Machu Picchu

     Thursday I had the most amazing day. I finally appreciate the phrase, "out of body experience." If I were to sum up my day in a phrase, that would be the one. I visited Machu Picchu, something I promised myself I would do once before I died. Even though it is crossed on my bucket list, it wasn't necessarily an easy feat. 

      Jaclyn, Margaret and I got up at the late hour of 4 am this morning in order to start our journey and make it to the top for sunrise. Despite it being so early, we all seemed pretty chipper and willing, Jaclyn playing some Foster the People cover songs and I playing "Dancing On My Own" by Robyn. Packed up, went downstairs, had a breakfast of toast and jam, and were off by 4:30. It was as a bell went off in this sleepy town for everyone it seemed was on the same pilgrimage as we were: to make it to Machu Picchu for sunrise. Once we got to the bridge that separated us between the ground and godliness we were at least 50 back in line. Once the clock hit 5:00 am, though, we were off!

      Now i'll admit I was more confident than I should have been. I was pretty gung-ho for about 15 minutes, but then quickly realized that these stairs would soon be the death of me. First off, the stairs were not stairs, but instead a strait ladder up to the sky. And second, I have sports induced asthma which is also fun when you're going strait up a mountain for about two hours. After encouragement from Jaclyn and Margaret, as well people from all nations cheering us along all the way, we made it! Screw you guys who took the bus! I conquered a freakin mountain! 

      Words really can't describe being on top of the world, which is what you feel when you finally reach Machu Picchu. Cold chills galore, I walked through remnants that were built and abandoned in a century. With most things, we should look at our past more to build our future. In the states where we only build buildings to last half a century, these remnants have lasted for 600 years. That in itself is powerful enough to give you goose bumps. 

      Jaclyn, Margaret and I strolled around in the early morning hours while there weren't as many tourists, taking obligatory pictures in front of Huayna Picchu and with llamas, then parked it to have a snack of peanuts and oranges. The most beautiful picnic I have ever had. 

      After walking around a bit more we decided to go to the Temple of the Sun, a little out of the ways, not only to get away from people but also because we wanted to explore every inch of the ruins. Once we reached the ruins Jaclyn began the trend of taking artsy pictures gazing off into the vast expanse of unknown reasons. Yes, it is lame, but even just sitting there for a split second and  you get lost in its vastness. We quickly left this spot though because, I"m sorry for all of those reading this, Americans were in our presence. First off, they could only talk about food and how excited they were to eat and second, they said "This is like climbing Mount Everest. Once you get to the top, you're like ok let's go back." To all of these absurdities all I wanted to say was, a) YOU TOOK THE BUS and b) this is why people hate americans. But I refrained from unleashing my big mouth and we were off. 

      We walked around a bit more, ran into our friend Fabricio from the train station AKA the King of selfies, and were called out by a guy with a rainbow flag on the end of his umbrella for "INDISCRETION" aka eating lunch outside. Of course we were SO SCARED in the middle of other white people eating. Thanks, dude. After seven hours at Machu Picchu, and after a llama rejected my affection, we set back down the winding steps, jarring our legs all along the way. We hit the bottom and I had some lunch while Jaclyn and Margaret caught their train. I have to say I may have had the better trip though, seeing as their train ride included Jaclyn almost getting impaled by a rock that flew through the window. Yikes. 

      First, before I got on the train, I had another lovely encounter with Fabricio who told me he was asked by his waiter if he wanted a whore for the night. In his words, "The waiter asked if I look for vagina. I said no, I look for Machu Picchu. Thanks." Great chuckle before the journey.

      Second, on the train to Cuzco, I sat across from these two former frat guys from Texas A&M, Layne and Ricky, which was refreshing as any due to the fact I hadn't encountered anyone from the South in my trip yet. Beside me was Fidel, a local Cuzconian, who after a while I felt bad for for the boys and I had been visiting in all English and hadn't included him. To make up for this I invited him to play cards, to which he said yes and to which Layne said " I need more drinks for this." After two free rounds of beer, BS, spoons and celebrity, we were as thick as thieves. When the train finally got to the station, I said goodbye to Fidel but went on with Layne and Ricky who were nice enough to pay for my taxi ride home. I must say, I missed Southern gentlemen. 

      The next day before we got on our 22 hour bus ride, please shoot me now, we explored around the city a bit, Maya getting some art from a man who had been painting for 75 years, and more importantly Jaclyn, Margaret and me getting fresh icecream made the day before. Excellent. Julio also dropped by the bus station one last time to send gifts to the U.S. to his friends and to say one last goodbye. I really will miss him most of all. He really became part of my family.

