Machu Picchu - Day 3

Lisa and Carolina
Walking to the Garden

Day three was very relaxing.  We starting with a great breakfast at the hotel and then off on a hike to a nearby waterfall.  The walk was pretty easy just following the railroad tracks to a little botanical garden about a 2 hour walk from Aguas Calientes.  Along the way we saw beautiful views of Machu Picchu and some awesome flowers. 

We spent 45 minutes or so at the waterfalls and then headed back. 

Cool flowers growing on the side of a
tree stub.

The river along the walk

On the trail

At the "big" waterfall

At the "little" (but more pretty) waterfall

Puppy love

A man's best friend

Resting after about a mile or so with us.

Along the way we passed this cute (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) dog.  I think I said something like, "Haya puppy," and up on his feet he was following us for probably a mile or two.  When we stopped he stopped and then up he was again.  I'm not sure exactly when we lost him, but I'm assuming it was when he over heard me tell my hubby we would not be taking him home with us. 

I'll just call him "Tiger"

We also saw this really cool looking tiger dog.  I asked the guy what his name was, it was Water (in the native Indian language).  After seeing this dog and gushing over how unique he was, we saw about 8 more just like him all over Peru.  I thought he was kinda cool. 

We returned to the hotel to freshen up, and headed out to lunch.  After lunch we spent several hours shopping, we found a snow globe for Emma (the only thing she asked for), a totem for Isaac, and a rain stick for Eli.  We also bought stuffed guinea pigs made of alpaca fur (and told them they were our dinner on the first night.) 

After shopping we went back to the hotel and grabbed our swimming suits and headed up to the hot springs.  It was quite a hike up there and when we arrived they were dirty and smelled like people stew.  We sat in the hottest spring for about 20 minutes and then out we went back to the hotel to take a shower.  I know many people find this relaxing, but if you know me you know what a germ-a-phobe; this really grossed me out.  I'm glad we did it once, but I have ZERO desire to ever do it again.  I wish I had taken a picture for you to see, but I didn't want my camera to get stolen because we had to leave our stuff in lockers. 

We headed to bed early this night because we have to be up to catch the 5:30 bus in the morning.

FS BRU- Honesty

It has come to my attention that I am not nearly as daring as most of the FS blogging community.  I have an inability to put things on my blog that meet the requirements for this month, "I want you to be honest with yourself and write something that has made you think. That has, dare I say it, almost scared you to have it published."  as stated in The Perlman Update - FS BRU.  I have decided to be prudish and reserved for several reasons, I don't think everyone on the planet needs to know the in's and out's of my family, to keep my husband happy because he is super security conscious (especially when it comes to stuff put out on the internet), I am a believer that what you think about you bring about and thus negativity will generate more negativity, and probably most importantly I know once it is out there it can never be taken back.

My goodness could you imagine if I just let loose on all the things that sucked at post, or how I think the school my kids attend has some serious issues, or heaven forbid (shhhhhhhh) my in laws?  I just know it would all come back to bite me in the butt. 

So that is it for me being honest.  If you know me you know I miss my family in the States terribly, my house leaks, driving here is a joke, and I am mentally challenged when it comes to learning Spanish.  You will also know, I love living overseas, I love my husband and children, and I'm grateful everyday for this opportunity and I'm still working on Spanish.

Someday, down the road when I'm super angry about something you may find my ranting on this site.  But for now my ranting about politics, religion, education and life in the Foreign Service will just have to be for those ears closest to me (you know who you are).


 

Machu Picchu - Day 2

At the Sacred Valley Overlook

Day two we headed out of the hotel ready to go.  We found some alpacas (or llamas I can't really tell the difference) at one of the places we stopped to enjoy the view ..... and shop, of course. 



Cute little girl.  Her mom told
me I coudn't take her picture unless
I bought something.  I'll show her...



Shawn at Moray

Our first real stop was Moray, this was amazing and beautiful.   We learned that the Inka's did agracultural testing here.  They learned what plants would grow at what altitude, then they would take that information and grow in their cities the food that would work best. 

Irigation system

Climbing the huge steps to get out.

Floating steps- 3 steps = 6 feet

They also created an amazing irigation system and "floating" steps to get from level to level.  Some of the steps were quite a workout, and the elevation did not make it easy on us.  By the time we hiked out of that hole I could hardly breath.  But thankfully the rest of my body did not give out on me. 



Us at the bottom of Moray.

They cut all the grass with a machete.



With our tour guide Carolina.

Next we headed to the salt mines.  We learned that individual families each own a few of these puddles that they fill with salt water that comes from a highly salty spring, and if I remember correctly she said that they have never found the source of the water.



At the salt mines

There are more than 3,000 pools for mining salt.

After filling the ponds they allow them to evaporate (taking about a month) and then the remaining salt is "harvested" by hitting it with a stick or paddle and then putting it in a bag.  One of the "farmers" told us they harvest several hundred pounds of salt out of each pond.  However our tour guide said that because salt is so cheap now they still live in poverty. 





