Return to Peru - Caretaking and Machu Pichu with a worn out physique
(April 17 - May 12)

Easter Meal : Seafood!! With mama Irma, her son and ex-husband

Mote de haba

Came a time where I had to unwillingly leave Bolivia because my arrival visa stamp had expired, just about 3 months. I decided to cross over to the closest border, Peru, and meanwhile pay a visit to my dear Peruvian Mama for easter weekend. It had turned out that, right before leaving Bolivia, we had luckily, or unluckily (you'll see why soon), bumped into a very friendly Bolivian who offered my friends (2 fellow South African travelers) and I each, a bag of "mote de haba" (which is basically boiled braod/fava beans served with a boiled potato in a plastic bag). It was well-intentioned because he wanted to make sure we try as much of the local food and beverage in Bolivia. The matter in which he purchased? He never had to get off the car :) note the way one can still purchase food in Bolivia: he pulled over the side of the "highway, waved his hand to the street merchants, and 2 cholitas ran up happily with bags of "mote de haba" and bottles of "Guindol" (home-made sour cherry, called "guinda" fruit liquor)

At Irma's flat

Later on that day, poor Odette started to run to the bathroom, and we were worried for her as that same evening we were to take a night bus of 7-8 hrs to La Paz. I thought I was unaffected until the bus stopped at a pitstop for food/bathroom break at 2am, it was my turn to have diarrhea. Thank goodness we arrived in La Paz in one piece without excessive adventure. We realized, after discussing it, that all 3 of us had a reaction... it must have been the broad bean!!! We then parted ways and I waited in the terminal from 5 to 7am before calling my friends of La Paz. The idea was to get some warm clothes, chat and leave that same evening for Peru on another night bus. However, when I arrived, I did not feel very good and asked to lay down. It turned out that I did not get up from that bed all day... with a raging fever of 39.5 and dysentry... Blessed my Chilean family friends who were there to take care of me!






The next day, I was debating whether to stay another day in order to recuperate but then was warned that there is an imminent strike... Thus, I hoped for the best and took off for Peru. Arrived in Cuzco (La Paz - Cusco: ~12hrs) and called my mama peruana and she informed me that she was in Lima (a 22hrs bus ride away from Cusco), not Andahuaylas (6hrs). I bit my tongue and bought the ticket for Lima on the dreaded bus ride... I had no choice, I came to Peru to visit and spend the Easter weekend with her!

Irma's daughter's family

The next 3 weeks were spent in Lima with Irma (mama peruana), with her family, and Ingrid, a friend whom I have met through Irma the first time I came to Peru. It was 3-week care-taking for Irma was suffering from consequences of an accident in which she suffers brain damage. I got to know her humble flat that she had purchased from years of saving, fought with the law in order to keep it as she was late in some payments, got to know her son and daughter, her ex-husband who has recently come to his senses after abandoning Irma and her 3 children without any financial aid ages ago and left her to raise the children alone but is now regretting and lending her a hand, got to know her dad and her step-mother, whom had mistreated and abused her, then kicked her out of the house of her father after done abusing her... years of emotional baggage still very much present in the way Irma is extremely submissive to her step-mother... My role there was to be there for mama Irma, be her emotional support and help her get organized and be there to remind her of things to do when her mind wasn't 100% there.

Irma happily cooking away!

It was a rewarding experience, to felt able to help a soul in need. However, it also dawned on me how what I was doing... should be something her own offspring should be doing... On the other hand, I should also be at the sides of my mother, instead of someone else's mother! True, my mother is not ailing but that is no reason not to be at her side!!

Towards the end of my stay, I had met up with Ingrid, whom has brought me to a cottage house of her uncle for a weekend in order to escape the chaos of the city. It was an interesting experience, as I was able to get to know the different lifestyles there is in Peru. That of a struggling lower-end and that of a comfortable middle-class. What a difference!! It is always astonishing how monetary wealth can affect and afflict the conditions of one's life... something that I have been sheltered from all my life.

At the cottage house with Ingrid (in purple) enjoying stone over baked chicken!

