Conquering Wayan Picchu!

I came back to Peru and I conquered the mountain. When I was at Machu Picchu the last time I was unable to climb WayanPicchu and knew one day I would be back to climb it, this was my number one goal for this trip. If you're familiar with pictures of Machu Picchu... WayanPicchu is the tall mountain that stands behind the ruins.   We were up at 445am and we were at the main entrance to the ruins at 6am... Started climbing at 7am!!! We actually did a shorter hike first to Huayan Picchu which for me was tons of fun!!! Narrow Incan stairs with a sheer drop on one side and hugging the mountain on the other. SO FUN!!  Getting up to WayanPicchu was tons of fun too... A lot more of the same narrow stone stairs with ropes to help you up. Some stairs were really short with barely enough room for your foot and others came up to my knees.  The steepness and stairs reminded me a bit of the Grouse Grind but the rewards of the views were priceless! It was so amazing to see Machu Picchu from an unobstructed  birds eye view and amazing views of the Andean mountains that surround Machu Picchu.  When we reached the top (in just under an hour and a half) Katie stayed to rest in a more "secure" spot as I went to explore the ruins that are at the top. This involved stairs that were even more narrow and steep. I got some amazing pictures. We had met a few girls from Argentina on the way up and they were happy to be my photographers at the top.  The way down was also fun... It had rained quite hard the night before so the steps were damp and covered in wet leaves so you had to step very carefully. But again for me it was tons of fun.  Once we got down we found a guide for a tour of Machu Picchu... It was great to get some insight into what we were looking at and the culture of this ancient civilization, but we were both quite tired and by the end of the hour long tour we were pretty much done. We spent a total of about 7 hours up in the ruins.  An absolutely amazing day!!!  The train/ bus ride back felt long and we didn't get to our hotel until 1030pm.... Boy did we sleep good!  Today will be a pretty calm day of exploring more of Cusco and checking out some more markets. I don't think our bodies will allow us to do much more than that.  And and the quote of the day yesterday.... While siting at lunch after 7 hours of hiking in the beautiful sun and feeling quite sweaty and gross.... I said to Katie "why do I smell so good?" .... I had just used some of my Satsuma hand sanitizer... I'm sure it was just that, there was no way I was smelling good then! 

Front row seats!

We arrived in Aguas Calientes in style today!  We took our bus to Ollantaytambo (I can actually pronounce that now!) and were waiting for our train.... To our WONDERFUL surprise we had seats on the very front of the train with a great big window in the front and a big dome window on the side!!! It was amazing! We were two very gitty girls. The scenery was absolutely amazing! And we passed by KM 84 where 7 years ago I started the 4 day Inka Trail. It was so neat to see the bridge we crossed at the very beginning of our trek.  Looking at the mountains from the train I can hardly believe that I hiked through those.  I got some amazing scenery pictures!   Aguas Calientes (at the foot of Machu Picchu) is very much just a tourist town, and is under some major renovations in the streets.... You have to watch where you walk or youll fall in a hole. Looks like theyre working on drainage.  Lots of restaurants and souvenir shopping though.  It's an early night for us tonight, the alarm is set for 445 am and we are catching the 530am bus up to Machu Picchu!!!  I feel so incredibly blessed to see these ruins for a second time... While most only dream of seeing them. And at 7 am we will be starting our trek up Wayan Picchu for a birds eye view if the ruins.  We are going to be sore and tired for our train ride back to Cusco tomorrow!!!

