Cusco, Peru: Los Museos de Cusco

To visit Ollantaytambo on Sunday, I had to buy the tourist ticket, which is a group ticket to many of the ruins and museums around Cusco. On one hand, this is a great deal, because it allows you to see sixteen sites for much less than you would pay if you bought individual tickets to each place. On the other hand, the ticket is only valid for ten days, which means that I have to see all of this stuff in the next week and a half. In an effort to get the most for my money, I spent this afternoon knocking out the museums on the ticket. I first went to the Museo de Sitio de Qoricancha, which is the museum under the site of the Temple of the Sun, which now has a church built on top of it. While the museum was nice, the church and temple (which I visited with Dad when he was here) were much more impressive, so I am including a picture of those instead.

I then went to the Museo de Arte Popular, which was rather unremarkable, and followed that museum with an attempted visit to the Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporaneo, which is unfortunately closed due to construction on the building and the facing plaza, as you can see above.

As you can tell, I wasn't having much luck...until I got to the Museo Historico Regional. This museum includes artifacts and art from the Cusco region, and does an excellent job of telling the military, political, and cultural history of the region. I think I appreciated this even more because I tagged along with a group that had a Spanish-speaking guide, which was not only good practice, but also informative. Plus, the building that houses this museum is really pretty, as you can see above.

My final stop of the day was the Choco Museum, which tells the history of the cacao bean and the production of chocolate. Chocolate production was first discovered by the Incas, and then brought to Europe by the Spanish in the late 1500s. The history goes on from there, and is actually quite interesting, but one of the most interesting things for me was the current consumption of chocolate around the world by percentage. Check out where the US stands!

In addition to a bit of a history lesson, we (friends from school and myself) had to sample some of the chocolate that the workers at the Choco Museum make. Hot chocolate, chocolate fondue, and truffles were on the menu, and they were all delectable. This was by far my most delicious museum stop of the day!

Cusco, Peru: Climbing and Ollantaytambo

Hello to all after a long, Internet-free weekend! While I had a good time on my adventures this past weekend, I will say that life here in Cusco just moves at a slower pace. It takes a long time to get anywhere, because the roads are really curvy, people show up to places on South American time (aka anywhere from five to sixty minutes late), and in general nobody rushes. It's definitely a big change, but it's kind of growing on me. Anyhow, my Friday night was made complete by an awesome back of popcorn that I bought from one of the street carts. Delicious!

Saturday morning, I got up early to go rock climbing with the kids from Azul Wasi, the orphanage where I volunteer. There is a climbing company in Cusco that offers high-risk kids a free day of climbing—including talks about physical fitness, drive, and reaching your potential—as a sort of outreach program. While they were setting things up, Valerio found a stick bug. After examining this for a bit...

...the real fun began! Watching all the kids try to conquer this rock, and listen to directions, and in general be really supportive of each other was awesome! I also gave it a couple of tries (I actually made it past the halfway mark!), as you can see below (though I'm not sure why this picture came out sideways).

After the climbing adventure, we all walked back to Cusco through a windstorm, then the kids went back to Oropesa and I went to a three-hour salsa class. Dancing certainly is good exercise!

Sunday morning, after a rollicking Mass in the church near my house, Christine and I went with some Australian friends, Sheri and Lars, to Ollantaytambo, a site of some very impressive Incan ruins. It was in this city, part of the Sacred Valley, that the Incas made their last stand against the Spanish. They actually won a huge battle by opening a dam and flooding the valley, but eventually, in 1544. they were overcome. I am standing in the city, and behind me is a huge hill on which the Incas built storehouses (it is cold and windy there, so the food stayed fresh).

The four of us by the sun gate, the sacred entrance to the Temple of the Sun in Ollantaytambo.

The terraces, the storehouse hill, and the current city stretched out in the valley below.

Back down at the bottom of the terraced hill of Ollantaytambo, which is shaped like a llama (my camera lens wasn't wide enough to capture the effect, but it was pretty nifty). The Temple of the Sun, the king's throne, and the living quarters are at the top of the terraces behind us (that's where the earlier pictures I included were taken). These ruins were well-worth the hour bus ride from Cusco, not only for their historical significance, but also because the Incan stonework at the top was incredible—pictures really don't do it justice!

