Inti Raymi pictures are up!

https://picasaweb.google.com/chou.davidw/PeruPt2

So last Friday was the Inti Raymi Festival in Cusco, one of the largest tourist festivals of the year. (In Quechua, Inti = Sun, Raymi = Festival/Party).  The cool part of the festival is that they celebrate both the Incan sun god, and the Winter Solstice.  I'm not sure I understood everything that went on, but there was an Incan, and he basically made a grand entrance and spent some time making speeches...I think.  It was all really cool to see (since we were at the Incan ruins of Saqsaywaman), and it was really, really well done.  I suggest checking out pictures at the link above to see what I mean.

The Incan

#picturesarecool #sowasintiraymi #sickagain

Update: sickness is only an intestinal infection. Not giardia!  Cipro for 3 days and I'll be good to go.

#Yaynotgiardia

The Emperor's New Groove

So a group of 6 Dukies went on a 5-day hike to Machu Picchu this past Friday through Tuesday. We went on the Salkantay hike, which is a popular alternative to the Inca Trail, since it's easier (but longer). Over the course of 4 days (from our starting point, Mollepata, to the town next to Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes), we hiked around 48 miles, which is a lot. The trip turned out to be more luxurious than I had in mind - we had a cook, a porter, and we even got to stay in a hostal our fourth night. The cook and the porter took care of everything campsite-related, and so all we had to do was hike, eat, and sleep! After a long day of hiking, it is pretty nice to not have to set up tents or cook food. We hiked with 5 other people in our group (and our guide as well), and they were from England, California, Lima, and Japan - a pretty fun group. I'm in the process of uploading some 300 pictures from the trip, but I'll break it down in terms of what we did day by day.

Day 1: (20 km hiked, 1000 m elevation gain to 3800 m above sea level)

So we stayed overnight in Cusco on Thursday night, and were picked up bright and early at 5 am by van. We drive for 3 hours, and arrive at Mollepata, our starting town. After a quick breakfast, we start hiking. The climate here was a mountainous one, which was a cool sight to see. The trail was a dirt jeep trail, and there were steep shortcuts through it that we took. After about 7 hours of hiking, we arrived at Soraypampa, our stop for the day. It was near the base of a glacier, but our tents were inside of a shed, so we didn't get extremely cold during the night. 

classic.

Day 2: (25 km hiked, 800 m up to 4600 m, 1800 m down to 2850 m)

We get woken up at 5 am by our cook with steaming hot cups of mate de coca, which is the perfect thing at that hour of the day. After breakfast, we start hiking to the glacier pass, where we can see the Salkantay glacier. The glacier is massive - much more impressive than Chicon. On the way up to the pass was a really steep trail, so reaching the pass at 4600 m was a joyful moment - until we felt the cold. The winds at the pass were freezing (with us being next to a glacier and all), so we quickly started descending. The coolest part of this hike was seeing the micro-climates along the way. Once we descended into the valley, we started seeing a tropical climate (accompanied by rain). It was really bizarre, but really cool. After 8 hours of hiking, we collapsed at Challway, where we spent the night. 

Salkantay in the clouds

Day 3: (16 km hiked, 650 m down to 2200 m)

We again get woken up with coca tea at 5:30 in the morning, and start our hike shortly after breakfast. Still in the tropical-climate, we hiked along a river for most of the day. We found a house along the way that sold passion-fruit straight from the trees along the trail (delicious!), and we saw some avocados and bananas growing right alongside the trail. After a super-easy 4 hour hike, we got to Sahuayaco (2200m), ate lunch, then were bused down to the town of Santa Teresa (1650m), where we stayed the night. From Santa Teresa, we walked about 40 minutes to natural hot springs, where we were able to soak our aching muscles (yay!). 

Suddenly, forest.

Day 4: (16 km hiked, 400 m up to 2050 m)

We had a later start (6:30 am), and hike for 2 hours to Hidro Electrica, where we take a break. Along the way, we saw a pretty snazzy waterfall, and still hiked along the river from earlier (River Salkantay). From Hidro Electrica, we hiked 2 hours along a train track to the town of Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain that Machu Picchu's on. The town is entirely built on tourism, and it was really confusing to have people try to talk to us in English (we can understand your Spanish better!). We had a hostal, and stayed there for the night (hot showers!!). 