Celebrating a King

We woke up this morning in one of my most favorite cities, Cuzco. This city is full of old buildings, cobble stone streets and is the historical centre of  Peru.  Around each corner is something new and exciting. And today did not disappoint!  Today is Palm Sunday, a day of celebrating the day that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and the people laid palm leaves to honor Him as King.  We are in a Catholic country and they know how to celebrate their religion. As we walked into the Plaza de Armas it was beginning to fill with people, all carrying their palms.  We quickly found our spot on the steps of the cathedral and waited... Then waited some more as the plaza filled. Then the ceremonies started... There were bands and a ceremonial raising of the flags of Peru and Cuzco... And both the Peruvian and Cusqueno anthems were sung.  And there was even a five gun salute! Which thankfully wasn't as loud a we thought it would be. The parade proceeded... This was about 2+ hours of bands, civil servants, churches, army... All to celebrate the arrival of Jesus. It was quite the experience to be squished among the local people an participate in their celebrations.  That was all before 11am!!! We had lunch and then headed out to explore and find some craft markets!  I love looking around craft markets when I travel... I never tire of looking at the same stuff over and over.  On our way back to the hotel we passed a building and I heard some very familiar music... I looked at Katie and said "it's a Christian church!" and she said "wanna go?" I was so excited!!  Walking in and hearing familiar choruses I felt like I was home, it's amazing how God has put such a passion in my heart for the Spanish language and culture. And we got to experience Latin hospitality from our Peruvian brothers and sisters as we were greeted with hugs and kisses.  I was excited for Katie to experience something that has been such a huge part of my life and to also experience how the Latin people worship! They are so full of emotion and love for our God, its incredible. A very real emotional aspect that you dont see in our services at home.  I got really excited when they started to sing "Eres todo Podoroso" (you are all powerful) a song that took me back to my time in Ecuador. I was surprised at how many of the choruses i remembered the words to. The sermon was great... The pastor preached with gusto like only a Latino pastor can. LOVE IT!!! Katie said her favorite part was seeing my perma-grin as I was clearly in my element. For me it was over too quick, for Katie not understanding a 2+ hour service I'm sure it was over just in time. She did really enjoy it. We had dinner on a balcony over looking the Plaza and watching a lightening storm.  We have had all elements if weather... Super hot and sunny, cloudy and super cold, rain, hard rain, SNOW, and now a lightening storm.... I wonder if we'll get some hail? And now I'm typing this post from Starbucks which is about 10 steps from our hotel. Tomorrow we head out on a train to get ready to hike through Machu Picchu on tuesday. So the next post most likely won't be until Tuesday night... And I'm determined that my second trip to Machu Picchu will not include a sprained ankle! Hope everyone at home is doing well, we will see you in just a few days now! 

Lake Titicaca

Uros islands It was another early morning! We were picked up for our tour at 645am!! So we were up at 515am to get ready and have time for breakfast too. It was a great breakfast too.... Bread with cheese and avocado and some quinoa and puffed wheat with strawberry yogurt.  We've met some fellow Canadians on our tour, they're both from Moncton, first Canadians we've met.  I'm writing this from our boat heading back to Puno... It's a long ride. Lake Titicaca is no small lake! It's 165km long and 60km wide, and is shared with Bolivia.  Our first stop of the day was on the floating Uros Island. These are 60+ man made islands that are made out of Tortola reeds (something that sounds like that anyways). It feels like you're walking on a waterbed, and people live here! It's their home. They build their islands, houses and boats all out of the same reeds. They also eat them, we got to taste some, tastes like lettuce. We were shown a short demonstration of how their islands were made and then the women of the islands ( all dressed in bright colored skirts) showed us their houses. The house we visited was very very small. It had a simple kitchen area and a small bedroom where the family of six slept. The three young girls all shared a "bed" this was blankets in the floor and mom, dad and baby shared the other "bed". They have solar power to work their lights, radio and yes even their tv. Afterwards, Julie, took us out to see her handicrafts....the pressure to buy something was very intense and a whole lot of pressure.  Kind of takes the fun out of shopping and we felt guilty looking at tables that other families had on display. It's a very interesting culture to visit. The island we visited had six families / 25 people living there.  Our next stop was Taquille Island, the third largest island on Lake Titicaca (the biggest belongs to Bolivia). This was a 2 hour boat ride from the Uros islands.  We had to walk uphill to the main plaza, passing the men walking knitting their toques and the ladies spun wool as they walk. On this island your hat or headdress denotes your marital status. And the men knit the toques not the ladies. A red and white toque signifies that you are single, a completely red hat signifies that you are married. A very Colourful hat says that you are in leadership. For the woman they worn black shalls over their heads and if they had large Pom-poms in the corners they are single, if the Pom-poms were smaller they were married.... Not quite as subtle as a wedding band.  We had lunch on Taquille island and it was a typical meal for the locals.... Quinoa soup and trout with rice and French fries.... You get fries with ever meal here.  After lunch was a trek down the other side of the island to find our boat.... This trek was over 500 steps!  With an altitude of 4,000 meters we were all out of breath. But the scenery was absolutely beautiful! The lake is so large it's like your looking out at the ocean with islands in the distance.  We have really enjoyed Puno. We're only 5 blocks from the Plaza de Armas and most of the way is pedestrian only streets lined with restaurants and shops.  Tomorrow we are off to Cuzco!!  Cuzco is one of my all time favorite cities. The Plaza de Armas is mesmerizing, beautiful buildings all around it and so relaxing for people watching.... And I heard that they now have a Starbucks right in the plaza... Can't wait to sip my coffee and just observe.

Vicuñas, llamas, alpacas and condors oh my!

