jaquik

Well... After a fun and surprisingly trauma free time in the Jungle we are back in Lima, and decidedly unhappy to be so.

We arrived in the city a little after two yesterday and afte a slight confusion (caused by our flight being early and the person who was supposed to meet us not having arrived yet)we were driven to the Maury Hotel for the last included night of accomodation on our tour. Of the 20ish people on the tour only five of us were done after theJungle, the rest (thnks to yet another strike blocking roads out of cusco) had to pay extra to fly to Arequipa where they will spend another week or so before heading home. The others who came with us to Lima, Kryztof (AKA Angry Polish Guy), Louise and Kathryn all fly out today so from here on out Kait and I are on our own.

We´ve gotten in touch with Compassion Peru to see if there is apossibility of a visit to Alessandra, but sadly it doesn´t look like this will hppen as the person in charge of visits was not in the office and despite assurances to the contrary did not return my call yesterday. which just adds to the feeling of frustration I have with Lima and the amazingly unhelpful people we have encountered so far.

I´m sorry for being cranky, i have been gone for about 24 hours too long and really realy just want to hop on the next plane and come home before i spoil what has otherwise been an amazing trip with my hatred of Lima.

Wednesday June 17, 7:28 AM

This morning we say our final goodbyes to cusco :( and head for the jungle. I am both excited for and dreading the jungle. As long as the spider sightings are minimal i think it will be really cool, but if i see a spider bigger than a dime inside the lodge or bungalos i am pretty sure i will not be able to sleep for the rest of the trip. ?Yesterday Kait and I went a little shopping crazy, spending over 500 soles in a single day, but it was a lot of fun! We also spent a fair chunk of time emailing compassion International offices in Canada in hopes of getting permission to visit Alessandra in the last few days oof our trip. If we can get permission we will be able to take a bus to and from the largest town near her for abour 60 USD each and still b back in lima in time for our flight home on the 25th. The only hitch is that we won't have electricity or internet for the next three days so i don't know how we will get in contact with the local office who needs to free up someone for a day and a half to come with us on the visit.

In the afternoon we met Patricia in a cafe at the plaza and she and kait went for a massage while I had a pedicure and then we all met atour usual haunt (for the last time *sniff*) Trotamundos for a coffee/hot chocolate before dinner. For dinner we went with Katie, Peter, Andrea and Darryl to Two Nations where we had fabulous food and were entertained by a live band - possibly the best pan piping we've heard since comming to Peru.

Monday June 15, 6:44 PM

Well I survived it. Although i think perhaps my legs will not be in a hurry to forgive me. Turns out the inca trail is both longr (by 12 kilometers) and much more difficult than Lonely Planet would have you think. If it weren't for our excellent guides i think i might still be trying to reach Dead Woman's pass... but i'm getting ahead of myself.

The night before the trek we met Ruben our main guide and he talked us through the trek describing the different legs and giving us an idea of what to expect on our four day expedition. He described the first day as a more or less flat 12 km warm up for day two which was a tough nine km including a 5 km uphill and 2 km downhill that he figured we could easily do in six hours and then day three as mostly downhill for the 16 km to our final camp. Day four he told us we would be on the trail by 5:30 AM and we would reach the ruins by sunrise at 7. Once at the ruins he woudl give us a tour and then we woudl have fre time until our train. Sounds totally doable no? I certainly felt better after this description, figuring only day two would be all that difficult.

Day one of the Inca trek started at 5:30 AM with a quick cup of coffee in our hotel and then the thirteen of us doing the trail hopped on our cushy bus for the two hour plus ride to Ollantaytambo and the start of our trek. We got off to a bit of a late start, leaving some twenty minutes after our scheduled departure which was fine, but turned out to be a bit of a trend.

We stopped in Ollantaytambo city to buy breakfast and any last minute things we needed for the trail (water bottles, wooden walking sticks, LED headlamps etc). Our tou leader recommended a place where we could eat "quickly" and cheaply -- he was vry wrong. After 45 minutes of waiting (15 more minutes than the whole stop was supposed to take) Andrea still hadn't received her breakfast and the rest of us had given up on the "toast" (texture of melba toast, flavor of gasoline). We did finally get to the trail head about an hour later after the breakfast had been sorted and kaitlyn's leaky water bottle, which she left in the restaurant on purpose, had been returned to her twice, about an hour behind schedule.

We went through the control, got out passports stamped and were ready to go... except that our second guide, Moises, hadn't arrived yet and we were not allowed to proceed without having a second guide with us as we were a group of more than 8 people. Finally at 11:30 (about 2 hours after we were scheduled to start moving) Ruben got permission from control to leave our tickets with them for Moises to grab on his way - ensuring we couldn't finish the trek without him joining us - and we got underway.

