Adiós Peru, Hello USA

Jueves, 31-Julio-2014

Today technically is our last day in Peru but it's esentially a really long day of travel. I woke up in Cusco and will go to bed on a plane and wake up tomorrow in Atlanta. Home sweet home! Can't wait since my brain is tired from translating for 5 weeks and has started to shut down...

Contemporary Art Museum 

Before starting our 22 hours of travel, we took the morning to appreciate one more museum. Lauren went to the contemporary art museum yesterday and told us about an exhibit with all old Machu Picchu photographs. Naturally I couldn't pass that up! There were pictures dating back to 1911 when Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu! The ruins had trees and roots growing in all directions and it's amazing to think that not more damage occurred in the 400 years the jungle took over. If you ever have time, google old Machu Picchu pictures because they are fabulous to look at!

22 Hours and Counting

Taxi to airport

We split up into two taxis to get to the airport. Our ride was pretty uneventful but the other taxi got in a car accident with a bus!! Everyone was okay and the driver didn't seem too phased. My friends weren't sure what to do tho since they didn't know if they should grab another taxi bc this might take a while to clear up. Well apparently accidents in Peru aren't that serious since the driver took a copy of his insurance card and license to the nearby traffic cop, said something, got back in the taxi and drove off! Guess there aren't crazy insurance claims happening here...

Flight CUS to LIM

I thought the flight into Cusco was bad partially bc of the quick drop out of the sky to land and partially bc I was tired and hungover. Nope turns out the flight out of Cusco was just as terrifying. Both times I wasn't confident we would make it to the next airport and so I read the emergency evacuation guide (in Spanish) twice. The plane was old and falling apart, the pilot was crazy, and the wind was not playing nice. Needless to say I was relieved to see the Lima airport 2-hours later. 

Unpack, shower, repack

Che Legarto hostel let us store our bags while we traveled but now we had to consolidate everything from Machu Picchu trip and FIMRC trip into 2 bags. Help! Lauren, Erin, and I bought huge Peruvian plastic zip bags and somehow I managed to fit everything into those two bags! It's a miracle. Now just pray they don't bust somewhere between here and my car in Atlanta!

Flight HOME! 

The end is in sight!! We successfully made it to the Lima airport, checked in, and got thru security. *side note: as Lauren and I waited for Erin to check in, a little old Peruvian lady came up to us and said something in German. She thought we were German/Dutch!! Best compliment ever!* 

Anyways, the flight left at 1:20am and would arrive at 9:30am in Atlanta. Lauren and I were on the same plane so it was nice to have a buddy with me. Well as we got in line to do the gate security check and board the plane, somehow I got flagged. I was the last person in line (last person in that area of the airport) and they decide to pull me aside and do a full bag check. Peruvian plastic bag strike #1. The airport workers start packing up the tables and closing the gate while this idiot was still rummaging around in my bag. I actually started to tear up bc I wasn't sure what they were saying (my brain was done) and it looked like they weren't going to let me on the plane. LET ME ON!! There's only 1 plane a day to Atlanta! I was formulating some choice Spanglish sentences but at that moment the idiot decided I wasn't a terrorist and let me board. Thank God! 

Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta 

I'm back on US soil!! Customs and immigrations seemed like a breeze and I couldn't wait to see my parents outside the gate in just a few seconds. My Peruvian plastic bags drew some attention by the drug dogs (strike #2) but after asking what the contents of my bags were twice and I said the same thing, the guy seemed convinced and let me pass. One more person to talk to and I was freeee! Oh wait...

Peruvian plastic bags strike #3. Nope Atlanta agriculture control was not feeling Lauren and my Peruvian plastic bags and they turned us away. Just feet from the door! We had to go into the special security area and have someone double check the contents of our bags. Lauren was paired with the real jerk and I got this nice lady who looked like she felt bad for us. Probably because we smelled and looked exhausted... Just a guess. But anyways after removing all contents of all bags and laying them out for the world to see, they asked us to remove all outerwear. Cool so basically a strip search. I warned the lady that I hadn't showered in a few days bc I couldn't do cold showers anymore but she didn't care. After hand expecting all my dirty socks and underwear with no sign of crazy souvenirs, produce or drugs, we passed the test.  And 30 minutes later we were free to go! Hualleluia!!

