Salkantay to Macchu Picchu

Well it's been a while since my last post. About 2 weeks ago I embarked on my pilgrimage to Macchu Picchu. There are several ways the average person can get there-through the traditional Camino de Inca and a few alternative treks. In the past years they have had to regulate the Camino de Inca trail and limit it to 400 people per day. Apparently the wear and tear to the trail was proving to be detrimental to the terrain and therefore they capped off the number of people per day who can use the trail. As of the time I checked on the UNESCO schedule in late April, the trail was booked until through July.
However the more I looked into things the more I was turned off by this option. No horses are allowed on the trail so for every one to two people about 2-3 porters are required. One of my friends said her group including tourists and porters was about 40 people. I opted to go with the 5-day/4-night Salkantay trek instead. The group was approximately 6 of us with an amazing tour guide, 3 porters and a few horses.

I can honestly say this trek was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. It really offered a snapshot of the different terrains of Peru from the mountains to the high jungle it was incredible. We were also lucky enough to have a tour guide who knew the plants and animals extremely well.

We camped each night, the first being at the base of the mountain Salkantay. The scenery is pretty jaw dropping when you approach this mountain-it shoots up from the landscape very dramatically.


The second day we hiked over a pass of about 4650 Meters which is over 15,000 feet. Talk about lack of oxygen. I think it was pretty tough for all of us, but so worth it. The thing about altitude is that it not only affects your breathing but it can have crazy effects on your stomach as well. A few hours after we came down the other side of the pass our porters had a hot lunch waiting for us in a tent. I think most of us merely picked at our food. Luckily our guide made us some Muna tea which really helped. This is an herb which I think is absolute magic for the stomach. I've had it a few times and each time I am amazed at it's stomach healing powers.


We also chewed on our share of Coca Leaves. You need to chew it with Lime ash to catalyze the process as seen in the picture to the left.

Each night we camped in a different location after about 7-10 hours of hiking. By Day 3 we were deep in the high jungle. Fruit trees and butterflies were around every turn. I even saw wild orchids. There were also about 1000 mosquitoes who seemed to just LOVE the flavor of my skin.


At the end of Day 3 we were to take a short trip on a bus to our campsite but there had been a big landslide the night before. So we had to wait for another bus to come pick us up on the other side. While waiting we hopped up over the hill to find a Futebol field and a crew of people sitting around it. The next thing I knew I'm in an hour-long Futebol game in my hiking boots with playing on a team of Peruvians.

After our bus came we descended down to our camp and then to Santa Teresa hot springs where washed away the 9 hour hike with hot spring water. What a beautiful location. It was a perfect end to the day, followed by an amazing meal by our porters.


Day 4 we set off on our final trek to the base of Macchu Picchu - Aguas Calientes. There is no question as you approach the mountain from below why the Incas thought to make this their masterpiece in this location. The rugged granite faces of the mountains are absolutely majestic.

We woke up the following morning to catch our bus to Macchu Picchu at 4:30am. If you get to the mountain early enough you can also sign up to climb Waynu Picchu the infamous mountain face you see in every photo taken of the Macchu Picchu site. I am posting a bunch of pictures from Macchu Picchu here and on my flickr site. From what I gathered from our tour-the Incas were just an amazingly advanced society. Its pretty unbelievable what they built. If you see the rock structures up close its pretty insane-the pure size and weight and location of these rocks-it must've taken them an eternity to build. They had it all, a compass, a sun timer that told the seasons, observatories for the moon and the sun, and the entire place, as you can see from Waynu Picchu was built in the shape of the condor. The most mysterious thing to me is that they have no actual writings of the Incas. No written out plans in hierogliphs...nothing. So how did they get these structures so perfect, the crop terraces so evenly spaced, all of it? And on top of a mountain that took us 20minutes by BUS to climb....no entiendo...

And don't even get me started on the climb of Waynu Picchu. It took almost an hour just to climb up and the stairs and they built major structures on top of this peak as well.

Anyway-I'll leave it at that-there's a lot of history you can read online without me recapping but its a place that I think everyone "must see" in a lifetime.

I'm going back to veggie veggie veggie....

Well I am posting this picture because I can honestly say that once I return to the US I will forevermore going forward be a Fishaterian. I think I have just about reached my meat intake maximum for a lifetime since I've arrived here I can honestly say that one particular day last week is what truly did me in.