Lets just say that Ruben's "more or less flat" (AKA "Andean Flat") is my "hilly". I was ok for the first five kilometers until lunchtime as it was more down than up and I had fresh legs. After lunch however was a lot more difficult. More of less flat turned into more or less straight up hill and i was not having a good time breathing. Despite my discomfort we did see some beautiful things along the way. A little while after lunch we stopped at some ruins where our guide helpfully pointed out that if we went straight through the valley before us we would reach Maccu Pucchu in about 2 hours instead of two and a half more days. Ugh. By then i really wanted to take that little short cut, traditional route or not. By the end of the day after the worst asthma attack i've ever had and having to give my bag to our guide to carry i was extremely discouraged. And went to bed immediately upon arriving at camp.

The next morning it took most of my wilpower just to drag my but out of bed and face another day of torture. My legs were tired from the day before and I was dreading the five kilometer hill. It turned out to be both better and worse than what i had imagined. The hill was actually andean stairs, but not like some of the others we have climbed on this trip (straight up huge stone stairs) but five kilometers of relentless up on an ancient and now quite uneven, rockey road and stair cases felt like about 15 to me. I thank the Lord for Moises (who caught up to us by lunchtime on day one) who carried my pack for the last 1.5 Km up to Dead Woman's pass and provided me with both distraction and encouragement as i climbed about five steps at a time between breaks. I also thank the Lord that I did not have any trouble with my breathing other that normal shortness of breath. This was probably because i took sooo many breaks, but i am greatful regardless.

As i was climbing the seemingly endless hill I was really looking forward to the downill section - I have since learned that downhill is really not my friend in the Andes. This was no gentle sloping path thats easy on the knees and the breathing... this was Incan stairs made of solid stone that was not the least bit forgiving on my poor tired legs. When i finally got to camp however, after having a quick trail side lunch that was deliverd by two wonderful porters to me and Ruben about 45 minutes out from camp as everyone else was there and eating already, I got a round of applause from the porters and a high five from Moises and felt quite proud of myself for not just sitting down and bawling my eyes out at any point during that very long day.

Day three was infinitely better. We had some steep hills (up and down) for the first four hours or so (in which time we covered 8 km!!!) but after that most hills were gradual and as th path wound up the side of a mountain there were lots of trees to shade us from the boiling hot andean sun and beautiful scenery. It also helped that after lunch I put on my ipod (which i m pretty sure i have lost since then :( )and just walked in my own little world without worrying about being the last one it (which I wasn't until the very last stop of the day!). All was well until about 45 minutes into our 2.5 hour steep descent to camp (the guide todl us this rediculously long and steep staircase is nicknamed the Gringo Killer stairs and I can see why). At that point my legs which had been performing beautifully up to this point began to complain quite pointedly about this mistreatment. By the time we did finally get to camp that night around five, I never wanted to see a stair ever again in my life.

This morning we rose well before the sun so the porters could pack up everything and run (literaly) to the trian station for the daily porter train which leaves before 6 AM. We were breakfasted and standing in line at the second control by 5 AM. The walk to the ruins was about six kilometers according to Ruben and was supposed to take about 90 minutes to two hours. I did well for the first 45 minutes but then the path turned into more uphill and stairs leading to the sun gate and i fell quite a bit behind. There was even one point where i handed off my camera to Ruben, who was walking with me again this morning,so i could basically crawl up a vry steep staircase to the Sun Gate.

Maccu Picchu itself is very neat, unfortunately however we were too tired to really explore it. Ruben gave us a tour that covered the high points and took us over most of the city, but once he was done we headed pretty much straight for the bus stop so we coudl go into Aguas Calientes and get lunch.

Lunch was delicious but a complete rip off. I paid 60 soles (15 more than my previous msot expensive meal which included dinner, dessert, and two drinks) for beer and an individual pizza and to top it off the restaurant added a 10% tax/gratuity (the waiter didn't speak enough english to understand when we asked why there was tax and i don't have a clue how to argue about taxes in Spanish as i have never been charged tax here) on top of the outrageous price. There were eight of us at lunch and not one of us voluntarily left a tip.

The group for the Inca Trail was fantastic. We had: Steve and George, two older gentlemen from Australia whose wives stayed in cusco while the men did the hike. Andrea and Daryl, two police officers from Calgary who actually got engaged this morning (they are absolutely adorable) and who entertained us all with stories about idiots and crime. Katie and Peter, they're from australia as well where Katie works as a nurse at a children's hospital and Peter works for customs, Katie also has a rare disorder where she has to severely limit her protein intake because too much of a specific amino acid could cause long term damage to her brain - i am sure the cook was delighted with this as it meant he had to make two meals at every meal time.

