Our guide Jose makes this town´s name seem so easy to pronounce...that is, until I try to say it myself and royally screw it up. Go ahead, just try it. Anyway, this is where I am tonight...it is a town in the Sacred Valley. We´re staying in a cute little hostel off this tiny cobblestone pathway/windtunnel. It is open air in the center and has spiral staircases and poor Andy reminds me of Will Ferrel in Elf when he´s living in the North Pole! Everything is miniature.
Our day started early around 6:30 am for continental breakfast at the Hotel Prisma. Everyone had their red Gap Adventures duffle bags ready to weigh on the ancient scale in the lobby and make sure it wasn´t exceeding 6kg...this seemed a challenge for everyone. Mine was 5.25 kg but I later realized that I am certainly carrying more than that on my back...am going to have to rearrange things tonight. Breakfast consisted of Andean granola (which was like puffed wheat and puffed quinoa), soupy yogurt (I can´t say I´m a fan), fresh squeezed juices (pineapple, orange and papaya, the later of which I would not recommend) as well as some breads, variety of teas and instant coffee w/leche caliente (hot milk). We shared a table with Ben and Clair-a married couple from the UK who are just starting their year long travel abroad...I am so jealous. 10 days is simply not long enough. We checked out of our room and stowed the remainder of our luggage with the hotel (I hope it will be safe) and lined up to get on our eyesore of a bus...en route we stopped back again at Sacsaywaman (the back of the structure) and Jose explained that many people consider it only in terms of military significance while in reality he believes it was a major religious structure for the Incas...serving as a temple to the god of lightning. All of the rocks btw are not indiginous to Cuzco and in fact, archeologists have not even found the quarry from which they came...certainly a mystery. Adding to that the fact that the Incas did not have a written language so much of what we know about their practices is bias opinion from the Spaniards who overtook them...
We drove through Cuzco and unfortunately witnessed the unloading of a meat truck at the ungodly hour of 7am. The city was bustling and I have no idea how our driver managed to get through those city streets...
We winded up, up and up above Cuzco and about 45 mins later came upon a weaving village that is sponsored by Gap. Our bus drove up this narrow dirt path lined with rocks and only large enough for one vehicle, and certainly didn´t seem big enough for our bus...I tried not to think about it. Once we arrived there were roosters, children, baby pacas and llamas all crossing the roads into the village. Women were clad from head to toe in traditional Peruvian clothes...red woven A-line skirts just past their knees with matching jackets, white blouses with an elaborately embroidered bib like design, matching jackets- also with intricate embroidery and a small red hat with white rim. Most had their hair pulled back in two long, low lying braids. I find it hard to believe that they dress like this on a regular basis and sort of felt bad that they dressed up for us (it was rather obvious, they all seemed to be wearing tshirts underneath). When I asked Jose about this he explained that these women lived on this rural hillside without any means for income and without education or skills. Gap hired people to re-train the women the traditional handicraft of weaving, supplied them with the animals and education they needed and set them up to earn their own living. He asked one of the women how long it would have taken for her to make her garment from scratch and she looked exhasperated...tres meses she replied (3 months). There were woman of all ages there, with babies and young children though I can´t say I saw one man nor any little boys. I´m really not sure to make of this but am planning to corner Jose later and find more out...at any rate, the women showed us the different types of wool they use (from llama, paca and alpacas). They have a farm with very skittish animals and they explained that they wait until the summer (as it is currently winter in Peru) to shave the animals of their fur otherwise they would not survive. Then the wool is washed (thankfully- if you saw the coats of these animals you certainly would not want to wear anything coming from them!) and spun onto spools by hand...it looks like it requires an enormous amount of patience to make the spools. Jose commented several times that it was ´easy´ work and I resisted my urge to ask to see him do it...
Then the women showed us how they dye the spools...they use organic herbs from the hillside...mainly eucalyptus for various shades of green. They also have these cacti parasites...basically white bugs...that invade the cacti surrounding the village...they collect them and heat them up to form a ash-like powder...then they grind the ash and it magically turns red. They use this to create wools of all shades of red...they use these heavy clay pots to heat up the dye and add some water and then the spools...they will use the same pot a number of times and each color will be more and more diluted or of a lighter shade...
One of the women who was dying fabric was eating dried beans...they looked like extra large black eyed peas...she offered us some and Jose warned us that they are really hard. I tried one...it has to be peeled and then the bean itself is like a cream color...it doesn´t have much taste but maybe similar to a chickpea if you can imagine eating one dry. It was super hard though, much harder than a jaw breaker! I was careful, certainly didn´t want to deal with any dental emergencies here!
Then the women all had their own stalls set up with the goods that they´ve handmade themselves. I really can´t say I enjoyed this at all...you feel pressured to buy, you want to do something for them...but then we can only have 6kg of stuff! One woman was carrying the bag on her back with what I imagined to be a toddler in it judging by the size, but we didn´t see a baby popping it´s head out like we usually do...and then the hidden baby started wailing...she took the thing off to reveal layers of blankets inside and the tiniest baby! He or she was probably no more than a month old...all wrapped up with tons of blankets and no air circulation on the back of this woman...talk about a SIDS nightmare. I have come to the conclusion that we are way too uptight in the US. The woman took the bag off her bag and passed the baby over to his mother for...you guessed it, a public breastfeeding session! I have seen at least a dozen women breastfeeding openly here and believe it or not, have only counted 4 smokers...and 2 of those were foreigners...just an interesting observation.
Did I mention that 4 of the people in our group rode the way back down the hillside on the roof of the bus??