When did waterfalls start making milk?

Day 5: (? km hiked, 400+ m climbed)

So we woke up at 7:30 am, and start hiking up the mountain to Machu Picchu at 8:40. The trail up is a series of 1786 steps (more or less), and takes about 1 exhausting hour. We enter Machu Picchu, and get a guided tour of the city, which is pretty cool to hear about. (side note: I saw a group of Whitefish Bay kids at Machu Picchu!) After 2 hours, we get turned loose, and a group of us (5 dukies and the british kid) decide to hike the Machu Picchu mountain. After another exhausting, sweat-dripping (it was really humid) 50 minutes up a trail of steps, we reach the top. From our view, we were higher up than Waynapicchu mountain, and we could see just about everything - Machu Picchu, Waynapicchu, Hidro Electrica, and Aguas Calientes. The view from the top was spectacular, and being on level with the clouds makes you want to be able to just jump off and fly. After all of that, we came back down to Aguas Calientes, and hitched a train to Ollantaytambo, then a bus back to Urubamba. 

The view from Machu Picchu Mountain

I'd like to start making postcards now.

Edit: new photos can be found here.

#wemissedurubamba #youshoulddothis #machupicchuisprettyamazing

G(astronomical) Tour of Cusco!

So our Spanish teacher, Reyner, took us out on a food tour of Cusco instead of Spanish lessons (win!). We first went to a Cebicheria, and we ordered a giant 50 sole platter (for three people) that had ceviche (best I've ever had), Paella, seafood curry-like thing (with mussels), and fried fish/squid.

Spectacular

So after that (my stomach was stuffed to the brim), we walked for a ways until we reached a pasteleria. It looked pretty amazing all around, and it was one of the nicest places I've been in Peru so far. All of us ordered our own cakes (6 soles per slice), and I settled on a traditional Tres Leches cake. Needless to say, it was mouth-wateringly delicious!

Tres Leches

We then went on over to a cafe, where "the best coffee in Peru" was made, according to our teacher. I ordered a black coffee, for tasting, and an espresso, since my food coma was coming on strong. I'm going to have to rate the coffee as good, but not great (best coffee still gets awarded to Blue Bottle drip coffee in San Fran), but the espresso was one of the best I've had. Definitely the best coffee I've had in a while (Peruvians seem to enjoy instant coffee a lot…blech). Para continuar, we went on to a chocolate shop, which specialized in delicious coca chocolate. Nom nom. Finally, we went to get dinner at a place that specialized in cow hearts and intestines grilled on a stick. Upon our teacher's recommendation, I ordered the corazones. Putting aside the fact that they're hearts, they taste pretty good! It's similar to a really savory beef, and meat-lovers would appreciate it, I think. That ended our food tour, and we all went back to Urubamba to nurse our aching stomachs.

Hearts on the right, papas on the left

#somuchfood #goingbackforceviche #cuscoisprettysweet

Fish on the Wall

So we go to La Salle in the morning, being told that we're going to a fish farm. Intrigued, the four of us (environmental education group) jump in the back of a motorcycle-with-a-truckbed vehicle, and proceed to make our way up to the farm. On the way, we buy clementines, lemons, tomatoes, bread, veggie oil, and potatoes. We get to the fish farm after about a 30 min ride up a super rocky road, and see tons of trout.

Trucha!

We fished out 5 trout (5 soles apiece, how sweet is that?), and proceeded to clean, gut, and prepare them. We made 2 fires, and boiled potatoes along with frying the trout. Now, after eating the finished product, I have to say that it was definitely the best fish I've ever had (since it was alive maybe about an hour before we cooked it). Delicious does not even begin to describe the freshness that was consumed. Peru is just full of good eats!

You want this.

#wanttogoback #reallywanttofishnow #yum

Café con Queso

So my Spanish teacher (Reyner) took me to an Italian Panaderia instead of having a lesson. We had really awesome pizza, and a little something known as café con queso (Peruvian origins of several hundred years). So the coffee at the panaderia was spot on (served in individual French presses) and quite possibly the best I've had yet in Peru. However, it wasn't complete. We got thin slices of Queso Andino (Andean Cheese), and dropped it into the coffee, and kept on drinking. Surprisingly, the flavor doesn't change at all, and so you finish the coffee. When you're done, you eat the cheese that remains at the bottom! The queso gets a different texture (more smooth I guess), and it takes on a coffee flavor, and it's pretty interesting. Personally, I kinda like it, but you should try it for yourself.