Katheryn and Louise, the english women we met in Lima. Tessa, the woman from Hong Kong and the only one flyign solo in our group. And finally Yowen and Ashley (not how she spells it but i cannot remember the actual spelling) and Irish couple.

Well that is it for now as the bath is calling my name. Miss everyone at home and can't wait to see you in 11 days!!!

Thursday June 11, 3:07 PM

Today is Corpus Christie. Which for cusco is a massive celebration that started late last night and is still going strong. There are thousands of people everywhere, food vendors selling a special dish for Corpus Christie whcih is cold cuy, chicken, corn and what looks like seaweed. There are bands and little parades as well as a political protest that wandered through one of the plazas this morning while in the plazas on either side were in full corpus christie celebration mode.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the Inca Trail. I am more than a little nervous about this, my brain keeps screaming "what were you thinking?" whenever i think about it. I know i will survive as i am nothign if not stubborn, but i am hoping it will be enjoyable as well, and that is a little less certain. We have a meeting tonight with our local guide where we will get our last minute instructions. Kait and i bought all our last minute provisions today including non disposable water bottles since a regulation was passed on June 1 that forbids you from taking disposable water bottles on the trail.

Accessign phone and internet is not going to be possible much in the next two weeks but we are lookign forward to seeing everyone when we get home!

Wednesday June 10, 10:45 PM


Thanks to MS word refusing to accept my product code I cannot access the blog ntries i wrote while on the first few days of our tour. All i will say today is it was an adventure and you can all read about it in a few weeks when i get home.

It is sooo nice to be back in cusco. After a very long travel day we finally arrived in Cusco sometimes around nine PM exhausted and completely hating our obnoxious tour operator. He has an extremely shrill voice and no skill whatsoever for public speaking. Also he seems to think its a-ok not to pass around a tip envelope , rather he tells us how much we're expected to tip and then when we give him our money he counts it, aloud. I wish i was a little more confrontational as someone really should have a word with him about ettiquette and also remind him that all of the information about the tour that was avaialble online and through our travel agent clearly stated that tipping was recommended but nor required and that we woudlbe given a suggested amount (written down on the envelope not announced to the entire bus) and then allowed to tip at our own discretion. I mean i get that these people work hard and that we are so wealthy compared to them but they do get a wage for their work so tipping 100 soles each seems like an insanely huge tip to me.

Monday June 8, 9:04 am

Well we’ve met up with our tour group and are just waiting for our bus so we can hit the road back to the airport. Which is possibly the stupidestthing ever as we just flew into lima last night and now are flying to a slightly higher elevation which will feel horrible as all but my ears have adjusted perfectly to the oxygen rich, humid and warm air of Lima. My ears are rebelling as its been nearly 24 hours and i still cannot hear properly out of my Left ear which refuses to unpop or is filled with fluid.. *shrusg* its a little annoying as i cannot properly hear myself speak so i don[‘t know if i am unconsciously mimicking the two british women in our group or shouting like someone who has forgotten her hearing aid.

I havent’ seen much of Lima, Kait was sick yesterday so i didn’t want to leave her alone in order to wander the citry – not that she let me do more for her than buy a couple bottles of water and some oranges, but i didn’t like to think of her alone in a strange city. Also our hotel room had a bathtub (!!!!!) the first one i’ve seen in Peru so i couldn’t not have a nice long soak yesterday before meeting my tour group.
So far i think it will be a fun group. We have ...

Angela: i think she is the oldest of the group, i would guess 45 but i really have no idea. She is from Italy so she speaks Italian, Spanish, English and German. She has been to Paraguay twice but still seems surprised by things like not being able to flush toilet paper in Peru. She is the only one of us not foing the Inca Trail – not because she doesn’t want to but because she didn’t book until May and it was already full by that point.

Louise and Catherine: are from MAchester, i would guess they’re in their thirties. I went with them to the Super Market yesterday and i quite enjoy them. They are only here for the two week tour and don’t speak any Spanish.

Tassa: Is from Hong Kong (i think... my memory of yesterday is a little cloudy) i think she’s in her late 20s, she’s travelling alone as was in Easter Island last week (which is just cool).

There are three others who are supposed to be here but we haven’t met them yet. In total there are only nine of us and at most eight for the jungle excursion. I am kind of thrilled that it is such a small group as it will be possible to actually get to know everyone I think. Last night Louise, Catherine, Tassa, Angela and I went to the hotel bar for a Pisco Sour which was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to our free day in cusco already as i think this is a crew i can drag to a salsa club and have a lot of laughs from.

