Cusco

We have enjoyed what Cusco has had to offer for 10 days now broken up only for our “Inca Trail” trek. Arriving here in our regular fashion (bus, early in the morning) we checked in at a hostel with breakfast included and vistas of the city and the main “Plaza de Armas”. The city is surrounded by rolling hills with slippery, steep, one way, cobblestone avenues leading as high as they could go. We loved it! Amy´s second time to Cusco I felt like I had my own personal tour guide, best places to eat, and where the market was. This market was huge, you could buy anything! From the standard alpaca touques and gloves to horse snouts, cows stomachs and frogs…. I´ll take four of each ;) 

Cusco

Steep cobblestone hills

Plaza de Armas

Traditional clothing

San Perdro Mercado

¿ Hungry ?

We were introduced to a local mountain guide and mentioned that we wanted to get some Spanish lessons so I can stop asking someone to“cut my onion” and just get a haircut. He introduced us to an acquaintance Daniel who was willing to show us the ropes. This introduction proved invaluable. After 10 days in Cusco apart from seeing many Inca ruins and enjoying almost everything the market had to offer we got over 10 hrs of Spanish lessons. Exploring numerous ruins (Saqsayhuaman, Pisac, and Puca Pucara) near and far the Incas ability to play giant Lego still amazes. Blocks of granite as big as cars with up to 14 perfectly chiseled sides slid next to one another without even a gap for a post-it-note.

 

Stones at Saqsayhuaman

Saqsayhuaman (snake head)

Pisac - Sacred valley

 There was one tour that Amy had taken four years earlier with her friend Bri that I felt needed a closer look. Having done the tour before she was still “two feet in”. It was a horseback ride to some secret Inca tunnels and caves called "Zone X". With a name like Zone X I felt like Indiana Jones when we hoped on those lil Peruvian ponies and headed up the hill. We were given an hour to guide ourselves through the "swiss cheesed" limestone. Off we went squeezing through every gap we could on hands and knees with a head lamp lighting the way. We always seemed to exit at another location only to find another crack we could wriggle into until the light of day disappeared.

Originally there were four of us on the tour, but after exploring the caves the two Czechs never returned to our agreed meeting place. The guide searched for half an hour before he said "vamos" and we departed on horseback to another ruin. What we learned from this is that the tour WILL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!

Zone X

Caves

Squeeze!!

Llama (Yahma in spanish)

My horse Bonito

Chris horse Kukaracha

Huancayo to Cusco

Exhausted from the hike our eight hr bus ride to Ayacucho felt like nothing. A new town was welcomed after our three weeks in Huancayo. Only having one full day to explore we did our very best, this included a city tour, and eating too much home made ice cream. The "icecream ladies" would labourously spin a large steel pot in a tub of  ice where the dizzy contents would freeze on the outside. 

"Icecream Lady"

The next morning well rested we prepared for our day bus to Andahuaylas. The company was "Expresso los Chankas" I should have known some irony was approaching. - not so "expresso".  We started by crossing a high pass at 4000m and buying some lunch from the side of the road- rice and peas with an egg on top. Then we descended all the way down to 2000m on a dirt one way on the cliff construction road where along the way we saw a bus (same company as ours) flipped on its side off the road. Apparently it happened the night before. 

Almost at the bottom we were stopped and told the road was closed until 5:30pm. ( it was only 2) preparing to wait in the heat of the sun the driver called us all in and off we went. A small gap in construction and we were through. Crossing the bridge the bus came to a stop and people from the cliff behind us were yelling and pointing. Out jumped the driver and his spotters from the front and they went running around the bend. Following behind we rounded the corner and what did we see. A rock slide had burried the road and an excavator with a construction worker inside. People were running and yelling cuchillo! Cuchillo! (knife). A front end loader came ripping around the corner and the man was out within 15 minutes. A little banged up but okay. Being ushered back to the bus we were told the road would take 2-3 hours to clear. It was the heat of the day and we took shelter in the shade of the bus, but it turns out that's where the Mosquitos liked to hang out and we were eaten alive. Ditching that idea we walked down to the river and put our feet in. Ahhhhh. From the river we had a great view of the slide and the efforts to clear the road.  5:30 and the road was clear! Off we went ! Wahoo! A few more crazy hairpin turns and we were in andahuaylas.

