Up Up and Away

July 29

So I realize I've sort of lost a day and a half, but we've been super busy. Let me catch you up. 

After a nice long siesta, not a lot happened actually. It was supposed to, but the animals don't quite accommodate our schedules as much as we'd like them to. We went to a tower 35 meters above the jungle to try and spot some birds. We heard the toucans but couldn't see them. Then we went to the clay lick to try and spot some macaws, but again the creatures of the Amazon eluded us. We had a little luck later that night during our night walk, but only with the creepy crawlies of the jungle. The spiders are HUGE!!!  Other than spotting an "agutti" the next morning, the rest of our jungle adventure was pretty tame, though no less enjoyable. 

So after another boat ride, bus ride, flight, and bus ride, we landed ourselves at our hotel in Cusco. I've got to say that I was pretty impressed with this city, despite the chilling temperatures and nearly 4000 meter elevation. There is so much culture in the city and the architecture is pretty amazing. So far it's probably my favourite city in Peru. 

Our day in Cusco was packed with activity.  As soon as we got there I had to go to the camera shop while everyone else had a half hour to relax and acclimatize. In changing lenses I got some dust on the sensor and had to get it cleaned. Immediately after coming back I quickly cleaned myself up and we were gone again. We did a city walk and went to the Coca museum. 

During our city walk, we stopped at the local market where they sell everything from coffee to dinner, souvenirs to scarves, and produce to cheese and cow snouts. Yes, I said cow snouts. There's an entire section of butchered animals, and like the Chinese they don't waste anything. There were penises hanging from rods, along with tails, hearts, and entire cow heads. I kept my eyes down and just tried to follow Darren, but I did catch a glimpse of crimson blood dripping off the dirty, white counter into a disgusting pool of mixed fluids. I think it belonged to a snout of some sort. I didn't quite note what it was, as I was too focused on not vomiting. Our guide had informed us that it would be rude to cover our noses. I didn't want to risk holding my breath and passing out in one of those red puddles. 

I was a little apprehensive about the coca leaves which are used in everything here (tea, chocolate, candy, powder, etc) because they are the main ingredient in cocaine. However, the coca leaf actually has a lot of medicinal and beneficial properties. It is a natural stimulant as you might guess, it aids digestion, it helps with altitude sickness, fevers, arthritis, and can act as a natural anesthetic.  It is only addictive and bad for you when mixed with all the cleaning products, paint strippers, and other chemicals used to make the drug.  The tea has actually been a lifesaver for those of you who know my usual travel ailment, and the candies have been helping a lot of our group with altitude symptoms. 

Some more food and rest, and it was onto another bus and off to Ollayantatambo in the Sacred Valley. We stopped in a small weaving village where the men do all the weaving, to learn more about their culture and customs. They don't speak Spanish here, but Qechua. Our guide gave us all cheat sheets and after introducing us to our hosts and giving us some background information on the village, it was our turn. We had to introduce ourselves (name, and where we're from) in Qechua. The women then had an opportunity to ask each of us some questions. Their questions were rather interesting as their culture is very patriarchal. Most of the women are married young and have children young, with a preference for boys. There are a few couples around our age and the women always wanted to know why they weren't married, why we didn't have kids, and (for the unmarried girls) whether or not we lived with our parents. The youngest mother of our hosts was 23 and she had 1 child. The oldest was 76 and she had 7 children!  

Well our hosts fed us an amazing lunch, but not before outfitting every last one of us in their traditional garb.  They then demonstrated their weaving techniques for us, and gave us an opportunity to buy some of their goods (which we did of course). Then it was back on the bus. 

Another hour later it was Chicha and Sopa time!  Chicha is a beer fermented from local corn. It is very bitter and served in massive glasses. Sopa is a game they play while drinking Chicha where you throw cold coins at this wooden stand to score points through the various holes. The ultimate score is to get the coin into the narrow mouth of a frog. It's a lot of fun and I'm very bad at it. After some Chicha and Sopa, guess what we did? 

We got back on the bus. 

We finally arrived in Ollayatatambo city (it's not really a city), walked a small tour around the city and then stocked up on supplies for the hike tomorrow. 

With 4 Snickers, a bag of Oreos, a box of granola bars, 2 bags of banana chips, a roll of toilet paper and some gloves, we're just about ready to hike a grueling 48 kms!  The map they gave us said the first day is "easy", the second day is "challenging", the third day is "unforgettable", and the fourth day is "unique". Well I guess we'll see. 

Tupananchis kama-- See you soon. 

Monkeys, Monkeys and More Monkeys

July 27

Well it has been a most interesting morning. I'm writing all down now so I don't forget anything. 

As mentioned, our wake up call was bright and early at 4am. Breakfast was at 430, and by 5 we were heading back down to the boat.  At the "port" was a beautiful sunrise to greet us and the morning mists. The river looked absolutely amazing. 

