Day 393: Peru Ecuador border crossing

Border crossings are the worst. Border crossings when the warnings are not to cross overnight by bus because you might get gassed and robbed are especially the worst. Border crossings when your only other alternative is to go during the day by bus, and spend the night in the most dangerous city in Ecuador, Guayaquil, are even worse. Yes. Worse than the worst. It would be an understatement to say that Andrew and I were not looking forward to the Peru Ecuador bus ride, border crossing, nor the night in Guayaquil. And then, when we were chastised by the Peruvian passport control agent for calling him out on over-charging us for our visa over stay… well it just got… you guessed it… worse.

We weren’t planning on overstaying our visa in Peru, but then we decided to study Spanish for a week in Cusco and found out we only had to pay a dollar for each day we overstayed. Not a big deal. We only stayed five days over, so we would only have to pay $5.00 each. But when we arrived at the Peru Ecuador border crossing at Huaquillas, the agent decided we had to pay $6.00 instead. We pulled up our calendars, counted off the days, thinking it was a simple mistake and he would agree to charge us the correct amount. He didn’t agree, and when I asked why he was charging us more, he got angry.

Not only did he get angry, but he told us to go back to the bank (20 kilometers back in Peru) in town to pay the amount we wanted to pay, instead of “trusting” him and paying more. Not possible, I don’t think our bus driver, nor the other passengers would have indulged us in saving two dollars. However, had we had our own car, you better believe I would have gone back into town to pay the lesser fine, simply out of spite. He tried to pull the same scam on another person, except this person must have had his own car. He walked out of line and headed towards his car instead of forking over the extra money (for the agent’s pocket) and crossing into Ecuador.

We arrived in Guayaquil right as it was getting dark, and anxiously hoped for a late bus to Olón. Not possible. Instead, we headed to the food court where we were able to hop on an open wifi signal and book a room for the night. We ate, and then busted a move to a taxi that dropped us off at our hotel where we stayed put. We didn’t want to chance walking around in the dark, and someone coming up and putting us in a choke hold until we passed out so they could rob us before we came to. I wish I was joking. This warning actually made me nostalgic for India, where one warning was “Watch out for someone throwing poop on your shoes, so they can clean them for a fee!”

Day 389: Hello Pacific!

The latest overnight bus landed us in Mancora, a small beach town in Northern Peru this morning. Neither of us slept on the bus very well and were exhausted when we arrived around six in the morning. We slept for most of the day, except the hour or so we went to the beach to have a late lunch. It’s surprisingly cool on the beach and more windy than we would have liked, but it was nice to see the ocean again, especially considering that this time it’s the Pacific!

Day 388: Bboys in the streets (of Trujillo)

Our last afternoon in Trujillo was spent walking around the city. A few blocks away, I saw these two busting a move in the crosswalk during red lights. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen some street entertainment during a red light, but it was the first time I was able to get a few photos, and video of the action. The boys were really sweet, telling me to wait for the next light when they were going to flip across the street for more dancing, and even jumping up on a nearby street sign for a pose or two.

Afterwards, we headed to El Palacio Iturregui, a nearby colonial house to check out the interior (or the interior that we could check out). Most of the ground level doors were open, and featured some impressive rooms, but we weren’t allowed to go in them nor upstairs to check out more. We tried to find another, however failed when we couldn’t find it, and settled for a snack before our overnight bus to Mancora instead.

Day 387: Chan Chan

Chan Chan is the largest city in South America that is known to have existed before any European settlement or influence began. It was built by the kingdom of the Chimú around AD 850. I read that date, and almost cannot even wrap my head around it actually existing so long ago, moreover still being (somewhat… mostly…) intact since then! It’s an adobe walled-in city that once held 30,000 people. Today, the walls still stand largely to the lack of rain in the area- much like how the Nazca Lines have managed to stay intact as well. We took a public bus out to the site and got dropped off in what felt like the middle of nowhere. We chuckled a little bit at how strangely familiar we are with this scenario in a completely foreign country. “Well, at least it’s in the middle of the day, and we know where to wait to take a bus back to our place…” Andrew said as we thought back to the night we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Mozambique.

A taxi driver got out of his car parked near what we guessed to be the entrance to the ruins. He told us that he could drive us to all four different sites around Trujillo, but we weren’t sure we were up it, and told him we’d check out Chan Chan on our own first. Little did we know it was about a 1-2 kilometer walk from the main road. At least we had some banana chips (my favorite snack since this trip began) and water with us. We probably should have gotten a guide, or even one of the books that we saw one of the guides reading to those she was leading around… But we didn’t. Now that we’re nearing the end of our trip, we’re content to explore on our own and look things up afterwards if we’re so inclined (which I usually am).