Atlanta I am home!!!!

Cusco

Miércoles, 30-Julio-2014

As I said yesterday, our trip has most definitely peaked and so today has been a struggle to motivate ourselves to wake up... But considering this is our only real day here in Cusco we had to make the most of it!

Cusco is a gorgeous city filled with so much history; it is the continents oldest continuously inhabited city. The Incas deemed this spot as the belly button of the world (and therefore their capital). Cusco has been described as "an ancient Andean culture knocked down and fused with Spanish conquest, only to be repackaged as a thriving tourist trap." There also is a lot of contradiction going on since ornate cathedrals sit on top of Inca temples and traditionally dressed women and children peddle the streets with llamas trying to sell trinkets to you. There is lots to do in this city and so we picked some of the highlights to get a taste of everything during our one day.

Regional History Museum

The boleto turístico we bought to visit the Sacred Valley ruins also includes entrances to some excellent museums around Cusco. We started off the morning at the Regional History Museum. The museum starts with the Preceramic Period and continues on to the Wari, Pukara, and Inca cultures. The last few rooms of the museum include Spanish conquistadors, traditional Roman Catholic paintings, and biographies of Peruvian war heros.

La Cathedral 

This cathedral is part religion worshipping space and part art museum. There are over 400 works of art that hang on the walls of the three connected churches. The main cathedral sits in between two smaller churches. Iglesia de Jesús María is on the left of the cathedral and was built in 1733.

Iglesia del Triunfo is on the right of the cathedral and is Cusco's oldest church (built in 1536).

Construction on La Catedral began in 1559 and the stones used were taken from the nearby Inca site of Sacsaywamán.

Inside the cathedral there are 14 columns the run down the middle of the building. On each side are 8 side-altars and in the center opposite the altar is a Cathedral choir. Oh and everything is in gold... Like in order to make the altar stand out, it was silver because everything else was gold!

As I said there are works of art that cover every verticle surface. Included in this count are two very famous ones, the first is the The Last Supper by Quecha artist Marcos Zapata. This painting is gigantic (20' x 30') and features Jesus and his disciples sharing a small Andean feast which includes Cuy (guinea pig) as the main course.

Also I was able to see the oldest surviving pairing in Cusco which shows the entire city during the earthquake of 1650. The people can be seeing parading around the plaza with a crucifix praying for the earthquake to stop. It miraculously did and therefore this crucifix is now famous and can be seen in one of the side-altars in the church.

The crucifix is called El Señor de los Temblores (the Lord of the Earthquakes). This crucifix with Jesus statue is taken out every year on Holy Monday and paraded around for people to pay respect to. The devotees will throw ñucchu flowers (that resemble droplets of blood) at the statue, which in combination with votive candles has turned the statue black. Legend has it that under Christ's skirt, he is lily white.

While wandering around I happened upon a couple English speaking tours. The most interesting thing I learned was that the Peruvians didn't know what horses looked like so when Spaniards told stories that included horses, the painters would draw these animals like a llama. So if you look at some of the paintings, you can clearly see llama shaped "horses" throughout the picture.

Also the Virgin Mary is depicted as Mother Earth which is a combination of Inca and Catholic tradition. Mary is dressed in large skirts that take the shape of a mountain and down the front center, the fabric will outline what looks like a river. I'm not sure why but in all of the churches I visited, Mary is always the main icon at the front of the altar. In some cases, the cruicifix and/or Jesus aren't even shown up front (only on the sides). I found this very interesting since some people believe Catholics worship Mary and these churches I visited definitely appeared that way.

With this cathedral being so old, there was definitely restoration that needed to be done. In recent years, Cusco was given enough money to properly restore many of the paintings and statues within the church. As I was leaving I actually got to watch the restoration in progress. Four workers were carefully scrubbing and restoring one of the giant half-circle paintings that is found above a side-altar. It was really interesting to watch!

