Smiles in Peru - Cusco

The Respite - After 5 days of clinic, we'll definitely be looking forward to some fun and relaxation.

My dad was definitely ready.  After the clinic, he had a nightmare that when the first bus of kids showed up in the morning, some of them were dead.  He decided to bury them in the church's courtyard, but they had to fit 12 of them in one grave and the top one's toes were kind of sticking out of the dirt, so that was worrisome, but they didn't have time to fix it, so if the Peruvians didn't like how it was done they were free to dig them up and do it how they wanted.  But then they couldn't find the list they had made of the kids who they'd buried, and they were worried they'd be held responsible for killing them if they couldn't find it... He went through the whole dream like five times during the night.  Estress!

Sunday - we fly in the morning to Cusco.  The afternoon is free for rest, acclimatization, dinner, and Sunday worship.

I got the perfect seat on the flight to Cusco.  I was on the left hand side of the plane (in seat 1A, no less), so I got to watch the Parade of the Andes all the way from the coast to the mountains.  It got increasingly more beautiful the further we flew.  

When we stepped off the plane we were greeted by an old friend of mine, Mr. C-5

 We loaded onto buses and drove to our hotel, Novotel Cusco, to drop off our stuff.  I had a pretty killer headache at this point from the dreaded SOROCHE (altitude sickness).  I drank the coca tea they had for us at the hotel, and then I felt magically...nauseous too!  I laid down for a bit and felt better by the time we were ready to walk to lunch.

We ate at Nuna Raymi.  The decorations were cute and quirky (heavily varnished plywood, teal and white backgrounds with bold patterns, and greenery everywhere).

They had Mom's favorite colors on the wall too.  Mom was rocking the scarves this trip.

The food was excellent.  There was an appetizer that on the English menu was described as "grill chicken skewers" but was called "Anticuchitos de Alpaca."  News flash: it wasn't chicken, but it was tasty.  I got carapulcara, "a Peruvian dish with African influences based on sundried potatoes cooked in a seasoning of red panka chilies, onions, garlic and dark bitter chocolate."

My mom had Pollo Alestragon., "Chicken grilled with taragon white sacue, served with yellow Peruvian mashed potatoes."  Delish!

 But my favorite part of the restaurant was the view through the windows.

After lunch we had some free time.  I wandered around the main square a little bit with the Lamoreauxs before heading back to the hotel.  

  

It was so beautiful!  This part of the city was the heart of Cusco under Inca rule as well, so these beautiful Spanish cathedrals and buildings are built on those foundations.  The ruins of Sacsayhuamán (just try to say that without sounding lewd) is on the hillside with the white cross on top in the background of the picture below.  There used to be three huge towers up there that I'm sure looked very impressive from the city.

 Here is the Peruvian flag and the flag of Cusco, which was introduced in 1973 and was then made the official emblem of Cusco in 1978, the same year as the Gay Pride flag was introduced.  This one has 7 bands instead of 6 though, and I think it is a perfect emblem for the city.  I am partial to rainbow colors already, and Cusco has them in abundance, in all their clothes, art, and souvenirs. 

Cusco is charming to walk around.  There is so much beautiful woodwork on the buildings.

And it's amazing to see the Inca stonework blended in with the Spanish influences everywhere you look.

This section has one really crazy zigzag piece on the right of the door.  So cool!

We still had quite a bit of time before our next thing, so I went back to the hotel to rest.  There I found sweet Kenna, also suffering from SOROCHE! (I have to say it like that, because that's how all the coastal Peruvians talk about it).  We both felt better after a nap.

One of the Cusco wards hosted a sacrament meeting for us that night.  Here is the chapel (in the day time a few days later). We walked in and their ward choir was having rehearsal.  It was so fun to hear!

