Monday, December 3rd, 2007 Cusco and off to Aguas Calientes

Monday, December 3rd, 2007 Cusco and off to Aguas Calientes

We woke up around 10:30 am, while I was brushing my teeth I overheard Natalie talking to two guys in the room next two us. She asked them where they are from and when they said St. Louis, MO, I came rushing out of the bathroom. They both went to LaDue High School, where Sara is a Young Life leader and where in Peru for three months teaching English. We went to lunch with them and had a great time laughing at their crazy stories.
After lunch we headed out to check out Cusco. It is chalk full of amazing churches, great museums and art galleries. We went to the Cathedral where we got a private, 1 hour long tour from a woman and learned more about it than I thought possible. Next we went to the Jesuit church on the other side of the corner but skipped the tour b/c of time. We snuck up into the bell tower and got some awesome pictures.
Then to an Incan history museum, then a famous convent. Both full of artifacts and beautiful artwork. Then we went to a Popular Art Museum, with comical and disturbing figurines. By now it was time to meet up with our tour guide to get our car to Ollantaytambo, where we were to catch the train to Aguas Calientes. Our guide met us at the hostel with all the tickets we would need for the rest of the trip and sent us on our way with the driver.
The ride to Ollantaytambo was beautiful through the Peruvian countryside with glacier capped mountains in the distance. When we got to Ollantaytambo we ate dinner in a cute café by the railroad station then boarded the train.
We got into Aguas Calientes around 10 pm and headed to our pre-paid hostel. We settled in, bought lunch to bring to Machu Picchu the next day, then our tour guide for Machu Picchu met up with us to give us details for the next morning. Worst part: wake up call at 5 am. With that news we headed to bed, super excited for our big day tomorrow.

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 Day Tour of Sacred Valley and night out in Peru

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 Day Tour of Sacred Valley and night out in Peru

We got into Cusco at 4 am and our guide brought us to a hostel. We slept for a few hours and woke up at 8 to go on our tour of the Sacred Valley. We had various stops:
First market place, ran into gringo friends from Washington University in St. Louis on same tour with different group, bought dad and Christian their alpaca sweaters
Market place- bought corn on the cob off the street= amazing! Peru shot glass
Pisac- ancient ruins, built in shape of a condor (big white bird, very important in Incan culture)
Ollantaytambo- ancient ruins built in shape of llama
Buffet lunch= yummy
Chinchero- colonial church, nick played soccer with the little kids, Natalie got pwned aka convinced by a group of kids to buy postcards
Fun ride back to Cusco, met up with group from Wash U for dinner
Found a deal for all 10 of us for a 3 course dinner with pisco sours for about $3 a piece
After dinner Nick, Chris, Natalie and I went to the Uptown, a bar advertising a free drink and salsa dancing, met Cliff, 6’3’’ guy from Fulton, MO and friend Jeremy. Chris and Natalie got sick of hearing about Missouri and decided to head back early but Nick and I hung out with our new friends. Had great conversation, danced, and after Nick and Cliff both got offered cocaine and Nick got solicited sex by a prostitute we decided to head back. It ended up being 5 am!

Saturday, December 1st, 2007 Day Tour of Lake Titicaca, Peruvian wedding and off to Cusco

Saturday, December 1st, 2007 Day Tour of Lake Titicaca, Peruvian wedding and off to Cusco

We woke up super early to catch the bus to the boat tour. We drove to the port and every piled onto the boat to begin our day long trip on Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was the Islands of the Uros, a series of 39 man made floating islands. They are built out of a reed and mud from the bottom of the lake mixture with layered reeds on top to form the ground. A group of about 3 families live on each island in small houses made out of reeds. The community form about 600 years ago to escape the wars on the land surrounding the lake and survived by fishing and gardening on the island. But now they survive mostly on tourism. It was sad to see how dependent they were, but at the same time it was an incredibly interesting way of life.

Next we had a 2 hour boat ride to another natural island on the Lake, Island . This island has about 500 residents and they survive on agriculture and selling their woven goods. We ate lunch on the island overlooking the lake covered by a white blanket for shade. It seemed just like on Survivor!

After this stop I slept on the 3 hour ride back to Puno. By the time we arrived it was about 6 pm. Everyone else went to get dinner but I wasn’t hungry so I went to the cathedral to go to mass. But when I got there and sat down, a man came out and announced that the Cathedral as being closed to the public because there was going to be an ordination! So I headed out and went to find my friends at dinner but as I was walking out I overheard a Peruvian woman talking to her young son about how they were going to walk to the other church to go to mass. I turned around and asked her if there was another mass and if I could join them. So I walked with them a couple blocks to another church. When we walked in we saw that instead of mass, it was a Peruvian wedding! It was especially the same as the Chilean wedding but with really cheesy music (i.e. My Heart Will Go On from Titanic etc.). In the hopes that there would also be a mass, I decided to stick around but in the end they only had communion for the bride and groom. So I didn’t get to go to mass, but I got to see another South American wedding!!

