Machu Picchu

Day 1 - Bicicletas

I joined a trek called Inka Jungle Trail by Lorenzo Cahuanas, a 4 day 3 night deal which is a (much cheaper) alternative to the regular Inka Trail. Day 1 we biked. We were brought to the top of a mountain, put on some day-glo vests (to see each other and for cars to see us) and told to start. It was a blast! We winded our way down for ours and ours, mostly on paved, smooth road. After a lunch break we were on a bumpy dirt road that didn't feel so great, but we made it to the village of Santa María where we spent the night in a hostel... I even got to shower.

Day 2 - Trekking

Ah, the dreaded uphill trekking. First of all, our guide, the wonderful José Luis with a giant brace-face smile, gave us t-shirts to wear for Day 2. So, cool, free t-shirts. Only, there was one size for girls - extra small. The smallest of girls had trouble pulling it on. I had to stretch and pull and wear a tank top underneath to make it work. Not so great for the self esteem. ;) We ate breakfast at the hostel, then ventured out into the city, wearing our backpacks and plenty of insect repellent. We saw the abandoned village of Santa María, the original place being in the way of the rising Urubamba River and had flooded 2 years ago. We proceeded up up uphill, I was sweating profusely and huffing and puffing. The views of the valley were spectacular, and we even walked on some original Inka Trail. We continued on until we made it to the hot springs just below Santa Teresa. We enjoyed several hours of hot pools, and felt SO much cleaner afterward. Opting for a colectivo taxi-van ride to the actual village where our hostel was, we managed to even stay clean to supper time. I enjoyed delicious polla a la plancha, grilled chicken with rice and homemade french fries. Exhausted, I fell asleep shortly after dinner time in our nice little hostel.

Day 3 - Walking

Our group chose 'Option 2' of taking a taxi to the Hydroelectric plant and then walking along the railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes, the little village below Machu Picchu. This would give us time to climb the mountain Putukusi, which gives a direct view of Machu Picchu. As it would turn out, only 3 other girls and myself opted for the mountain after we had lunch in Machu Picchu. Go figure. So, with our cheerful guide, we began walking to a nearby mountain (the one next to Putukusi), and walking up steps, then climbing giant ladders (um, I'm talking 110 rungs on ONE ladder alone, more than a foot between rungs...). I was, again, huffing and puffing, but going at the rate of a snail, aka Amanda pace, I managed to get to the top, José Luis patiently waiting with the last person again (me). The view was great, and I ask myself why the heck I do stuff like that, I think for the thrill of it. No mountains in Minnesota, you know. We went down in the dark, but no one fell once, and went straight to bed in order to wake up at 3.30 am to start the trek up the stairs to Machu Picchu (no wimps in our group, as in, no taking the bus).

Day 4 - Machu Picchu

I have learned about Machu Picchu since I was in Girl Scouts, since Mr. Helgren told us random stories in 5th grade math class, since the history of the mysterious Inka (who had no written language, only oral history exists) has captured my attention. I was thrilled to be going there. I started walking at 3.45 with a girl and her mother to get to the top in plenty of time to sign up for the trek up Waynapicchu (the tall mountain in the background of every postcard picture). It was a lot of flippin' steps, I tell you what. I took breaks, then realized if I go at my snail pace my heart doesn´t beat as much and I can just keep going. So, after, 50 minutes of trekking up and at least 10 people passing me (who probably started 20 minutes after me), I made it to the entrance. We even got to stamp our passports with a Machu Picchu stamp, how great is that. Anyway, we got in and saw the misty view of Waynapicchu and the intact ruins of the city and it was just like they show on television or books. We had a tour of Machu Picchu, it appears the Inka probably left due to lack of food for the ever-growing population. Some houses have perfect stone work (for people higher-up) where stones fit perfectly, others (the workers) are more or less, but still beautiful. I did climb Waynapicchu, it was insane and steep. The view was great, I must admit. I lunched up there. After coming back down, I slowly made my way to the guard shack, where the 'post card' view is of the city. I sat there and admired the site for a long time, too. Eventually I made my way down the stairs back to Aguas Calientes where I took a train

(the only option, besides trekking, to leave the area) to Ollyanta. Beautiful day. Words cannot describe.

