Peru Journal part 6: Corn Beer, Coin Toss and River Rafting

UN DESCANSO
Day two in the Sacred Valley began with a trip to a local Chicha (corn beer) brewery, but there was more there than just beer. We got a glimpse into Quechua culture. The name of the brewery was Descanso, which means "rest" in Spanish, and the name fit it well. It was a quiet place right off the main road through the valley, where once behind it's walls you felt a sense of peace from the rest of the world. The walkways and patio had flowers growing up them. Tall trees reached high over the back patio and the mountains of the valley hung above the rooftops like sentinels. Descanso is not just a brewery but a place to go to drink the corn beer they make there, called Chicha by the Spanish and Aha in the Quechua language, have some food, meet friends, and play a coin toss game called Sapo.


Descanso: the Aha Wasi
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We arrived early in the morning and were greeted by Mercedes, the Chicha maker and owner of Descanso. Like many of the Quechua we met she was shy and quiet, but very friendly too.

While things were getting set up for us to see how the beer was made and then taste some we wandered around the grounds. From the patio was a beautiful view of the Sacred Valley.


The Sacred Valley from the Descanso patio
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GUINEA PIGS
One of the more interesting, and for some, controversial parts of Quechua culture is the eating of Guinea Pigs. The consumption of guinea pigs dates back to pre Inca times. During the reign of the Incas it was reserved as a royal food for the upper class. Today it is eaten on special occasions, like birthdays, holiday and any other celebration. Some of the people in our group found this really upsetting. Every culture eats something that people from outside of that culture find strange or uncomfortable. While exploring the Pacific Northwest Lewis and Clark preferred eating dogs to salomn, something I think most people from the U.S. would find bizarre and upsetting today.

At Descanso, as a small business, they raised guinea pigs for sale. They lived in their own room which opened off the patio and we were invited to look in and take photos.


Guinea Pigs
Click to play

The guinea pigs squeaked and nibbled on their food while we poked our heads through the door. Our guide Fredy tried to explain the unexplainable. They eat them, they always have, they don't think of them as pets or name them. By the end of the day those of us that wanted to would be able to taste guinea pig. But the day had just started and that was many hours from now.

SAPO
After checking out the guinea pigs we were introduced to another part of Quechua culture. The coin toss game of Sapo. The word Sapo is Quechau for Frog. The point of the game was pretty simple. There is a table on which a matrix of eight square holes is cut. Like a tic-tac-toe grid. In the middle of the grid sits a brass frog, it's mouth facing the player. Coins are tossed from a distance of about six feet at the table. The goal is to get as many coins into one of the holes, each of which has it's own ranking of points. The ultimate goal is to get a coin into the frog's mouth, which has the highest number of points.

Our guide Fredy gave us a demonstration and got a coin into the frog's mouth! He seemed as surprised as the rest of us. Then it was our turn. We grouped into three teamss: The Condors, The Pumas and The Guinea Pigs...


Playing Sapo
Click to play

CHICHA
After our game we gathered in the dinning room of Descanso where Mercedes, the lady of the house/business and brewmeister showed us how Chicha is made. Like all beer a grain, in this case corn, is malted (partially germinated) cooked to a wort and then yeast is added for fermentation. For Chicha the yeast is part of a starter, like sourdough bread, from the last batch of Chicha. It's stored into a giant pot where if ferments for a few days. Unlike beer made from barley, the alcohol is very low, around 3 percent or less, so the beer is traditionally served in a large glasses.


Mercedes holding a glass of Chicha
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As we would see again and again during our time in the highlands, the kitchens of most houses are very basic, yet the meals cooked in them were complex and tasty. Descanso's kitchen was no exception, yet beer was brewed here for sale and consumption. Not what you'd expect a commercial kitchen to look like!


A typical wood burning stove
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Descanso did have a small gas stove (it said so right on the front) which was a luxery compared to the other private kitchens we saw.


The gas stove
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Notice in the photo above on the far right center of the image there is a hand holding a mano used to grind food on a metate. A tradition that stretches back thousands of years and is found throughout the Americas.

The final product is Chicha, Aha in Quechuan, which we all got a small taste of. No big glasses for us...


Chicha and the corn it's made from
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In the photo above are the different types of corn used to make Chicha along with a basket of the malted, partially germinated, corn kernels. The glass with the yellow liquid is regular Chicha. The purple Chicha gets it's color from the addition of strawberrys. It was very delious. There is also non-alcoholic Chicha made from a purple corn that is very common and can be found bottled.

Chicha has a milky taste. It's somewhat sweet with a hint of sour and goes down smooth. It does not taste like any beer you'd taste in the U.S. And that's a good thing. Something different.


The main road through the Sacred Valley
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ROWING ON THE RIVER
After our Chicha taste we all said "goodbye" to Mercedes and Descanso and headed up the only road through the Sacred Valley, north past the town of Urubamba towards Ollantaytambo, where the road ended and the valley dropped down into the jungle. We were headed to the ruins at Ollantaytambo but first were going river rafting on the Urubamba. Before you get any images of raging white water let me say that even though the locals claimed the river was currently a class 3, to us it seemed like a wimpy 2. But the skies were clear, the day warm (in the sun), the snow covered mountains loomed in the distant, and that was the plan.

