Ruins South of Lima

Once a girl was hand selected for this house her career path would go only one of three directions: sacrifice, concubine or teacher.

No, thats no mirrage. The ocean and it's rock islands just seem to pop out for teh desert from the top of the temple of the sun.

The ruins south of Lima are so much different than the ruins around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. The area matchs my expectaions for the desert enviroment near Marrakesh, not my expectation for a place on the ocean. Made almost entirely if adobe
these ruins are much more difficult to reconstruct as the adobe tend to return to the ground with time and the elements.

In Lima it is important to select the right taxi.. So far we have had good luck.

Today was a kind of a do nothing day. We flew from Cusco to Lima. Its hot here in Lima today.

Modern Inca Jewelery

In the morning we said our goodbyes to Swiss friends Marchello and Enis.

We had made plans that the kids would take a Jewelry making class so that Laurel could work and Devin could play. However our Son spent the night vomiting because of food poisoning, a condition common among everyone we have talked to in Cusco.

So our daughter and I went to jewelry making class by ourselves. I was planning on being a non-active observer but discover on entering the shop that this was a serious class for adults taught only in Spanish. Rather than the string and beads that I was expecting, the room was filled with volatile chemicals, torches, and large presses.

Our daughter was able to do some of the work, I was able to do a good percentage and our instructor bailed us out one the rest. All work was done in .950 silver which we forged ourselves. The total cost for 4 hours of instruction the resulting silver ring and silver pendant was $15USD.

We had a very late lunch at a highly recommended restaurant where the ¨Panqakies¨ left our daughter in awe.

By plane, by train, and now by horse of course

The last and only time I was on a horse I was 1 or 2 years old and riding on a horse with my father. The horse rolled over on us and broke my dad´s leg. So what better place to get over a mild fear of horses than in the middle of a third world country 1000s of miles from home.

Laurel booked a horseback tour to the temple of the moon through a local agency. Total cost for 4 was 140 sols (around $12 each USD) and included our transportation to and from the ranch. It turned out to be one of the best $12 I've spent.

On the road to the ranch we passed the ruins of Sawqaecaswan. We had been warned by friends that the ruins are pretty need but not worth the price of the ticket unless you are visiting other sites on the ticket. Our friend's comment was that there isn't much of anything there that you cannot see from the road.

The horses turned out to be rather pony sized. And their speed was an unimpressive 1/2

walk. All of this turned out to be rather less intimidating than I had feared.

The temple of the moon turned out to be pretty cool. A cave explored by the light from my digital camera brought us to an alter. I am pretty sure that the alter is/was used for animal sacrifices. It is located directly under the ceiling where a fisure opens to the sky above. Given the name of the temple, I have no doubt that the moon shines through there at some significant time of the year.

Pisac Market

Today was one of our best days in Peru. We are all feeling relatively healthy. In the morning we took a cab to the small town of Pisac for the traditional Sunday Market. Driveing in Peru is much much less dangerous than in Guatemala although there are trucks that regularly come across the center line causing our driver to have to swerve. We managed to finish all of our various shopping. I even managed to purchase several sweaters effectively making up for all the sweaters that I had wished that I had bought while we were in Ireland. There is a good chance when I check out information on textiles on the Internet I'll find that Apacha is a cruddy sweater yarn. We will see.

The Market fill the central town square and stills out into several side streets. In the center of this massive square is one equally massive tree. The photo does not begin to do this tree justice.
After doing our bit of shopping we had an early lunch in an excellent little restarant with a balcony overlooking the market. The restraunt was named "Mullu". We were quite surprised thatbesides it's excellent location for viewing and photographing the Market and associated people and activities. It also provided the best meal we have had outside of Lima.

On our return from Pisac we ran into traffic that was stopped in the main Plaza de Armas inCusco. A descent sized parade was going on with a band play what our taxi driver said wasBolivian music.

We finished the day by closing down the local restaurant with a world traveling couple from Switzerland, exchanging stories and travel information.

What a great day. I'll take another please.

Easy Day

Today we had kind of an easy day. Our daughter was not feeling well in the morning. A late morning stroll through the streets found us quickly at breakfast after a quick stop at the Pharmacy. The potatos and tubers we had for lunch were very good and very unique. (Well, good except for the one that looks like blue cheese. That one was unique.) Like Europe and most of the rest of the world, the drug prescription pharmacy system works better and more efficiently than in the US. For simple problems the Pharmacist prescribes and fills the medication on the spot. With such highly trained Pharmasists in the USA it is a shame that we do use Pharmasists for much more than dispensing agents.

