hour! One day the teacher didn't show up and when some other attendees ask the desk girl to call her to see if it was cancelled she replied that she didn't have her cell phone with her and couldn't possibly call. I actually think I had more fun without her doing my own thing, until some older crazy woman was trying to replicate the repetitive steps of the teacher and yelling "izquerda, derecha, rodilla, uno, dos, tres..." at me so that I would join her.

All in all the gym is not that great, but it feels nice to workout and I am happy that I am not too out of breath even at this altitude so at the very least it's bragging rights. Also, I will be in shape for the Inka Tral, Choququirao and Manú in the coming months! 

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Huelgas

Plaza de Armas
The Plaza de Armas in Cusco is a place where people often gather in Cusco in order to do demonstrations and marches to support their cause. In the past 3 weeks I have seen several of these kinds of incidents, but the past few days have been different. Basically the entire city of Cusco has been shut down for the past 36 hours and will continue to be shut down until tomorrow.

What does this mean? It means no buses, no taxis, no collectivos, no private buses and many shops and restaurants and are also closed. A lot of locals and tourists alike are stuck walking far distances and many tourists find themselves without any transport to tours, including trains to Machu Picchu. 

The city was informed the afternoon before that there would be demonstrations over the government deciding to cut water off to many of the pueblos near Cusco and that there would be a strike of public transport. I was also informed Tuesday morning via email from the USA embassy to steer clear of these demonstrations in case they become violent. 

Tuesday morning I woke up as usual at 6:30am to go to the gym, only the gym was closed and there were riot police in the Plaza de Armas. It seemed like to today was definitely going to mean more than just a strike of public transport. It has been pretty noisy the past few days with people yelling, blocking roads with rocks, parading down streets with drums at 6:30am and various demonstrations throughout the city. 

Luckily, it has up until now been peaceful and hopefully the government pays attention to the protests without them turning violent. I am glad that for me it has only been the inconvenience of walking 1.5 hours to the bus station instead of taking a cab, like 100s of others, and nothing more serious. Actually it has been quite nice not to have cars running you over and breathing gasoline fumes all day. 

This is the first time that I have ever experienced strikes in a city of this scale, I can't imagine what it would be like if all of a USA city decided to strike and go protest in the streets. It would take a pretty big cause for that to happen and I can't imagine people of every party joining together. It's interesting to see how much bigger local elections are and how people are much more informed in Peru than at least in my home town in the USA. 

Hopefully the rest of today ends with streets empty of cars, lots of noise, the government listening and no deaths. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Kids Are Not Alright

One has to be cautious in other countries while walking at night. It is best to avoid dark alleys, unlit streets, groups of young men and unlicensed taxis. But in Peru, there is another group that you are best to avoid as well- children.

Yes, kids are dangerous in Cusco.
A girl in traditional clothes who takes photos for money; too young to be a threat
A combination of poverty and lack of parental supervision has lead to a lethal mix. Children who are in desperate situations turn to selling cigarettes and gum to people coming out of the bars. Selling is not the only thing they are doing though, they have much worse intentions, robbing people.

I have been in Cusco for only two and a half weeks, but yet I have had two negative experiences with these "gangs" of children. They congregate in groups so that they can team up on their victims and find strength in numbers. Being so young, these children are fearless.

The first time I saw them in action they pick-pocketed an Israeli friend of mine. They offered him gum and when he said no, a group of children maybe 6 or 7 years old gave him a group hug and sure enough when he felt his back pocket there was no wallet. He realized and was able to get it back by intimidating the children.

My second encounter with them was last night. Walking home from the bars on a normally safe street, we were, as usual, accosted with offers of gum immediately upon exiting the bar onto the street. This encounter turned unusual when the group of three children continued to follow us on our way home. Their attitude turned sour and they started yelling at us and demanding that we give them money. One child grabbed my wristlet and camera, but since they were wrapped around my wrist they didn't succeed in robbing me. Then the oldest of the kids, maybe 10, picked up a giant rock and started threatening the boy in our group. At this point I felt a mix of fear, shock and confusion as I ran up to the door of our residence and rang the bell 4 times to get the night worker to let us in. Finally, we arrived inside our residence and were all in a state of shock over what had just occurred.