What I was most interested in were the people of the Chimor Kingdom. According to some online research after our visit, I found out that they ruled the northern coast of Peru from 850 to 1470. They were the largest kingdom of the “late intermediate” period, in other words, the largest in the time period right before the Incas ruled. I think (I’m not sure at all) that the Incas incorporated some of the Chimu metalwork into their own.

After we walked through the site, (which took about an hour or so) we walked back out to the main road and waited for a bus back into the city. It’s a little like hitch-hiking, only you flag down a speeding bus full of passengers. It’s cheap. It’s easy. And it makes for excellent people watching.

Day 385: Ica to Trujillo

On the road again! Just can’t wait to get on the road again! Yay! Another long day and overnight on a bus for us! There really isn’t much to do in Huacachina other than sandboard – and in all honesty, we were anxious to get to the coast and relax on a beach for a few days. We could have split up the trip, but we decided to push on through from Ica to Trujillo. And so we did, stopping shortly in Lima, and then continuing on our way. 

Day 384: Sandboarding in Huacachina

Not many people can say they spent the first year – the entire year – of their thirties traveling around the world. I am one lucky, very lucky girl. On Day 19, I turned 30 in Saigon. Today, I turned 31 in Huacachina. My only wish for this birthday was to not visit a war museum. I wanted to do something fun, like sandboarding in Huacachina! Which is how we ended up on an 18 hour bus ride from Cusco to Ica a couple of days ago. Well, that, and we had to start making our way up north someday, somehow…

Dune buggy and sandboarding in Huacachina is more fun than you think it will be. About 12 of us climbed into a dune-buggy an hour or so before sunset with an older man who clearly loved his job (driving visitors around in the desert at incredibly high speeds). He flew across the desert, going up and down dunes so fast, it felt like we were on a roller-coaster. And then, just like a roller-coaster comes to a smooth stop in the end, so did our driver pausing to let us out for a a few photo opportunities, and then a few more times to let us sandboard down some steep, some not so steep, and some I-never-knew-a-sand-dune-could-be-this-steep sand dunes.

Everyone had trouble sandboarding down the dunes standing up. We could stand up, but many of us were inching down the hill because the sand just wouldn’t cooperate. In the end, everyone, well, most everyone laid down on the their board and suddenly we were flying down the dunes. It was a lot of fun, but the boards aren’t exactly the safest, and the metal bolts holding the shoe straps to the board cut up my arm a little bit. Our last dune was the steepest and fastest. I hit a few bumps going way too fast and went airborne more than once. I can assure you, sand is a lot harder than snow, and it wasn’t the most comfortable feeling in the world. Huacachina is in need of some saucer sleds. By the end of the excursion, everyone was covered in sand, some more than others, like the dude pictured above. My favorite part about this picture is that I unfortunately have no idea who this guy is! He kindly allowed me to take his portrait, and was excited to see his picture on the blog. I think I told him I would email him a copy as well, but then after we dispersed for some much needed cleaning up, I didn’t see him again! After sandboarding down four or five dunes, we made our way back (again at high, very fun speeds) to the oasis. The sun was setting and it was the perfect ending to our stopover in Huacachina and a wonderful birthday.

Day 383: Huacachina

Huacachina is a teensy town just outside of Ica. When I say teensy, I mean it’s a handful of hotels, hostels, restaurants and homes built around a natural oasis in the middle of the desert. It’s become pretty popular with tourists for the dune buggy rides and the sandboarding you can do in the desert surrounding the town. We had planned on going for a dune buggy ride this afternoon, but Andrew and I felt like we had just gotten off of a serious bender (symptoms of altitude sickness include feeling like you have a hangover). We went for a little walk around the oasis and halfway around (it’s not very big. at. all.) I had to sit down. Three quarters of the way around, I had to lie down. So instead of spending the afternoon crashing around the desert in a dune buggy and sandboarding down steep dunes, we crawled in bed and didn’t come out until the next morning. You win high altitude, you win.