Lake Titicaca

I made my way to Puno where I found a tour to 3 different islands on Lake Titicaca, South America´s largest lake and the world´s highest lake (3800m). First we visited the floating islands of the Uros people, they literally made their own islands out of reeds and muck, and continue to place reeds on the top since it rots from the bottom. Why, you ask? Years ago they wanted to escape the life and strife of the mainland. Next we went to Isla Amantaní, where we lodged with families for the night who made us traditional meals (containing lots of potatoes) in their non-electric kitchens. The outhouses had real toilets, but you had to bring a bucket of water to swish everything down. Later that same day we climbed 500m to the Pachatata ruins, totally worth the view of the sunset. That night, the host mother of each traveller dressed him/her in traditional garb, men = panchos and decorative hats, girls = colorful skirts, white blouses with embroidery, wide belts tucked right underneath chest, and a black scarf with embroidery. We then went to a small communal room where a band of 12-14 year olds played traditional music on pan pipes, recorders and a ukelele. We danced their traditional dances, which consisted of holding hands and swinging arms back and forth and swishing skirts back and forth. Very easy. After a good night´s sleep, we had breakfast and jumped on boat to the final island, Taquile, also very beautiful on the deep blue waters of Titicaca. The name, if I heard my guide correctly, actually means Grey Puma. I didn´t know Perú has pumas. Hmmm.

Último día de la escuela

Today was my last day at the school, we played games and decorated pre-bought cupcakes with sprinkles and other candies. I was sad to leave them, but that´s the way it goes around here; high turnover means volunteers come and go, over and over. I did give Paloma´s mother a framed pic of her and all three of her girls. I received numerous besitos (kisses on the cheek) from the kids as I explained I wouldn´t be back next week. Four other long-term volunteers are also leaving this weekend, so props to all the newbies!

I also said goodbye to the wonderful church I´ve been attending, Bola de Nieve (boladeneve.com). It´s a church targeted at youth, but a number of adults make up the congregation, too. They were all very welcoming to me from day one, and I wish them the best as they continue sharing Christ with their neighbors in Arequipa. They gave me a pot holder as a goodbye present. Kind of quirky, but I´m sure I´ll use it plenty. =) Major lesson learned: every week is Holy Week (since Semana Santa only comes once a year, before Easter, they want to encourage people to live each week as a holy week). And I adored the pastor, super friendly and could play the guitar and sing. Doesn´t get much better than that.

Finally, went out to eat at Crepísimo tonight with all the volunteers and our administration leader, Brenda, and the cute Spanish teacher, Adolfo. Plenty of tasty crepes, I had one with strawberry ice cream. Then I beat Adolfo twice at ´damas,´aka checkers. Now off to Lake Titicaca!

La Escuela, part 2

The school is going well. The older kids have been translating pen-pal letters from students in England and are working on replies. I tease Alex that he has a girlfriend because his 8 year old pen-pal drew a cute little picture of herself.
We had music day for fun day, and the kids loved the recorders, although only a handful of older boys knew how to play. Mainly they played ´My heart will go on´from Titanic, which is okay, since it wasn´t just scratchy noises.

The two loves of my life, Paloma and Sara, are sisters about 3 and 2 years of age. Paloma is crazy, and throughout my short time here Sara has become more and more like Paloma. Paloma likes to stick her tongue out and make weird noises, then run away from you. Sara generally just likes to be held. Both like to ´fly,´when a Teacher holds them in her arms like an airplane. Both girls are beginning to speak more and more. I suspected Paloma to be a little ´special,´but she´ll probably grow out of it. At the end of the day their mother, holding their baby sister Lucera in a traditional giant scarf, picks them up and brings the two cyclones of fun home. I think their mom greatly appreciates some time in peace each day.

Playa Mejía

Went to the beach today, who knew the Pacific Ocean is only 2 hours away. I put on plenty of sunscreen and jumped in the very cold, although not as cold as Lake Superior, water 3 or 4 times to cool myself down from the heat of the beach. The place was practically deserted because it´s technically winter and there´s a mist around the ocean, but we enjoyed the short get-away and laid back vibe.
On the way back our bus stopped for over a half hour on account of an accident in front of us. There was a bus, from the same bus company as ours, that apparently crashed into another vehicle... From my window I only saw the damaged bus, crushed only on the driver´s side/corner. There was an ambulance, and I heard someone say ¨esta viva¨ aka ¨alive¨ but I have no clue what other vehicle could have caused so much damage to a bus. It looked only like a car, and I thought buses were invincible in the loco traffic of Perú. On the brighter side, I stopped counting after the 20th man got off the bus to pee only 3 yards away on the side of the road. Only 2 women, both of which had to walk much farther away out of the glares of headlights from cars behind the stopped bus, risked nature´s call.