I am the “expert” of the group because i’ve been in south America the longest (if you only count this year’s trips), like to explain things like history and little tricks I‘ve picked up, and because i seem more familiar with Cusco than the Lima local representative who was with us yesterday. I am extremely grateful he isn’t our full time guide as he seems hopelessly naive about simple things like what currency you need to shop in Cusco (definitely not Dollarsor 100 sole bills) *sigh*. According to him you should be able to have only American currency – but i have yet to meet a taxista in cusco who could change an American bill so.....

Well our bus is here. wml

Saturday June 6, 4:49 PM

Today was awesome. In the morning the two new students arrived so it turns out Antonio´s paranoia was justified, I didn´t meet them but I don´t really care as we are leaving tomorrow.

After breakfast kait and I made more Nanaimo bars, this time with Aurora (our host mum) so she could see how it was done. They didn´t turn out as beautifully as the first batfch but i´m sure they´ll still taste yummy – not that we will probably get any as we are eating dinner out (again) tonight as it is my last night in cuzco and I want to bid it farewell with alpaca or something equally exotic.

In the early afternoon Patricia, Kaitlyn, Jennifer and I took a cab up to Blanco Christo where we spent at least four hours sun bathing, playing cards, reading and eating junk food. It was awesome. The air even that close to the city is much fresher and cleaner and we were only asked two or three times if we wanted to buy something :D

Friday June 5, 9:37 PM

We said our second set of goodbyes today as Emily leaves for her Maccu Piccu trek tomorrow morning. It was sad, but tomorrow will be worse as i hav to say goodbye to everyone else tomorrow. But at least we have a fun day of chillaxing planned. Basically we are going to find a patch of grass they will let us sit on and play cards, eat crap and get tanned or at least thats the plan as it stands now.

For our like tenth farewell meal we went to an Australian restaurant called Two Worlds a block or so from the school. I tried Alpaca – which to me may as well have been pork – in shishkabob form and a Peru Libre which is Pisco and Coke and much better than rum and coke but not as good as pisco sours in my opinion. It was a lot of fun.

I also got my certificate tonight for 130 hours of Spanish classes (even though i skipped at least 20 of those hours in the last two weeks) and found out that i got 14/20 on my test which is about the best i thought i could have done with that particular test so i am happy.I hope that when i get home i can convince VIU that all this hard work is worth at least three credits.. preferably more. I feel kind of bad though because kait didn’t know she had to sign up to get a certificate so she didn’t get one for her two weeks of study. It was something they told us on the first day that i didn’t think to remind her about :S.

Thursday June 4, 10:13 PM

Dinner was fantastic. I had the most delicious beef with vegetables and potatoes, crepe with chocolate and banana and coffee with milk ever to exist in the world all for 50 soles (roughly 20$ Canadian) along with good conversation and lots of laughter. I really love the group of girls i have been spednign the last few weeks with, but sadly this is the end of the era. Emily leaves Saturday morning for the inca trail, I leave Sunday and the other girls except for patricia start volunteer work next week so i probably won’t get to see them on the one day we’re in Cuzco.

For once i am thankful for facebook as it at least will allow me to keep in touch with them long distance as we all continue our travels or head home – and of course to share photos.

In the morning rather than going to our last day of classes we are continuing the celebration with breakfast in the plaza. We may go to the second half, but personally i really don’t see the point as they are currently teaching us a new type of conjugation – the uses of which they won’t give us until next week *rolls eyes* but i will cave to peer pressure so it will depend on what everyone else is doing.

I can hardly believe that five weeks are up and in three weeks i will be home. I am both excited and sad to be setting out of the next leg of this journey. Although when i think about leaving cuzco which has become a home to me over the last five weeks, i almost wish i were just heading home to Nanaimo. I’m having a wave of homesickness at the thought of facing the unknown for the next two weeks which makes me wish it were June 25, but i am sure this will pass the moment i see something new and excting.

Thursday June 4, 4:55 PM

Today I went to class and afterwards wrote a final exam for my many hours of spanish school. The exam was tough not because of the grammar it covered but because it used a vocabulary i have, for the most part, never seen before in my life. Which is why my spanish instructors advocated sneaking in a spanish-english dictionary - which is refused to as to me that is cheating.

After school we had lunch at home and then Kait and I met Emily in the Plaza de Armas and went to the final two sights on our boleta: The regional history museum which was the biggest museum by quite a bit but still took less than 20 minutes to cover and then an Incan monument. Overall I am nonplussed by the museums we´ve seen. Most don´t bother to provide english translations and those who do obviously don´t bother to hire someone who is actually fluent in english to do so.