For some reason, I really liked these (what I’m guessing to be) old-fashioned personal changing rooms. Obviously, they are no longer in use, but I thought they had so much character and that it’s a shame they weren’t maintained. That didn’t stop the locals from enjoying the “beach” and the water though! It’s not necessarily advised to go swimming in the oasis, and there weren’t any foreigners indulging in the activity… but Peruvians were all about it. Forgot your sandboard at home? Don’t worry, this little guy will rent you one of his!

day 382: Cusco to Ica

Surprisingly, Andrew nor I (nor my Mom for that matter) really suffered from any serious altitude-sickness during our time in Cusco. That is, until today. For some reason, the 18 hour bus ride from Cusco to Ica took both of us down. And we went down hard. The bus ride wasn’t nearly as miserable as it sounds. I mean, it wasn’t in Mozambique juggling babies and live chickens, waiting for the mud to dry so our bus could get towed out of the ditch it was stuck in on the side of the road… So, despite our big reclining seats, personal televisions, and even some weak wi-fi signals at times, we just weren’t feeling so well. I told myself I would study Spanish, but I wasn’t feeling up to doing anything other than sleeping or watching really terrible movies dubbed in Spanish… which is kinda like studying. At least the view (and this is when we were stopped in traffic for 45 minutes) was beautiful for most of the ride!

Day 381: Puna Tienda Galeria featuring: Jorge Flores

You know what’s awesome? Walking into a new city, or making a new friend, or visiting a creative space and being completely swept off your feet inspired. Which is a little like being swept off your feet in love for the creative types. At least, for me it is. Anyway, I was certainly swept off my feet when we stepped into Puna one night on our way home this week. Not only was I immediately nostalgic for all of my art supplies, sewing machines (I have two. I think. In my sister’s room and/or somewhere in my mother’s house…) and a permanent space to be creative, but I also wanted to stay in Puna forever. Or buy everything I loved so I could at least take it with me. Instead, I asked the two wonderfully sweet girls working if I could return the next afternoon to photograph the space and perhaps learn more about what fueled something so creative and contemporary in a city that seemed to (rightfully so) embrace it’s traditional culture(s). Fortunately, Berenice and Stephanie excitedly agreed and when I returned the next afternoon, I was not only lucky enough to have the store mostly to myself, but to meet local artist, Jorge Flores as well! In the end I wanted to take the store and all three of them with me. Instead, I settled on some pictures, a “day in a minute” and in the end a print that I simply couldn’t live without.

When I returned to Puna, Berenice Diaz, the manager (below on the right) explained the objective of the gallery while Stephanie Guerra (below on the left) patiently helped translate when I didn’t understand. With only a few days of formal Spanish lessons under my belt, I was surprised I could follow along as well as I could, but there were some gaps that I was grateful to Stephanie for filling in the blanks for me. (Muchas gracias, Berenice y Stephanie!)

Practically everywhere else in Cusco (and from what I noticed in Peru) embraces traditional arts, especially the beautiful weaving so much so that it was almost a surprise to see a place with such modern and contemporary art on display. Berenice explained that Puna’s objective was to be a gallery and a store. While some stores (especially of this kind of variety- in my own opinion) look down on visitors wandering through simply to look, and not buy… Puna welcomes the chance to simply inform others- especially visitors to Peru of Peruvian art. I can’t emphasize enough how warm and friendly both Berenice and Stephanie were, and how grateful they seemed at my interest in Puna! I’m not the only one who thinks so highly if this little burst of contemporary culture in Cusco either. Trip Advisor has nothing but wonderful things to say, and to rate a “store” so highly has to say something, right? Right. I will say that most items fall outside of the typical backpacker budget, but if you can’t live without a piece, then the price doesn’t really matter. At least, that’s what I tell myself when I linger in front of an editioned prints with a price tag over $100.

Puna is modern art (and style) that meets traditional Peruvian culture. Currently 150-200 Peruvian artists have work on display and for sale in Puna. Traditional woven styles have been integrated into purses and even little clutches that I wanted so badly it hurt. Instead of wool llama ornaments, chic leather llama keychains were for sale. And the artwork, oh, the artwork. Where does one even begin? I’ll let the pictures -of beautiful pictures- speak for themselves.

Before I had met Jorge, I fell in love with another Peruvian artist’s work, Fito Espinosa. You can see some of his illustrations in the picture directly above. One print (not above) in particular plagued my mind for the next few days. I would have purchased it immediately had it not been for my backpacker budget. Andrew kept trying to talk me into getting it, and of course, the night I make up my mind to get it, we arrived to the store after it had closed. Good thing Andrew loves me so much because during our break from class the next (and our last) day, he ran across town to pick up the print for me! No easy feat in a city that is 11,200 ft above sea level.