      The bus ride started at 3:00 pm and I already knew it was going to be a long one. The first movie we watched was called Fireproof and opened up with a little girl saying, "I hope someday I'll find someone that loves me as much as my Father does." Ok, this will be cute, dad dies in a firefighting  job and she'll find another firefighter. Wrong. Father ended up alluding to God, her husband found Jesus, and she was an adulterer by hugging one of her doctor friends. Moral of the story? All of American's are Evangelicals and women are whores. Margaret took the words out of my mouth by thinking we should apologize on behalf of Americans for the atrocity of the movie, not only for pushing religion down everyone throats like so many conquistadors, but also because fireproofmymarriage.com exists, as the credits showed. Dear Lord. Literally. 

      The movies didn't get better from there. Next was "Just Go With It" with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, then "Taken 2", then the second "Total Recall". So Americans, in the eyes of Peruvians, are either really religious, love crude humor, are terrorists, or battle zombies. Bout sums it up. They played these movies until 11 pm, with a dinner of bread and peach juice, and after I took a Tylenol PM, giving me a drug induced half-sleep for 7 or so hours. Moral of this story? Don't take the bus.

      In the morning we stopped for breakfast of juice/jelly orange stuff, rice with potatoey cream and a coffee tea. On the bus ride to Lima we then watched Real Steel with Hugh Jackman who fought robots, a lot better than the other movies. Trust me. Then, finally, after 22 hours, we were off that cube of death. Met Rosie, came back to our home, went out for a veggie dinner, did our laundry and now we are chillin and relaxing. And now I am happy as a clam. Will write in a couple days after our three day adventure, to where I'm not exactly sure.

Besos! 

    

Un mes that I will miss

     Hello everyone! Despite rumors about joining a tribe up in the mountains, I AM alive and well and currently in Aguas Calientes. Somehow, without me knowing, a month passed just like that. I think it's a Peruvian trick. My homestay gone but not forgotten, I am now on my own with the other amigas, back to our small little tribe. So what have I been up to since we last spoke? Sorry, but this will take a while. 

     Last Monday through Wednesday passed in the same it has on days on the farm. Weeding in the morning, an AMAZING lunch by Juana, and usually a Pixar or Dreamworks movie in the afternoon with Inti, all in Spanish which made it really interesting. Highlights from these days though? Monday throughout the whole day we watched Peruivan Independence Day celebrations on the TV that was brought into the kitchen for the special occasion. They had police dogs do tricks for the President which was a first for me. For dinner that night we also had an AWESOME version of a Peruvian lasagna with thick crust on both sides. Yummmm. The next night passed the same, except instead of watching the equivalent of Peruvian PBS we watched a documentary on Che Guevera. I must say I have become FASCINATED with him, even if he is a communist. The next night, though, I wasn't so lucky. 

      First round of food sickness. Hoorrayyy!  Wednesday morning around 3 in the morning I was awoken by the lovely sound of my stomach doing flips and turns. My favorite. Thankfully by morning I was ok, but the fun doesn't stop there. After having an especially lazy morning due to my upset stomach, Emily and I decided to enlist the help of Inti, who is six by the way, to find Edi who had taken the cows to forage. After walking about 25 minutes, and crossing a river that came up to our ankles we finally found her. Afterwards, though, Emily and I thought that we knew best and tried to find an alternate route. We found this spot that was TOTALLY jumpable and, with Emily's confidence in me for I told her I ran track, I ran and jumped the river. Poor decisions. What I thought was solid ground turned out to be about 3 feet of mud, coming up a little past my knees. After initial laughing, and Emily deciding to go an alternate route instead of joining in for camaraderie, I walked back leaving a foot of mud in my wake and took my second shower of the day. Moral of the story? Always listen to the six year old. 

      To make up for my embarrassing, but expected, accident, Emily and I went into Cuzco on Thursday in order to go to a small celebration at Chirsto Blanco, a huge, white Christ that looks over the city. They like things really literal here. First I made it a mission to buy train tickets/MP tickets in town for the date was getting close! (It is tomorrow, afterall.) After asking many locals we found our way around and our mission was accomplished. To TREAT OURSELVES for the day we got an amazing lunch of salads, with a side of french fries and Sprite for me and some coffee for Emily. It was delightful. Also had some awesome homemade ice cream while we were at it, so it was just all around wonderful. After doing some family shopping we went up to where the festival was, only to find that we had missed it by thirty minutes. From what some Peruvians told us though we didn't miss much. They threw some food in a circle and lit it on fire. Yeah. I then visited some ruins that Emily didn't have a pass for, her sitting outside knitting, and I was once again part of a Peruvian family photo. It was a good day. 