English Lesson

With my roommate Felicity I discussed some vocabulary differences between our two countries:

Food
a cuppa - cup of tea
brew - cup of tea
chips - french fries
sarnie - sandwich
butty - sandwich
fry-up - typical English breakfast
lollies - hard candy
pudding - dessert
pub - bar, but more homey

Cockney ... invented by gangsters who used rhyme to fool the authorities
Up the apples and pears - up stairs
Ruby marie - curry
Whistle and flute - suit
You won´t adam and eve it - you won´t believe it
Get a butcher´s hook - get a look

Random
I´m a bit parky - I´m cold
away with the fairies - on cloud nine
dodgy - sketchy
skanky - dirty
trousers - pants
scalawag - naughty

australian lingo
Pass the hairy horse - tomato sauce
Doona - blanket
Cordial - koolaid
Shall we take the jadin leskie - esky, which is ice box ... this saying is hillbilly-ish, because of the missing lad jadin leskie from a hillbilly area known for having ice boxes, eskies, full of beer. case never solved.

Colca Canyon

Day 1: Flight of the Condors

A group of us, my roommate Felicity from England, two friends across the hall, Vanessa and Maricia from North Carolina, and the new guy Michael from England and myself went to the Colca Canyon this weekend. We took an uncomfortable and freezing cold 1am bus to Cruz del Condor, about 4-ish hours away on the edge of the canyon where you watch condors enjoy the drafts of wind and soar with their giant wings. We all bought stretch gloves with llama designs to look good and beat the cold.

After this we hopped a bus to Cabanaconde and began our adventure down down down one of the deepest canyons in the world, using a map our fellow friend Emily from Australia made for us from her previous adventure. After hours and hours and hours of going down gravelly slidey rock zig zag paths, and pausing for much water and the occasional picnic, we made it to the bottom with sore calves and blisters on the toes (not me, I wore my Keen sandles). Only one casualty, I fell on my left leg and scraped and bruised it, but survived. Then we crossed a bridge over Rio Colca and climbed climbed to San Juan to a delightfully ghetto hostel, Casa de Rivelo. Wonderful food, only 10 soles (a little of 3 dollars) for supper and a bed.

Day 2: The Oasis

We started day 2 with a quick breakfast and some general directions from the lovely hostel owner. 'Sube y plano' = 'go up and then straight.' So, we headed off in a general direction and guessed which way to head when paths split. We did pretty well. I am TERRIBLE at climbing up in high altitudes, and probably in general. But we made it to the flat path and passed through a couple of small villages. Pretty pleasant. We went down again to spend the night in the Oasis, an area at the bottom with several hostels that all have natural pools. Oh what joy and motivation! And we made it as quick as possible (still took several hours) and found a quaintly ramshackle hostel named Eden close to the path up (for day 3) with a beautiful pool. I swam for at least 2 hours straight. At this hostel I met two friendly Israelis, travelling after their time in the service, and a delightful 'true' English gentleman named John, who provided great conversation. He's one of my favorite acquaintances from this trip. We had dinner by candlelight (no electricity) and I adored the thousands upon thousands of stars shining down.

Day 3: Mules.

I realized that uphill is not the way for me to go, so I rented a mule for 35 soles, as did the Israeli girl. My friends began hiking at 5am to beat the heat of the day, I started at 6.30 by mule. Mules are the children of horse and donkey, the only animal sturdy enough for the zig zag path up and down the mountain. It was very helpful on my 'trek' up. Although, they enjoy walking close to the edge of the path, so I had great but frightening views of the steep canyon. My group was at the top before me, and we enjoyed the view then returned to Cabanaconde where our bus failed to show up (don't worry, we didn't pay for tickets) and we missed a local one, so we had 2 extra ours to bum so we found a tranquil spot and just relaxed. We unfortunately didn't have time for Chivay and the hot springs, though, so I was bummed. We returned to Arequipa by an even worse bus (Andalucia) but saw beautiful terrain and llamas in between. Felicity also helped me with my British English vocab, to be posted later. We celebrated homecoming with showers and pizza.