In a small square we took the pictures of one of the many Incan people in traditional dress who are looking for money to have their pictures taken. I was somewhat offended when what we offered was not enough. I guess you need to negotiate before hand. The experience kind of made my skin crawl because it is really not what I want to support.

Our son was in need of a haircut. I have always wanted to get my haircut in a foreign country for the experience. I think that the experience was just as painful as getting his haircut at home (he hates ahircuts) with the added displeasure of getting trimmed with a straight edge razor. I have to say that he did get one of his best haircuts ever.

Agua Calentes to Cusco

The kids were fully loaded with their purchases.

Today was mostly a day of recovery for me. We went to bed early last night and slept in untilafter 7am. We got packed, had a leasurely breakfast and went down to the train station by 9amto catch the 9:30 train. At around 10am they annouced that there had been a small landslideand that the train would be delayed a hour.

This little hydroelectric dam powers a small town and sends excess power off to Cusco

I am feeling a little better today than yesterday (up to 20% from about 10%), just a nastycase of the squirts and a general lack of energy. I am a bit surprised to run intoproblems here after having no problems in Guatemala or China.

Laurel purchased a couple pairs of travel pants for the summer. Long pants with zippers toturn tnem into capries or turn them into shorts. The fabric is kind of thin so they should be comfortable. Hopefully they will wear decently as well.

Parts of Peru remind me of Switzerland.

As a side note the Rick Steves travel bags we purchase for our Summer European trip areamazing. These small airplane carryon sized bags can hold so much stuff and are so well organized. Alsorecommended to us where the Rick Steves travel cube suitcase organizers. Most organizationstuff in my life quickly makes it's way to the bottom of a pile, gets thown in the closet andthen ends up at a yard sale or thown out. This is actually the first time I have really feltorganized and somewhat tidy while traveling for a more than a weekend. The suitcase comes withtwo very small (which is the correct size for traveling) laundry bags. I thought that this was silly until we were having stuff launderedand I still had a laundry bag so that I could continue to keep my dirty cloths seperated from my clean clothes.

This is a VERY steep hill. We saw this on the way to Ollanttaytambo and our driver (sporting

an evil smile) thought that we would enjoy going down it on the way back to Cusco.

We had a late lunch at Audino's today after arriving back in Cusco. This has been the first foodthat we have had in Cusco that was actually good. It was also about 1/2 the price of Papaplanchawhich gets recommended by all the hostels. Since the food there is good I am actually goingto order Cuy (Guinnea Pig) (Yummy!!) once my stomach settles back down.

Machu Picchu

Like going to the statue of liberty, the grand canyon or the great pryamids you must go to Machu Picchu if you are in Peru. The entire trip is built like a sive to siphon off money fromthe throngs of tourists passing thru this spectacular site. Start with the $120 flight to cusco,follow by a $60 to $80 cab ride to Ollantaytambo, follow by what has been billed as the mostexpensive manditory train ride in the world $35 - $125USD, followed by the manditory bus ride for $14, and finally your $45 ticket to get into the park and multiply by the number of peoplein your party and pretty soon you can be into some serious buckage just to see this one sitewith a mob of other tourists all vieing to see the same site. For our family the total cost wasaround $1200. Was it worth it? Probably not, but dispite being sick and it costing so much, I am glad I went.
The site trully is spectacular and I can't imagine thgat there is anything else like it in the world (discovered or not).

Our youth hostel had intermitant water service. With 3 of 4 of us suffereing from travelers diaria we would have apprecieated a consistantly working bathroom.

What is there to say about Machu Picchu that hasn't been said 1000 times before and 1000 timesbetter. We took a guided tour. The was nice to get some of the history of the place. Our favoratepart of the day had to be the climb to the panoramic view. At the top we all stopped and sat for a half hour or so surrounded by Lamas and a few other tourists. We just sat and took in the wonderful view and the wonderful place in the rarified air.

Ollantaytambo

We choose to take the train to Agua Calentes from Ottantaytambo. Ths makes the train ride considerablycheaper. Ottantaytambo is an intersting town. We took a tour of the Ottantaytambo Archeological site. Like Machu Picchu the cost was a high $23USD unlike the $6.50 price ourtourist guide claimed. Actaually most prices seemed to be about double of what ourguides claimed. $40 for a tour guide of Machu Picchu instead of $20.

This is a blurry picture of an alter in a house in Ollantaytambo. To the right of the alter are three baby lamas that have been sacrificed for good luck. Above the alter just under the flower vase are the skulls of 3 ansestors of the family who still watch over and protect the household.