We met up with our guides who gave us a lesson on how to row...


Row, row, row your raft...
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Did I mention we all looked like geeks in our river gear?

Photo: Mas Yamaguchi
Wearing the latest Peruvian water gear
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So off we went down the raging torrent of the Urubamba


Photo: Mas Yamaguchi
Rapids? We don't need no stinkin' rapids!
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Okay, there were a few rapids...


Photo: Mas Yamaguchi
Oh yeah, that was a rapid...
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We were in two boats. The guide in our boat was very nice but for some reason keep yelling "Pura Vida!" I hate to admit I've forgotten his name.


Photo: Mas Yamaguchi
Pura Vida!
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Okay, enough snark. Truth be told it was a lot of fun and a beautiful day. No one fell in, heck, no one even got wet. But it was quiet on the water. The sun sparkled on the waves. There were birds in the sky and farm animals on the banks. It was very pastoral. A nice break from the rush of our trip so far.


Photo: Mas Yamaguchi
On the Urubamba
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Soon enough we were back on the bus and headed to Ollantaytambo. Like Pisac in the southern end of the valley, Ollantaytambo (oh-yawn-tay-tambo) was both a living town and the old Inca fortress above. This is a major site, so I'll stop here and leave that for the next post.

Previous Peru Journals
Part 1: "Journey to Peru"
Part 2: "Lost in Translation"
Part 3: "Flight of the (Silver) Condor"
Part 4: Inca Pisac
Part 5: The Pisac Market

© 2009 Cedar Mesa Music
All Photos and video © Cedar Mesa Music except where noted.

Peru Journal

I've posted several accounts of my trip to Peru this past summer (2009) on my the Cedar Mesa Music blog. Check out the first "chapter"

Scales and Modes part 2

THE MODES

In the previous section we looked at how major scales are made up of a sequence of whole and half steps. That every major scale has a half step between notes 3 - 4 and 7 - 8. If you move the root note you need to also move the sequence of whole and half steps. Also, that while a major diatonic scale based on the note C has no sharps or flats, if you move the root note up to D both the F and C notes have to be sharp for the sequence to be correct.

But what would happen if we played the notes from D to D but this time we played just the white keys -the notes that make up the C major scale? This would force the sequence of whole and half steps to change and in doing so would construct a completely different scale. Scales that are made up like this, using the notes of a major diatonic scale but starting on a note other than the root, are called modes. Modes are nothing more than a variation of the sequence of whole and half steps.

Let's take a closer look at this.


READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

During July I spent some time in Bryce Canyon, UT.

Bryce Canyon is at the top of the Grand Staircase. A line of cliffs that start at the North Rim of Grand Canyon and rise past the Vermilion Cliffs, the White Cliffs (Zion Nat'l Park) and end in the Pink Cliffs which form

the amphitheatres of Bryce Canyon.

Here I am performing a Loomis Flute at Sunset Point. As always, my Apple PowerBook is by my side.

Magellan

Magellan
Feb 23rd, 1989 - Aug 11th, 2003

I know that for many people this is completely lame but I thought I would post some photos to remember him by:

Resting... what dogs love.


With his niece, Rachel.


Taking a break from playing Frisbee.

More

Moon over Sagurao

Took this outside of Oro Valley, AZ. You can read more about it on the Cedar Mesa Music blog pages.

Road Trip

Part of being a musician is being on the road. Playing the Native American flute means that I traveled through the Southwest a lot. Yesterday I did an appearance at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and between sets got to take a tour of the largest ruin on the site, or “Big House”, for which the monument is named.


This very large structure is from the Hohokam culture which was once the largest prehistoric culture in what is now southern Arizona around modern day Phoenix and Tucson. Built during the Civano phase cira AD1300 - 1350 Casa Grande lies about halfway between these two modern cities. The Big House is the only remaining structure of it’s kind and was thought to be used by an elite class, perhaps for religious purposes by a priestly class. Aside from it’s size the building was aligned to movements of the sun and moon.


In the inner most room of the Big House, holes in the wall are aligned with the equinoxes of the rising sun. In the photo above the sunlight shines through the hole on the left, from the rising sun, during the equinox and casts it’s image on the opposite wall. As the sun moves higher in the sky, it’s image moves down the opposite wall and lines up in another hole in that wall. There are also alignments to the Major and Minor standstills of the moon.


Surrounding the Big House are adobe, or caliche, room blocks like modern apartment structures. These made up a larger compound that may have once been walled in like a small ancient medieval city. Casa Grande Runs National Monument consists of at least four of these compounds. Many of the compounds have platform mounds that where used for ceremonies, dances and other public events. Much like plazas are used by modern Pueblo cultures. There is also a ball court where ancient game was played with a rubber ball where the players could not use their hands. Ball courts are common in Meso America and their presence in North America is thought to be a cultural influence from Meso America. To read more about other travels I’ve taken in the southwest visit the ECHOES FROM THE ROAD section of www.cedarmesa.com

As an aside, the desert, after the hugh amounts of rain that have fallen this winter, is in full bloom now. Wildflowers are everywhere and everything is a wonderful green.