We had a beautiful testimony meeting.  I like testimony meeting for pondering purposes.  I thought back on the brigada, and how the more time I spent in the clinic listening to the kids speaking Spanish, the more I understood, and my capacity to make connections increased.  Similarly, the more I interacted with the wonderful Smiles people, seeing their testimonies in action and listening to their perspectives on life and the gospel, the more I felt like I understood the "language" of God.  The things that happen in our lives that seem as meaningless as words spoken in a unknown language, become more meaningful when we see people notice those experiences and then use them to guide their actions.  It would have been easy to go through the clinic day and just do my little job as efficiently as possible, write down the numbers, send the kids on their way.  But watching the other Smiles people taking the few extra minutes to talk to the kids, to lift them up, to hear their stories, to build their testimonies, to make a connection, took the experience to a whole new level. And that's why we need good friends!  To teach us the language of God so we can understand when we hear it, and eventually speak it to build those around us.  

Enough musings?  Onward.

I got to play the piano/organ for the hymns in the meeting.  My mom accompanied the Lamoreauxs for a musical number, but the piano most unfortunately didn't have a working pedal, and Sally DeFord music does not lend itself well to pedal-less pianos.  Mom did her best!  Full points!  After church we walked to Tunupa for more delicious food and a show.  I liked the drummer's enclosure, and the guy playing the flutes was very showy!  It was a lot of stimuli.  I loved it, and cried a lot.

Monday - includes a breathtaking drive along the Urubamba river through the Sacred Valley with stops along the way at the Incan ruins of Ollantaytambo and Pisaq, and a riverside buffet with Alpaca and a pan flute serenade.  We'll arrive in Aguas Calientes in time for dinner and a comfortable night's sleep at lower elevation.

We had a funny guide for our Monday drive.  My favorite thing he said was, "My friends! I repeat you," then he would proceed to reiterate instructions.  He also told us that "water is best medi-sign" for soroche.  Here's some pictures from the drive.  First, a fleet of policewomen next to a wall that's decorated to look like the wiphala emblem of the native Andes people.

 Here's a closeup of the half-houses I mentioned last post.  So many brick houses had a couple floors completed, then the top floor would be open with rebar sticking out of all the pillars.  Some people said it was because the taxes on finished buildings are higher, some people said it was because they ran out of money and will add on later.  The unfinished top floors usually had a lot of laundry hanging out to dry, and sometimes there were little shacks thrown together.  It was interesting.  Pretty Cusco in the background.

 Once out of the city and into the foothills, our guide pointed out these little good luck ornaments on the tops of all the houses.

I never got a close picture, but here's one from the internet.  Our guide talked a lot about the fusion of Christian and traditional beliefs in Peru.

Here is our damp view of the Sacred Valley.  They are not afflicted with Lima's rainless clouds here. 

A big cart of grass in Pisaq.

For our first ruins of the day we drove up and up and up the mountain.  You can see the terraced fields stretching all the way down into the valley.

 We arrived with just enough time to walk around and catch glimpses of beautiful snow capped peaks before rain clouds moved in and obscured everything.  

The mountainside above the ruins were dotted with man-made holes that served as tombs.

 I don't know what these holes are for, but they were at the entrances to all the rooms and they were cool.  

 Those Incas knew how to pick a view.

  

This is one of my very favorite pictures from the trip.  Dad running ahead to get a picture, poncho flapping.  Everyone on the trip was impressed with his shorts in the cold weather.

 After the Pisaq ruins we did some shopping in the village.

So many beautiful colors.

Mom bought some earrings of the Inca cross here.

I liked their street stonework.

After Pisaq we stopped for lunch at Tunupa Valle Sagrado.  I am not saying much about the food because almost everywhere we went there was a buffet, so there is too much to say!  The restaurant was on the banks of the Urubamba and had some beautiful gardens.  Also, llamas!

Actually I think this one was an alpaca.

They were really not very pleased by our proximity.

After lunch we went to Ollantaytambo.

 It was a lot of stairs up the terraced fields.

 But the stonework was awesome!

 I liked the shape of this middle piece.