Tonight, as Emily leaves on saturday morning and kait and I are out of here sunday morning, we are going out for dinner with our respective groups. Me, Patricia, Emily, Rebecca, Susann and Jenifer along with some others are going back to Granja Heidis where I hope the food will be as delicious as I remember. Kait and co. are going somewhere.. they just don´t know where yet.

Wednesday June 3, 9:31 PM

Today, Patricia and i’s predetermined sleep in day was not as much fun as we’d planned as my cold still lingers and i chose to sleep instead of going to get a massage during the first half of our classes and then staid home to study and sleep some more when Patricia went for the second half of the day. It did however go uphill from there. After a lazy morning my head felt less like it was going to explode and i could hear out of both ears without feeling like i’d just exited a particularly noisy nightclub or concert, and so Kaitlyn and I took a taxi into the Plaza D’Armas where i studied and she read for an hour or so in the sunshine before grabbing a coffee and then heading back home.

I really love the Plaza, even with the constant interruptions by people wanting to sell you things or just beg for your money. It is beautiful and a great place to sit and relax surrounded by all that is tourist-cusco, the good the bad and the very ugly.

We returned home between four and five (i’ve given up wearing a watch for the most part so i don’t know ac tual times) and decided that today was a good day to make Nanaimo bars. It took two shops but we were able to buy everything we needed – including a single egg since we were too cheap to buy 15 for 6 soles – for about 10 soles. The house was deserted so I turned up my ipod with some good old north American music and we threw together a pan of Nanaimo bars in a haphazard manner than would have appalled Kisha and Chris who both fear our measure-less ways in the kitchen. I am however grateful that we are used to measuring more by look than actual measurement as we didn’t’ manage to find measuring spoons or cups so had to make do with normal spoons and mugs as measuring devices. Despite following only the spirit of the recipe I think they turned out rather deliciously.

Our host parents certainly thought so. They had us write out the recipe in Spanish and Kait and I are going to show Aurora (our host mum) how to make them on Friday as its hard to translate a recipe with our level of Spanish knowledge and a dictionary that has the word for tsarina but not Graham Crackers.

All in all it was a very fun evening for which i was very grateful as kaitlyn was looking a little down today – not sure if its the cold with which she too is inflicted this week or something more serious, but se seemed happier while we were eating our sinfully delicious dessert so that is good.

Tuesday June 2, 5:02 PM

Only four days left in cuzco and 22 until we are home sweet home, my trip is more than half over and I am exhausted and a little ill (my ears are completely plugged and my throat hurts) but still rather sad to be leaving cuzco sunday morning.

Today following classes Kait and I grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds, the fries were just like home but i could see the salt crystals in my burger which basically pickled my mouth. However my need for fast food is cured for the moment so i supposed it is ok.

After lunch we hired a taxi in the Plaza to take us to see the four ruins near Cusco, you may remember Tambomachay, Puca Pucara, Q´enqo and Saqsayhuman from my last tour of these exact same ruins. This time was less exhausting and much more informative as we hired guides at Puca Pucara, Q´enqo and Saqsayhuman.

Today I learned that Puca Pucara means red fortress but that this is probably not the actual qechua name for the ruins, their actual name is likely Tambomachay which means that the name Tambomachay is not the right name for those ruins either, apparently in this country where they repair ruins they also have modern archaologists name them in quechua so it sounds authentic even if the names are not actually genuine. In my books this day to day deception of the gullable tourist is kind of hilarious.

Our guide at Puca Pucara was a student (not sure in what but it meant he was willign to work for nothing) whose english was ok, but not very quick or easy to follow. He did however point out some plants that were used byt he quechua and gave us a brief history of Puca Pucara and Tambomachay for the details of which I will refer you to alumininium ´s journal as she has a much better brain for details than I do.

At Q´enqo our guide was much mroe fluent in english and therefore more interesting to listen to. He pointed out altars used for the sacrifice of animals and told us that the tables in the cavern we´d thought were perfect size for humans were actually used for the enbalming of dead people - usually kings or high priests.

Finally at the largest ruins, Saqsayhuman, we hired a guide for 30 soles (6 times what we paid for our little tours of the other ruins but as he spent over an hour with us i think it was an ok price) who was also a Shaman. He was pretty entertaining, not really a history buff as i think i knew as much of the site´s actual history before his tour as after, but he ponted out lots of placed in the ruins where the stones were arranged in significant patterns and basically gave us a lesson in the mistic ways of the qechua peoples which was entertaining. He even demonstrated a bit of "healing hands" and told me that my problem was that i didn´t love myself and that I should tell my body that I love it and then i will be better... riiiiiiight.  He also attached medicinal significance to nearly everything we saw, telling us how it related to the incan magic or ultimate way of life . i did not laugh once, although i kind of wanted to on several occassions.