Who is this Jorge (above) you might be wondering? Just another fantastic Peruvian artist who happened to stop by Puna to drop of some new work. It’s his work Berenice and I are talking about in the “day in a minute” above. And just like Berenice and Stephanie, he was so sweet and so talented that I felt so torn not taking some of his art home with me. (To make up for it, I’ve promised myself as soon as I’m gainfully employed again, I’ll be messaging Puna for several pieces of art, jewelry, a clutch or two…) Jorge is such a perfect example of a Peruvian contemporary artist who is absolutely unafraid of tapping into his cultural heritage yet making a statement with modern issues. He was dropping off some framed pieces of TEN, an installation of a grid of old Peruvian bank notes with different words painted over them. The individual pieces were striking, but seeing the photo of the installation on his website makes me want several pieces to have a small grid of my own!

You might hear him say “It’s my lucky day!” at the end of the “day in a minute” but I couldn’t express enough to him, Berenice, or Stephanie that it was my lucky day to be able to meet and talk to them all!

Day 380: San Blas Artisans

The San Blas Artisans surround the Church of San Blas, creating a neighborhood that is also known as the District of the Artists. These artists, and the families of these artists are Olave, Merida, Aguayo, Aguilar, Alvarez, Segovia, Saloma, and I’m sure there are a few more. We were told if a door was open, or in some cases unlocked, we were free to walk in and look at the art. We checked out Merida’s work by simply wandering in what felt like a private courtyard. Later, we were able to check out Mendivil’s long-neck pieces by sneaking down a long covered corridor leading to a couple of courtyards, some artisans working, a museum, and even a shop to take a few pieces home if you were interested.

Edilberto Mérida’s daughter actually greeted us when we peeked our heads into the courtyard wondering what there was to see. She warmly ushered us in and grabbed a set of keys to open up a museum/show room. The huge statue (above) in the courtyard, is a perfect example of his work. All of the ceramic pieces were incredibly expressive and included a lot of religious work- Jesus on the cross, and various nativity scenes seemed to be his favorites. I couldn’t get over how lovely his daughter was, although when she explained how easy it would be to ship any items home I became a little more understanding. Regardless, the museum/showroom entrance was (is) free with the minor exception of a small donation that we were told would go to a local charity. If you’re interested in visiting, Mérida’s work can be found at Carmen Alto 133, San Blas, Cusco (Phone: 084/221-714)

Hilario Mendívil is arguably the most famous of the San Blas Artisans. I found his long-neck sculptures really interesting especially given that the long-neck tribes (Kayan Lahwi) are typically from/in Thailand and Burma, not exactly close to Peru… I couldn’t figure out what inspired his long-neck sculptures until I researched it online and found a great description on Fodor’s here. According to the description, Legend has it that Mendívil saw llamas parading in the Corpus Christi procession as a child and later infused this image into his religious art, depicting all his figures with long, llama-like necks.

There’s a small gallery/museum and a shop selling Mendívil-style work- I’m guessing his descendants were the ones working in the adjacent studio.

If you’re interested in visiting, Mendívil’s work can be found at Plazoleta San Blas 634,San Blas, Cusco (Phone: 084/240-527)

Day 378: Studying Spanish in Cusco

Oh how I wasn’t looking forward to climbing this steep hill (in a high altitude city) to study Spanish everyday… But, we decided San Blas Spanish School was our best bet for our first round of intensive Spanish lessons, even if it did mean a hike across town before school started. I thought it might be fun for today’s “day in a minute” to film the walk! Also I don’t yet know how to say “I have a blog and I make a short video for each day of our trip around the world! Want to be in it?!” en español. I didn’t think a teacher would be so inclined for some video action first thing on a Monday morning either. Despite the rain, we made it to class on time and found ourselves in separate cozy classrooms (given that I’m a beginner and Andrew is intermediate) for four hours of the morning. While Andrew had four other students in his class, I only had one classmate and a very sweet Peruvian woman for a teacher! I usually enjoy language lessons, but today’s lesson flew by faster than usual (especially given that it was four hours long)! When classes were over for the day, I was really satisfied and looking forward to the week of learning some more español!

Day 377: A self-guided walking tour of Cusco

Traveling around the world is oftentimes being in a constant state of flexibility. Again, we were going to finish the Cusco Free Walking Tour today, until we woke up and remembered there isn’t a tour on Sundays. So, Andrew found a self-guided walking tour that we could do on our own instead. It wasn’t the greatest, nor the most informative, and it covered pretty much everything we already saw on our own and/or heard about on the portion of the free walking tour we already participated in… but… it gave us something to do, and we were thoroughly entertained by our attempted pronunciation of the many Incan names.