We were having lunch per usual. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here in Peru. It can be up to 4 courses. Soup, small appetizer, the second plate or main dish, and sometimes includes dessert. I was eating my main dish. It was sauteed/fried veggies & potatoes and something which made me think that it was squid. So I ate everything on my plate got ready for my afternoon volunteer project and headed out. While walking to the project I started thinking....Cusco is pretty far from the ocean in the mountains of Peru....and to my knowledge unless it has been freshwater fish, we haven't eaten any seafood in the past month I've been here. I starting mulling over the possibilities of what the mystery substance could be. Normally we have the same main dish for lunch and dinner so I egged on my roommate Lou to ask our Padre what the dish was at dinnertime. Americo started explaining in detail what it was...as I listened to him speak I started looking more closely at my plate and things started coming into focus...what I thought was squid was in actuality COW TONGUE. Even just saying it here on this blog is making my stomach do a few flips and my face cringe at the corners. For those of you that know me, I am a veggie LOVER. I love crisp fresh vegetables, I love fresh fish, so eating meat here is a HUGE leap for me. But cow tongue...aaaaaaaaaaah.
After 11 years of being a fishaterian I never thought something like this would pass through my lips. I've even eaten lamb here for the first time in my life...which in all honesty I find gross. I have wholeheartedly embraced the fact that as much as I try, I will never go back to eating meat. I am just not a big fan and even as a child never had much of a passion for it. Wow but cow tongue, that was a new one.

I have decided that the very first thing I am eating when I return to San Francisco is a MASSIVE SALAD WITH EVERY VEGETABLE I CAN GET MY HANDS ON. Followed by fruit salad, tofu stir fry, sushi, and did I mention vegetables....

Moray

I'll keep this one short because this post is very similar to my other post regarding the Incas. Here are a few pictures from Moray. Moray was thought to have been used by the Incas as an agriculture laboratory purely for the testing of how different crops would respond at different altitudes and temperatures. They build these nested circles and planted different crops at different levels to optimize their agricultural processes throughout their empire. Its hard to fully grasp the depth and width of these circles from these pictures. Per Wikipedia - The depth of the pits (the largest is about 30 m deep) creates a temperature gradient of as much as 15° C between the top and the bottom. As with many other Inca sites, it also has a very sophisticated irrigation system for providing the plants with water.

Volunteer Project

Whew ok where do I begin...admittedly I've been slacking a bit on writing my next blog entry because well...my days are quite full. Yo tengo Spanish classes every morning from 9-11, then I leave to my volunteer project in the afternoons at 2:30. In between I work on my Spanish with a tandem partner, or try and schedule the weekend treks outside of town. My volunteer project via Maximo Nivel worked out to be the perfect fit for me. I am really lucky. I really love the kids and the project director Williar is quite a character.

The project is Wara Associan and originally revolved around Futebol. It has since taken on a bit of a different form in that we work with the kids on their homework after school, teach them a bit of English, and then play Futebol until the sun goes down. I have a bit of experience working with kids through my mentorship with City of Dreams, this however is a community that is at a whole other economic level. The community Huayllarcocha is a Quechuan community about 25 minutes out of Cusco in the mountains surrounding the city. The entire community consists of about 80 families. The houses in the community don't have bathrooms or showers and the families primarily subsist off the land. Most of the families have about 5-7 kids and make about 5 soles/day. To offer some sense of what that means, 3.15 soles= 1 USD. To make money, the community sells soil, potatoes, farm animals and pottery that they create. For those of you who don't know Quechua was the established language of the Incan Empire and the entire community speaks Quechua and Espanol. I have learned a few verbal exchanges in Quechua as it is important to be respectful of the native language in addition to Spanish.

Every day there are either pigs, mules, alpacas, cows, dogs, sheep, you name it, wandering the property of our project building which keeps it interesting. After all the homework is done we play futebol the last hour of every day. Needless to say with all the animals I have trekked home more than my share of poo on my pants. I was even lucky enough to take home with me one of the smaller animals....the Garapata one night. It must have stuck to my jeans and got cozy in my sleeping bag...I wound up with about 25 bites on my leg until I found the little sucker 2 days later.

I feel like since we are the 2nd round of volunteers at this project we could make a big difference. Additionally I have offered my services to help build a basic website for the organization. I must say ...I have really taken to the kids. I think there a few that could actually make me want to have kids one day which in itself is a miracle. I'm including a few in this post for you to see.

How many Coca Leaves does it take....?