  

These incredible smooth, straight lines.  How was it done??

 This wall was part of the Sun Temple.  It has that same Inca cross shape carved into its face.

  

And here's the view out from the Sun Temple.

 Across the way our guide pointed out some faces in the mountain.  The top one is a profile and looks off to the sunrise.  The bottom one is supposed to be Wiracocha, the Inca creator deity, holding the granaries, like so:

It was steep and slick coming down from the top.

 But the steps were made of these beautiful rainbow colored stones, so you didn't mind watching your footing carefully.

We caught the train in Ollantaytambo to take us to Aguas Calientes.

The tracks followed the Urubamba river, much to this river rat's delight.

We got in to town in the dark, mountains looming and ominous.

The hotel was nice, but not nearly as nice as our others had been.  We were spoiled.  Also our beds were pushed together when we arrived, but Kenna wasn't keen to snuggle in the night, so we pushed them apart.

We ate at Indio Feliz down the street that night and it was probably the best food we had the whole trip.  There was an appetizer with balled avocado and papaya with an olive oil and lemon dressing that was so tasty.  We actually ate at Indio Feliz the next day for lunch as well.  This is Deicy and her husband, the couple who arranged all of our touring in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.  Dad couldn't say enough about Deicy, because no matter what happened she was cool as a cucumber.

After dinner we wandered around Aguas Calientes for a little while to walk off our dinner.  They've had an artist carve these amazing pieces around the town.

 Dad really wanted to walk up and look at the hot springs, but my dinner was wanting to make a hasty exit at this point, so I had to duck into a hostel and beg the use of their bathroom.  TMI?  TMI.  Look, more sculpture!

Tuesday is our bucket list day.  We'll take the morning bus to Machu Picchu, explore this breathtaking mystery, then descend for a meal in Aguas Calientes before boarding the train for an evening ride back to Cusco.

We had breakfast early at the hotel and I finally figured out what this fruit we'd been eating the whole trip was--cactus fruit!

 We walked through Aguas Calientes to get in line for the Machu Picchu bus.  Margo Lamoreaux said she and Jim had come 30 years ago and when they stepped off the train there was nothing but 3 ladies selling souvenirs on the train platform, and now there's this whole little town.

Here's the line for the buses.

  

And Dad crossing caution tape to get the best possible picture of the valley.

This one:

 The bus ride up was gorgeous.  We followed the river to the Hiram Bingham Highway, a series of crazy switchbacks (that our bus driver actually passed another bus driver on) all the way up the cliff face.  Every bend gave better views.  Mom was sitting by the window and felt bad for hogging it, when she realized the guy she was sitting next to wasn't even trying to look outside.  She couldn't figure out why he was so unmoved by the scenery, but later discovered that he works at Machu Picchu and sees it every day.  It's kind of amazing how we can just get used to incredible things!

At the top we got out and paid 2 soles to use the bathroom.

They had a station for free passport stamps which were pretty cool.

We saw lots of stray dogs in Peru, and no exception at Machu Picchu.  I feel like they were cuter than stray dogs in other places.  This one just wanted its belly scratched.

We divided into 4 groups--one for people who wanted to hike to the Sun Gate before exploring the main ruins, another to hike to the Inca Bridge (slightly less far than the Sun Gate) before exploring the main ruins, one to explore all the main ruins in detail, and another to avoid stairs wherever possible.  Dad chose his words very carefully to make all the options seem like appealing choices, but I could tell he had to stretch to sell that last one.  Not his cup of tea.  He's a mountain man.

We were, of course in the Sun Gate group.  We started out climbing to the highest part of the ruins for some information and photo ops.  If you drew a line straight up through Margo standing next to me it would point to the Sun Gate.  You can see the trail cutting along the mountain on the right (which is  incidentally the mountain named Machu Picchu).

I don't think you can take a bad picture of Machu Picchu.

 And hey!  There's me.  I am there.