After the wedding I started walking back to the hostel when I ran into an awesome parade marching through the pedestrian street. It was the closest parade I’ve seen to a Mardi Gras parade minus the huge floats. Back at the hostel, we asked the woman working if she knew about any hostels in Cusco that were good and a few minutes later she came back with a man who started talking to us about our trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Come to find out, he is a tourism agent and after talking to us about our plans, he offered us a deal for the rest of our trip. It included: a day tour of the Sacred Valley, the car/train ride to Aguas Calientes, the bus to Machu Picchu, the $40 entrance fee into Machu Picchu, two nights in a hostel in Aguas Calientes including breakfast both days and the bus ride from Cusco back to Tacna, all for only $136 a person! It was such a good deal and he seemed legitimate, so when he told us that we could pay half up front and that he was going to go with us to Cusco to organize everything, we decided to go with it! So we went to the bus station with our guide and got on the bus at 9 pm to Cusco!

Friday, November 30th, 2007 Speed tour of La Paz and escape to Peru

Friday, November 30th, 2007 Speed tour of La Paz and escape to Peru

We woke up early at 8 pm to aprovechar (to take advantage) of our little time in La Paz
First we walk ½ a block to the main square in La Paz with the Cathedral, Capital building, Supreme Court building. Full of police b/c of potential for protests. Looked like a bunch of ninja turtles hanging out. We were standing out side the capital building when a long line of cars and motorcycles pulled up with the lights flashing. A bunch of men in dark suits with sunglasses were standing outside talking into walkie talkies when 4 men came out of the capital and got into the BMW. Nick asked a random Bolivian man and found out that it was Eva Morales, the controversial Bolivian president. That was probably one of the most exciting, random events, even thought I didn’t even recognize Morales.

Next we walked to the Coca Museum, which is well known as a great museum about the evolution of cocaine. We got there at what we thought was 9:45 and decided to wait till 10 am when it opened. A woman outside the museum was selling jewelry and while waiting we found earrings made out of coca leaves. One side shows the leaf and the other side is colored weaving. We all bought a couple pairs since they were so cheap. By 10:30 the museum still wasn’t open so we walked over to the famous Witches Market, where they sell tons of Incan figurines, herbs, and other religious artifacts and most notably, dead baby llama fetuses. Chris decided to buy a fetus to give to his 13 year old host brother. So for the rest of the trip, we had an extra travel buddy who we lovingly named Eugene Fredrick Cummings, shortened to EF.

We headed back to the museum, which was finally open. We spent almost an hour walking through the small museum reading all the info while we learned about the evolution of the ancient practice of chewing coca leaves to the current day war on drugs focused in South America. I learned a lot and it reinforced a reoccurring theme I’ve noticed throughout of South America: the ancient practices were healthy, effective and appropriate for the culture. Then white man came, stole the practices, abused it and turned it into something harmful and destructive. Then they turn around and blame the indigenous culture for the harmful effects of the previously harmless product. Two highlights of the museum:
1. The statue of the cokehead sniffing coke:

2. The motivational sign to warn against the dangers of drugs:

The successes in life are the sources of constant pleasure that permit us and orient us towards a constructive and pleasant life.
A well adapted individual is capable of feeling pleasure to achieve healthy and fruitful interpersonal relationships, succeed in studies, obtain good work, make a stable and caring family, raise healthy children, maintain enjoyable sexual relationships, obtain social prestige and economic stability. The pleasure is the ? Example that directs el path to a healthy life.

We spent the rest of the day walking around La Paz. Bolivian women have a very typical dress which includes a long, full pleated skirt, a blouse, a brightly colored blanket wrapped around a bundle of whatever they are carrying on their bag, all topped off with a black bowler hat covering their 2 very long, thick black braids.

We walked through a huge market selling all types of food and fruit, then to the famous Church of San Francisco. We first walked to the wrong church which was small and closed but eventually we found the right church. Of course, it was beautiful and full of alters and saints statues. After completing everything we’d wanted to see in La Paz, we headed back to the hotel, ate for lunch what we bought for breakfast the day before while we watched a horrible US movie that happened to be on the TV. We got all our stuff and took a taxi to the bus station to catch our 2 pm bus and waited outside the gate. When 2 pm arrived and no one else was there I walked over to the ticket counter to find out if we were at the right gate. The lady said we were correct and that we would start boarding in 30 minutes. I didn’t understand because we were supposed to leave at 2 and she told me that it was only 1 pm!! So apparently there is a one hour time change between Chile and Bolivia and we didn’t know it! We’d been hanging out this whole time thinking it was an hour later!

Since we had an extra hour we took a walk around the bus station and had a photo shoot with EF, the baby llama. Finally we got on the bus at the correct 2 pm and spent the rest of the day driving to Peru. At the border we got off the bus and exited Bolivia after we were warned that if we had left the next day, we would need a Visitors Visa. Good thing we left when we did!! Then we walked across a bridge and entered Peru. I couldn’t believe how chaotic it was and we could have easily entered Peru without passing through customs. The rest of the evening was a tumultuous bus ride while I attempted to sleep.

We arrived in Puno late in the evening and first arranged to take a boat tour of Lake Titicaca the next morning. Then we went out to check out Puno and decided that we wanted to try the famous Peruvian delicacy Cuy. Aka Guinea Pig. So we found a nice looking restaurant and ordered one for all of us to share. To our surprise, it came out as an entire guinea pig, buck teeth and all. It was disgusting to look at and not too much better to eat. It tasted like chicken but with a lot less meat. After dinner we headed back to the hostel where the 4 of us were sharing a room. We kept trying to go to sleep but with all of us together we couldn’t stop laughing, especially at Chris’s absurd insults and Nick’s obliviousness at the female anatomy.