It was also amusing because there were many guides touring other roups at the same time and at one spot, a place where our guide told us the carving in the wall was the human spine, i heard one guide say it was a walking stick and another than it was a snake. It made me think it would be really fun to be a tour guide and just make stuff up for the one-day-only tourist crowd who likely has no idea what the truth is and will take your word for gospel. 

At four thirtyish we returned to our taxi and headed back to the plaza d´armas. Now we are in Trotamundos where we will hang out until six thirty when we are going to the school for dinner - some of the girls in kait´s class are going to make stuffed potatoes for us so it should be fun.   

Sunday May 31, 5:31 PM

As predicted, today was much rowdier than yesterday. We met our group in the plaza at nine. There was yet another celebration going on in the plaza so we had to wait for Ricardo to arrive and escort us to the bus which was waiting in the next plaza over. We then took the bus to the ruins at Tipon.

The Tipon ruins are quite neat with a lot of water stuff as well as terracing and buildings. Patricia was determined to climb up to the very top, which was exhausting but i’m glad because if she hadn’t dragged me up there the whole group would have just stayed on the main level, which was interesting, but only about two thirds of Tipon.

After Tipon we drove to another set of ruins, whose name i cannot at the moment recall so i’ll have to fill that in later. These were Wari (a pre incan people whose name i am sure i am mus spelling but without internet or my lonely planet i will just have to do my best) ruins. I suspect the Wari were quite tall as everything here was bigger than at the incan ruins we’ve seen. The stairs were further apart, the walls were higher etc.. They were also unique as the Wari built using clay as mortar and to cover their walls and floors. Personally i find the incan construction without mortar much more impressive, but it is near that they were able to excavate and utilize the soil in this way.

Across the street from the Wari ruins were another set of ruins “the gateway to the sun” These were really interesting as they combined Wari and incan building techniques. According to Ricardo (who acted as guide for the whole day) everyone who came from the jungle to Cusco had to pass through here and would remove their shoes as a sign of respect before walking to cusco.

From the gateway to the sun we went to a church in a little village. Once again no photos were allowed and patricia and i (totally sick of baroque churches who ban cameras) decided to just explore the plaza instead. It was fun. I bought a little bracelet and a change purse from a local vendor and then was highly amused that the other vendors refused to believe my “Tengo solemente seis soles” and tried to get me to buy silver jewlery for like 50 soles.

From the church we went to a local restaurant to have lunch. It was a nice place but as with everywhere in Peru servie was insanely slow and by the time we were done i was very ready to be home. In part because most of our dinner companions were tipsy and the day devolved into a nic-name creation fest that I think was only really funny if you’d had a largish bottle of beer and a shot of the anise flavoured liquor they gave us to follow our meal. However, the drunken girls in the back seat did make the ride home entertaining... especially the singing.

When we did finally arrive home patricia and i changed quickly and then headed into the heart of tourist cuzco to utilize the internet and drink coffee.

Right now as i sit at Tratamundos (my home away from my home away from home :P AKA our favourite Peruvian coffee shop) There is a dance troop and a marching band making their way into the plaza for a flag lowering ceremony. I can’t help but love the festive atmosphere, even if the band apparently only knows one song. The dance group has now evolved into a full on parade complete with floats. The german lady who is out on the balcony with me thinks tomorrow is a special day for peru – an independence celebration or something – so that must be what this is about. Regardless the cacophony is a lot of fun and i am disappointed i left my camera at home today.

Saturday May 30, 6:20 PM

Well today did not have an auspicious start as i found of at breakfast that kaitlyn had her coat and purse stolen at Inca Te last night... her purse that had her camera in it, so that really sucked, but thankfully not her phone, visa, passport or bank card so it is all replaceable except her Spanish notes. Also fortunate is that we uploaded her pictures onto my computer on Wednesday or Thursday so she only lost a few pictures not all. Which also makes me a whiney baby as my night was infinitely better than hers. But fortunately we still managed to have a good day overall.

In the morning Aurora and Antonio went out into the avenida and found us a taxista who agreed to take us to see the sacred valley for 140 soles which was a little more than we wanted to pay but still not bad for a full day of chauffer service – certainly much cheaper than at home. They then, being the adorable people they are, made the cabby give them his cel phone number, tested to make sure it works and made him promise to treat us well. It was very sweet.