If Machu Picchu were anywhere else, you would say, "Oh look! Ruins. Cool."  But the setting is just breathtaking.  

The Urubamba wraps its way around Machu Picchu, then does another loop around the tallest mountain in the picture below before going on its way east to become a headwater of the Amazon river.  Straight over the pass in the background you could see the rest of the continent stretching down and away to the jungles of Brazil.

 Pictures taken, it was time to kick our booties into gear and climb!

It was perfect to get away from the crowds for a bit and hike along the old Inca trail, admiring its engineering and taking in the stunning views.

We were so lucky that we came this day.  Our guide told us the day before you couldn't see a thing through the clouds.

Orchids!

When someone asked when we would be at the Sun Gate, our guide said helpfully, "In some minutes."  It's my new favorite answer.  We totally did get there in some minutes.

 There were cute sparrows.

  

And here's the Inca trail heading over the pass back towards Cusco.

 I love this picture.

  

Machu Pinch-you, bahahaha

 We had about an hour left before we had to be back at the bus to explore the ruins.

 Walking back into the city.

 And just a little closeup of that kid in the corner, in case you missed him.

This is the Torreon, which they think is patterned after the Coricancha in Cusco, the most important temple of the Incan Empire.

Some gardens and a mommy with a throbbing foot. 

Looking back the other direction.  I like the crazy rock garden in the middle.

More beautiful stone work in The Temple of the Three Windows that look to the rising sun.

And a sacrificial altar with a sundial sort of thing.

Those last two things were here and here, as seen from the residential district.

I loved seeing how they worked with the existing stone and built off of it, and their incredible engineering that made it so their structures could survive the frequent earthquakes.

 You can only walk through Machu Picchu in one direction.  I seriously considered hopping some ropes to go back and walk by the bottom of the Torreon because we missed it while we were over in that sector and it's some of the finest stonework on the site, but the bus was waiting.  Also, rules.  So, one more view:

Once we got back to Aguas Calientes we had some free time.  Dad and I went to the hot springs for a dip before lunch. We saw this ginormous dog on the way.

 There were swimsuit and towel rentals along the street.  I found myself a really lovely, threadbare one piece.  The hot springs are drained every night and the floor is a fine gravel.  They don't look nice, but it felt good.  So much whiteness...

 Dad and the view the other direction.

There were murals painted on the walls by the pools.

 Pools of varying temperatures.

We saw this cute little girl on our way back with a stuffed animal strapped to her back.  Aguas Calientes would be a hard place to be a small child.  Steep streets!

After that I decided to walk down to the river and do some rock hopping, because it is one of my favorite things to do.  

 I almost fell in once and had to step into the water with one foot to avoid complete disaster.  My shoes were in pretty rough shape by this point, after walking around in the rainwater and the mud the day before and trekking all over Machu Picchu.  I had tried to dry them out the night before with a hairdryer, but had only succeeded in adding a faint burning shoe smell to the wet feet stink.  I tossed them in the trash at the hotel and spent the rest of the trip in my Sunday shoes.  Here is a picture of a beautiful butterfly to make up for those gross details.

There was a transportation strike going on the week we were in the Cusco area, so we had to change our plans a little bit for the way home.  Unruffled Deicy worked it all out for us.

We took the train back to Ollantaytambo.  Mom and I watched Pride and Prejudice on her phone.  When we arrived we walked down the road aways in the dark to meet the buses.  I scared some alpacas with my flash in the field next to where we were waiting. It was about a 2 hour drive home.  On the way we stopped in the middle of the countryside and piled out in the cool mountain air to take a good look at the stars of the southern hemisphere.  In many of the places we visited, the guides talked about the Inca belief in the three worlds: the underworld represented by the serpent, this world represented by the puma, and the overworld represented by the condor.  At Machu Picchu our guide pointed out the Urubamba and told us the Incas believed when they died their souls would go from this river to the river in the sky--the Milky Way.  We could see it so clearly that night.  And then "we saw the Southern Cross for the first time, and we understood why we came this way."  