Half askeep and entirely in awe, the boat dropped us off at yet another staircase where we took a short walk to Ox-Cow lake. The ride around the lake as the sun was rising was beautiful, calm and serene. We saw some Macaws, Cormarands and various other birds. Nothing too exciting but still cool. We tried our hand at piranha fishing, and Darren and I were not very good at it. The piranhas were just little ones and though we fed them a great deal, none of them would bite our hooks. Some of the rest of our crew caught several and I took pictures of those.   Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any otters as it is sort of Spring here and the otters have babies (cubs?).  Which means we could only navigate half the lake so as not to scare or stress them out, and they chose not to grace us with their presence. 

A little sleepy, and hot and sticky (when the sun comes out in the Amazon it is not shy!), we made our way back to the lodge for a little rest before we head to the botanical garden to meet with a shaman. 

Well, as we're walking along the path the jungle just lit up with sounds. It was so exciting and there was so much energy. Our guide was so excited (having felt a little put out by the lack of wild life) because we stumbled upon 4 species of monkeys all in the same area. She (Inez) says this is pretty rare. We saw red howler monkeys, brown capuchins, squirrel monkeys, and some other kind I don't remember. I didn't get pics of them all but I did snag one or two good ones.  Everyone was going crazy pointing in different directions, trying to get pictures, running with the monkeys as they fled. It was quite the sight. 

...

The Amazon

July 26

Well it was an early morning. We got up at 6 hoping to have enough time to inhale breakfast at 7, and then leave at 715. Which would have been all good, except that breakfast was't ready to go at 7 and we still left on time at 715. 

The Peruvians have an interesting schedule. Everything starts late. Breakfast is simple (bread and marmalade), which means second breakfast is a must, especially since lunch isn't until 2pm. Then dinner is around 7-8. Schedules?  Schedules are a guideline, not a structure to follow or something to design a spreadsheet after. And when they tell you 20 minutes, they mean 40 or maybe an hour, or maybe more.  It all works out though, the only reason I'm wearing a watch is because Darren looks like a girl wearing it. Ali (our guide) has let us know that the key to enjoying Peru is to be flexible, so flexible we are. 

So, off we went to catch our bus to the airport, where we all checked in, sorted out some missing luggage and got on our way. Well it turned out that on our way was not our usual back of the plane where no one will see us. Somehow, Darren, myself, and the "Jones's" all ended up in first class. I felt bad for our friends back in row 13, but for the first time I actually felt like I was on my honeymoon. We drank champagne, had lots of key room, pillows, and an amazing lunch. I felt under dressed and a little out of place but appreciated the experience none the less. 

After arriving in Maldonaldo we hopped on a bus to the Rainforest Project Office. Here we unpacked and repacked for our 2 day Amazon trip. We had a few guests while we packed. A big black monkey curled up in the lap of one of the guests and tried to schmooze their orange juice out of them. They are ballsy and so cute!

A bus ride, a boat ride down the Amazon, and here we were. Not sure what we were expecting, but it wasn't this. When they described our beds using the word "mattress" I totally expected a roll out foamy on the floor.  Well that was an understatement. 

Our room is beautiful. I can barely describe it. The far wall is completely open (to help you stay better connected with nature), working back into the room is a hammock (SCORE!), then our beautiful bed. The room is amazing, words cannot express how out of this world this room is. It reminds me of something out of a movie. 

Because we were behind schedule, it got too dark before we were able to go to the "tower", so we just hung out, basked in the glory of this beautiful and had a few drinks before dinner.  While we were waiting, we spotted a few monkeys and a capibara. The capibara was adoreable. It looked like a piglet with a long nose. 

So tomorrow, it's a 4am wakeup. We're going piraña fishing and a little more animal sighting, then a frightening though exciting nigh walk!

Wish us luck!

2nd Pisco Sour

Well, we met up with our tour group today. I'm pretty excited about out group, we're roughly the same age and everyone is pretty fabulous. There's another teacher in the group (from the UK) and a few bankers. I think it'll be a good couple of weeks. Our tour guide is especially fabulouso! She is fiery and passionate about her country. I'm already in love with her. Today was a tourist's day. We saw the San Fransisco catacombs-aka-I saw a lot of bones today. Yes, human remains. They were mostly arranged by bone type: tibia, femur, skulls, etc. There were bones in a well that were even arranged in a circle. Very strange. At one point, we were informed that only 4 meters below us were even more remains. That was weird and made me very conscious of where I stood. After that very bizar tour, our guide took us through some of the squares and showed us some of the old colonial buildings. However because of earthquakes most of those Buildings were destroyed. Where they still stood was a seedy part of town. We were considering going there and as soon as we decided not to a bunch of policia started marching across the bridge. Eek! From there we went to "Boliviarda" to have a "pure" Pisco sour. Mine was "cathedral size" and it really was! From there we went to dinner and omg was it ever fabulouso. It was one of the restaurants run by a famous chef in Peru, and I must say, the food here is moi delicioso! The best asparagus stuffed ravioli ever. I keep asking Darren to go fetch me some churros to properly round up the night, but he won't. Well, after out amazing dinner it was back to our hotel, and here we are. We have an early morning, departing at 715 for the Amazon so it's early to bed tonight. Not sure when we'll have wifi again. I doubt the Amazon will. So as long as we don't get eaten by piranhas while we're fishing I'll keep you posted. Buenos Noches!