First we headed over the mountains to PIsac ruins which are in the mountains above pisac the city. These were my favourite ruins of the day. They were huge, with terracing basically all the way down the mountain and three areas where there were ruins of buildings. We spent between one and two hours here (none of us could remember when we’d arrived but we left around 11 am).

After pisac we had a bit of a drive to the next ruins which were at the far end of the sacred valley. The ruins at Ollyantambo are even bigger than PIsac, but we gave ourselves only an hour so we only saw part of them. The part we saw included entirely too many stairs for my liking but was pretty neat.

Next we headed for Moray. Which has to be the worst marked tourist location in the world. Our driver asked for locations many times and eventually found it, but there were about six turns between the first sign pointing to Moray and the second so i’m not sure how you’re supposed to find it. Moray is kind of cool but we were all pretty tired already by this point so we took a couple quick pictures and then asked our driver to take us to the Salinas – which he agreed to do for an additional 20 soles as it was not part of the original deal.

The Salinas are really cool, i would have liked a tour here but no one offered unlike at most of the other locations. The earth is really salty in this area and the Salinas are a series of little pools where water leeches salt from the earth and then evaporates leaving behind the salt crystals. Really interesting, but not very photogenic.

After we had our fill of the Salinas we were off to our final destination and the only one higher than Cusco (somewhere around 4,000 m): Chinchera. The ruins here were really anticlimactic after the others we’d seen that day so we blitzed through them quickly and opted to grab a coffee instead of lingering over old stone walls. Once we finished coffee it was home time (yay!). We were all exhausted and i don’t think any of us will stay up past about eight tonight as tomorrow we have another big day of ruins starting at 9 am in the plaza. It should be more entertaining than today purely because there are ten of us going (we’re rented a bus) so we should have lots of chatter and silliness.

Saturday May 30, 12:17 AM

To be perfectly honest tonight was quite disappointing for me. After having so much fun on Tuesday when i didn’t even feel like going out i had high hopes for tonight. It started out well with the salsa lessons at the school. Unlike last time when we only “learned” (all of which i already knew) three basic steps we learned six different steps including two different kinds of spins.

At eight after salsa dancing for an hour at the school we met Ricardo (one of the teachers) in the plaza and went to a place for ceviche. I chickened out and decided to go with stuffed potatoes (which i know i love) because i was hungry and not feeling particularly adventurous. Knowing my pronounciation isn’t always the greatest I even pointed to the thing i wanted on the menu as i ordered.. so it was a nasty shock to receive roasted potatoes smothered in cheese sauce and to have everyone at my end of the table tell me that that WAS what i ordered – which basically guilted me into keeping it as i hate tourists who order the wrong thing because they dont’ know the language and then complain. So instead of a delicious dish I picked at the potatoes I could free from the cheese sauce and basically ate nothing. I did however try a bite of Naz’s cow heart – it was odd. Not bad or good, just different. I don’t have a burning desire to have ti again however.

After dinner we went to Inka Te – a salsa club on the plaza. It too was a little disappointing as being a salsa-only club you can only dance if you have a partner and as always there were more women who wanted to dance than men. I did drag a guy from the school out for one dance but after that we just sat and watched those who were really good at salsa for an hour or so.

By which point i was completely sick of salsa music so Particia and I ventured off to try and find a non salsa club. ROOTS (where we’ve gone in the past) was also playing salsa music tonight so we ended up at a little pub off calle suecia which was playing awesome techno music even if there wasn’t a dance floor. This was the only part of the evening that wasn’t disappointing. They had an ancient foos ball table so we drank water (me) and coke (patricia) and Patricia soundly kicked my butt three times at foos ball. We even challenged a pair of brits to a game and beat them by a couple points despite my deficiencies as goalie. But by quarter to 12 we were ready to go so headed home.

Hopefully tomorrow lives up to expectations better than tonight or i’m going to have to do some serious reordering of my expectations.

Friday May 29, 11:48 AM

This morning as planned Kait and I continued our touristing around Cusco. We started in San Blas with the Igledia de San Blas. It wasn´t nearly as ornate as the other churches we´ve seen here, but it was still neat to look at.

After San Blas we headed down to the Plaza de Armas where we saw the other three cathedrals - they´re all attached, but were built seperately so are technically seperate churches. The oldest, smallest and least ornate (which isn´t saying much) was Trimph Church which was built in the 1500s by the Spanish. I was named Triumph church in memory of a miraculous Spanish victory over the Incas in Cuzco in the 1530s. In the basement of this church was a crypt with unmarked graves that probably held priests or other important persons who had died as well as a silver chest with the ashes of a famous spanish author - actually the same author whose book I am currently reading. He died in spain but in the 1970s the spanish monarchs returned his ashes to his hometown of Cusco where he is revered for his writings about the Incan empire.

