by Marco Richter de Medeiros
Chinchero is a lot different from what you would see in the United States, especially Fall City. The architecture is much different. Where we build with wood, they built with concrete and stone. Chinchero people dress very differently than us. The women wear traditional dresses with fancy hats. The men wear traditional drawstring pants and ponchos over their body. The market was different as well. Either it wasn't a busy day or the market just simply doesn't have much energy. In Chinchero the market is very calm, whereas in Seattle for instance, the Pike Place Market is always bustling with energy.
Isaias is our guide and driver for most of the Peru trip. Isaias is much different than an American. He has dark skin with a weathered face. While he's 60 years old, he looks 40 years old. Isaias is calm, even in the most annoying situations. He gets along with most people in the area. I like him. He's cool.
Isaias told us different stories about the pre-Inka ruins. My favorite was about the shaping of the rocks for the walls of the ruins. Each one is completely different but is carved to fit together. He says that no one knows how the pre-Inka people made each of the rocks fit perfectly together, but they think it's odd that the pre-Inka people once in a while wouldn't just cut at a rock to make it fit horizontally, but they just carved a small square on the corner to make the smallest fit.
My favorite part of the pre-Inka ruins in Chinchero was the seats carved into outcroppings of stone dotted randomly around the place. I loved the Chinchero ruins. I didn't dislike them one bit.
Coming back from the ruins was terrible. We were stuck in traffic just before the entrance of Ollantaytambo for an hour and a half because of a police officer blocking the way with his motorcycle. Plus there were eight semi trucks coming down this narrow slope. People started getting out of their cars (tourists) and hiked up to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Machupicchu. Other People got out of their cars and went up to find out what was happening, while leaving their cars unattended which made the situation worse. Finally we decided to move out of the slope to help with the passing of the trucks. Eventually we got out. Two nuns started scolding the police man for the terrible job he was doing. It was hilarious.