The self-guided tour began in the San Blas neighborhood, more specifically, the Church of San Blas. We read up about it outside, and then Andrew confirmed that my Mom rubbed off on us and we didn’t want to pay to enter a church. I’m sure we missed out on seeing a beautiful interior, and the pulpit that is carved from a single tree trunk… but I just don’t understand why the churches of Cusco all have entry fees! We wove our way down through some different streets that we hadn’t been through before and found ourselves in front of the Incan wall that we’ve walked past at least a couple dozen times since we first arrived in Cusco.

At least we finally figured out why everyone was stopping at this exact spot to get their picture taken. This rock is the perfect example of how incredible Inca stonemasons and architecture was (and obviously still is today). This stone has a record 12 different points on it, and at any given time there is a line of people in front of it in a tour group, or posing for pictures, or even touching it for good luck. Our guide on the Cusco Free Walking Tour told us each stone took 13 months to carve. I’m curious if that length of time applies to this 12 point stone as well.

Check out this intricately carved balcony. It’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong- but there wasn’t much information given to us about who built it or perhaps who lived in the building, or why it’s worth a stop on a tour…

Next stop: Cusco Cathedral, or more formally; The Cathedral of Santo Domingo. We probably should have sprung for an entry ticket here, but we decided we would finish the walking tour first and then see if we had enough time to go into the church after.

We made a small loop around another smaller church and convent, through some Incan ruins, then past Quirikancha before heading back to finish the tour at Plaza de Armas. By the time we returned, some kind of shoot (either for a movie or simply a modeling shoot of some sort) was getting a lot of attention outside of Cusco Cathedral. It seemed as though every early evening or night something was going on in the Plaza. One night there was a car show of some sort, another night a giant stage was constructed, but by the time we passed through the square the next day, it had already been removed. I’m curious what the calendar looks like for the square, is it always so busy?

Day 376: Starbucks again?

This is what happens when you move to a new hotel, and you discover that it too, doesn’t have decent wi-fi. You decide to go back to Starbucks and continue planning the last month of your trip and uploading a few more photos. (At least the new hotel does have hot water, a great breakfast, and a nicer room!)

Day 375: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We had big plans for the day. We were going to finish the Cusco Free Walking Tour, we were going to check out a field where you could frolick and play with llamas, and probably something else really fun and outdoorsy- and then en route to get a coffee before we met the walking tour where we left off, it started to rain. And it kept raining. So forgive me for another very boring post.

Day 374: Starbucks is the only place with decent wi-fi in Cusco

It’s a fact, Jack. I used to loath Starbucks, and then I went around the world and I have had to listen to Andrew complain about tiny cups of coffee that he would down in one sip… or how he asked for “black coffee” and was served coffee with copious amounts of milk and sugar instead… or how he can never find coffee with ice in it anywhere. Usually, Starbucks has a decent wi-fi connection, regardless of what country we’re in… So, off we went in hopes of Andrew having a coffee he was happy with and both of us having an internet connection strong enough so we could finally decide on a Spanish school, upload photos and videos, and possibly book some tickets home. Sometimes I feel bad for posting such a boring “day in a minute” and then I remind myself that the purpose of this blog is not to fool you into thinking that travel is awesome all the time. Because, as I’ve said before… it’s not always awesome, it’s not always super exciting, and sometimes it can be pretty boring -for you. For us, an afternoon of good coffee and an internet connection that doesn’t tempt me to throw my computer out the window is super exciting.

Day 373: Movie Day! I mean, Check out this parade!

Full disclosure: my mission for this day was to not leave our hotel room. And then late in the afternoon, I failed said mission… But only to go grab a pizza for dinner. Instead of forcing you to endure a boring post, including a video of us watching… videos… I’m cheating a bit and posting some video and super fun pictures from a parade that we stumbled upon a few nights ago. Because, really, it’s way more interesting. And if you’re a fan of drum-lines (like I TOTALLY AM) you might appreciate this parade because it seemed to be made up of drum-lines and dancers and it was awesome. We have no idea what it was for, but it was fun, and I can only hope we stumble upon another parade like this one before we leave!

Now, as for Day 373 and what we actually did, well, it was a whole lot of:

followed by:

then:

and, finally:

and it was awesome.