What a weekend....I feel like things are slowly falling into place. I've met some really amazing new friends, feel extremely comfortable living my Peruvian family, and I am in close proximity to some of the most incredible archeological sites in the world.

This weekend our nueva amigas Veronica and Susanme took us to the local Inca ruins of Pisac and Ollyantaytambo. I know I have seen pictures of Incan ruins online or in magazines, but to see this up close is absolutely incredible. First of all-we're talking about the Andes mountains. These crazy mo'fos decided to build a civilization in terrain that is around 10,000 feet above sea level, and its not just the height of the land, the sheer steepness of the terrain is mindblowing. Additionally to see in person, up close the SIZE of the rocks that are used for the buildings, temples, etc is pretty unbelievable. I have a hard time envisioning how this could be created using the modern technology of today-nevermind cerca 1400. Let's face it, the Incas were not known to be the largest people.


Both in Pisac and Ollyantaytambo you can also clearly see their crop terraces. According to Wikipedia - and a tour that I eavesdropped in on, these terraces permitted farming on otherwise unusable terrain; they also allowed the Incas to take advantage of the different ecological zones created by variations in altitude. So they'd actually test to see which crops worked grew best at which altitudes.


You can still today even see the intricate canal system that they built for irrigation and obtaining water. It still works!!! I could see the water flowing, and this was built out of stone in the 1400s~! Amazing!! According to one report I read, expert hydrologists believe that the Incas actually estimated the runoff from tropical downpours, then designed a drainage system to channel water through small holes cut in the rock. This allowed them to avoid significant erosion and landslides at these altitudes.

However many coca leaves it took-these sites were impressive, though I was told by the girls that these sites are nothing in comparison to Macchu Picchu. Although I think its something that is hard to grasp in pictures, I threw in a few to hopefully give a brief sense of the sites we visited this weekend. Also threw in a few from romping around town.

Como se dice?

"Como se dice??".... this has to be the phrase I have said more than any other in the past week. I say it at least twice at breakfast, at least 10 times at school and find myself hearing it in repeating over and over in my head as I drift off to sleep at night. During the past week I have developed a whole new appreciation for language and communication. I have to wonder-what do I actually sound like to the family I live with when I'm trying to say easy phrases like, "I am cold", "I am hot" "I am tired", "I go to school now", "I like food", "I help you?"......Since I've actually only officially learned Spanish verbs in the present tense, I'd imagine I sound mildy ignorant....like a very young child learning to speak for the first time or like I need to be enrolled in Special Ed. Then toss in all the words that are one letter away from being different from one another and that I's are actually pronounced like E's, E's are pronounced like "A's" and so forth....you get the picture. I am lucky that the family I am living with is very patient. The other night I accidentally said "I want a man" instead of "I am hungry".....you can be sure I will not be living that one down.

I must admit though-I love the challenge. I haven't felt the need to study like this in years! I won't lie...it's frustrating, but simultaneously excites me - my brain has switched brain back into the "on" position. Each morning I try and study a few new words to bring to the breakfast table and so far its been going well....or so I think....maybe I make no sense..but at least it feels good-and I can tell my family appreciates me trying. I've had 4 hours a day of Spanish classes, 1 hour of tutoring and about 2 hours of family talk time per day in the past week. Slowly but surely things are starting to make sense. I've become friends with Veronica, a girl from Cusco (pictured to the left) who is willing to work with me daily. I will in exchange be tutoring her in English over the next few weeks....I haven't broken to her yet that I went to Engineering school and had just about 1.5 English classes in the past 11 years. Every time we talk about it I see Ralphie from the Simpsons pop up in a bubble over my head saying "Me fail English-that's un-possible."

I think that if I have learned one thing so far this trip it's to never again be impatient with someone who is learning and attempting to speak English-its not easy to learn a language outside of your native tongue. Secondly I have learned to not be embarassed to keep trying...the worst I can do is sound like a second-grader right?......so when they look confused I just smile pretty, play a short game of charades, and say "Como se dice??"

Día uno en Cusco

Wow! I am on very little sleep and slightly oxygen deprived at the moment. Arrived in Cusco in the very early AM. Been traveling since Thursday night and ready to be here. Flying into Cuzco was absolutely beautiful-the Andes shrouded in big chunky clouds partly lit by scattered beams of sunlight. I landed and instantly when I got off the plane I felt a difference in my breathing from the altitude. Cusco is 10,000ft above sea level....I've been to Aspen before, but this is a whole new level.

