Back Home We Go

 Tuesday September 1, 2015

We left the Dragonfly Hostel in Cuzco to catch our 11am flight back to Lima.

Our last day in Peru was spent shopping in Lima for souvenirs and gifts. We traveled all around the city and stopped into a coffee shop that sold Pachu's (our host father) coffee that he grows himself. We ate again at Le Lucha restaurant and treated ourselves to milkshakes. We ended the day with churros before heading back to the hostel. Our flight left Lima at 12:30am and we made the long trek home. From Lima to Houston to Newark to Chicago we made it back safe and sound. We would like to take a moment to again thank everyone who helped to sponser this trip. We look forward to seeing our outreach efforts grow and prosper in future years.

Also a big thank you to everyone who has been following along with the blog! Please feel free to share it with anyone who may be interested in our efforts, and forward any questions you may have!

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Machu Picchu

Monday August 31, 2015

"Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to the eternal fusion with the cosmos; where we feel our fragility. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America. A resting place of butterflies in the epicentre of the great circle of life. One more miracle." - Pablo Neruda, The Heights of Machu Picchu.

The Lost City is one of the world's major archaeological travel destinations and was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007. Built around 1450 in classical Inca style, it was abandoned after the Spanish Conquest. The structure is 60% original work, 40% restoration. 

Hiram Bingham was an American historian who lectured at Yale University. He came across Machu Picchu in 1911 while he was searching for the lost city of Vitcos, the capital of the Incas. Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in 1912 with sponsorship from Yale and undertook a four month clearing of the site. 

It is theorized based on remains found at the site, that Machu Picchu was a place of education and worship. Sacrifices were made to the Gods for good harvests and prosperity. 

We had a great day exploring the ruins, and then climbing up Wayna Picchu, the prominent mountain behind us in the pictures. 

 

We caught a 3pm train back to Ollantaytambo, then a van back to Cuzco. We ate pizza for dinner that wasn't half bad and slept very soundly. 

The Elusive Whitecapped Mountain

Sunday August 30, 2015

Today we started our tour at a silver factory where, similar to the alpaca factory, we learned to differentiate between real silver and fake.

Before lunch we stopped at Urubama Valley at Pisac. This city controlled the route that connected the Inca Empire with Paurcartambo in the eastern jungles. It was comprised of an impressive lay out of terraces and stonework. Also, this area houses the largest cemetery in South America. Buried in the hillside are thousands of tombs that were rummaged through by the Spanish settlers searching for gold and treasures.

We stopped for lunch in a small town and had veggie paninis and french fries. 

Continuing on, we went to Ollantaytambo. This little town is build on top of the orginial Inca foundations and shows Inca town planning. The town is divided into blocks that each have thier own entracnce leading into a central courtyard. The town sits next to Inca ruins that were used for worship. The temple sits on top of steep terracing that helped with defense. The area was still under construction when the Spanish invaded and it was never finished. 

We left from Ollantaytambo for the train station to Aquas Caliente, where Machu Picchu is situated. The two hour train ride was filled with beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers. 

We checked into our hotel and got to bed early in preparation for our 5am start to Machu Picchu!

Beef Hearts & Alpaca & Guinea Pigs, Oh My!

Saturday August 29, 2015

Today is actually Friday September 4th; a combination of unreliable wifi and days packed with travel and adventure got the best of me. But I've been keeping notes, so here we go!

We had breakfast on Saturday at the Dragonfly Hostel in Lima. Classic bread, rice puff cereal, coffee.

We then traveled by van to the Lima airport and made our way across the Andes Mountains to Cuzco, Peru. We got settled into the Dragonfly Hostel in Cuzco and met up with our tour coordinator Willy. He directed us to the beautiful Plaza de Armas in Cuzco where we met our tour guide, Freddy. 

Our "City Tour" of Cuzco began at Qoricancha, the Sun Temple. This was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, dedicated to Inti, the Sun God. Spanish settlers tore down part of the temple to build the Cathedral of Santo Domingo on top of it. When the area was stricken with earthquakes, the Spanish built portions of the buildings crumbled, but the Incan structures remained due to their exceptional stone masonry. The Incas built their stone structures with a lock and key type of system, and the stones were cut on a slight angle that made them more resistant to earthquakes. 

 

 

Next, we ventured to Sacsayhuaman (which sounds very similar to "Sexy Woman" which our tour guide found rather funny). Sacsayhuaman means "speckled head". The city of Cuzco is said to be shaped like a puma and this raised fortress that overlooks the city is the head of the puma. The limestone walls run nearly 400km in length and weigh and upwards of 300 tons a piece. Pope John Paul gave a mass here in 1988.

 

En route to our next destination, we stopped to overlook the Sacred Valley.

Then we continued our journey to Tambomachy. Commonly referred to as the Inca Baths, this was a site for ritual bathing. It has been suggested that it was used only for ceremonial occasions and that the water there would give you immortal life. The four cutouts in the structure signify the elements water, fire, earth and wind. It was at this point that we realized we should have packed some parkas, we were freezing!!

