Ruins and Markets, oh my!

We have been spending time the past week hanging out and doing nothing of particular importance...just familiarizing ourselves with Cusco. Tomorrow we start a language course for a week to try and improve our language a bit. For the time being we are staying in a nice hotel with heat and hot water. SO CRUCIAL. The hostel we stayed in the past few days had no hot water, no heat, and was basically  an addition to a building made of plywood with a semi-deadly staircase up to our bedroom. Oh, and our neighbors set of fireworks every morning around 7:30pm...maybe because of the festival this whole week (Inti Raymi or festival of the sun), but it could also just be for funsies, who knows. It wasn't terrible, but it could have definitely been better. Luckily there were a million adorable cats hanging out around so we could watch them play on the roof next door and forget about the cold. The hostel was located in a cool area of town too, full of art museums and shops. Many of the artists depict the Virgin Mary in traditional Incan or Peruvian clothing...they are really neat! It is to represent the fusion of Catholic and Incan religion that is prevalent here. 

I have added a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. I finally gave in and took an adorable picture with the little baby lambs that are everywhere. I wasn't going to do it, but they saw me freak out a little about the teeny baby lamb and then I was finished....I couldn't resist. The picture is pretty much a hot mess, as you can see below. The two surly-looking women were basically already asking me for money while the picture was being taken, the lamb was simultaneously trying to eat my necklace/eat my shirt/fall asleep, and I was just ecstatic to be holding a baby lamb while wondering if I would have to put it on my customs form and be held in some dungeon in the airport for touching livestock in Peru. Verdict? TOTALLY WORTH IT.

YAY!

Yesterday we went on an all day ruins tour in the area. It was intense and fast but cool. We got to see two of the local sites named Pisaq and Ollantaytambo. They were really beautiful and just as impressive as Machu Picchu in my book. I still can't get over the awesome stones in all the ruins. They fit together like puzzle pieces and what is even more impressive is that they were carved that way using other stone tools and fibers from a plant that are similar to hemp.

 

There are also really cool terraces in all of them used for agriculture. One site that we probably won't get to see has terraces constructed to have a 5 degree temperature change for each terrace as they go down in a spiral. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Pisac (love this photo!)

Ollantaytambo - storage building on mountain side used by Incas
to preserve grains and other crops

The ruin-visit day also included lots of markets, which was probably torture for Jack but awesome for me! We got to see women weaving and creating jewelry in the various towns and villages we visited in the Sacred Valley. We also got to see all the farming between towns/villages...it is so neat how they can grow so many different things in one area. We even visited a town that is known for farming 300 kinds of potatoes called . 300 DIFFERENT KINDS. That is insane. Same thing with corn in some areas. Which explains why everything I eat is made of....get ready for it....CORN AND POTATOES. so. much. starch. We also visited a really cool market the other day full of awesome local food like veggies, fruits, and cheese. I want to go back and take some pictures at some point, it was too overwhelming at the time to get any good shots!

Anywho, that is all for now. More to come in a bit!

Hostels and hills

We are currently stationed in Cusco setting up all our adventuring to come for the next few days. We got back super late from Aguas Calientes and arrived at our hostel, Loki. It was...interesting. This hostel is notorious for being a party hostel and it definitely lived up to the reputation. Our first night was in a dorm room full of drunk kids coming in and out all night being all kinds of ridiculous. It would have been super annoying if it wasn't so entertaining! The second night was better in a private room...we could enjoy the awesome amenities and come back to a room free of drunken debauchery. I'm learning as I grow older that I am becoming way more picky about my accommodations...especially when it is winter and everything you touch is ice cold. That has been my biggest obstacle so far...I feel like I can never get warm here! That and the fact that nowhere has toilet paper. Every situation is a BYOTP kind of party. Who knew?