Upon adding the queso

After drinking the coffee, this is what's left

Café con Queso


-Super-hot coffee
-thin-ish slices of cheese cut into sizable chunks (Cheddar apparently works well).


-Add cheese to coffee while super hot
-Continue to drink coffee
-Eat cheese when done



#onlyforthebrave #TwoOfmyfavoritethings #tryit

vamos al mercado, a mi me gusta comprar

lots of stuff to buy

Yeah, the inside market's huge

but outside, there's lots of vendors for blocks around

A moto-taxi

like this alll over Urubamba - Ollanta's the governor of the region down South

So a few things:

• I finally snagged pics of the market: some are above and some are on the Picasa site
• Finally took a pic of a mototaxi - the main form of paid transportation in Urubamaba
• Election Day is soon (June 5th), and they're banning alcohol sales beginning Friday. Wise?

#thisweekendwillbeinteresting #itsreallycoldherenow

up, up in the air (Chicon glacier aka 15000 ft)

So a lot of the Dukies down in Peru decided to climb up to the Chicon Glacier next to Urubamba this weekend.  To say that this was the hardest hike in my life might be an understatement.

So we started at 7:30 am, with three groups (Slow, Medium, Fast hiking speed).  I was in the fast group, with the porters that were carrying our extra water and cooking stuff (they were from the local community).  Just a quick comment about the porters - I have so much respect for them.  They did the entire hike without breaking a sweat, in sandals, and carrying more weight than any of us.  (There was a 14 year old who was always in front - what a boss!)  So the hike started out around 3000-3500 meters, and near a river from the glacier.  Hence, there was a lot of vegetation, and with that comes prickly cacti and spines everywhere. Ouch.  Once we climbed up a bit, we reached what would consist of most of the hike - rocks and hills.  It was pretty tough, because we had to navigate some narrow trails (and there weren't even trails sometimes) over rocks with heavy packs. Double Ouch.  To make things worse, we're at 3500+ meters, with a nearly vertical path (seriously, I couldn't find flat land to save my life), and less oxygen than we're used to. Triple Ouch.  Regardless, we reached our cabin around 1:10 pm, which means a solid 5 hrs and 40 min (with maybe 6-7 15 minute breaks) of hiking.  It was super satisfying, but to say it again, hardest hike of my life.

After sleeping overnight at the cabin (20-25 degrees F?  It was pretty cold.), we hiked for another 2 hours to reach the base of the glacier.  It looks a little something like that.

Not only was it pretty on the way up, it was breathtaking from the base of the glacier.  Ice, snow, all around, and all of it pristine.  Oh, and since it was at 5000 meters above sea level, literally breathtaking.  Recommended for sure.  (if you're wondering, it took us only 3-4 hours to get down to the bottom).

#myfeetaredead #somuchsunburn #worthit

Edit: Pictures of Chicon are up! Start at #451

Week in Review

Hey everyone, it's been a busy week, so I'm just going to cram everything into one post.

School:

711 school

-This week, we taught water/air pollution, and we used a jug of water to demonstrate tragedy of the commons, in which each student pollutes a clean jug of water with a spoonful of trash/dirt/oil.

-6B has cemented itself as my favorite class, they're so cute!

La Salle

-Made liquid fertilizer: cow/chicken feces, fish/chicken heads, chicken guts, water, chicha, yeast, corn bits, sugar - it gets to sit for three months and ferment!

-Pigs are cute

A little piglet trying to get some water

-There's lots of poo. Everywhere.

Life

-My birthday in Peru was cool, I got to go see the Ollantaytambo ruins and the Pisac ruins/market (So Cool!  The market is fantastic)

Pisac ruins

-There is this amazing cereal type thing here - think life cereal (or frosted mini wheats without the frosted), except that it's filled with chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry filling (amazingly good)

-The stars here are so amazingly bright, and the sky is clear as can be. Go Peru.

Starry Night.

#inlovewithPeru #inlovewithperuvianfood

Peru Pictures!

For those of you that want to see, all of the pictures I've taken so far in Peru can be found here.