A testament to how these kids are not afraid of taking risks, they pick-pocketed a 6'2 man and attacked group of four people. Obviously these kids are in a very desperate situation if they are willing to take such risks. It is an incredibly sad situation that needs to be addressed. I am glad that they didn't have knives or other weapons, but I imagine it is only a matter of time until they do. When they get older they are going to be a huge problem for this tourist mecca. It is an incredibly precarious situation that really needs attention.

If you ever find yourself in Cusco, please use caution when walking home at night. Cuidate porque los niños son malos. Clearly the kids are not alright.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Sights, Sounds and Smells of Perú

I have been in Peru for just a week and a half, but it feels much longer. It's not exactly a bad feeling, but I wonder how long it will feel like I have been gone by the time November rolls around. The past week and a half I have been trying to get accustomed to being here. Unlike Europe, the US and even Israel, there is absolutely no way for me to blend in here. One, I am at least 6 inches or more taller than most of the woman and the men. Two, I in no way look like I am descended from the Incas. Three, I have been bundled up for most of the time I've been here and I am pretty sure Peruvians don't wear North Face and hiking boots.
As you can see I look like a giant 
Since I can't blend in I am kind of becoming accustomed to being constantly harassed every time I walk around about "mansajes, pedicures, manicures", "por que no cena aqui?"and various other things. Pretty sure they won't be going away- at least they are not offering "marijuana, cocaine" like they are to other people.

The things that I am having a problem adjusting to is the pollution. The cars here are all terrible and the smell of exhaust is overwhelming in the tiny streets, especially when you are trying to walk up the hill to my residence and the altitude is already at 11,000 feet. Gross.

At least you can easily escape the city for less than $1 USD
The sounds of Peru are also taking some getting used to. I wake up basically every morning to the sound of fireworks or a bomb going off. It's not really a bomb, but it sure sounds like it when you wake-up suddenly at 6:30 or earlier every morning to some kind of loud noise that sounds like you are in a war zone. When I asked one of my professors what the noise was they answered, "es Perú y todas las días estamos celebrando" or it's Peru and everyday we are celebrating. Still not certain what the sound of rockets going off has to do with celebrating, but it is motivating me to go to the gym every morning since I am already awake so early!

Life here is taking some adjusting to, but slowly I feel like in 3 months I won't question things. It is a huge lesson in patience, luckily I am already skilled at this game after living in Spain.

Relajate, tranquilo and está bien are all phrases I use almost daily, especially when talking to myself.

Walking in the tiny streets

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Bad Side of Being TEFL Certified

I have been in Peru now for just over 5 days. After arriving from the airport and finally getting some sleep, I went out to meet the rest of the students staying at the Amauta school in Cusco. I soon discovered that I am currently the only American that is living at the school, which I actually really like, but was also very surprised.
First night in Cusco via iPhone, view from San Blas

The school is an international mix of students from all over the world and of all different ages from 19-50 (?), more or less all traveling solo. The majority of the students at the school are from Holland and Germany, but there are students from Switzerland, Italy, Israel and France. Luckily or unluckily the common language is English (unluckily because I am probably speaking too much English and not enough Spanish).

View of Cusco 
I am always shocked at how well people from other countries can speak English, it would be nice if the USA had as much emphasis on learning other languages. I wish that I had started earlier and put in more effort to my language studies before, but alas here I am.

After spending a whole month in London learning how to be an English teacher for nearly 40 hours a week, I am having a hard time shutting off the teaching mode. I keep correcting people when they speak, not in a mean way, but it's still really annoying because they are speaking well. With time I hope I can learn to stop doing this, because it is a really bad habit and one that I hate when people (you know who you are) do it to me.

Other than that it is great to be away from Americans for a little while and learn about not only Peruvian culture, but also those from other countries. For example, I learned that Europeans would never just eat one sandwich for a meal, usually they eat at least two. In fact they thought it was a really small meal when I only ate one.

The best part about all these people is the bonus that now I will have even more people to visit in the world! Maybe I'll speak some Dutch and German in addition to Spanish by November....
Sacsayhuaman ruins, about a 25 min hike from the school