Michael hosted a ceremony of healing crystal bowls (similar to Tibetan sonic bowls, but much larger and heavier of translucent crystal) which were brought by Cynthia and her sister Sabrina on the Sunday. Nice :) Later that day I, along with a bunch of Spain supporters, converged on Ulrike`s for carrot cake and The finaL. I barracked for Holanda, met with Brian from the States and Limeña Sandra from up the road and also with Amalaa visiting the Sunday markets. Every time I have watched any games Ive been convinced of the bias of the referees. No comment on the red card or the offside goal.
Meals made of donated food always taste nicer I reckon, especially the soup I made from pumpkins of the house of Fernando. That night I hung out with him, Fred, Rafael, Isabel, Illari and Paul to celebrate the despedida (farewell) of Guillermo (returning to Lima to study the culinary arts) and eating yummy pasta with fresh tomato sauce. Later I djembed along with their stoner-rock band, sometimes I was even in time¡!
So to Monday and Cusco, where I met Eric from the States and conversed about a variety of unconventional realities at Jacks before visiting his house where he`d set up an altar to several medicinal plants and practised the art of power smoothies. The San pedro market was my day`s goal, and there, after meeting up with Amalaa again, we purchased supplies intended for chocolate/San Pedro cactus energy balls and drank lushious juice. While Perùsing the vegetables we came across a large potato in a Northcote hat. Upon further inspection it actually turned out to be a potato-nana. She was tiny and crossed-legged perched on the table; wrapped in what seemed a potato sack and with her weathered brown face could easily have been picked up for 1 sol a kg.
Later I checked into the hostel where Amalaa was staying, had dinner and, at funky restobar `The Circus`, attended the showing of `Crude`. This is a recent documentary about the class-action lawsuit being brought by a group of Ecuadorian indigenous folks against Chevron, one of the world`s biggest petroleum companies. I`d read about the oil-ploitation situation in the Ecuadorian Amazon in Joe Kane`s great book `Savages` but it was interesting to see this further chapter to the story and the determination showed by the local indigenous lawyer leading the suit. The case has drawn high-profile celebrities and I feel to its detriment to filmakers focussed on this side of the situation a little too much - however its great to get the consciousness out into the mainer stream.
The next morning Amalaa and I caught up with Lulue at Jacks before I returned to Gringo Estate and Maggie and I received a visit from American Sarah. The next morning she and I discovered a mutual interest in fine electronica and experimental tunes and we exhanged `check this out` lists and grooved to some pfhat beatz. I spent the morning assembling the following:
TRISTAN`S CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS `suck on èm`
400g Solid cacao (cocoa)
2 x 400g can Soy Vida (evaporated soy milk)
1/2 kg raw honey
100g coca powder
50g coca/maca/carob powder
2 tsp sea salt
5 tbs ground coffee
250g maca flour
300g shredded coconut
San Pedro cactus powder to taste and explore(I added about 150g)
Grate cacao. On lowest heat in a large non-stick saucepan, slowly melt cacao with soya milk and salt. Then stir in the San Pedro with love and intenciones. Then stir in the coffee. Then the honey, bit at a time. Then the powder/flour, bit at a time. Once thoroughyl stirred through you should have a large ball of black goo that doesnt stick to the fingers too much. Lay out the coconut onto a large pizza tray or similar. Spoon the mixture teaspoon at a time onto the cocnut and then roll them to lightly encrust. Should make about 100 balls, so adjust your San Pedro/active ingredient amount to suit this number. Buen viaje¡¡
Their intended use was for adding power with an edge to trekking, but that night I hung out with some of my neghbours who were on their own San Pedro journey and road-tested the mix, eating four. Balls¡¡ Those things are powerful! Well, predictably I was up until 3am and on a totally different trip to the others, but the ride was smooth and beautiful.
The next day I met Brian early to find the colectivo to the high town of Sacocha, from where we trekked up to Pampallacta, smelling Blue Gum resin and chatting about lifey stuff like staying strong in the face of surrounding unconsciousness. In the town we ate two salty balls each and began the hike to the Qochas, lakes located high in the hills above Pisac where campesinos farm on sometimes incredibly steep slopes and live in seclusion in the spectacular valleys. Ruins dotted our route to the first pass at 4250m from where we viewed the huge Azulqocha, a dam filling a deep valley surrounded by jagged but mostly vegetated mountains. By continuing we arrived at a smaller but natural qocha in its own dell amongst the highest peaks. This was amazingly beautiful, and perfect for a summer camping and swimming escape.
The continuance brought us around the mountainside, past shepherds and their llamas, alpacas, horses, sheep and cows and up to another pass. There we soaked up the lost world in the valley below us. Listless clouds swirled around peaks reminiscent of Torres del Paine while probably 1000m below a few families with tiny mudbrick dwellings farmed in the ancient way of rock-wall agriculture. The wet ground saturated (we assumed by natural springs) reflected the afternoon sun and fed a fast flowing creek to the enormous Kinsaqocha. A large rock outcrop of a hill in the centre of the valley with complete with rustic constructions reminded me of the setting for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings films. Just breathtaking.
The map pointed to the other side of the lake but we decided to brave the steep paths on our side - after all there was a lot of cultivation there. Throughout the day we had been discussing potential ways to make money in South America - selling `Extreme Farming` as an adrenaline sport/social project was our current push as we navigated very steep soil in barely accessible locations. The lake and valley continued the stunning views and we continued to Paro Paro, eating our last balls on the way. This large menhir jutted starkly from the grass with a stone-circle giving its respect. After navigating a creek crossing I began to feel a little woosy-drunk, although a big lack of sleep definitely contributed to that. Our long stroll via a few un/necessary short-cuts involved greeting the many local pedestrians and observing a large flock of Rainbow Lorikeet-like Loros screeching their way. We then arrived in Quello Quello, grabbed a share taxi and headed back to Brian and Sandra`s place, where I joined them for yummy chickpeas and rice. It had been a brilliant day, and by eating my balls we had been carried along a fantastic but smooth journey.
On Friday I went to the regional and highly subsidised health clinic in Qoya to visit a dentist for a check-up. She claimed I needed 7 fillings - I was a little shocked, but agreed to the two worse ones to be attended to. She firstly drilled without anaesthetic, causing pain and then after weirdly injecting the drug only waited half a minute before commencing drilling again! I stopped her painfully and hurriedly explained not enough time had passed for me to be affected yet - her workmate then said that yes, 15 minutes was appropriate. Professionalism not included. Then she drew blood inside my tooth and had to inject me again with fuzz. I was glad to get out alive, really, and even though the fillings were less than $15 each I believe the 5 other supposeds can wait...
On the Saturday I met with Amalaa in Pisac and her friend Susanna from Missouri and we just hung out in town, drinking coffee and carrot cake and hearing a myriad of wonderful anecdotes from Amalaa, generally involving lots of synchronicity and/or inexplicable and co-incidental events. That evening we retired to their hostel to cook an amazing roast chicken and vegetable meal in the black-out dark and sip Chilean red. And of course chocolate.
The following stats relate to my online Sound Cloud music where I have one of my DJ sets uploaded for listening and downloading.
http://soundcloud.com/the_mule/sets
So if it was Germany Vs Australia it would per capita be a score of 11-1. Well, at least it`s not 4-0.
The following stats relate to my online Sound Cloud music where I have one of my DJ sets uploaded for listening and downloading.
http://soundcloud.com/the_mule/sets
Most popular in these countries:
- 44% Germany
- 16% Turkey
- 8% United Kingdom
- 8% United States
- 4% Australia
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