Peru

Here's an important one for describing those ever-present, ever-inquisitive, ever-adorable Peruvian children: travieso ("cheeky"). The word travieso literally means "naughty". Other possibilities for describing those devilish little antics include fresco (also "cheeky" — literally "fresh"), and descarado (once again "cheeky" — literally "shameless"). The kids around here are generally fairly well-behaved — but they're also almost always in big groups, so this gives them the confidence to do mischievous things that they might not otherwise dare to do. So watch out!

The verb masticar simply means "to chew". It's quite similar to the English word "masticate", of the same meaning; except that unlike the English word, it generally isn't confused with another word of similar sound, but of a very different meaning :P. If you go to a parrillada (Argentinean steak house), and you get a particularly tough piece of meat, then you might think to yourself "voy a tener que masticarlo por mucho tiempo" (lit: "I'm going to have to chew this for a while"). Note that in Spanish, they have a different word for "chewing-gum": they call it chicle.

It was delayed for the past week, due to Jorge and various other people going on a hike to Choquequirao, but now the work on the new Hampy web site has finally begun. Tonight, I completed the first humble steps, on the way to getting Hampy a new, stylish, Drupal-powered (naturally) web site. Hopefully the new site will be ready to go in the next week or two.

There are many things that I'll remember about Cusco, after I've left (which I will do, one day!). But if you were to ask me what Cusco sounds like, there's one noise that would always, inevitably, spring to mind before all others. And I'm afraid that it isn't anything terribly nice, like the twittering of the birds, or the wailing of the Huayno music, or even the honking of the taxi horns. It's those damn fruit peddlers, who ride around the streets all day in their over-sized tricycles-slash-mobile-shopfronts, and who advertise their wares using a fat, blaring loudspeaker. The horrible, loud monotone can be heard almost anywhere in Cusco, all day long: "papayas platanos chirimoyas, manzanas piñas limones zanahorias, muy fresco muy barato, papayas papayas naranjas, tenemos platanos dos soles por kilo, platanos platanos chirimoyas...". It's a sound that I'll always remember, and that I'll never cease to detest.

An abrazo is a hug. Hugs are very important the world over, but they're even more so over here in the Latin world. When you meet someone around here — whether they be a long-lost friend or a complete stranger — you give 'em an abrazo. A handshake simply will not do. A beso (kiss) is also required, when meeting with the ladies (any ladies). When you write someone a card in Spanish, it's common to end it with the salutation un abrazo, or simply abrazos (where we might write "best wishes"). The verb abrazar means "to hug": so when I meet someone in Peru, yo le abrazo (lit: "I hug them").

I already knew that Tipón was famous for its Incan ruins. But what I didn't know, before today, was that the town of Tipón is absolutely mad about cuy. If you're in Tipón at lunchtime, your choices of cuisine are many and varied. You can have cuy in the park. You can have cuy at a restaurant (every single restaurant is a cuyeria). Or you can have cuy wherever the hell else you want. Ohhh... what's that? You want... something... else? As in, something that's... not cuy? Cuy, cuy, cuy, cuy... Lovely cuy! Wonderful cuy!

After yesterday's visit to the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo in the Valle Sagrado (north of Cusco), today Jesus and I continued this weekend's ruin-seeking crusade, by heading south of Cusco, to the town and the Incan ruins of Tipón. Although I was still recovering from yesterday's lethal buffet lunch, I was well enough today to make it to these ruins, and to appreciate the ingenious work that the Incas carried out here, hundreds of years ago.

Before leaving for Tipón, this morning I met Jesus at the Plaza de Armas, in the middle of Cusco. I didn't realise until now, but in my 6 weeks or so in Cusco so far, I've actually never been in the plaza on Sunday morning before (or anywhere else on Sunday morning, for that matter, apart from in bed). This explains how I managed to be here so long without realising that every Sunday morning, there's a big parade in the plaza. Anyway, this morning I finally saw the military parade, the student parade, and the massive cathedral service that graces central Cusco once every week.

The people of Peru are famous for many things, but a strong command of the English language is not one of them. While visiting the ruins of Ollantaytambo this afternoon, I discovered that Japan is not the only country where you can find Engrish: the badly-spelled-badly-meant movement is alive and strong here in Peru as well. Check out these hilarious little additions to the world's ever-growing Engrish collection.

After our tour of the Pisac ruins this morning, and my questionable-quality gourmet buffet lunch in Urubamba with Jesus, this afternoon I continued on to the last of the three main towns in the Valle Sagrado ("Sacred Valley"), Ollantaytambo. At Ollantaytambo, I climbed and explored the impressive Inca citadel / fortress that's built into the mountain there, right next to the town. In my opinion, the fortress of Ollantaytambo is the most impressive of all the ruins in the Valle Sagrado.