We made a quick stop at Puca Pucara, the Red Fort. Theories are that this fortress acted either as lodging for travelers or as a guard post to regulate goods and people from Cuzco to the Sacred Valley.     
                           

As it got dark, we stopped quickly at Q'enko. This rock is an example of "Inca Rock Worship". There is belief that the Inca held cosmological beliefs that rocks possessed hidden spiritual force. On the top of the rock are zigzag channels that held sacrificed llama blood. Inside the rock is an altar where sacrifices took place.

Our last stop on today's tour was at an alpaca factory where a local Peruvian woman taught us how to differentiate real alpaca goods from synthetics.

After a day packed with history, traveling and lots of pictures we set out for dinner. Cuy, or guinea pig, is a common dish in Peru and it was on the top of my list of things to try out. We ventured to a restaurant near our hostel and ordered cuy, beef hearts and alpaca lomo saltado. The alpaca was by far the best, tasting similar to steak. The heart and guinea pig were both a bit tough, and though we were glad we were adventurous and tried them, are not something we would seek out in the future. 

Lewis and Clarking It

Friday August 28, 2015

We arrived in Lima around 9am and made our way back to the Dragonfly Hostel. Check in wasn't until 2pm so we set out for our adventure to Barranco, a small resort area of Lima.

Following suggestions from a Vive Peru staff member, we sought out the Burrito Bar which she highly recommended. En route, we walked the shoreline then found the main plaza of Barranco. Similar to the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo, the buildings were painted in bright yellows, reds and blues. We came upon "Iglesia La Ermita". According to a local legend, one night a group of fishermen were lost at sea in dense fog. They prayed for salvation and a luminous cross appeared, guiding them back to shore. The Ermita church was built on the site where the cross allegedly appeared and since then has become the preferred church for fishermen. Although the church was nearly completely destroyed by invading Chilean troops in 1881, is has been rebuilt and is an interesting site to see.

                           
                         

                                                                                       
Employing the help of some locals, we found the unmarked Burrito bar, but had to wait for it to open. We took the time to walk down to the beach and through the streets lined with restaurants. This area reminded me of the houses in Charleston, big buildings with a lot of cast iron details and railings.

The Burrito bar lived up to the high recommendation. They were as big as our heads and weighed about 5 lbs a piece (that is an exaggeration). They served as our lone meal for the day.




After lunch, we wandered in search of the Galleria de Lucia, a public art museum. We came across the Chocolate Museum and I couldn't help but stop in. We went on the tour that taught us the entire process of making chocolate from the tree to the finished chocolate bar. For my little brother who memorized the Magic School Bus episode about this process when he was four, it would have been an excellent review. We tasted the cocoa beans at several stages in the process, and I'm not sure how someone managed to realized that the very bitter starting point could be turned into such a delicious end result, but I'm glad they did.



 We happened to visit several other art museums before we found the Lucia. It houses modern art displays in a beautiful building with intricate tiles.

On our walk back to the hostel we saw several paragliders who use the cliffs along the coast as their launch sites. It is incredible to watch them flip, twirls and navigate over the shore.

The lack of sleep from our bus ride caught up to us around dinner time and we settled into our room as we prepared to say goodbye to MC. She headed off to the airport with a few other Vive Peru volunteers around 6pm. Los Cuatros Estados Unidos has been reduced to just tres and we're terribly sad to see her go.

The night at the hostel was spent catching up on reading, trying some of the Peruvian homebrews the owner of the hostel makes and getting to bed early. Off to Cuzco in the morning!

The Grand Finale

Thursday August 27, 2015

Today is our final day with Vive Peru and in Trujillo!

Merci went all out at breakfast and made chicken sandwiches, fried plantains, quinoa soup and eggs. Served of course with bread, jelly/butter and coffee.

We completed a record four classrooms this morning at the high school. These students were a little bit younger (maybe 5th grade age) and were enthusiastic about participating. In total we gave out over 300 pairs of earplugs and educated 13 classes about audiology, basic physics of sound, anatomy and conservation. 

 

                                               

For lunch, we had salad and a chicken stew with rice.



After lunch we headed to El Centro del Adulto Mayor, a community center near the Plaza de Armas. We presented an abbreviated version of the audiology seminar to approximately 50 senior citizens. We talked generally about audiology, then diagnostics, ear health care, tinnitus and communication strategies. The audience was very eager to ask questions, and was grateful that we came to speak to them.

With that presentation, we are finished with our work with Vive Peru. It's been a great two weeks teaching and learning from the people of Trujillo. We want to thank Rachel, the Vive Peru Staff (especially Claudia, Claudette and Diego) for their patience with our Spanish skills and for welcoming us with open arms. We can't wait to come back next year and watch this trip continue to grow!

Merci made lomo saltado (beef and veggies) for dinner and Pacho cut up fruit with honey for dessert. It has been a wonderful experience staying with such a caring and happy host family. We were so fortunate that they opened up their home to us.



We got packed up and MC and I built a water bottle tour with all the bottles we've been stashing in our bedrooms over the past two weeks. We are boarding a nine hour bus ride at 10:30pm. Tomorrow we will be back in Lima to bid farewell to MC and then we're off to Cuzco!