Day 372: Free Walking Tour Cusco

Somehow the Free Walking Tour Cusco escaped us! We didn’t know there was such a thing until we saw a flyer for it in the Choco Museo the day before. Given that we usually love free walking tours, and do them often, we figured we had to take Mom on one. Even though we had to cut it short to get to the airport in time, and it might have been more useful to have gone on at the beginning of our time in Cusco… it was probably the perfect ending to Mom’s tour of Peru! The tour wasn’t our absolute favorite (kudos, Andre in Brasov, that title still belongs to you!) but it was nice and it included free food (ok, a tasting), sunscreen, a lot of information, and even some sunscreen before the tour began!

We actually had been almost everywhere that the Free Walking Tour Cusco took us, we just didn’t know everything about the streets, or the restaurants, or the Incan architecture we were standing in front of. It was nice to get a little bit more information and to hear a different perspective about Cusco through our guide. Although, I have to admit, this was the first time where I was a little overwhelmed by our guide’s energy. At times, I wanted to tell him to take a deep breath, but overall I think everyone will agree that too much enthusiasm is better than too little, right?

From where we were staying in Cusco, in the Barrio San Blas, we would take the same route to and from the main square, Plaza de Armas. Part of the tour covered this route, and the area around where we were staying. Our guide equated the neighborhood to Greece, because of the white walls and blue doorways and shutters. I had to chuckle a little at his comparison, ok maaaybe a little, but it doesn’t feel like Greece just because of a few white walls and blue shutters- at least not to me. It is a charming neighborhood, and quiet too! I was glad to hear about the artisans who lived in the area and made note of our guide’s suggestion to duck into one of the open corridors to see what kind of art and handicrafts were being made. We climbed up the hill, and took in this beautiful view of Cusco before we ducked out to head to the airport to drop Mom off. Luckily, Andrew is used to me getting emotional over goodbyes, and held my hand in the taxi back into town as I tried not to cry, knowing I would see her and so many more in just a couple of months!

Day 371: Back in Cusco

Momma’s last full day in Peru! We’ve been moving so fast through Peru, that we were content with wandering around the city of Cusco and seeing what we could find. We hadn’t heard very good things about the Inca Museum(s) so instead we headed towards one of the higher rated museums first, The Center for Traditional Textiles, walking past Quirikancha, once the most important temple in the Incan Empire, and then through the many squares of Cusco, ending up at the Chocolate Museum.

Quirikancha was once the most important temple and the center of the Inca Empire. Once upon a time it was covered in gold, as it was dedicated to the Sun God, Inti. That is, until the Spanish came along and demanded a ransom in place of the Inca Atahualpa, and the temple was stripped of all of its gold. Juan Pizarro, one of Francisco Pizarro’s brothers received Quirikancha and before he died, donated it to the Dominican Order of priests. Eventually, the church that you see behind (or rather, inside the walls of the former Temple of the Sun) the Incan foundation was built.

However, our first stop of the day was the Center for Traditional Textiles, a free museum with rather beautiful displays of the intricate weaving that is so common throughout Peru. I was a little hesitant, but Andrew assured us that it was one of the highest rated museums in Cusco… and Mom had just finished her first course in weaving, so we pretty much had to go. 

My favorite part of the museum were the live demonstrations and the half finished weavings that were tied off. After our visit, I noticed that these half woven pieces used as wall hangings instead of scarves or blankets or even wraps were quite popular around Cusco. Again, if I knew exactly how many walls I was returning to, I would have bought them all up! I thought they made such beautiful art pieces, especially knowing that they were preserving a traditional culture that is being quickly replaced by low cost imported string and machinery. The Center for Traditional Textiles is right down the street from Quirikancha, and the Convent of Santo Domingo.

What’s somewhat unbelievable is that the Incan walls were kept entirely intact and the church was built in between the walls of the Incan temple. Above you can see the courtyard, but throughout the building were different Incan rooms that were still free standing with dirt floors and nothing inside. Technically we weren’t supposed to take pictures, but I saw many people freely taking photographs out in the courtyard. I’m not sure why there was a no photo rule- maybe for the interior rooms that held loads and loads of religious art? Either way, it was interesting to walk through, but it made me feel a little uncomfortable wondering how the Incans must have felt back in the day when their most important temple was handed over to an entirely different religion, one that built a gigantic church and monastery around walls that once used to be covered in gold.

