PERU
When I visited Peru in 2007, besides visiting Cuzco and the archaeological jewel of the Inca Empire that is Machu Pichu, I also wanted to fly over the Nasca lines , in the desert of the same name at Pampas de Jumana. The origin of the lines is unknown but they represent stylized mythological animals and great designs that seem to have been done by a giant hand flying over the land. Any encyclopaedia will show you the drawings and tell you the different stories that explain their possible origin. However to see them is a little bit more difficult, or was when I was there, since in the first place you have to reserve a place in the small plane the overflies the most impressive and important of the lines and with a little imagination you could believe you are the giant that is drawing them, when you see the full extent of the design. Of course this means you have to leave very early in order to arrive on time to the airport and then try to get a window seat because it would be useless to be inside the plane but unable to see the full extent of the landscape. I was very lucky and got a window seat and finally take off, the small plain was of course full of tourists, Peruvian and foreigners alike since there are many that want to see those wonders drawn by humans, extraterrestrials, illuminaty, geniuses or whoever, but wonders they are indeed. After gaining some altitude, so that we all have a view of the landscape, the pilot wants to show us, on both sides of the plane, what the lines depict, so he first turns the plain some 45 degrees to the right, you take your photos and then after levelling just a bit, turns 45 degrees, this time to the left for the other side to have a chance and like that about one hour, left, right, left, right in the hope you can keep your eyes open and your mouth closed to see it all. The most difficult part of this trip was to keep your mouth closed to prevent throwing up on your unsuspecting neighbour. The stomach complains bitterly about the movement and the balancing effect, screaming and boiling.
Happily nobody vomited while flying but upon landing most of us had a very unbecoming green colour and those waiting for us were just laughing to their hearts content and telling us “you’ll get over it” or my guide for instance said “do not worry, you’ll feel better once we get to the hotel where we will have lunch”. Of course the simple word of lunch, the idea of food almost made me throw up. My stomach with the half digested breakfast did not want to hear anything related to food. We took the car and after a while arrived to a nice and very big hotel, two swimming pools, large eating area and full of families, enjoying the weather and the food that looked fine but did not really attract me. My guide spoke to a waiter and they took me to a rather remote corner of the restaurant, preventive seclusion just in case and brought me a large cup of a darkish concoction that I was to drink in small sips and told me that in about 30 minutes I would fell just tip top. It was coca leaves tea!!
Of course we all have heard about coca and cocaine and some have even tasted the latter. With a little apprehension, since I had not come to Peru to try one of its most notorious and infamous products, I decided to try the tea, slowly but surely to keep my tummy calm and true to form about half an hour later I started to feel better and after about 40 minutes I even felt a bit hungry. I could not believe it. I had heard of course that the native Incas chewed the coca leaves to keep their energy and were able to walk long, very long distances, loaded with all imaginable charges through the tough Andean mountains. But to see that in this XX century I was having a coca leaves tea to settle my stomach was a wonderful and most welcome surprise.
After the experience of coca leaves in Nasca, I was sold to the tea, since it really provides a sense of energy and wellbeing that otherwise would need a lot of rest and when one is travelling, discovering new peoples and cultures, it is not always possible to rest and the ideal would be limitless energy, 48 hours days and enough brain to enjoy and retain everything one has seen and heard. When I arrived to Cuzco, at 3,400 meters above sea level, much higher than Mexico City, almost immediately felt the altitude and the travel. The solution of course is coca leaves tea with the added advantage that most people do it so it is not that you turn into an addict or anything like it. Actually to produce few grams of cocaine, you need several kilos of coca leaves, so they say. When I was there you could even buy coca leaves in bulk at the market but it was important to know the right leaves otherwise you could be chewing all day long, the wrong leaves, and end up with jaw pain and no relaxation. You could find also coca candy, but made of the leaves and not the powder so widely known in the world of drugs. The coca leaves for local consumption and also for its transformation into cocaine has been a blessing and a curse for the local growers. As they chew the leaves they can work longer hours than they already do and selling the leaves for chemical transformation provides them enough fallout to live more or less well, although it is well known that in any chain of transformation from raw material to final product it is the transformers and intermediaries that have the greatest gains, but enough of politics on drug control. It seems that today it is no longer very easy to buy leaves in bulk and even the candy is not easy to find, so if you ever decide to fly over the Nasca lines, make sure your stomach is empty just in case you do not find a provider of coca tea.
Mementos of my life 