We are now in a cool little hostel in the artsy district of Cusco where we have a four bed room to ourselves. Cable TV too! Although only HBO is in English :) We have watched Con-Air one too many times. I really like staying in the more local areas, though. This hostel has only one staff member that speaks English and is near a bunch of fun little alley shops and restaurants. My Spanish is improving/coming back to me out of necessity, which is neat. The hostel Loki was like another world...one full of European 20 year olds who never leave the hostel and start drinking at 8am...haha. We spent a good chunk of last night watching a heinously drunk kid wander around the hostel, bouncing off people and furniture with dry heaves for about an hour...so yeeeeeeah. Our views from everywhere have been pretty neat...just mountains and Peruvian rooftops made of red clay tiles with laundry hung out to dry. I will miss the views you get here once we are back in the states for sure.

I have finally invested in some shoes so I don't slide all over the roads. Walking these mean streets is tough enough with all the vertical climbs, I don't need to add in the risk of breaking an ankle! I know that is a boring thing to put in a blog post, but I was pretty proud of myself for using my Spanish and making enough sense to actually get the right size AND buy a pair of shoes! I may sound like I am 5 years old when I speak, but people get what I am saying so it works. *pats own back*  Our two recent hostels are basically at the top of Cusco, which is built up the sides of mountains. I have never been out of breath as much as I am here! Just getting to your building takes more energy than a crossfit session. My legs will be made of STEEL by the end of this. All the exercise is good though since every meal includes cheese, bread, potatoes, rice, bread, potatoes, fried everything, did I mention bread? and potatoes? And yet I still had to invest in a belt to keep my pants on, if that tells you anything.

Our next adventure is going to hopefully include a week of Spanish school in the Sacred Valley, a trek through Colca Canyon to see some condors and be in a warm climate (finally!!!), and a visit to Lake Titicaca to do a "stay-over" with a family and see all the sites. It will take some crazy planning, but hopefully it will all come together soon! For now we will just relax, find cool restaurants, and do whatever touristy stuff is left in the city. Just walking the streets is pretty neat and can take a full day.

Again, crap internet connection so pictures may need to wait. Time for a little more HBO and warming up under the covers before heading out for comida. Thanks for reading :)

Salkantay Trek - UPDATED WITH PICS!

The past few days have been insane and a lot has happened, so I will try and make it short and sweet. We are also staying in a hostel with terribad internet, so I have a limited window of blogging time.

Machu Picchu!

The Salkantay Trek finished yesterday at Machu Picchu and let me just say, it was WAY more difficult than we had anticipated. Hiking at altitude is a beast, especially when everyone is sick and the hikes are straight up mountains. The first day of hiking wasn't too bad but was a good chunk of kilometers, so we were wiped out. On the first night, we almost had to send a few people back to lower elevation due to the severe altitude sickness symptoms they were suffering...plus the next day we had to hike to the top of a mountain that was much higher than where we were currently! I never felt as sick as the others, but Jack was in a bad way so I was worried we might need to get him out of there ASAP. Luckily we had the most amazing guide in the world who took charge and kept a positive attitude. He gave everyone this herbal concoction that the locals use for the symptoms of altitude sickness and it worked! By the morning everyone was on their way up the mountain. We decided to play it safe and take horses up the mountain which proved to be a terrifying experience. This was no simple trail ride...we were on tiny, rocky paths that zig-zagged up a steep mountain. My mule apparently liked the view and insisted on walking on the edge of the path the ENTIRE WAY. Scary but effective in getting us to the top.

At the top freezing!!

Jack the dog whisperer

After that, we slushed through mud for the rest of the day in pouring rain. I guess you can just never predict mountain weather...that night we spent a very soggy evening in the rain forest which was beautiful but COLD!! By the next day we were ready to lose some elevation and hit warmer weather and hopefully some sun. This third day was one of the most enjoyable of the trek. It was sunny and warm in the rain forest and we got to see some beautiful sights! This was also the day we went to the hot springs and let our muscles relax, so it was only about 6 hours of hiking as opposed to the other days that had around 8 - 10 hours. Everyone was in high spirits and our camp site was nice and warm. We even got to party with an Olympic gold medalist from Holland who was doing the same trek as us! He was a GIANT...apparently he won a gold medal a few years ago in the open swim but I can't remember his name.