The next day while waiting for our night bus to Cusco we wanted to have a little afternoon snack before having more pollo for dinner we entered a restaurant and sat down. Dos menus por favor. Si, si, the man replied. Perfect. Waiting for our menus we were brought what they like to have as appys here- 2 slices of potatoe with a creamy(in our case green) sauce on top. Okay that was nice of him we were thinking. Next we were brought a bowl of soup each. Ohhkay. What did we order? Thinking that was all because he brought a bill of 12 soles. 4.25$. Excellent, we were just the right full and it was good :) Uhh Ohhh. The main course shows up!!! Potatoes, rice, fried onions, and fish!! What!!! The food was excellent but we weren't even that hungry !! And half way through we were brought tea!! Wow ! So apparently instead of asking for dos menus. We ordered dos menus. Who knew? 

Haha, what an incredible 4.25$ meal. Now we dont need to get pollo for dinner. 

Loaded onto the night bus to Cusco with a head full of images of the day before we managed to drift asleep. Waking only to clear my ears we decended from over 4500m into Cusco at 3400m. Three busses and 30 hrs of road time we had arrived in the Capital of the Inkas

Huaytapallana

Our last day in Huancayo was an exhausting one. We were up early for an all day hike  to the mountain top of Huaytapallana.
Jumping on our tour bus with 10 other Peruvians and our alpine guide Christopher, it was an hour ride to where the hike began. We made a quick stop to purchase the days supply of coca leaves to help cope with the altitude. The hike was to take us over 5200m above sea level through rocky terrain and snow. Pushing off from the trail head through the nights fresh layer of snow at about 4400m we bundled up and began our ascent . If you pushed hard for ten steps you could feel your vision narrowing and head getting light, time for a fresh dip of coca. You take the coca leaves and squish them into your gums (like tobacco). We completed our first big obsticle and on the top there was a rock stack shrine where we asked the mountain permission to pass and gave an offering of coca leaves. 

Offerings to the mountains

Ascending further we got our first glimpse of the breath taking Huaytapallana glacier, which was winding down the mountains into a teal coloured lake. Looking back down the path I saw Amy sitting on a pointy rock with her head between her knees. Uh Oh... I think the altitude is taking its toll. Pushing on we hit an ice wall- the glacier! This is when it got crazy. Traversing the glacier was difficult and we needed to rope up and walk single file to avoid plummits into cravasses. After four hours of hiking we finally reached our destination. High on the snow we pulled out our plastic garbage bags and took turns sliding down the glacier. Wet, cold, and a pounding headache it was worth every minute.

More than ready to loose some altitude and get some oxygen rich blood back to our brains we began our decent back to the bus. The glacier disappeared behind us as thick fog rolled in over the hills. The hike back was bitter sweet, a great end to a great day. At the homestay we packed up our things, said our good byes and were off to catch our 10 hour night bus.

3 weeks in Huancayo

An 8 hour bus ride and climbing to an elevation of 3200m takes us into the Central Highlands of Peru - Huancayo. The last leg carrying 180 lbs of donations. We were picked up by our homestay family at the bus depot and were whisked through town to their home. Enjoying our first cup of coca tea the worries of altitude sickness drifted away, only until we had to walk up the stairs and were completely out of breath. Initially we had planned on staying 2 weeks volunteering with the kids but their smiling faces kept us there another week. Lets just say it definetely wasn´t the town that we liked. When we arrived we learned that our help was needed more at a local classroom (Ladrillera) than at the orphanage. This classroom was built in 2008 by our homestay family. It is in the poorest area of town (Palian) where the children (ages 1-16) are left alone all day to fend for themselves while the parents need to work 12 hours just to make a few dollars. School hours in Peru are in 2 shifts. Half the kids attend school from 8-1 and the others from 1-6. Our job at this classroom was to help the kids with their homework, play with them, and just love them. Having this classroom available keeps the children from being on the streets, begging and working at the age of 8.