Laundry Day

I have chosen to avoid laundromats, although the cost is only 3 soles/kg, and have instead spent 3 soles on detergent and handwash it. It´s more or less strenuous work to someone use to the convenience of a washing machine. I´ve found it´s best to wash every 3 days or so to avoid too much. First I add a small cup of detergent to water in a bucket, let it dissolve and then throw in the laundry and allow it to soak for over a half hour. Then I scrub it a lot and rinse it as best as I can. Finally, I get to put it up on a clothesline, either one outside the laundry area or on the roof. I opted for the roof today, a better view of the town as my clothes drip dry. Today was whites.

Terremoto

So early this morning I woke up randomly, probably too hot or something and was drifting toward sleep when my bed started shaking and the window started rattling... An earthquake! More or less. I guess a tremor, it lasted all of about five seconds, and wasn´t severe enough for me to get worried. I was considering moving away from the rattling window, but made no decision by the time the tremor stopped. Then all the dogs in the neighborhood howled for about 5 minutes afterward. I´m pleased to have now survived an earthquake. Although next time I want to stand up and see how it feels... In bed it felt like one of those cheesey hotel beds where you put a quarter in it to make it vibrate.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Several of us toured a convent in Arequipa the other day. It takes up an entire city block and is basically it´s own city within it´s citadel-type walls. We wondered around for at least two hours to see the tourist part of it. Nuns currently live in a renovated area, which isn´t on the tour, of course.

It was built in the 1500s-ish and the nuns that lived there came with a dowrie that decided how nice their room would be and how large their kitchen. Everything was brick and it felt cold in most rooms, but it was neat to walk down the streets within the convent and see original objects, like beds and trunks and, in one room, a giant chair with a whole in the bottom...for all your bathroom necessities.

My favorite was the laundry system, which was outside with water running down a long narrow slide-like rock, with holes on the side that had pipes leading to ginormous brick basins that had holes in the bottom. If you blocked the water coming down the slide by a certain hole, the water would get high enough to go down that hole, into the pipe and fill the basin if the basin. I played with it.

Once upon a time, the nuns in this convent were a bunch of partiers complete with slaves of their own, but along came a Dominican nun who banished all such goings-on.

Semana Santa

It is that time of year again when Latin America takes an entire week to reflect and celebrate Easter during their Holy Week. Throughout the world children of Faith celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. In Arequipa and many other hispanic areas there are processions in the street, where a crowd of people walk slowly, some carrying a statue of Jesus, others carrying Mary and with an entire band playing music and someone with a microphone praying from time to time.

I attended a procession tonight and even bought a candle to light for the walk down the streets of the city. I felt oh so honored when one of the official people in the procession, wearing a suit and all, used his candle to light mine. ☻ Unfortunately, a short woman carrying her candle as high as possible nearly caught my hair on fire, but all is well and no harm done.

The School

Traveller not Tourist runs a completely volunteer-run school in a poor community on the outskirts of Arequipa, called Flore Tristan. We take a 40 minute bus ride from the house to get to the rural community and we know we´re there when the paved road changes to dirt and the houses are very simple and made of stone. Kids run to us screaming ´Teacher!´

There are three classes, the Babies - ages 2 to 5, the Intermediate level and the Advanced level. The volunteers plan lessons according to the age group and have class for the first hour then the second our is play time at the cancha, basketball court. We are currently teaching the Intermediate class the seasons in English and vocabulary that goes with it.

During game time the girls like to play with any female Teacher´s hair and jump rope, and many kids enjoy running around playing basketball. The little ones like to be carried piggy-back style or swung around in a circle in the air.

It´s simple and sweet, the kids really just need some extra love in their day, and their parents probably need a couple hours to themselves.