Parts of the trail from hydroelectric

The last day was a fun hike across some train tracks from Hydroelectric to our hostel in Aguas Calientes where we would leave the next morning early for Machu Picchu. I was happy to be at an elevation where I had an appetite again! Hiking so hard (burning around 6,000 calories a day) and not being able to eat due to the altitude killing your appetite sucked. It was a pleasant day all around Aguas Calientes was a wonderful town. Mostly hostels and restaurants, but it worked for us! The next morning it was up bright and early at 4am to hike the one hour trail to Machu Picchu. Did I mention it was one hour of STAIRS? The entire way...my whole body was screaming by the end, but we made it.

Machu Picchu was gorgeous, but oh man all the people. There were so many! Luckily we got there early enough that we could take pictures and enjoy it without a million people crowding us out. We got to take some pretty awesome photos, but they may come later due to the crappy internet here.

Anyway, more details to come later. Just wanted to update and say we made it!!!!

Machu Picchu silliness

LOLZ...we had a fun group :)

Wandering...

Waking up in a bed and not in an airport today was amazing. We lounged a bit and then decided to explore Cusco, but slowly because it still feels like I am gasping for air from doing things such as brushing my hair and taking a shower. It isn't really that bad (anymore), but it is still a bit of struggle. You have to really focus on taking deeper breaths than normal or you get winded. The city is beyond beautiful. We walked through the Plaza de Armas today to seek out our tour company and it was gorgeous and bustling! In the afternoon while eating lunch, a million Peruvian children were let out of school and wandered around in their little uniforms. Beyond adorable. We are still gaining our bearings, so there is still much to see.

What I have learned about Cusco so far:

1. The sidewalks and streets are very slippery. This is probably due to the fact that my shoes have no traction, but regardless...I am practically ice skating down side streets. Jack has humored me and let me cling to him for dear life to avoid losing some teeth or breaking an ankle.

2. There are tiny baby lambs with flower tiaras EVERYWHERE. You have to pay to take a picture, so I am posting one I found online to give you an idea. They are adorable and I want to take one home with me. It also reinforced my determination to be a vegetarian. Who could eat something that adorable??

3. There are dogs everywhere! And not smelly rabies dogs...well-behaved, mostly well-groomed, adorable dogs of all shapes and sizes. Many wear little coats. But the most amazing part is that they are incredibly smart. They wait at crosswalks until they get the walk signal. I am in no way kidding...we saw it happen multiple times! Maybe dogs in other parts of the world do this too, but I have never seen it. If Malaya was left to her own devices, she would be hit by a car in under 3 minutes. Oh wait, that already happened. I want to take one of these Peruvian dogs home and have them give Malaya a bootcamp. As Jack pointed out, they are all older dogs, so obviously their method is working. 

4. Vegetarian on the menu does not mean vegetarian. I know this has been the case for me in most countries, but a little piece of me hoped it would be different here. Bonus? I get to practice my meat/edible animal vocabulary! I told Jack we should do an over-under bet regarding how many times I will accidentally eat meat while I'm here. It also limits our choices as far as restaurants go, but I may just start getting creative with my ordering (once I am more confident with my speaking) What can you do, right?

We have set up a trip to do the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu that starts day after tomorrow. I am hoping my lungs will stand up to the test...we hit pretty high altitude on the second day, but only for a short time. Hopefully I can drag myself up that mountain without whining....I mean struggling too much :) That's all for now!

Cusco, Peru!

We have made it to Peru! It was a super long trip, just like our Grand Canyon experience. We got in at 6am this morning (and it was COLD! nothing like that 108 degree weather in AZ!!) and have been spending the day acclimating to the altitude, catching up on sleep, and practicing our spanish. The practice has involved a little studying and a lot of watching TV in Spanish, including "Hook"! I KNOW, RIGHT??? Such a good movie.