 Ladrillera

The local houses

The kitchen inside one of the children´s houses

So what did we do? Everyday at 8 am we took a local bus 15 minutes to the classroom. (Toyota minivan usually with standing space only crambed with 30 people. Chris being the tallest by far was always hunched with shoulders against the ceiling.) When we arrived at our stop we were greeted by the kids running down the street wanting a hug and to hold your hand. Unlocking the doors the day had begun. Out came the puzzles, crayons, and skipping ropes. Spending the morning at Ladrillera we locked up around 11:30 to bus back home for lunch and Spanish lessons. Then walking back to catch the bus we spent the afternoon from 3-6 at Ladrillera for the afternoon kids. Volunteering with us was 3 others girls. Maria from Germany, and Linnea and Suvi from Finland. Of course you start to bond with certain kids and get your favourites. I fell in love with a 5 year old girl name Maricruz. We could´nt talk about much due to the language barrier but she always just looked up at me and smiled. Chris played with 4 boys that liked lego, they built rocket ships. Changing the world one rocket ship at a time.

 The bus

Skipping

Arts and crafts

Lego

The first Friday we were there we had the opportunity with our homestay mom´s church to go to the local women´s prison. Learning that women with children under 3 are allowed to have them with them in the prison, we gathered some of the clothing and colouring donations. We also helped the ladies at the church put together a bag for every inmate (80) with feminine hygene products and our contribution was a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste for every bag. 

Not knowing what was in store for this adventure we climbed into a minivan full of the church women speaking Spanish. An hour drive and we arrived on a cold hilltop at the cement prison. Learning that the rest of the girls would´nt make it due to vehicle problems it was just us. Chris and I going into the prison. We were patted down and then ushered into a room where a live band was playing Latin Gospel techno music, and the 80 inmates were dancing and singing away. Slipping along the wall it wasn´t 2 minutes later before we were both dragged into a conga line with the women, singing, dancing, swinging, and jumping. Chris being the only male in the room. We gave out the clothing to the 10 children and the bags to all the women. Saying goodbye every lady gave us a hug and kiss on the cheek saying thankyou. Wow what an experience, women from as young as 18 to as old as 70, and we have no idea what they are there for.

Continuing with the next 2 weeks of volunteering we slowly gave away all 3 bags of donations. Thanks to our generous friends, family, and co workers Chris and I were able to donate 50 pairs of socks, 90 outfits for boys and girls ages 0 to 16, 50 pairs of underwear, 12 pairs of shoes, 400 tubes of toothpaste, 150 toothbrushes, 20 children's English books, countless packs of pencil crayons, paper and other stationary, coloring books, stickers, skipping ropes balls and an unlimited supply of fresh drinkable water thanks to a newly installed carbon filtration system.

Xeomara

THANK YOU

The town of Palian has no running water. People must hike in buckets of water from a tap on the main road, and it´s not even drinkable. Not once in the 3 weeks did we see any of the children have a sip of water. Their diet consists of inka cola. With some money a great friend donated we were able to purchase and install a filtration system, a bucket for dispening the water and 1000 cups. Watching the children write their names on their cups and go over and have a drink of fresh water couldn´t have been more rewarding. 

The next friday evening was a Fiesta at Ladrillera. All 60 children singing and dancing, then little did we know 2 Peruvian clowns showed up! The clowns took a liking to Chris and had him up singing and dancing. I was safe on the side with a 2 year old asleep on my lap.

Always with smiles on their faces the children really made an impact on us. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things i´ve had to do. Walking down the dirt road towards the bus with tears running down my cheeks I knew the children would have a place in my heart forever. 

Think she could pass as our own ? ;)