Our First Pisco Sour

Well, day 1 in Lima and so far so good. After over 24hrs in transit, we arrived last night exhausted and smelly. But we arrived, in tact and ready for yet another adventure. After sleeping for nearly 12 hours we took our time getting up and getting ready. Now, it may sound like we're already wasting time, and I must admit there was a touch of guilt at our lack of urgency, but this was more or less how we had planned things. We wanted a day before the tour to settle in and catch up on some much needed sleep. We were so exhausted after the wedding and Sunday was a total whirlwind as well.

So, after a much needed shower and a quick chat with our guesthouse manager we grabbed a coffee and sandwich, and began walking. From Miraflores we walked through Lima (I was totally lost but Darren seemed to know where he was), to an old bridge. They say that the first time you walk across this bridge you're supposed to hold your breath and make a wish. So of course, I wanted to stop half way across and take a picture. Turning blue, Darren silently turned me down and gave me a hard time once we were on the other side (the bridge isn't even that long).

After the bridge, we went to Javier's (recommendation by our guesthouse) had our first pisco sours of the trip. Following these delicious local drinks, we had some pretty fantastic seafood. It was pretty amazing and now we're both 10 pounds heavier. To wash it all down we shared uno sangrias. Those of you who know me, know how much I love me some sangrias. A little fatter and a little barracho we hailed a taxi back to our guesthouse.

I must say that for all the warnings and caution out there about Peru, the people seem absolutely lovely. Granted, our guesthouse manager and the taxi driver were both telling us what to watch out for, but bless their hearts for caring. So far we're safe and sound, and well warned of where to stay away from.

On another note, Darren's Spanish is improving--and by improving, I mean that he adds an 'es' or 'o' to the end of English words and calls it Spanish. Like "Me goinges to drinkes some beeres". Perfect Spanish! I think people have been assuming that I can speak Spanish because they always face me and rattle off in their native tongue and don't seem to register the confused look on my face. We are already picking up a bit of the language though, being the stereotypical tourists walking around with our phrase book and butchering every word we utter.

On a personally disturbing note, my camera is feeling like a completely foreign object. It makes me a little sad, I'm so out of practice. Pictures will probably have to wait until we get home though, which will give me some time to redeem myself. Buenos Noches!

Kids

I could probably write an entire blog just on the random things that go on at work and the random people I meet.  Here's an example.

Last night I was serving a party of 7.  It was a 23rd birthday, family dinner.  Near the end of their evening I overheard two adults talking about something "that bites".  The youngest at the table was probably about 8, and very authoritatively he explained that -whatever it was- "hasn't bitten anyone in 7 years!!!"  A little skeptical, the adults asked him how he knew such facts and the boy explained that he heard it on the news.  Curious, the adults asked the boy which news station he got his facts from.  Very proudly and with wisdom beyond his years he replied, "Dr. Oz" (DUH!).

Nice People

Before we left Hong Kong, a well traveled friend explained to me that the kindness of the locals we met while traveling is different than the infamous kindness of Canadians.  She says that the kindness you encounter in Asia is largely due to the fact that everyone is selling something.  Whether it's street food, trinkets, advertising for their restaurant or some sort of tour, just about everyone in Asia is nice to you because they want something from you.  Canadians will apparently be nice to you for no reason whatsoever.

Today I was in line at the grocery store.  Standing in line at the "less than 12 items" check out, an old man took his place behind me.  Not a minute had gone by before he started chatting me up, telling me about the convenience of tv dinners, which he only eats when he doesn't feel like cooking... which isn't often because he loves to cook.  He's never cooked a roast before because it's just him and a roast is a lot of food for one person, but the next time there's a sale he's going to buy a roast and then portion and freeze the leftovers for sandwiches.  He'll keep the frozen meet, along with his tv dinners in the freezer under the stairs... He's made friends with some of the women working at Superstore, because he's a regular shopper and sometimes they stop him to say hello because they recognize him because he's a regular shopper.... It's such a beautiful day today....

He continued this type of kind and random banter with myself, everyone else in line, and the lady working the till... for no apparent reason but to be friendly and kind.