My last discovery of the weekend was made on the way to catch the bus back to Cusco: giant corn! Seriously, this corn had to be at least 9 feet tall (the field was sunken below the level of the stone fence you see in the picture). When I asked someone about it, they said that this corn was unique to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and that it only grows there because of the very specific combination of climate and altitude. Apparently, the ears of corn are almost two feet long, and each kernel is around an inch. What a crazy end to the weekend!

Cusco, Peru: A Pseudo-Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all!  Here in Cusco, the end of November marks the something else: the official start of the rainy season.  Because of this, every day I get to see skies like this while I am walking around!  I actually saw this while I was walking from Oropesa to Azul Wasi, and let me tell you, it was a good thing I had my raincoat!

After volunteering and a nice long bus ride back into town, it was time to make my own Thanksgiving!  The girl I live with, Christine (in the middle above), invited me to the ex-pat Thanksgiving dinner with her friends Sam and Emily, who used to live in the house that I live in and are now teaching English in Cusco until May (they are also pictured above).

We had a delicious feast of bread, sauco sauce (the Peruvian version of cranberries), mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots, mashed cauliflower, homemade stuffing, chicken (no turkey), and wine.  Though it definitely wasn't the same as being at home with family (it was great to talk to you Skype yesterday, family!), it was still nice to have other American friends to celebrate the holiday with.  I will say one thing...I am excited for that turkey at Christmas!

Cusco, Peru: Azul Wasi, The Blue House

This is where I am volunteering!  It's way out in the country, about an hour from Cusco by bus and then a half-hour walk from there.  The gate is really nice, but I'm not entirely sure what function it has, as you can literally walk right around it.  I suppose it does prevent unwanted vehicles from going in, which is good.  I've settled on going out there three days a week, then spending the rest of my time studying (classes here are much harder than they were in Santiago!) and exploring a bit of Peru.

This is Danny, age eight  Yesterday, he and I were working on comparing fractions.  His sister, Carmen Rosa, age 6, is also at Azul Wasi.  Both of them are full of energy, and tons of fun to be around.  I can't wait to go back tomorrow to keep helping and to start teaching English classes!

Cusco, Peru: Let the Classes Begin

The shot above is the alley on which I live.  All of the neighbors have been really nice, saying hello and everything.  The reason I include this shot is because I forgot to take pictures for the rest of the day!  Tomorrow and the next day, I will include some of my school and the place that I am volunteering.  School is great--it's only me and one other kid in my class, so we both get to talk a lot, and both of my profesors are really interesting and helpful, and I already feel like I'm coming a long way, which is great.  The organization that I am volunteering for is really small--there are only 10 kids there right now--but they are doing great work and need a lot of help, so I'm glad I'm there.  I will post more (and pictures!) in the next few days, but I think it's going to be good.  The only drawback is that it takes an hour and a half to get there by bus from Cusco, which is going to eat up a good chunk of the day, but fortunately, I will be able to study on the bus if I can get a seat.  For now, suffice it to say that it was a good day, though I am tired, and I am excited to go back to both places tomorrow!

Cusco, Peru: Goodbye, Dad and Hello, Family

Yesterday, on Dad's last day in Cusco, we spent the morning exploring the Koricancha.  The place was the site of the most sacred place in the Inca empire, the Temple of the Sun.  When the Spainards came, the stripped the gold from the temple and tore down the roof, then built a church on top of the original Inca foundations.  They even kept some of the rooms intact, and used them for meeting rooms.  One of the most interesting things about this place is that in 1950, there was a big earthquake in Cusco, and the church was nearly destroyed...but the Inca ruins remained completely intact.  Nice engineering!  This place also has beautiful gardens, which you can see behind Dad and I.

Dad exploring one of the Inca parts of the Koricancha.

We also went to the convent of Saint Catherine, which was founded in the 1500s and is actually still in use today (there are 17 cloistered nuns who live there).  It was very interesting to see how nuns were trained and lived back in the day.

A few more errands and some lunch, and then it was time to send Dad off!  Thank you so much for coming, Dad...I had a blast!

Today, I went to church in the cathedral, and since it was the feast of Christ the King, the church was beautifully decorated.  In addition, there were hundreds of men in suits and red capes with specific crests on them at Mass.  They rather looked like tradesmen guilds, and though I'm not sure if this was the case, it was still cool to see them assembled in mass.  When I got out, there was (of course) a festival going on in Plaza de Armas, with the military marching about and the flags flying.  It was a sight!