I was met by a representative of the local volunteer organization, Maximo Nivel . We also collected another chica de Estados Unidos, Jessica. After a brief intro and a quick tour of the building in downtown Cusco, we were taken to our homestay at Senor Americo's house. Americo has lived in Cusco his whole life. He welcomed us in and I think both Jessica and I were blown away by the accommodations. Beautiful view, clean house, and Americo es fantastico. So welcoming! He showed us our rooms and fed us some tradicional Peruvian cuisine. He has 2 kids both in their 20s and at university, and a wife who we get to meet Monday night. He speaks un poco English but its great! I think I doubled my Spanish vocabulary in 24 hours. He is very patient. Luckily Jessica speaks quite well and has been translating a bit. I am really really excited to be forced to use Spanish daily.

Although I have been a pescatarian for 11 years I realized that this trip-I am just going with the flow. In the past 48 hours I've had sopa de pollo, sopa con pork I think...not sure what the meat was...haha and breaded chicken...how's that for jumping in? The food is amazing. Many of the dishes contain some form of potato or papa. Papas were originally from Peru......There are 3000 different varities from Peru alone....Ireland eat your heartout! ;-) So far I am impressed by the cuisine. Everything we've been eating is home-cooked and Americo is excited we are eating it and loving it. Apparently the last girl he hosted drank water and shoved tiny morsels around her plate. He hasn't seen anything yet...Me Gusto Comida!! ;-)


Jessica and I walked to the Plaza de Armes after our siesta-the plaza is mostly cobblestone streets surrounded by cobblestone walls and was originally built by the Incas. Esta muy bonito - with a cathedral and a center market. At the market we bargained for homemade goods such as wool purses, fruita and much more, however I must admit, it's really hard to bargain when you're getting a handcrafted wool purse for 3.00 USD ....The dollar goes WAY far here. Cabs cost less than a dollar to go anywhere in town!
On our walk there we traversed through some of the main local markets..there were people EVERYWHERE. I saw a box of baby chickens, kids manning the stores for their parents, a girl carrying a goat in a blanket. I almost felt like I was on a movie set. Buses road by with people packed inside-all wearing multicolored woven wool wraps, and big hats. The faces of the older women on the streets were etched with distinct, deep crevices indicative of either smoking a pack a day for the last hundred years, or being exposed daily to intense sun...I'm guessing the latter.


Cusco has many similarities to San Francisco, steep streets with beautiful views, a rainy season and a dry season, both from Nov-March and then March to Nov. Its altitude keeps it cool at night and when there is sun-esta muy caliente.

We ended the day with getting lost on our way back to the house, even though I was given three maps and a piece of paper with our address by Americo before we left...all conveniently keeping the kitchen table warm back at the house. Luckily we got home before the break of day.

I can't explain it-but my initial instincts tell me that things are aligning and are beginning to point me in some important direction in life-I think I'm going to like it here. :-)

Hasta Manana

My flight is when you say???

I would consider myself a fairly anal traveler. I always have printouts of my itinerary, stapled, categorized by being marked with a sharpie, and enclosed in a color coated folder for the trip. I have gotten a ribbing from Craig about this many times-he knows not to mess with the folder –you can look but not touch until we get out of SF. I’ve actually started to let him pick the folder color just so he feels more a part of the process. J I always have a folder in my Gmail account that has all important emails for the trip labeled in case they need to be pulled up quickly. And I make sure to create lists in my phone and on paper a few days leading up to the week of my travel so as not to forget anything. Around 3pm Thursday afternoon I was still in my pajamas going through my itinerary one last time online, when all of a sudden I looked just a little more closely at the time and date and realized….ummmmm 00:35 Friday, March 6^th….yea-that is actually Thursday night….WTF!!! Two months TWO months I’ve been planning this and never once did I think I was leaving on Thursday night….WTF. *sigh*

In a way it was perfect-I needed to get moving –one more day and I’d have a fourth bag to carry. I managed to get most of my stuff in a WAY overstuffed backpack….and 2 small carry-ons. Three months is a long time!!! After a few cervezas with mi amigas Jamie, Sarah & Rikki I was off to the aeroporto. At the gate I sat next to an abuela who was also heading to Peru and had mucho pics to show me of her hija y her hija’s esposo. This is when I knew -all those Pimsleur CDs will only take me so far on this trip…I’m definitely going to be getting a life Crash course in espanol!

Got picked up in Lima and taking off to Cusco early Sat morning. Can’t wait to find out where I’m staying!