Our guide for Ottantaytambo worked for tips and while we did end up tipping him $40 he gaveus an excellent tour of the houses and fountains of Ollantaytambo as well as a tour ofthe historic old town and the guard house and sore house ruines on the other side of town.
The thing that was most impressive about Ollantaytambo is the quallity of construction.They moved massive stone blocks from around 7 miles away and across a fast flowing river, These blocks were carved to interlock with each other perfectly. The phrase "they don't build them like that anytome" came to mind again an again.

This site was quite interesting and while the setting is not as spectacular as Machu Picchu it is actually built better, and with a good guide, was more interesting than Machu Pichu.
Our night in the youth hostel was quite intersting as there where multiple long power outages.We choose to have an early dinner at the Youth Hostle Restaurant. Part was though dinnerthe power went out and the kitchen was forced to finish cooking by candle light and we finished dining by candle light and made our with by candlelight across the courtyard and back to our rooms.

The power came on later fot long enough for us to take showers and get tucked into bed. We left on the train for Agua Calentes yearly the next morning and in the dark. The kitchen staff was nice enough to prepare us scrambled eggs for breakfast by candlelight at 5:20am.

A full day in Cusco

Our second day in Peru dawned nice an sunny, which I have been told is highly unusual forCusco this time of year. In the morning we hiked down to Plaza De Armas. The view of the city from a school near our hostel was very nice.

We had a cup of coffee in a shop overlooking the main Plaza. While the plaza does seen to get a little bit of use by the locals it is almost entirely filled with tourists and people working thetourist trade. The hard selling reminded me a little of the vendors in Nogalas Mexico on theArizona border. All pushing hard on the tourists to buy their stuff.

Our next task was to find the train station and return our vouchers for tickets. One the way we discovered San Franciscan square less than 1/4 mile from Plaza de Armas. This is a similarcentral town square which gets used by the local population and seems to be left along bythe tourist crown. I was glad to see that Cusco was not the heartless city that I thoughtit might be. One of the catedrals has these decorations above the doors. I have not yet discovered what they are for.

Soon after we came across the central indoor market for Cusco and I was in travelers heaven. Thisis the main marketplace used by the locals and frequented by a handful of the more adventuroustourists. The marketplace is huge and arranged by isles. Vendors butchering and selling meattake up a few isles, Vendors selling fresh juices take up and isle. The is an isle for bread vendors an isle for flower vendors, etc..

At the far end of the marketplace are six or so isles of vendors selling cooked foods. Having watched too much Anthony Bordain and Andrew Zimmerman on TV I had to give it a try myself. Steering away from seafood in a mountain area seemed like a good idea so I had some chickenwith blanched vegetables as well as some excellent chicken soup with some kind of potatosor tubbers. Since I was not eating fried goat nostrils or something equally bizzar it turnedout that the most exciting part of the meal was the location and the company. (I wish my Spanish was better.)

At another stand our daughter purchased an Alpaca sweater for 24 sols (8 dollars). I amnow enjoying Cusco just in time to temporarly depart to Ollantana, Agua Calienties, and Machu Picchu.

Arrival in Cusco

We arrived in Cusco to a nice but cloud covered day. Our youth hostel here is very nice but only has shared internet which makesit a little bit hard for Laurel to work. Posting to the travel blog understandably takes a back seat. We have a room on thesecond floor with a very nice view of the city outside our window.

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We went to visit the main square in town. Plaza De Armas. It was quite pretty but was overrunwith tour busses, tourists and people trying to hawk anything to the tourist crowd. WhileI enjoyed seeing another area of Peru I was beginning to think that Cusco was not mykind of place if heavy tourism was all it had on offer.

We tried to find a less touristic place for dinner without luck. A restaraunt called PapaPlata which was near our hostel in an area filled with hostels. Despite a promising menu including Cuy (which had to be ordered 24 hours in advance), the food a mediocre. The best we had was an appitizerplate of tubbers and a pork dish covered in beef gravey which tasted like it was mixed up from a packet. The cost of dinner was around $80USD which was high for Peru and veryhigh for what we got. So far I am not liking Cusco although the rest of the family seems tobe more open at this point.

Lima - Dinner & a beach

We spent the afternoon visting the beach near our hostel. Much to our surprise the beach was filled with locals rather than tourists. We spent some time strolling around and throwing rocks onto the ocean with the locals.


Our son discovered one of the favorate drinks of Peru: Inca Kola. This is a bubble gum flavored soda which is popular with our son but would be an aquired taste for the rest of us.


We had one of the best dinners we have ever had at Javiers, just up from the beach in the Barranco. One of the top 10 meals we have had at any price and THE top for the price: $66USD for 4 people with excellent 30% tip including wine, mixed drinks, shrimp, fish, steak, desert, great service, a spectacular view of the pacific and a tour of their spotless kitchen. Worth the price of the airline ticket to Lima!