After that, it was time to find my new family!  I got there eventually, even though the crazy streets of Cusco did mean that it took about 45 minutes of the taxi driver driving in circles and asking every person we saw if they knew where my street was.  However, the couple I am living with, Tatiana and Yuri, are incredibly nice, my room is more than adequate, as you can see above, and the rest of the house is just lovely.  There are plants everywhere, a garden and huge patio in the center of the house, and lots of balconies and chairs and places to study.  They also have a really cute little dog named Churro—she and I became fast friends.  There is one other girl from California living here and volunteering, Christine, but I haven't met her yet because she was at work all afternoon.  Also, Tatiana's food is amazing—I'm definitely going to have to hike a lot while I'm here, because it's just too good to not eat.  I'm excited to be living here for a month, and even more excited to start school and volunteering tomorrow!

Cusco, Peru: The Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

First things first: Dad and I both made it!  For those of you who didn't know, my father flew down to Peru to do the trek to Machu Picchu with me.  We did the four day/three night Salkantay trail, which goes to Machu Picchu around Salkantay Mountain from Cusco (the opposite route from the classic Inca Trail).  The trail winds its way through mountains, rocky ground, and rainforest, ultimately ending up at the base of the mountain whose top contains the well-hidden city of Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world.  As with many of my South American ventures, I have a ton of great pictures, but here I have posted twenty or so that capture the essence of our trip, the first (above) being our trekking group right before we started.  I hope you enjoy reliving the last four days with me.

On the first day, we hiked 9km (5.6mi), from a starting elevation of 3250m (10,660ft) to an ending elevation of 3900m (12,795ft).  Once we got to our campsite and got warm (the last hour of our hike was in the cold rain), two of the other trekkers and I hiked up to this beautiful glacier-fed lake (an elevation increase of 450m, or 1,475ft).

Because it started raining again once we got back from the lake, we camped under this shelter, which meant we were warm and dry while we rested up for day two.

The second day of our trek was the hardest.  We started by climbing 5km (3.1mi), which wouldn't have been so bad, except the elevation increase was 700m (2,300ft), from 3900m to 4600m (12,795ft to 15,091ft).  This is Dad and I taking a rest on the way up...

...and here we are at the top, with our guide Joel!  It was a great feeling to be up there, and Joel led us all through a traditional Quechua (the Inca people) ceremony to give thanks to Mother Earth for all the gifts she has given us, which was awesome.  After that, we had a bit of a walk to our campsite: 15km (9.3mi) with an elevation decrease of 1700m (5,577ft) to 2900m (9,514ft).

When we finally got to our campsite after the 20km (12.4mi) hike of ups and down, beers and sodas (brought up horseback!) were enjoyed by all.  The horses you see in the background were the same ones who carried our tents and extra clothes, and let me tell you, they were much faster than we were!

The third day of our hike was beautiful: we started in the forest, and as we continued to lose altitude, we saw more and more flowers and rainforest-looking plants.  We were hiking along the river that runs through one of the mountain valleys, so we also got to see some of the bridges (some safe, some ridiculously unsafe), roads, and 'towns' of the native people who still live in isolated communities in this valley.

Because we were near the river, there were also a lot of feeder waterfalls.  Here is one that Dad and I took a rest at along the way.

We ended our third day after 16km (9.94mi) of hiking with an elevation drop of 1000m (3,280ft), though we had to go the last 200m (656ft) by bus and train, as the trail doesn't quite reach to the town at the base of Machu Picchu.  We spent our third night in this town, Aguas Calientes, and we did explore the main plaza with a statue of one of the Inca kings (see above), as well as the hot springs that give the town its name.  We had to go to bed early, however, because...

...I made Dad get up at 4am to climb the ancient Inca trail that leads into Machu Pichu!  I am so glad we did this walk (even though there is a bus), because we really understood how the city is completely invisible from below, even when you are only a few meters from the top.  Anyhow, 1,450 steps and 300m (984ft) of elevation gain later...

...we got to watch the sun rise over this 500-year-old city before any of the 2,500 daily visitors arrived.  It was truly amazing to be one of only a few in this ancient place.