      Friday we double dug some more beds then went on a mini adventure with Julio's friend, Sebastian, to go into town to get some fuel for his truck to go out to his tractor. Thought we would work a little bit but, no, we just had a cerveza break. Because beer is not my favorite, though, I got to drive the tractor with help from Elvis, the tractor driver. Stalled a little bit, but got it going eventually. I'm a real farmer, y'all!!! 

      Saturday Emily and I went into Calca again and I had a minor panic attack. I knew my gmail wasn't working. Big deal, I'll figure it out when I get into Cuzco. What I didn't know though was that my blog had aloso gone MIA when my sister asked me why I didn't have one anymore. I only freaked out due to the fact that so much had been typed and I was being lazy and didn't want to go back and write this again. Thankfully after a quick back 10 minute back and forth emailing with my sister all was figured out and all was good. Once back at the house we separated corn into piles, ones for cuyes, ones for dog food, ones for chicha, and ones for harvest. It got windy so we went inside and harvested while listening to The Beatles, Julio's music, and Clem Snide, my music. It was lovely. 

      Finally it was Sunday, Yesica's birthday!! Emily got me up at 6:30, a rarity for me, because we were having cake and popcorn for breakfast. Nommm. After eating they saw how tired I was and encouraged me to go back to bed. Can't fight that. After going to bed for another two hours got up, went to town to explore, then came back in time for an oatmealy type lunch. The best part was after lunch when Julio asked if I wanted to run a quick errand up to the fields, although he wouldn't explain exactly what that included. Once we got there, it was clear. It was a beer delivery for the workers, of course. While that was happening, though,  he asked if I wanted to drive the moto. OF COURSE! Where did you learn how to drive a motorcycle? Oh, you know. The Sacred Valley. No big deal. It was going great for a while until I came to a nice, calm stop, but forgot to put feet on both side and toppled over. The Peruvian's in the fields started laughing at  me but it's ok because they called us over for a Chicha break. Score. 

     Came back in time for festivites to start, of Pisco Sours and traditional highland music. Partying from four to nine though really wears you out, so Emily and I were lame and called it an early night. 

      My final first day was wonderful because it echoed all my others. We worked with Julio in the garden early in the morning and throughout lunch time, then afterward I began watching The Lorax with Inti in Spanish. I hadn't seen it and I feel like it fitted my travels here, being kind and thankful to the environment and all. We watched Oblivion afterwards, very confusing I must say with fast Spanish, but still good all in all. After the movie Julio gifted me a traditional Peruvian hat and his Che Guevara diary in Spanish. I started crying. I'm going to miss him and my family so much. I would say the night just kept getting better, but I'd be lying. 

      Second round of food poisoning. Hoorrayyy!!! At three thirty in the morning, after ridding my body of basically everything, Juana found me hunched over outside of the bathroom and proceed to ask, "Mami, no estas bien?" No. No estoy bein. She made me some manzanilla tea and Emily, who I had accidentally woken up in the process, schooled me in the art of Cipro. What a wonderful drug. I woke up refreshed, a little dehydrated, and ready to go! 

      On my last day after saying teary goodbyes, and visiting Inti at his preschool to say goodbye, Julio and I were off to Cuzco! Arrived in Cuzco, got a taxi to the hostel, Julio dropped me off which was the sweetest thing, and I was on my own! Had a quesadilla to celebrate for I hadn't eaten that day, and hadn't eaten mexican in a while which was needed, then traversed the city for about an hour, looking at shops and taking pictures. It was wonderful being on my own for the first time in a month. Not that I don't love Emily or my family, but there is something about discovering yourself in a foreign country. I also got some homemade icecream, which was bangin, so it was a successful outing. 

      Once I got back I encountered Margaret and then an hour later Jaclyn and Maya arrived. We screamed and hugged like we just got a bid from the sorority we wanted. It was beautiful. I missed them dearly. Even though we have technically only known each other for ten days now, they really are my family and sisters. After the initial excitement of freaking out and telling stories, we met some sisters from Cali and a another group for Cali and we all went out to dinner. Our group, and the Cali girls, went to eat at this delicious vegetarian restaurant where I purchased a veggie burger. Long awaited. After dinner we went to bed early though for we had a 5:30 wake-up call. 