Mud Bricks

We hiked down from the salt mines (about an hour) and met up with our bus that then took us to lunch.  On our way down we saw a couple of small villages and one family making bricks.  It reminded me of teaching California history and talking about the bricks made of mud and straw.

Shawn napping on the train.

Because Shawn still had food poisoning from the night before our guide arranged for his lunch to be changed into free sodas.  Then we were off to the train and began our ride up to Augas Calientes.   

Aguas Calientes

Machu Picchu - Day 1

So my goal is to blog about each day in an effort to share my trip with my family.

Day One started off very early.  The driver arrived on our doorstep at 4:15am.  We arrived in Cusco around noon.  I was super excited to walk out of the door of the airport and see my name written on a little sign (you know like they do in the movie), but we got out there and my name was no where to be seen.  I made another pass and noticed some David guy being picked up by the same company.  So I approached the girl and told her that I also had reservations with Gateway Peru and asked if she could find our where our transport was.  She double checked her list and low and behold she had just written the wrong name on the board.  So sad.....



Shawn eating an
alpaca burger

We arrived in our hotel where they served us Coca tea to help with altitude sickness (YUCK!  It needs about 3 teaspoons of sugar before I can even get it down) and filled out the hotel registration.  Then we headed out to see the town. 
After a bit of shopping we stopped for lunch, where we had a wonderful smoothie (Peru has great fresh juices) and an alpaca burger.  I hear alpaca is healthier to eat than beef, and it didn't taste to bad. 

While shopping
 we found this sign. 
Hehehehehe

We spent 3 hours just wandering around the shopping of Cusco, and I loved every minute of it.  Shawn hates that I negotiate with the vendors, but I think that is come of the fun of it.  We bought alpaca sweaters, and a couple of little treats for the kids.



Gotta love the shopping

Later that night we went to Don Antonio's.  If you are planning a trip to Peru everyone told us this was the place to go, but we didn't think it was worth the money.  The show was great! Although we were exhausted from a long day, but the food SUCKED and Shawn ended up getting food poisoning (I think from the ceviche.) Dinner that night cost $70 for the two of us and we didn't eat much of anything.   We did however try Guinea Pig, a traditional Peruvian dish.  It is possible we might have liked Guinea Pig more had we not tried it from this place first I just couldn't get past the face.... or the idea of eating a pet.

One of the many dances at Don Antonio's.

Traditional Peruvian Costume Dancers.

Gotta love the photo ops.

Feliz Dia de Madre

Last night our family attended a party at the church for Mother's Day.  It was amazing.  As usual it was scheduled to begin at 7 but didn't really start until 8.  So my kids spent the first hour in the yard playing.  You can see Isaac "chasing" after the missionaries as they are headed into the party.  

 

A favorite "hang out" of Isaac's

"LET ME OUT!"

 I love the picture of Eli above pleading to get out, because he often does escape.  The church here leaves ALL of the doors open.  The doors to the church to the yard and if I don't have my hands on him every single minute he will run away.   That is one of my many wonders here.  Why is it my little white, blond haired, blue eyed American baby will run far, far away when given the chance but all these little Paraguayan children are given the freedom to run all over the church and most of their parents don't think another thing about it and yet they never leave the premises?  I think it is a secret plot thought up by my children to drive me crazy.  But that must be a story for another day.

Although Isaac swears that he hates speaking Spanish and doesn't understand any of it, he sure gets along pretty well with the kids in the primary. 

So as my kids are out playing in the yard the Young Men are hard at work in the kitchen.  They made it a point to make sure that the Mothers didn't have to do any work.  And they did a pretty good job. 

We had a presentation of poems, dances and music by many of the ward members.  And of course the children sang, Mother I Love You! (which I of couse have video of but I can not get to load on here so I have put it on facebook for my family.)

The ward hired these wonderful musicians to come in and play traditional Paraguayan music.  And for the last song a few of the members got up and danced.  Would you know Shawn and I did too.  I would post a picture but I had the camera and was busy dancing.  But when we got on the dance floor the ward cheered, probably because we were making fools of ourselves not knowing how to do their dance.  But we were creating memories; and that one was a good one for us. 

 This cake turned out to be pretty yummy.  I don't usually care for cake here.  They tend to be dry and full of dulce de leche.  This one was not dry, but was full of dulce de leche but also had peaches layered in it.  It was a hit with the ward.  My family even liked it, and that says a lot here. 

This is our bishopric.  I have to say over the course of our lives there have been a couple of bishops that have really stuck out as super, humble, wonderful men that touched our lives.  This bishop is one of them.  He is an awesome guy.  We are grateful to know him. 

Please Dont' Headbutt my Baby!

Eli and I went to the embassy yesterday morning.  As we were walking back to daddy's office we walked past the deer just enjoying the shade.  I got my phone out to take a picture and Eli naturally, before I knew it, Eli ran right up to get a closer look.  The deer did not budge until Eli started barking at  him.  Poor thing.  All he wanted was to sit on the nice asphalt in the shade and do a little people watching.  Dang kids, they ruin everything!