The last two days were full of new sights and adventures. We left Arequipa early Tuesday morning for our tour of the Colca Canyon in the Peruvian highlands. There were eight of us on our tour. A couple from England, a couple from Italy and two girls from Germany. Our bus driver Coco (nickname for Jorge) was a fantastic driver and very funny. He taught me some Spanish jokes which I've written down to share with some of you when I get home. Our tour guide Daniel looked like a cross between Little Ritchie and Omar Gadaffi. He was an ex-Harry Krishna... Self proclaimed mystic/ yogi.... A very interesting man to say the least.  The views were amazing, very green mountains and snow capped volcanos. The first wildlife we saw were the Vicuñas, these little animals look similar to llamas, and have the second softest wool in the world (first would be cashmere).  Next we would seen hundreds and hundreds of llamas and alpacas. It was amazing to see all these animals in their natural habitat.  As we got higher and higher up in altitude we could feel the effects of the thinner air. You feel like you ran hard for 10mins when all you did was get out of the van!  Half way up to the summit we stopped for a cup of coca tea, this really helped with the adjustment to the altitude. And is really yummy too. I even bought honey flavored coca candies. The summit of our trip was 4910 metered which is 16,100 feet!!! That is some thin air! When we arrived in Colca we made our way to Coporaque village where our hotel was, it was such a beautiful hotel with an amazing view of the valley. We had lunch here as a group and both Katie and I ate Alpaca!!! It was delicious! It's really hard to describe what it tastes like kind of between lamb and beef. There is no fat on alpaca so the texture was amazing too. You just have to try it yourself.  After lunch we went on a short 20minute hike to get an excellent view of the valley below. We passed many locals carrying the loads of wood and crops on their backs, guiding their donkeys and horses to their fields. One of their main crops in this area is quinoa, we saw field after field of quinoa.  After our hike we headed to the hot springs which are heated naturally under ground by one of the surrounding volcanos. The temp of the water when it comes out of the ground is 80 degrees! You can boil an egg in 5 mins. The pools were very warm a nice contrast to the freezing temperature outside. It was relaxing to soak in the warm water surrounded by mountains. The water was clean enough but the bottom of the pools were a bit slimy.... Felt good to have a shower afterwards haha.  Wednesday morning we were up early to be on the road by 630am! Our breakfast was amazing, it was a spread of different grains/ wheats that were all locally grown.  We arrived at the Cuz del Condor by 8am... It was a bit disappointing we waited for an hour and a half to catch a glimpse of the condors that live in the canyon. But it was so foggy that we couldn't even see the mountains or the bottom of the canyon... This is the deepest canyon in the world!  It was a beautiful sight to see the fog roll in and out of the canyon going us little views of the mountains and canyon below.  We all left the Cruz del Condor a little disappointed but what can you do. What we did see was very beautiful just different from what we were expecting.  We got a little ways down the road and our driver pulled over super quick rushing us all out of the van....WE FOUND CONDORS!!!! They were a ways away so once again our fantastic driver got us all back in the bus and took of down the road for a better view. Six condors were now flying right over our heads!! These are amazing birds, from beak to tail they can be 5feet tall and their wing span is 10 feet!!!  Our day was complete we got to see the condors yeah!!  On our way back as we got closer and closer to the summit we started seeing this white stuff.... SNOW!!! Yep all of you that were jealous that we were in nice hot weather we found snow.... The highway had quite abit on it. And they say it only snows there in August... Aren't we just special! It was such a beautiful sight though. And since it was cold the last two days we each bought alpaca toques to keep warm.  And I'm reporting this blog on the bus on our way to Puno....