Jack is experiencing the shortness of breath as am I (feels kind of like sucking air through a straw), but I am also just super tired. I think it is a combo of the altitude and also sleeping like, oh....4 hours in the past 24. I'm getting too old for this...tomorrow we start setting up our treks and taking photos, so be ready for more to come!

Grand Canyon has been conquered!

Bright Angel Trail from the top

So our Grand Canyon adventure has come to an end! It was way more than either of us could have expected. Well, we honestly didn't know what to expect so that isn't saying much. We rafted all day on big water and spent our nights sleeping under the stars on beaches. We had meals cooked in a full kitchen and plenty of down time and adventures in between. Our guides were by far what made the trip so amazing. They were incredibly knowledgable and friendly, full of entertaining stories and facts about everything around us. They were all very different too, which made it even more exciting to be in a different boat every day. Some had grown up on the river, some came to it late and fell in love. I could write an entire blog about them alone!! It was so impressive to watch them read the river and know how to navigate the rapids. And oh, the rapids. So this was my first time white water rafting...basically I was scared out of my mind. Our first day was HUGE. We hiked 7 miles down the Bright Angel Trail to the water and then began the rapids almost immediately. They were pretty big! Luckily The Colorado River has few rocks to harm you like most other rapids, so the real fear comes from the size of the rapids. 

Bright Angel Trail

Bright Angel Trail (in my dorky but life-saving gear!)

We went on many incredible hikes (some that were constant switchbacks...like, all the way...literally) and spent a lot of time in pools of all different colors. The rocks do some crazy things to the water around here due to all the various metals/compounds/insert-sciencey-facts-here, etc. The water never ceased to amaze me! It was incredibly difficult to read the currents, even in small little pools. There were many times I jumped off a rock only to find myself getting sucked in a million directions or straight-up UNDER WATER multiple times. A little scary, but hey...what is an adventure without a few moments that freak you out completely? Swimming the rapid triathalon at the end was by far one of the hardest things for me to do. That and Lava Falls, but I am getting ahead of myself. The triathalon involved jumping off a rock about 10 feet and then swimming a rapid, then just finishing it off with a "quick swim to shore". Easy, right? NO. The jump and rapid went swimmingly, but the actual swimming to shore part was brutal. First of all, the water hovers around 48 degrees fahrenheit. So cold it makes your lungs hurt, you limbs go numb, and you actually get a BRAIN FREEZE if you are under water too long. Imagine swimming that, against at least 5 currents from all directions, knowing if you stop swimming you swill get swept downstream and have to hike back to camp. We all made it, but at times you were swimming in place the current or eddy was so strong and by the time you made it to camp everything simultaneously burned and felt frozen. About 15 of us were slowly dragging ourselves onto the beach gasping for air...it probably looked like some terrifying zombie movie to everyone on shore. But at least I can say I did it!

Our rides for the next 9 days

We saw the entire lower portion of the Grand Canyon and did the epic Lava Falls rapid, which is a 10 on the 1-10 scale of Grand Canyon rapids. To give you an idea, 1 is like "oh look at that cute little ripple!" and 10 is like "hmm...that looks like the perfect storm mixed up inside a washing machine with a few huge boulders...do I have a living will?". My guide went through all the safety things we needed to know if we flipped or lost someone out of the boat (known as a "swimmer"), which made me prepared and also thoroughly freaked me out. By the time we were heading into the rapid, I had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins I almost jumped out and just swam the stupid thing to get it over with. Needles to say, it was amazing and totally worth it. We heard later a boat after us got stuck in a super scary part and had a few swimmers...guess we dodged a bullet! :)

Killer hike to Thunder River Falls (think thats the name?)

There were so many other amazing things we saw and did, it is too much to put into words. I will post a facebook album once we return from all our travels to give you a better idea. Even so, pictures can only say so much. If you ever get a chance to do the trip, DO IT DO IT DO IT!!