Qorikancha

We were told that if you only visit one ruin in Cusco, make it these Inca ruins. Qorikancha was once the richest temple in the Inca empire and was literally covered with gold. All that remains today is the stonework which forms the base of a colonial church. There are lots of beautiful paintings and masterful stonework in and around the ruins.

So we mustered our strength and walked down Ave El Sol to the outside of the church to take in its greatness. However the ruins greatness did not surpass our desire to take a nap so we went to the underground museum outside the ruins and called it a day. We've definitely seen our share of ruins and knew we had one more to go to at the end of the day.

Falafel

Clearly we have our priorities straight since on our way back to the hostel we got sidetracked by food. Dr Franćois told us about a small restaurant down an alley off the square that had the best falafel he had ever tasted.

So naturally we took a detour to find this nameless falafel place. Well Franćois didn't disappoint and he directed us to some delicious pre-nap falafel.

Sacsaywamán

Whooo more ruins! Franćois recommended to see these at night so we went right at dusk to catch a little bit in the light and hopefully see them lit up once the sun goes down. Being cheap and all, we decided to hike up to the ruins which was a nice little workout. But it did take us through a new part of town and gave us great views of the city has we climbed.

ALSO we found more llamas and alpacas at the base of the ruins... great day!

I'm not sure if it's bc we approached these ruins from below but they seemed like the largest we've seen. Turns out that what's left is only 20% of the original structure bc so many people pilfered the stones to build houses and buildings in Cusco.

The ruins were used as a religious and military area for the Inca capital of cusco. The 9th Inca king envisioned Cusco as a puma and Sacsaywamán as the head. One aspect of the ruins are 22 zigzag walls which look like the teeth of the puma. It also has military use since it forced attackers to expose their flanks. My favorite fact though is that the name Sacsaywamán translates in Quechua to "Satisfied Falcon" but most people remember them by the mnemonic "sexy woman".

Jesus statue

I have no idea what this statue is called, but we called it the Rio Jesus statue. Just like the statue in Brazil, this Jeuss overlooks all of Cusco from one of the high surrounding mountains. You can see the staue from anywhere in Cusco as well. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect since we got to watch the sunset over the city with Jesus carefully watching over it.

After we finished exploring Sacsaywamán, Casey and I hiked up to the Jesus staue to get a glimpse of what He sees everyday. What a view! And what a giant statue!! I'm so glad we stayed back to see this wonderful view of such a well-known city.

Cuy and Alpaca for Dinner

For our last dinner in Peru, we went all out and ate some crazy food. Cuy, aka guinea pig, is an Andean favorite that's been on the menu since pre-Inca times. Cusco is definitely where you want to try this delicacy since they prepare the cuy using traditional methods. They remove the hair with hot grease before skewering it and placing it on a fire to roast. The cuy came out with head and feet attached before they cut the cuy into 5 pieces, one for each of us to taste. Turns out, the cuy was actually really good once you got over the whole guinea pig part; It tastes like a cross between rabbit and quail.

Because we chose to split the cuy (no one was brave enough to only order that as the meal), we also ordered other food which meant I got to try alpaca! This restaurant was amazing bc the meat was perfectly cooked and seasoned. It tasted amazing! Also to top off the night, a local Peruvian mariachi band came into the restaurant and started performing for us. It was a great last night all in all!

Machu Picchu

Martes, 29-Julio-2014

A Childhood Dream Fulfilled

For those of you who do not know, I have dreamt of going to Machu Picchu since I was in 3rd grade and learned about it in Spanish class. There was a huge picture of the ruins on the inside cover of my Spanish book and as soon as I saw it I became obsessed. Well 13 years later, my dream is finally coming true!!

Early Bird Catches the Worm (4:00am - 5:30am) 

To say that getting on the 5:30am bus to Machu Picchu is competitive is an understatement. Lauren, Aaron, and I woke up at 4am and were at the bus station by 4:20am to save our place in line. Aaron stood in the bus line (which was already 40 people deep) while Lauren and I went to the ticket office to buy our bus tickets. The office opened at 4:40am and we successfully bought tickets for all 8 of us.