Even though it was cloudy, it was still beautiful.  Among the many amazing things about this city is that it is still in such great shape, even though hundreds of earthquakes (big and small) have rocked Peru in the last 500 years.  The Incas truly were masters of stonework, and it's even more impressive to think that they held their stones together simply by carving them to fit each other--no cement!

The scenery is certainly another spectacular thing about this city.  There are sheer drops with rivers on two sides, which allow these beautiful mists to constantly surround it, and mountains on the other two sides, which results in an amazing panorama (which I was unfortunately not able to capture on film).

After our tour and first circuit of the city, we went up to the guard house to get a view of the city from above, and then decided to go higher still.  See that tall mountain in the background?  Well, there are a set of narrow Inca stairs that lead up to the top of it, so we climbed them--all 400m (1,312ft) straight up--and then...

...and then we found another city!  This mountain and city are called Huyana Picchu, and it is also hardly visible from below.  This city is perched on the top of a mountain (literally one wrong step and you are falling 2,000ft), and to me, is even more impressive than Machu Picchu because there was no quarry on the top of this mountain: the Incas hauled all these stones up.  By hand.  Insane.

Sitting on one of the terraces that the Incas grew potatoes in on the top of Huyana Picchu, contemplating the 700m-drop into the canyon below.

In the course of exploring the city atop Huyana Picchu, we had to crawl through caves...

...and climb backwards down tiny steps.  It was a bit scary at times, but it was totally worth all the climbing!

When we got back down to the bottom, there was only one mountain left to conquer: the comparatively small Huchuy Picchu.  This is Dad on a ledge, halfway up the 100m-or-so climb.

I took this picture of Machu Picchu from the very top of a Huchuy Picchu.  See how it's shaped like a bird (use your imagination)?  That's because, to the Incas, the condor represented heaven and the gods; therefore, they built their royal city in the shape of a condor.

After Huchuy Picchu, we had to make our way through the city one last time.  This is me in the boys' school.

Here is Dad near the still-working 500-year-old aqueducts.

After leaving the city, we caught the bus down to Aguas Calientes, where we rewarded ourselves with a nice tall glass of Peruvian beer in the shadow of Machu Picchu mountain.  It was an amazing trek, and Machu Picchu was really beyond words.  I'm so proud of my Dad for doing this, and so glad I got to experience it with him.  It was truly the trip of a lifetime.

Cusco, Peru: Incan Textiles, Moray, and Maras

Today we got out of Cusco and headed north to see some of the countryside, as well as some sacred Inca sites.  On the way, there was some construction, and there was quite the back-up.  Instead of waiting, our driver--along with some others--decided to take a shortcut through the field next to us.  This was definitely something Dad would've done on his own (he was really excited).

Our first stop was a local Inca community, where we learned how the women make the beautifully colored textiles.  Everything is done using things found in nature, from washing the sheep's wool (a root that creates a natural detergent), to coloring it (lots of roots and bugs and leaves that are natural dyes), to spinning it (done on bones of alpacas and condors), to weaving it (also done on animal bones).  It was really interesting to learn about this process, and to see the women in action.

Our next stop was Moray, an Inca site that was built between the 1400-1500s.  The Incas built these terraces in a natural hole in the mountain, then put a different kind of soil on each level so that they could experiment with different varieties of corn and potatoes to see what grew best where, and at what altitude.  They also built aqueducts for irrigation from a hot spring high up on the mountain, as well as a complex drainage system under the terraces.  Finally, they used this place as a temple to Mother Earth, and they would leave offerings in the center.  It looks very impressive from above...

...but when you are climbing down into it (these stones were built in to the walls by the Incas as access routes)...

...you realize how large this experimentation station actually was!

Climbing back out was good practice for our hike tomorrow, too--the elevation at the top of this site was just over 14,000 ft.

The last stop of the day was the salt flats at Maras, which was where the Incas gathered their salt for the entire region.  These are fed by a hot spring that runs through salt mines farther up the mountain, so when the spring hits these man-made pools, the water is really saturated with salt.  These salt pools are currently owned by the Incas' descendants, and each family owns anywhere between 10 and 40 pools (there are 3,000 pools total). 

Unlike anything either of us had ever seen, the salt flats were a great end to our day.  After one harrowing car ride back to Cusco, it was time to pack and energize...because tomorrow, we hike!