The above picture was to show how Quirikancha was at the center of the Incan universe. How other temples in the empire all led to Quirikancha. The picture below illustrates how the Incas looked at the stars. While we look at the stars, and the constellations by connecting the stars together, the Incans looked at the pictures made in the dark spots or shadows in between the stars.

Outside of not only Quirikancha, but throughout the streets of Cusco, women in traditional dress walked around tethered to a grown llama or holding a baby lamb. Often, they would put the lamb in your arms, encouraging you to take a photo, for which you would have to pay for after. I didn’t need a photo of myself with a baby lamb, so I would always get really excited and pet the lamb (simultaneously empathizing for it) until they would realize I wasn’t going to pose for a picture with it.

After The Choco Museo (which was an informative, albeit glorified shop) we wandered around, fed the birds, and coerced Mom into one last drink before her last day began in the morning.

Day 369: Ollantaytambo + Aguas Calientes

We are Machu Picchu bound! First stop: Ollantaytambo, where we would catch a train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu. I think we were all a little bit excited, nervous, and maybe a little scared of our climb up Huayna Picchu the next day and apprehensive of Aguas Calientes. The small tourist town does not have the best reputation. Prices for everything are super inflated, yet most visitors are forced to pay them if wanting to stay close to Machu Picchu. Andrew had looked up places to avoid, questions to ask before sitting down for dinner, and we generally psyched ourselves up to be on guard for any and all scams upon our arrival. This is when travel wears me down. However, what we didn’t prepare ourselves for were all of the Incan archeological sites en route, surrounding Ollantaytambo, and along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. It turned my frown upside down and really helped to boost the excitement, outweighing the other negative feelings about the town and apprehension of our climb!

We caught a shared mini-van to Ollantaytambo early in the morning. It was a pretty beautiful ride through the mountains only lasting about an hour and a half. I believe Ollantaytambo is a fairly recent name for the town, in other words, not the name that the Incan Emporer Pachacuti gave to the royal estate that he had built in the center. During the Spanish conquest, Manco Inca Yupanqui, the resistance leader (after the Spanish Incan puppet leader) resided here. It’s all a bit confusing. If you’re interested in learning more about the Incans and the discovery of Machu Picchu, check out Turn Right at Machu Picchu. (Great recommendation, Michelle!) It helped put some of the pieces of the puzzle together for me and also made me realize I probably need to read some more books to understand it all…

Ollantaytambo is also one of the starting points for the Inca Trail. We would have loved to do the Inca Trail, but as it turns out, you need to book your tour six months to a year ahead of time and it’s ‘spensive! We’ll just have to squeeze it into our next year around the world. 

Ollantaytambo is small. One central square surrounded by a couple of cafes and tourist shops and that’s about it. We snuck up to the square to have a look around before it was time to get on the train, had a snack, some coca tea, and then hustled it back down to the train station where complete madness broke out. On our way onto the tracks, we passed the employees timecards. I was surprised they were just out in the open like this! They reminded me of a few old jobs I had where I had to punch in.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t madness, but it certainly wasn’t anywhere near orderly. Once we got onto the tracks, we waited in line. Then had to move to the other side of the tracks for a train to pass through. Then our train (or so we thought what was our train) left. Then we got in line again only to be told to get in a different line by another Peru Rail employee. Madness. But once we got on the train, the ride was pretty gorgeous. The skylights totally helped aid in the experience. What a perfect way to see the countryside and roll into Aguas Calientes.

I didn’t realize until Momma joined us in Peru that I always sit by the window and Andrew always sits in the aisle. This is mostly so he has more legroom and works with me wanting to take pictures or video along the way. I’ve had to share the window seat with Momma throughout Peru, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t starting to get a little pouty about it. I finally opened up about it and she laughed at me, and then shared the window. I probably made everyone on the train nervous holding my DSLR out the window for half of the ride.

Aguas Calientes is as obnoxious as everyone says it is. It’s named for the hot water springs located around the city center, but we were told to avoid them as they have become dirty and overpopulated with tourists. Technically these days the city has been renamed Machu Picchu Pueblo, but no one uses this name. We dropped off our things at our hotel, run by someone who could have cared less that we were there, except when we handed over our money.

When we went out to walk around and eventually find something to eat, we had to constantly consult Andrew’s cheat sheet to see if we sat down at a particular restaurant, would we get ripped off or not. This is such an annoying way to try to enjoy a city in a foreign country and it angers me. If the city weren’t set up this way (to rip every visitor off) it would be more likely visitors would stay longer and enjoy the escape in the middle of the mountains, but noooo everyone gets in. sees Machu Picchu. and gets out. 