Traveller Not Tourist

I am in my destination city where I will be doing volunteer work for the month of April. The organization is called Traveller Not Tourist, conveniently located at travellernottourist.com, and currently has two projects, an orphanage and school. I´m in the school, and it´s basically an after school program for kids in a poorer neighborhood on the outskirts of Arequipa in Flore Tristan. It takes about forty minutes by bus to arrive to the school from the TNT house, which is where I´m living. The house is amazing and huge. We even have internet here, although some keys on the keyboard don´t function, like the parentheses. There is a tiny jardín, garden, which is basically a nice patch of green grass you can get to after walking through the house, as in not by the road, where we can read or just soak in the sun. A school is on the other side of the wall of the garden, so we hear the bell every morning at 8am. There are two beds per bedroom, most rooms have their own bathroom. Mine doesn´t, but it isn´t a big deal to me. The ´communal´ bathroom is right outside my bedroom door, and whoever is in my bedroom are basically the only people who use it. The other volunteers are extremely amiable and for the most part are from the U.K. or Australia. Some people know Spanish, some are taking classes for the first time. It´s a great mixture. I´ve helped with some translating/talking on the phone for girls who know little Spanish. I like it.

Nazca

I arrived to Nazca and was greeted by only one hostel tout (or whatever they´re called), but went with the hostel I found in my guidebook, called Friend´s House. My dorm was located on the roof in a shack, more or less, but clean beds and friendly people. I basically passed out and missed all the guitar music the Señor was playing outside my dorm´s door in the lounge (also on top of the roof).

Weather was HOT and I signed up right away for a Nazca lines overflight, which I did early Tuesday morning. Talking about major motion sickness, the pilot would tell us ¨See the monkey on the left!!¨ and massively turn the plane for us to view out the window, only to soon say ¨Now see the monkey from the right¨ and skew the plane the other way. They say an average of 2 people puke during the flight (out of 7). The Korean girl and I both spewed a bit, and the English guy wasn´t looking so good either. But. I saw the lines, they exist, and, no, were not made for aliens but more likely their gods. Sorry to disappoint.

Later I went to a burial ground, original bones/bodies, but not in original spots (or else they´d be covered in sand). All face east to watch the sun come up. Apparently it was acceptable (a thousand years or so ago) to dig up the bodies for fiestas then later return them to the burial ground. Weird.

I then made my exit for Arequipa the same day as to avoid an overnight bus (more likely to be hijacked). I find my volunteer place tomorrow!

Arrival

I left from Minneapolis-St. Paul at 3.30 Sunday and it was a very turbulant ride thanks to thunder/lightning storms, but the pilot made it to NY JFK safe and sound, even landing thru foggy weather.

Then I left NY at 11.30 Sunday night, the weather had cleared up just fine. I sat by an older man named Fernando who spoke to me in Spanish (great practice, even if I didn´t understand him over half the time). The flight had tv screens on the back of the chairs, and we got to pick our own movie to watch, but Fernando waited for me to find the same movie he found (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) and we pushed play at the same time. It was killer, because I like the movie but have seen it over a dozen times and just wanted to sleep. But I made it.

And arrived in Lima at 7am central time, where it was already 68 degrees! Yay.

The Flight

I hopped on board a 3.00 from Minneapolis-St. Paul that went well until we hit ¨weather¨ in the form of turbulance and a thunder-lightning storm, but after flying around for an extra hour the pilot did havea successful landing thru the fog. Thank you Captain Eric or Aaron.



So then I got onto a 11.30 flight from New York JFK airport to Lima. I sat by a friendly older man named Fernando, who had also come from MN and was returning to one of his homes (¿? we were speaking mostly in Spanish, so I´m not positive, but he´s originally from Lima). Very friendly, talkative, it was great to practice my Spanish and discuss some of Peru with him.



The plane had a great ¨entertainment¨ system, where you could pick (on the screen in front of you, the back of a seat) a movie or show you want to watch yourself, from a list of 60 or so. Fernando found How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days and waited until I found it and insisted I watch it too (it´s a favorite, but I´ve seen it a dozen times already), so we pressed play at the same time and by the end I was dying for sleep but he kept laughing loudly and asking me who I thought would win. What a night. :-)



Anyway, arrived safe and sound to Peru (a balmy 66 degrees at only 7.00am) and bused all the way to Nazca. More on that adventure later.

Leaving

I'm leaving Minnesota because there's too much flooding and snow and cold weather, this spring just isn't following Webster's definition. So today I fly out from Minneapolis to New York, then New York to Lima, arrival time 6.30 am Peruvian time. Then I hop on a bus to go to Nazca!