#youshouldseethis

food and dogs (aww yeah)

So there are lots of stray dogs here. They're often dirty, and some are sad, while some are happy, but all are super adorable. I think that by the end of this trip, I'll be able to have a slideshow of only stray dogs in Peru. They're everywhere, something would be amiss to walk a block and not see one or more strays. Like I said, they're all super cute (if you go "aww" when seeing a dog, this is the place for you)

A stray in Cuzco

Now onto food. OH my god the food. It's amazing, and well, incredible comes incredibly short of describing how good the food is here. Meals traditionally consist of a light breakfast, with tea (mate de coca leaves is the predominant tea here. It's sooooo good, especially with some brown sugar), light bread, and either jam or what's called jamonaba (I think, it's kinda like balogne, but made with pollo). Lunch and dinner are pretty similar, with lunch being the bigger meal. There's usually a starter dish, which can be soup (of mushrooms, chicken, kimwah) or an appetizer (like potatoes y queso). After the starter, there is the main entree, which can vary, but usually consists of a meat or vegetable dish that's accompanied by pasta or rice. After that, comes dessert, which is usually either a drink, or gelatin/flan. One of the different things here is that in restaurants, they serve drinks after the starter and entree. I'm starting to become accustomed to drinking mate tea after meals now.

Two of the most common things one can eat here will be chicken and potatoes. There are hundreds of  varieties of potatoes in Peru, and chickens are just about everywhere, so it's generally the predominant meat eaten here - there are lots of polerias (chicken restaurants) in the city. The potatoes are different too. Potatoes, corn (which has gigantic kernels here, think the size of a blueberry per kernel), and rice all have a starchier taste here, which is pretty interesting. Some of the potatoes are what we're accustomed to, but some have a more powdery and starchy kind of taste - I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of that kind just yet. Everything here is just more fresh - the juice, the meat, the vegetables, etc. This morning, Chris and I were served plantain juice by our host mom, and it was maybe the best juice I've ever had. The chicken here is so fresh, since the people keep and kill them at home. There's basically a whole coop by my host casa, and that would explain why the chicken I had last night was absolutely delicious and fresh. If you like chicken, come to Peru.

Arroz con Pollo

#nom #gettingfat #sogood #dogsarecute

aaaand we're back!

It looks like blogger's been down for the past few days, and kinda erased all of my formatting. Oh well...

Since I haven't had much internet access over the past few days, there will be a quadruple post coming up. (whoa there)  So upon arriving to Cuzco by plane, I awoke to see mountains everywhere. To paraphrase Neil, one of the Dukies, "walking from the plane was one of the coolest experiences I've had." We soon arrived to the hotel, and explored the city - the architecture is amazing, and the city as a whole is simply breathtaking. I'll do my best to upload a slideshow of Cuzco when I have better internet access (y más tiempo). The city is fairly large, pretty urban, maybe like a smaller city in China. Every 5 meters in one of the main plazas, you can find people selling postcards, paintings, dolls, knockoff ray-bans, etc. It's not uncommon to some cities outside of los EEUU I guess.

A building near the main plaza in Cuzco

As always, exploring a new city is exciting, and Cuzco is just excellent - there's so much to do! ProPeru took us on a trolley ride that went around the outskirts of Cuzco, and we ended up at the Cristo Blanco - a giant white statue of Christ that overlooks Cuzco. From the top, the view is breathtaking. Also, there are llamas. everywhere. It's awesome. Then this past Friday, we went to go explore ruins close to Cuzco, like Saqsaywaman. Calling it one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen cannot do this place justice. The highest point of the ruins were at about 3800 meters, so these sights were literally breathtaking. The mountains, the sky, the sun, the moon - all are so visible and crisp!

Inca Ruins near Cuzco

 

Speaking of the sun, it's incredibly strong here - sunscreen is just about a must. Since we're at 10,000+ feet above sea level, the sun is closer by a significant amount. The high altitude is not that problematic, except when you're exerting yourself. There's less oxygen at this altitude, and you definitely notice it when climbing stairs - you get out of breath much faster and can feel light-headed at times. The weather in Cuzco is kinda cold - it is winter here after all, and if you think of Durham in the fall, that's about accurate. It's about 60+ in the daytime, but can get pretty cold at night (50s and below). Hopefully this gives a general idea of what the Cuzco experience is, and there's definitely a lot that I glossed over, but I'll come to it later.

#isthisreallife #perurocks