      And now I FINALLY bring you to today. Like I said, got up SUPER early this morning to catch our train to Machu Picchu!! The train ride was pretty nice, playing Andean techno music, and I made a dutch friend who didn't speak a lick of Spanish. It was interesting. Arrived in Aguas Calientes, dropped our stuff at the hostel, then explored the little town. Got some bananas, peanuts, oranges, bread and avocados for lunch/future dinner along with some lentils. We found some shade and finally relaxed, taking in all the sites, then did a pre-hike to prepare for tomorrow. I can't convey how excited I am for tomorrow. It really is a dream come true to visit Machu Picchu. Even driving in here I was getting cold chills. I will update soon, hopefully even tomorrow, about how everything went!

Besos! 

Un mes that I will miss

     Hello everyone! Despite rumors about joining a tribe up in the mountains, I AM alive and well and currently in Aguas Calientes. Somehow, without me knowing, a month passed just like that. I think it's a Peruvian trick. My homestay gone but not forgotten, I am now on my own with the other amigas, back to our small little tribe. So what have I been up to since we last spoke? Sorry, but this will take a while. 

     Last Monday through Wednesday passed in the same it has on days on the farm. Weeding in the morning, an AMAZING lunch by Juana, and usually a Pixar or Dreamworks movie in the afternoon with Inti, all in Spanish which made it really interesting. Highlights from these days though? Monday throughout the whole day we watched Peruivan Independence Day celebrations on the TV that was brought into the kitchen for the special occasion. They had police dogs do tricks for the President which was a first for me. For dinner that night we also had an AWESOME version of a Peruvian lasagna with thick crust on both sides. Yummmm. The next night passed the same, except instead of watching the equivalent of Peruvian PBS we watched a documentary on Che Guevera. I must say I have become FASCINATED with him, even if he is a communist. The next night, though, I wasn't so lucky. 

      First round of food sickness. Hoorrayyy!  Wednesday morning around 3 in the morning I was awoken by the lovely sound of my stomach doing flips and turns. My favorite. Thankfully by morning I was ok, but the fun doesn't stop there. After having an especially lazy morning due to my upset stomach, Emily and I decided to enlist the help of Inti, who is six by the way, to find Edi who had taken the cows to forage. After walking about 25 minutes, and crossing a river that came up to our ankles we finally found her. Afterwards, though, Emily and I thought that we knew best and tried to find an alternate route. We found this spot that was TOTALLY jumpable and, with Emily's confidence in me for I told her I ran track, I ran and jumped the river. Poor decisions. What I thought was solid ground turned out to be about 3 feet of mud, coming up a little past my knees. After initial laughing, and Emily deciding to go an alternate route instead of joining in for camaraderie, I walked back leaving a foot of mud in my wake and took my second shower of the day. Moral of the story? Always listen to the six year old. 

      To make up for my embarrassing, but expected, accident, Emily and I went into Cuzco on Thursday in order to go to a small celebration at Chirsto Blanco, a huge, white Christ that looks over the city. They like things really literal here. First I made it a mission to buy train tickets/MP tickets in town for the date was getting close! (It is tomorrow, afterall.) After asking many locals we found our way around and our mission was accomplished. To TREAT OURSELVES for the day we got an amazing lunch of salads, with a side of french fries and Sprite for me and some coffee for Emily. It was delightful. Also had some awesome homemade ice cream while we were at it, so it was just all around wonderful. After doing some family shopping we went up to where the festival was, only to find that we had missed it by thirty minutes. From what some Peruvians told us though we didn't miss much. They threw some food in a circle and lit it on fire. Yeah. I then visited some ruins that Emily didn't have a pass for, her sitting outside knitting, and I was once again part of a Peruvian family photo. It was a good day. 

      Friday we double dug some more beds then went on a mini adventure with Julio's friend, Sebastian, to go into town to get some fuel for his truck to go out to his tractor. Thought we would work a little bit but, no, we just had a cerveza break. Because beer is not my favorite, though, I got to drive the tractor with help from Elvis, the tractor driver. Stalled a little bit, but got it going eventually. I'm a real farmer, y'all!!! 