Old Lima/ Posh Lima

Sunday we spent the day wondering around downtown Lima. We visited the San Fransisco church (one of my favorites. I have now been there three times!), which is an old monestary that was build in the 1600's. It's ornate but simple, with some absolutely amazing murals. Going down to the catacomb smells musty and the walkways are a tight squeeze. This was the public cemetery for Lima until the 1900, you can imagine how many bones were down there! Walking around the Plaza de Armas (the city's main square) is so beautiful and relaxing. A great place to sit on a bench and people watch. We sat up above the remains of the old city wall and enjoyed some ice cream. One of the highlights of the day was the Parque de la Reserva. This is a large park that is home the twelve amazing water fountains! Each of them very unique. They had pyramid fountains, a tea pot pouring tea, a tunnel that is arches of water flowing over your head! The tunnel was incredible! However I did yell at a little boy for soaking my camera. This is also home to a fountain that holds the world record for the highest fountain with a spray that reaches 80 feet high!! Other fountains dance to the music and at night have lights that change into a rainbow of coulors. This morning (Monday) while everyone at home was heading off to work we were sitting on the malacon (the fancy boardwalk) in the posh end of Lima, sipping our Starbucks watching the fog burn away and the surfers catching some excellent waves. We browsed the shops along the boardwalk for a couple of hours and enjoyed the warmth of the sun (I'm even a little pink). And then we were off to the airport to catch our flight to Arequipa. This is the second largest city in Peru. Our hotel here, Casa de Avila, is super cute and our room over looks the garden in the middle. The only downfall of this room is the bathroom door sticks and you have to call to the one on the outside to open it for you. Haha. The receptionist is super nice, Raquel, and she thinks it's hilarious that Katie's inlaws have a llama named Katie, she couldn't stop laughing! We had dinner in the Plaza de Armas in an awesome restaurant where we sat on the upper patio where watching people attempting to cross the street was like watching a game of Frogger. Our dinner tonight was our best meal yet! It was thin sliced beef on top of a bed of red onions, toast, rice topped with a sunny side up egg and fried banana.... Getting a little bit of each on your fork was like a party in your mouth! They all complemented each other so well!! Tomorrow we embark on our two day tour of the Colca Canyon! Hoping to catch a glimpse of a condor. I'm really excited about seeing some smaller villages of Peru!!

Warm and Beautiful in Lima

It is a beautiful and warm day in Lima today!!!  We had a great sleep and have woken up refreshed and ready to explore.


I have to tell you about our arrival at the airport last night. Since we only had carry ons we got out so fast! It´s amazing not having to wait for bags. We found our driver easily and were on our way.  The ride from the airport to our hotel was pure entertainment for me and a near heartattack for Katie. Your first ride in a South American taxi is always somewhat shocking.  I love getting to see things that are so normal to me through Katie´s eyes. As she was laughing hystarically out of fear for her life and grabbing my leg and the door. Our driver notices that their style of driving and traffic was new to her. He laughed and told me he likes to pretend he´s a Nascar driver...then started driving a little faster and pointing out all the near misses.  Oh it was great entertainment. And no she wasn´t used to it yet for our ride to downtown Lima this morning.  And the great thing is, is we haven´t even seen bad traffic yet!!! hahah.

Our taxi driver couldn´t drop us off right where we wanted to go this morning as the streets were closed for a procession.  These are small parades for the upcoming Holy Week celebrations (the week leading up to Easter).  I really wish I knew a bit more about Catholosism and the symbolism behind what they are doing. Men in purple robes with a white rope around their necks were carrying the float of the Virgin Mary....as women with lace head coverings walked backwards (facing the float) with incense burning over coals and signing. Up ahead a bit was another group of men in purple carrying a large silver plated cross.....another group of men infront of them where saying a prayer in unison.This will most likely be the first of many Easter celebrations that we will see. I´m very excited that we will be in Cuzco for Palm Sunday.

We are off to explore more in the Plaza de Armas (main square) area this afternoon.  And time to get adventurous with some FOOD!!! YUM!

Mi querido Peru! My beloved Peru!

My dream trip since I was 8 years old has always been Peru. And I am extremely thrilled that this will be my SECOND trip to this amazing country! 2012 did not get off to the best start. January 16th I was laid off (after being there for almost 7 years). A week later We found out an aunt of mine only had months to live. A few days after that devestating news Mom lost her job too. And a couple of weeks ago auntie Elvera finished her battle with cancer and went home to her mansion waiting for her in heaven. With all this going on and being without a job I was hesitantly looking forward to my trip to Peru. I am EXTREMLY grateful that my unemployment only lasted a month! And I found a job that I am loving and my coworkers are all very sarcastic and amazing people. I love the sense of humor there! And to top it off I was still able to take the two weeks off to head to Peru. With the rocky start 2012 is on an uphill climb. I am so excited to be heading back to Peru and have the chance to see new places and returning to some old ones again!! And doing all this with one of my best friends, Katie. (thank you Steve for giving up your wife for 2 weeks). So we will be spending time in Lima, checking out Miraflores and visiting the Iglesias de San Francisco. Over looking the depths of the Colca Canyon, hoping to catch a glimpse of the giant condors that call the canons home. We'll take a cruise on a reed boat in Lake Titicaca. A highlight will be walking the enchanting streets of my favorite city Cuzco. And of course the most important day will be visiting Machu Picchu! We will be takin the train to the ruins this time. My last trip I conquered the inca trails. This time we will conquer climbing Wayan Picchu for a birds eye view of the ruins. I am so excited to introduce Katie to a country and culture that truly feels like home to me. Stay tuned for stories of our many adventures!!!