Ingrid, a charming peruvian, whom has spent a couple of years working in Australia but has decided to come back, together with her husband, to Peru in order to start a NGO in the small hometown of hers called Pampachiri, in order to bring social conscious tourism to the countryside town where profits will go to community projects.

Outing in Lima

Before leaving, Irma has told me, almost tearfully that I am free to visit her at anytime and that had she had the time, she would have made me a set of keys to her flat for whenever I am in Lima. She told me it is my home, albeit humble, but it is a home with welcoming doors. Oh, my dear Irma, a simple, hard-working, unpretentious, jovial, sensitive, affectionate, chattering and apt for business Peruvian woman, who has struggled her whole life to make a living for her children, offering the most that she can with the little educational knowledge that she has... and trotting on, slowly but surely. I sure will miss her affection and her simplistic nature and her ingenuity when it comes to earning a buck or two, and most definitely her food!!

Finally, after 3 long weeks in Lima, it was time for me to leave Peru and back to Bolivia. However, Ingrid convinced me that I simply HAVE to visit Machu Pichu, although, at that point in time, I had no energy nor real desire to go. Physicall, I was still in a weakened state. After my stomach infection I caught a cold which was still lingering... and emotionally I was drained, vulnerable, lost and aimless.

Cusco's main plaza

Convinced that perhaps the Inca ruins will provide me some sort of uplifting energy, I headed for Cusco. Cusco, a magnificient colonial city, comparable to those I have seen in Mexico, is worth a few days expedition. However, I was exhausted and weary of the touts... which shows the popularity of Cusco on the touristic plane. The one best thing I liked about the city is the yummy vegetarian food! Cappuchino wasn't very impressive though, better in Lima.


Because Cusco has become so prominent on the travel map, the transportation to Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Machu Pichu) and from the town to Machu Pichu's entrance were priced on the high end. The train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes on "economic" seating is somewhere around 75$, whereas Peruvians pay less than 5$ or so. Luckily, I met up with a group of budget travelers and we decided to take the sinuous and lengthy way, but on the cheap, which is to bus around the mountain cities and then walk 2hrs to Aguas Calientes, which ended up costing us about 10$!

on our way to Aguas Calientes

Aguas Calientes, a touristy town where the sole goal of being there is to visit Machu Pichu (MP), thus a town left much to be desired... I had lost all enthusiasm that I could not even animate myself for the one popular or "must-do" in Aguas Calientes, which is the hot spring. My travel companions all went for the dipping whereas I opted to sit by the falling cascades of water and let my mind flush away with the torrents.

On the day for climbing Machu Pichu (MP), we woke up at 4:30am and started climbing the stairs up to the entrance of MP. Why 4:30? We need to make it before 6am, and get a stamp (limit to 200 per day) that gives you the permit to climb the highest peak, Wayna Pichu. What a hard climb it was!!!  It was certainly a strenuous one with my weakened body and ... well, I realized that I'm no longer 20 years old, lol!! My companions, whom were 5-12 yrs younger than me, all smoke, and managed the climb fairly okay!! Once we happily received our stamp, they all started to smoke, lol. well well... Age does matter :D

taking a break during the ascent

Machu Pichu & Wayna Pichu... beautiful :) However, I am far from being the "jaw-dropping" tourist... It was pretty, worth a few pictures, worth the effort to climb it. However, perhaps I have seen many of such ruins in Mexico, I was left... unaltered and even nearly apathetic. This is highly unlike me, however, with all that is weighting down on me physically and emotionally lately, I was a mess. The Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia had made more of an impression on me than MP. Sigh. I am a tired, weary traveler, who enjoys the comfort and coziness of a stable place... my own bathroom, a familiar bed, and home-made food! I knew something's wrong when MP doesn't impresses ya... but was it worth it to visit it for the bragging right of ticking off the the 3rd world's wonder on my list? Emotionally, I beg to differ...

On top of Wayna Pichu

A few more picture taking and then looking forward to go back to my home in South America, Bolivia!