In case you find yourself in Aguas Calientes, copy Andrew’s cheat sheet before you go out for a bite to eat:

Always ask: No tax, no servicio, no nada mas? Otherwise, you might be lured into a restaurant with reasonable prices listed and then when you get the bill it’s suddenly triple the price because of additional fees they have added on without informing you.

Don’t go to:

-El Tunqui

-Pizzeria Amaru

-Apuss

-Chayna

-Apu Qoyllur Rit’i

-Qhawarina

-Hatun Runa

Maybe (a ripoff):

-Mapi

-Keros

-Rustica Fabrizzio’s

-Chez Maggy

Ok:

-Chullpi Machupicchu

-Inti House

-Canton Chifa

-Inka Wasi

-Pachamama Pizzeria

-Mama Angelica

-Kintu

-La Espiga

We ended up at a lovely Indian restaurant, Govinda, up the hill towards the hot springs entrance. The owner looked at Andrew like he was crazy when he asked “No tax, no servicio, no nada mas?” We figured it was a good sign and sat down. The food was good, the atmosphere was super calm- especially compared to the other restaurants lining the same street, and I can only hope other restaurants follow suit offering a straightforward menu, good service, and good food! On our way back to our hotel, we encountered these little ones who obviously spent the day climbing Machu Picchu and couldn’t walk any more. Probably not, but it was fun watching them sprawl out on this pedestrian bridge like they owned it. A few minutes later, their mom was reprimanding them and dragging them to one side- taking all of the fun out of it!

Day 368: Our first day in Cusco

Another day… after another overnight bus. Turns out trains in Peru are crazy expensive. As an alternative, we’ve started booking the “luxury” seats on the buses. We boarded and were totally thrown by the big lazy-boy style seats with individual screens and a selection of recent movies on tap. And then we realized the sound didn’t work. Our flight (er, bus?) attendant didn’t seem to care. We slept. Mostly. And then we were whisked away to bed in Cusco at five in the morning. A couple of cold showers later and we were walking around town. Friends and family have raved about Cusco. I can see why. It’s charming and full of Incan architecture, women dressed up in traditional clothes walking through the streets with baby lambs and llamas, and even an…”INCA!” The little girl below was SO excited to see the Inca that she not only screamed, but ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. It was like a little girl back home seeing Santa for the first time. In a word, it was adorable. I couldn’t resist turning around to try to get a picture of it.

Our plan for the day was quite simply to walk around. We even paused outside of the Inca Museum debating if we wanted to go inside, until we reminded ourselves we hadn’t planned on doing anything other than walk around the town, acclimate ourselves to the altitude, and take it easy before we made our way to Machu Picchu.

Andrew and I are positive we could have saved a lot of money on this trip had we brought along a tent. However, I’m not so sure I would have been able to sleep so soundly atop a tuk-tuk in the middle of a busy afternoon in Cusco!

I barely remember taking this shot of Momma in the market. I think I shot it from the hip as we were walking through, but boy am I glad I took it. I really love it. What you can’t see is that she’s looking out of one of the doorways of the market (which lit her perfectly) to the street surrounding. I don’t know what she’s looking at, but I love that I caught her observing Cusco while so many people are going about their business around her.

I could not get enough of the colorful clothing. If I didn’t have enough to hang up on walls I don’t have, I would have gotten one of these beautiful dresses just to hang up! They really are works of art! (I’m also still kicking myself for not getting an embroidered hat in Cabanaconde a few days ago. Again, just to hang up on my wall as art. I should have known better to pass it up when I did…

While we were waiting on Momma to buy something (again) I couldn’t take my eyes off of this nun. She didn’t move from this position, maybe didn’t even look at something else the entire time we were waiting. I wondered what was on her mind and shot this picture from the hip as well, probably talking to Mom at the same time about what color tablecloth or blanket she should get.

And then, a little dress-up action happened.

We were on our way back to our hotel when Mom got tricked into going into a shop along the way. While she was trying to decide what color or what size or what to get in general, one of the shopkeepers dragged me and Andrew in and proceeded to play dress up. And then for good measure, stuck a giant penis in Andrew’s hand that he seemed to grow quite fond of. (I mean seriously, why is it in every picture?) Putting these pictures on the blog is likely to lead to me receiving an email from my Mom. “I can’t believe you posted those pictures!” Well, believe it Momma! I did! And don’t tell me to take them down, because chances are I won’t have any internet to do so later! (Love you!)