Wednesday is a free day for you to discover Cusco on your own.  After a magical day in this 11,000 ft high Shangri-la, we'll enjoy dinner then begin our long plane ride home through the night and into Thursday morning.

In the morning we got up early and hired a driver to take us up to Sacsayhuamán.  I was pretty excited to see this place because it is the setting of the last stand of the Incas and I had read a lot about it in Conquest of the Incas during my trip prep.  I even recognized it from the plane on the way in.  

Inca Cusco was laid out in the shape of a jaguar, and Sacsayhuamán was the head.  

I pretended to be our tour guide.  Here were the reigns of the Incas in order.

 And here's an aerial view of the amazing triple saw-edged wall around Sacsayhuamán.

Up on top of this hill is where the towers used to be.

Here are their foundations.

  

I am reading passages from Conquest of the Incas out loud for everyone here.  It was thrilling to read the stories again when we were actually there and try to imagine what it must have looked like.

 Beautiful views of the city.

 So much prettier than Lima . . .

 More views, this time with llamas!

 Looking away from Cusco from the towers is this hill called the Rodadero.  The grassy space in between is the parade ground where they would have festivals.

 The Inca would sit on a throne carved into the rock to watch.

This would have been the Incas' view of the desperate Spanish attacking the fortress during Manco Inca's siege of Cusco in 1536.  During the siege the Spanish described the hills surrounding Cusco as being black with people, and at night looking like the stars from their thousands of campfires.  Their city was burning and the Spanish knew they had to make a stand or die, and they needed to take Sacsayhuamán to have any hope of success.  They had 50 soldiers against thousands of Incas, but somehow they pulled it off.  Those conquistadors were plucky.

The walls are made of the largest stones of any structure in South America.  

I mean would you just look at it?!

We appreciated this juxtaposition of the Cristo Blanco and the fortress walls. 

 This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  The stonework is just so mind-boggling.

 And here's a funny bird.

 Before we headed down I convinced my dad to come around the back of the Rodadero because I'd read there were some natural slides. I'm really glad we did!  They were fun. Sorry for the sideways.

 And there was also a twisty cave that served as an entrance...

 ...to this place.

From Sacsayhuamán it was a quick walk back to the city.

 More steep streets with pretty stonework.

Then we did some shopping. 

We walked by the Coricancha that has the Convent of Santo Domingo built on top.

But instead of going in, we had lunch instead at Casa Qorikancha.  I had ceviche.  

We stopped in a free museum that had some interesting displays.  

This one of all the different types of potatoes was cool.  There are hundreds, and I think I heard one guide say thousands, of types of potatoes in Peru.  That really knobbly potato in the bag on the far left below is called the mother-in-law potato, because if you can't peel it right then your future mother-in-law knows you're not good enough for her son. 

We admired some more Inca walls.  This one had animal shapes in it.  I'm touching the head of the puma.

And here's our attempt at a hipster band album cover.

On our way back to the hotel, Mom got waylaid by a street vendor who recognized her from a few days before.  He said, "You remember me? Now is my time!"  She bought some art from him.  Back at the hotel we had one last lunch all together, then people started leaving for their flights.  I snagged a picture with Kenna, unknowingly putting my backpack right under the water fountain.  Oops.

And Mom and I passed the time being Grecian Urns.

Then we had a flight back to Lima, and another flight back to LA.  Mom and Dad and I sat in a between-terminals place eating very expensive guacamole and swapped pictures for an hour or so, then they went to their terminal and I went to mine for some more waiting.  There was a cute baby there to distract me.

And then I was home!  Oh this blog.  Why are you so hard to maintain?  When I sat down to work on it last night Drew muttered, "I hate your blog.  It feels like you're cheating on me every time you sit down to work on it."  We both hate/love the blog.  

But I loved Peru :)