The rest of the group stayed at the hostel in order to pick up breakfast at 4:30am. They met us in line just before 5am which was perfect bc at 5am the security people got strict with cutting in line. Needless to say the people behind us were not impressed that 1 person turned into 8 people... Oh well.

The Sacred Valley

Lunes, 28-Julio-2014

Let the Adventure Begin

We said goodbye to our main bags at the Pirwa Hostel in Cusco and headed off for a two day adventure tucked away in one small backpack. It was quite difficult trying to fit cold weather clothes, toiletries, and all my camera stuff in a 20L day pack but it happened! We loaded up on a colectivo (small van) and headed towards Ollantaytambo.

Chinchero Ruins

About an hour into the drive we stopped at the Chinchero ruins thanks to a suggestion made by Franćois. He told us of a couple of his favorite ruins in the Sacred Valley. Chinchero is "a typical Andean village combined with Inca ruins and a colonial church with beautiful mountian views and an awesome Sunday market."

Rest and Recover

Domingo, 27-Julio-2014

Star Perú flight

So remember that whole "busiest travel holiday" thing. Well yeah that also applied to the airport. We got picked up at 6am in order to make a 9:30am flight and even then it was close. We were all dead from the night before so our Spanglish was significantly lacking. We made it through security but saw some funny things... Clearly they didn't care about liquids since we saw several people walked through the metal detectors carrying their coffee cups!! We made it to the gate with enough time to grab some coffee and a McHeuvo. 

The flight was pretty painless except for the landing. Cusco is nestled in the valley of tall Andes mountians. This makes landing pretty difficult since you can't slowly decend. Instead we came up over the mountain peak and started dropping out of the sky pretty fast. We made a large circle around the airport, but I've never decended so fast in my life. 

Nap Time

All of us needed to get some sleep after two long nights. No one slept much on our bus ride from hell and then last nights activities didn't leave much time for sleep either. All 8 of us were zombies getting to the hostel and we passed out for a couple hours. Today has definitely been a rest and recover day so we are ready for the exciting days ahead! Oh also this is the same hostel that Brett and Melissa stayed in when they visited Cusco!!

Being Real People

People began emerging from their slumber around 4ish and so we decided it would be a good idea to go outside, see Cusco before it's dark, and get some food. Cusco is a beautiful European looking city with many beautiful churches and Inca buildings. The Spanish conquistadors truly influenced the look and feel of the city! It's about the same size as Huancayo but MUCH cleaner. Also no more stray dogs or cars honking!!

Lima

Sábado, 26-Julio-2014

Isn't it fascinating... 

... That a 150 mile bus ride takes 15 hours to complete. 

Yes you read that correctly. Our 9-10 hour overnight bus from La Merced to Lima took 15 hours. Turns out we decided to travel on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Friday was the last day of school before holiday break and man did we find that out the hard way. Monday is Independence Day and it's when many Peruvians travel to visit family. At least the drive was pretty...

... That the mountain "highways" are too small for coach buses. 
The biggest problem we ran into while driving was the fact that the turns in the mountains were too tight for big buses. This means that police had to stop traffic in one direction to let buses make a wide enough turn. I was awake for at least 4 of these stop-and-go turns. Basically we would sit for 10-15 minutes to let other traffic pass and then it was our turn so we'd move up a little bit in line and repeat the process. 

... That a VIP coach bus turned into a sauna in the middle of the winter. 
The mountains are at such a high elevation that the sun bakes everything. Every time the bus would stop (which was very often), the driver would turn off the entire bus to conserve gas. This meant that the A/C turned off as well. At one point I think the bus was well over 90 F. Thank goodness I have experience with such heat but others were dying. 

Lima, finally!

As we drove into the city limits I realized that this is the first time I've seen Lima by day! When I arrived from the US, it was 2am and we left on a 7am bus to Huancayo. The most noticeable thing was the alabaster white fog that covered everything. This fog is known as garúa and has actually been the inspiration for several well known literary fictions including Moby Dick. Herman Melville wrote that Lima is the "strangest saddest city thou can't see". 

We finally made it to the hostel and immediately went out for a walk. Being immobile for 16+ hours is very uncomfortable to say the least. We decided to walk to the outdoor air mall that overlooks the beach. It is quite the spot!! 

