Peru

Thank goodness for Saturdays when I can do things I want. I finally went through our Peru pictures and am ready to post them.

We started our flight that went Boise-Salt Lake City-1 hr layover-Atlanta-3 hr layover-Lima-7 hr layover-Cusco. It sounds like a long trip but the way home was worse. We stayed in Cusco for that night then caught a train to Aguas Calientes, which is the town closest to Machu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes is a little tourist town full of restaurants and shops in the middle of the Andes . At this time I was 6 weeks pregnant and the major symptom was an aversion to the smell of food, which did not go well with the smell of the town.

For our first meal in Aguas we decided to eat at a place that had typical food of Peru in the name. Great! Who wouldn't want typical food while in peru? We sat down and as I was admiring the decor, I saw this picture above me of President Hinkley, Monsen, and Faust. Of course we had to take a picture.

Our little hotel was at the top of the city so we got to climb a b'jillion stairs to get there -- super great to stay in shape. This picture is from our window.

We went with Tom's brother Robb, and wife Michelle. We were in Aguas for a total of five days (which ended up being 4 days too long). While we were there, we had the hotel service do our laundry. They said it would take about 3 hours so we left for the day and came back that evening. Tom's and my clothes were back but Robb's and Shell's weren't. The hotel receptionist (who had worked there for 2 days) was frantically trying to find them. She ended up taking Robb and Shell to the laundry place... a local woman's house. The local woman was mad and yelling "mi casa, es mi casa" to the hotel girl. Finally they found their clothes in a bag in the woman's house. The bag was labeled "Juan." Hmmm. I had noticed earlier that half of the locals dress like Americans. I'm starting to understand.

Obviously while we were there we went to Machu Picchu. Shell and I wanted to hike there. We looked at a tourist information thing that said that the hike was easy. Ok, easy to me means you could push a wheelchair. No. We get to the base of this hike and watch the switchback of stairs zig-zag to the clouds. Gulp.

We started the hike anyway as we watch bus after bus of Asian tourists pass us on their way to the top. Long story short, Tom and I got in a minor arguement and the result was that we ended up with only one picture of the hike, and only because I made him take it of me so I could have the proof.

Finally we reached the top, and subsequently, Machu Picchu.

A quick history of Machu Picchu: It is the site of an ancient Inkan city. The name means "old mountain." If I remember correctly, it was built in the 15th century out of the granite that is in the mountain. Each stone was cut precisely so they could all fit together without mortar (so, like the Salt Lake temple but way earlier). It was inhabited for 100 years before the Spanish came and took over the country.

There is a trail (called the Inkan Trail) that takes about 4 days to hike and it goes through a bunch of ruined Inkan cities. We met some guys who did it. They said it was brutal, especially because of the altitude (7500 ft).

We rode the bus back down the mountain.

We were peacfully sitting on our train ride back to Cusco when this fast-beat music starts playing like we'd just walked into Express. Suddenly our train attendants start strutting down the isle modeling clothes that they would be selling. It was super funny but they did a good job. Tom would have even bought me a sweater but I told him I didn't really need one. He got sold!

On the same train ride they had a man dressed in Peruvian pre-hunting festival garb dance for us. Keep in mind this is in the isle of a train, and not a big isle.

I think my favorite part of the trip was when we were back in Cusco. It started after we had eaten at an Italian restraunt. We walked out and a man was standing there with flyers for his business. He was a tour guide, but his tour was done on horses. His tour cost $20 per person, which was about $80 cheaper than going to a tourist place. We made arrangements to meet him in front of our hotel the next morning at 9.

Fast forward to the next morning around 8:30. Robb was feeling a little uncomfortable going with a tour guide we found on the street. He got us all thinking about being kidnapped for American ransom or something. We decided that if he wasn't there by 9 then we would go buy a seperate tour.

Nine o'clock rolls around, then 9:05. Just when we were going to leave, along comes our little Peruvian man walking up the street. He got us a taxi and we all hopped in.

It was about 5 miles to the ranch where we would start the tour. I found out that the man (I think his name was Hernan) had walked at least 5 miles from his house to our hotel that morning. I was sooooo glad we didn't ditch on him.

The horses he had for us were pretty little compared to what I'm used to. Everytime Robb got on his, Hernan was like "oooohhhh."

The first place he took us was to some ruins that he called El Templo de la Luna. He took us inside and explained some things that they believe about the condor, puma, and python. It was really interesting to listen to (and translate since he spoke Spanish). Everything was symbolic. They represented 3 worlds. The greatest was the condor, or the stars. The puma was the things in the earth and the python represented the earth. Hmm, kind of like the three kingdoms.

While we were in El Templo de la Luna, Hernan offered to do a ritual for us for a little extra money. We decided to go along with it. His ritual was to balance our energies... make them positive. So, he took us to a place where nobody could see us and had us lay down. Then he hung a rock tied to a rope over a bunch of body parts and if it swung clockwise it was positive, if not, negative. Then he took the bad energy and made it good. Lucky us huh? All positive.

One of the ruins we went to was Saqsaywaman. Ha, ha. Sound that out.

We happened to be touring on the world day of tourism. I love when they try to make signs in English and don't quite have it how we would, Mister Tourist.

The last day we were there, we took a bus ride to some other ruins. It cost like 50 cents per person to go about 50 miles but we had to squish with all the locals. I'll post some random pictures that will always be my memories about the trip.