      Saturday Emily and I went into Calca again and I had a minor panic attack. I knew my gmail wasn't working. Big deal, I'll figure it out when I get into Cuzco. What I didn't know though was that my blog had aloso gone MIA when my sister asked me why I didn't have one anymore. I only freaked out due to the fact that so much had been typed and I was being lazy and didn't want to go back and write this again. Thankfully after a quick back 10 minute back and forth emailing with my sister all was figured out and all was good. Once back at the house we separated corn into piles, ones for cuyes, ones for dog food, ones for chicha, and ones for harvest. It got windy so we went inside and harvested while listening to The Beatles, Julio's music, and Clem Snide, my music. It was lovely. 

      Finally it was Sunday, Yesica's birthday!! Emily got me up at 6:30, a rarity for me, because we were having cake and popcorn for breakfast. Nommm. After eating they saw how tired I was and encouraged me to go back to bed. Can't fight that. After going to bed for another two hours got up, went to town to explore, then came back in time for an oatmealy type lunch. The best part was after lunch when Julio asked if I wanted to run a quick errand up to the fields, although he wouldn't explain exactly what that included. Once we got there, it was clear. It was a beer delivery for the workers, of course. While that was happening, though,  he asked if I wanted to drive the moto. OF COURSE! Where did you learn how to drive a motorcycle? Oh, you know. The Sacred Valley. No big deal. It was going great for a while until I came to a nice, calm stop, but forgot to put feet on both side and toppled over. The Peruvian's in the fields started laughing at  me but it's ok because they called us over for a Chicha break. Score. 

     Came back in time for festivites to start, of Pisco Sours and traditional highland music. Partying from four to nine though really wears you out, so Emily and I were lame and called it an early night. 

      My final first day was wonderful because it echoed all my others. We worked with Julio in the garden early in the morning and throughout lunch time, then afterward I began watching The Lorax with Inti in Spanish. I hadn't seen it and I feel like it fitted my travels here, being kind and thankful to the environment and all. We watched Oblivion afterwards, very confusing I must say with fast Spanish, but still good all in all. After the movie Julio gifted me a traditional Peruvian hat and his Che Guevara diary in Spanish. I started crying. I'm going to miss him and my family so much. I would say the night just kept getting better, but I'd be lying. 

      Second round of food poisoning. Hoorrayyy!!! At three thirty in the morning, after ridding my body of basically everything, Juana found me hunched over outside of the bathroom and proceed to ask, "Mami, no estas bien?" No. No estoy bein. She made me some manzanilla tea and Emily, who I had accidentally woken up in the process, schooled me in the art of Cipro. What a wonderful drug. I woke up refreshed, a little dehydrated, and ready to go! 

      On my last day after saying teary goodbyes, and visiting Inti at his preschool to say goodbye, Julio and I were off to Cuzco! Arrived in Cuzco, got a taxi to the hostel, Julio dropped me off which was the sweetest thing, and I was on my own! Had a quesadilla to celebrate for I hadn't eaten that day, and hadn't eaten mexican in a while which was needed, then traversed the city for about an hour, looking at shops and taking pictures. It was wonderful being on my own for the first time in a month. Not that I don't love Emily or my family, but there is something about discovering yourself in a foreign country. I also got some homemade icecream, which was bangin, so it was a successful outing. 

      Once I got back I encountered Margaret and then an hour later Jaclyn and Maya arrived. We screamed and hugged like we just got a bid from the sorority we wanted. It was beautiful. I missed them dearly. Even though we have technically only known each other for ten days now, they really are my family and sisters. After the initial excitement of freaking out and telling stories, we met some sisters from Cali and a another group for Cali and we all went out to dinner. Our group, and the Cali girls, went to eat at this delicious vegetarian restaurant where I purchased a veggie burger. Long awaited. After dinner we went to bed early though for we had a 5:30 wake-up call. 

      And now I FINALLY bring you to today. Like I said, got up SUPER early this morning to catch our train to Machu Picchu!! The train ride was pretty nice, playing Andean techno music, and I made a dutch friend who didn't speak a lick of Spanish. It was interesting. Arrived in Aguas Calientes, dropped our stuff at the hostel, then explored the little town. Got some bananas, peanuts, oranges, bread and avocados for lunch/future dinner along with some lentils. We found some shade and finally relaxed, taking in all the sites, then did a pre-hike to prepare for tomorrow. I can't convey how excited I am for tomorrow. It really is a dream come true to visit Machu Picchu. Even driving in here I was getting cold chills. I will update soon, hopefully even tomorrow, about how everything went!

Besos!