The second oldest, largest ang central church was built in the 1700s(if my memory is correct) using stones the spanish stole from the incan city Saqsayhuaman. It is magnificently ornate with at least six different altars and a ornately carved wooden choral area that took two people about 10 years to create. Above the seats where the choir would sit and sing are carved images of all the catholic saints and on either side are huge organs imported from Germany that have been restored and are now fully functional. Also in this church is the famous cusquenian painting of The Last Supper in which Jesus and his disciples are enjoying cuy, cheese,pomagranates and beer made from corn. Also interesting in this painting is that Judas´s face was done to be the face of Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro is infamous for promising hew woudl spare the incas if they paid him in gold and silver and then killing all of the incans he could after they fufilled their end of the bargain.

The third church - actually the first we visited was smalled than the central one and sticks out in my mind only for the fact that the walls were plain stone painted so you would think it was marble.

After the churches we wandered around until we found the Museo ofContemporary Art. Hands down my favorite museum so far. 1 because i could take pictures and two because ithad some really neat pieces.

Thursday May 28, 10:42 PM

It turns out Cuy tastes like deep fried chicken but is as much work as Crab for about as little meat. It is however fantastic for taking bizarre photos with :D I’m glad i tried is, as its actually less disturbing than i thought it would be to eat a guinea pig, but i don’t think i will eat it again. Tomorrow night i am told we are going to go eat cerviche (no idea if that’s how you spell it – its essentially fish cooked by lime juice) I think i will refrain unless its really good as eating sea food this far from the ocean just seems like a bad plan. Maybe in Lima.

After our Cuy eating adventure we walked for a bit and then caught a cab back to school (and grabbed some filling food as realistically it should have been two cuy each not two between three of us given the miniscule amounts of meat on each). This is the first time me and patricia have both been at school this week ... we’ve been very bad girls but interestingly enough i felt less frustrated and behind today than i did on Tuesday so maybe i needed the break. On Tuesday i just wanted to kill it all.

Anyway... it is late and kait and I are on the go at 9 again tomorrow so i’d better be a good girl and go to sleep.

As planned we hit the town infull tourist mode this morning. Starting with the Incan museum on Avenido del Sole- the hightlight of this was the fact that they clearly used babel fish to make the english signs as they were gramatically terrible and included such gems as "was sorrowfully cried". After that we headed to the plaza de armas to see cathedrals. Neither were open at first so we ended up in the Museo of Natural History - its run by the local uiniversity and it basically a gigantic collection of taxidermied animals and insects - it was neat but the variety of spiders and other giant insects freaked me out a little. The six leggedcheep, two headed goat and siamese cuy were all pretty entertaining though.

After that museum we went to the smaller of the two cathedrals in the plaza. Regrettably we weren´t allowedpictures here either, though i bought a post card with a photo of the altar so i´d have something to scrapbook. It was very ornate, but as i refused a guide (i got all the religious history my brain can handle at the museum of religious art tuesday) it wasn´t particularly fascinating.

In about five minutes though we are catching a cab out of the city for a lunch of roasted cuy (guinea pig :( ) before we head for `class like good little girls.

I have found new academic fervor this morning that i hope will last for the next two weeks as i learned that i may be able to do a prior learning assessment at the college for credit rather than taking spanish 100 which is guarenteed to be the same grammer i´ve already learned which means itis guarenteed to be a class i skip often... even if the vocabulary is different. :)

Thursday May 28, 8:53 AM

Today we actually start to use our bolettas :D we’re going to hit two churches in the plaza de armas, the museum on avenido del sol and then meet patricia and go eat cuy... i am a little afraid of cuy but its a delicacy here so its a must-do. *shudder*.

Wednesday May 27, 9:55 PM

Instead of attending classes - much to the suddenly studious kaitlyn’s chagrin – we attended a football match. It was fun but cold and took waaaay longer than a single match should.

The match was between a local team – we think they’re like the OHL of hockey ... almost as good as the main team but not quite – vs a team from Brazil. Cusco won 2-1 though they actually scored three beautiful goals, the second goal was disallowed for reasons i am unsure of. The problem was that the match which we originally thought was at one – meaning we could watch and then catch most of school – was actually scheduled for 2:30 and they ddin’t actually start playing football until around 3:30. The pre-game show was neat however... its a brazillian “dance” troop.. its more like artistic martial arts than dancing but it was very impressive.

Now it is late and i have to try and get some sleep despite being creeped out by the existence of yet another eight legged insect in the kitchen tonight which makes me not want to turn off my light. I really am a gigantic wuss... *shrugs*