Then we walked down to the beach and saw all the surfers and para gliders. The cliffs are a perfect place to go paragliding apparently. 

Along the way we passed a couple parks and lots of pretty houses. 

Final FIMRC Dinner

All of David's house, some of Elana's house, and of course Franćois went out to this cute restaurant near the hostel. Lima, specifically the Miraflores district, is known for its food. As in people come to Lima literally to just eat. Lima Cuisine is #8 on the Top 20 things to do in Peru! 

This particular restaurant had great reviews on it's ceviche, a popular Lima dish. There were lots of delicious things on the menu so we decided to order a couple dishes and share. We ordered ceviche for the whole table and then Aaron, Lauren, Morgan, and I split two seafood dishes. One was seafood fried rice and the other was seafood marinated in a delicious sauce. 

Salsateca

Time to party!! Lima is not only known for its food but for its nightlife. The boys were in Lima last weekend when they went to Machu Picchu and they found an awesome strip of salsa clubs. The first one we went to was called San de Cuba and it had a live band playing!! I absolutely loved watching all the couples salsa!! They're so good! Erin and I took our chances on the dance floor and pulled out some moves Aniña and Paula taught us. Guess they were pretty good bc we soon found ourselves some dance partners! The guys we met taught us even more salsa moves and I literally never wanted to leave. 

We stayed for as long as the band played but when they took a break we went outside to find the rest of the FIMRC crew. They had gone next door to an American club and holy crap. There were men dancing on stilts wearing light suits shooting lasers, lots of confetti being thrown, several fog machines on steroids and some women dancing on stage. What. The. Heck. It was awesome!! Why can't clubs in Atlanta be this ridiculous!

A Special Celebration

Viernes, 25-Julio-204

"San Manuelito" Centro Educativo Básico Especial 

FIMRC just started working with a special needs school in San Ramon. They invited us to come celebrate Peru's Indepndence Day at the school with the students, teachers, and families. 

We helped supervise the classes while the teachers prepared the food and costumes. Aaron and I were with teenagers who were awesome! We had two very high functioning 12 year old girls and two very low functioning 15 year old boys. The girls, Lydia and Gabriela, helped us so much with how to communicate with Jesús and Sandro. Our classroom was representing the jungle region of Peru. 

There are three main regions of Peru: the jungle (Selva), the mountains (Sierra), and the coast (Costa). I have visited and seen both the Selva and the Sierra regions between La Merced and Huancayo. Tomorrow I will visit the Costa region in Lima. 

The kids seemed to have a blast dressing up and dancing around. I'm so glad we got to witness this since I actually learned a lot about Peru's history. This year is the 193rd anniversary of their Independence.  

Fanny's Pool

We spent our afternoon off sitting by the pool reminiscing in the past 4 weeks. It's so crazy how fast the time went by!! I've loved every second of it and know these memories will stay with me for many years to come. Also I tried a new kind of Cusqueña and it's my favorite! Glad to have found this out at the very end...

We left the pool a little early and headed into town for some Dolce Latte ice cream. This is the Coqui Cafe so La Merced for us. I tried some star fruit sorbet and it was really good! If you ever see that flavor you should try it. 

Packing 

It was finally time to pack up for the last time as a FIMRC fellow. Somehow I managed to get everything back into my bags and organized for Cusco. It was definitely sad having to say goodbye to Yaniña and family. It's amazing how close of a friendship we formed in 8 short days. She was just so great about talking with us and we had mutual Spanish-English lessons going on. I really hope to one day return and catch up with her and her family. 

Lima Bound

Danel took all of us to the bus station so we could catch the 10:30pm VIP bus to Lima. The bus was on #Peruviantime which means we didn't leave till 11pm. According to Danel we had at worst a 12 hour bus ride ahead of us. He didn't think it would take much more than 9-10 hours though. Fingers crossed!

As we left the bus station Danel came running after the bus waving goodbye. I will definitely miss his positivity and awesome outlook on life! It's so sad and weird to have to say adiós to all of these wonderful friends.