We moved on to ruins and I´m not even going to attempt to spell the name of the place because I will botch it, but it was some serious hiking although Jose said we would ónly be walking´today. Ha! It was an ancient Inca site, also where the rocks do not seem to be indiginous to the area...and must have been carried long to get to this place. There was also a hillside with holes...Jose explained that each hole was a burial site but that many of them had been looted and only minimal ornaments remained. The Inca believed that when you died you would be reborn into another life...but that you would need all your stuff from this life for your next life...so they traditionally buried people with all of their belongings...
There was also a site at the end of the ruins that had several small temples including a temple of the sun. They know it was a sun temple because it has a rock in the center which is used to determine the winter and summer solstices.
I forgot my sunblock and it was hot as hell out there today. I also realized that my backpack weighs far too much so I´m going to have to do some major reorganizing tonight. I think it´s actually the backpack itself that is heavy because I really don´t have much in there, I swear!
For lunch we got 2 choices: typical Peruvian menu (at a local restaurant they will serve a set menu including appetizer, main course and dessert for approximately 3 soles) or expensive catering to foreigners buffet style restaurant for a ridiculous 35 soles. I chose the later along with the Irish girls...so we dropped off the majority of the bus at the local place and Jose promptly assured us that we made the right choice and the other place was ´shit´. LOL. We relaxed in the open air setting and had an excellent assortment of foods to choose from...I got the Peruvian chicken dish (although come to think of it, as many farm animals that I have seen I have not seen one chicken so I am starting to become suspicious), over arroz blanco (white rice) with grilled vegetables and an assortment of cakes and nescafe for dessert...after all, I will be needing those carbs! The Irish girls are cool...they are on a 3 week vacation and have already been to the Amazon...I found it funny that the music in the background was basically a Peruvian sample of Christmas tunes...we could at least identify ´we three kings´ and ´oh come all ye faithful´...
Jose came back to report that there was a problem. Apparently the local restaurant had run out of food and so the rest of our group was MIA. He was off with the bus driver to find them...luckily they didn´t go too far, they did get their 3 soles lunch however, none of them could identify anything they had consumed so I was feeling pretty good about my expensive option...after all, from here on out it will be whatever they make us at camp...
We arrived at the ´Andean Moon´hostel around 4 and then headed back out to tour more ruins...this time Ollantaylambo. It had turned windy and cold so we all put on our rain jackets. We walked through the cobblestone town (I don´t know how any cars drive through here without popping all tires) and entered into this ruin site which basically looks like large stone stairs on the side of a mountain...Jose explained that it seems as though this was a project that was unfinished rather than ruins...some pieces of stone are lying haphazardly and my god they are huge! Archeologists have identified the quarry where these rocks are found and it is approximately 2 miles away and on the other side of the river. Jose also explained that unlike the previous site, it appears that rather than making some sort of ´glue´, the Incas instead drew holes and notches into these stones to make them fit together (Ikea furniture anyone?). Climbing the stairs was tough, I was sweating and panting by the time I reached the top and I thought I was in pretty decent shape! We are at a slightly lower altitude today though being high on Diamox I can´t say I´m noticing it either way anymore, which is surely a good thing!
It did start raining while we were up there and the winds were really strong. The site is in the center of several mountains so it was cool to see the storm clouds rolling in from the distance and slowly come upon us. We walked the length of the site and headed for the salida where these 2 little girls approached Jose...begging him for something but I couldn´t catch what they were saying. The people here speak a combination of Spanish and Quechua which I guess is the local dialect. Anyway, the girls apparently were asking if they could perform for us...Jose finally relented and the two burst out in song and dance. It was cute but of course ended with open hands asking for money and looking super sad when all you handed over was un sol per girl...
I was chilled to the bone between the wind and the rain...we stopped back at the hotel briefly and decided to head back out for dinner. We came upon this place called ´Cafe Corazones´randomly and went in because it looked warm and cozy...here it is actually an organic cafe using all the foods grown and produced locally, fresh vegetables, all natural ingredients, no soy products...the cafe was dreamt up by a woman from the UK who visited Peru in 2007 and wanted to do something about the poverty in this region. She had never run a restaurant but being that the people here are farmers it seemed like the perfect option to raise funds and awareness at the plight of this community. She wanted to help the women and children here become more self-sufficient and independent. Shortly after her project began an NGO (non-governmental organization) was founded alongside her cafe. It is called the ´Living Heart Association´and focuses on health, education and sustainabiliy. One of their projects is helping the children of the area to learn Spanish, the national language of Peru instead of the Quechua dialect. They also provide injectable contraceptives (I am assuming Depo-Provera) for those women interested in spacing their children. Parasites are a major issue in the water supply here and many children and women also suffer from malnutrition because of them...until they can figure out a way to truly purify the water sources, they have started a pilot project where they are medicating school children twice a year and instructing parents to treat their children with an anti-parasitic herbal remedy at home twice a week with breakfast...the project has found that all of the children have reached their best potential weight within 9 months. These are just a few of the projects they are running...they had photos and posterboards throughout the small cafe...and the food was excellent besides. If you are interested in helping email livingheartperu@gmail.com. They ask for school supplies, medicine, clothing and other donations including used digital cameras to help document the children´s progress...all packages must be less than 5kg or they have to pay taxes on them.
There is also some sort of party going on outside tonight...seems odd for a Tuesday but all the kids are dressed to the nines and families alike...dancing, singing, bands, huge plastic statues. I´m not sure what´s going on but we did get a chance to check it out for a little bit...it is still going strong as I type this!
I changed some dollars into soles for the rest of the trek and now just need to go back and rearrange my backpack (have I mentioned this enough today?). I have seen today that weather in one day can go from hot as hell to downright frigid at night...and miserable with the added rain. I hear there are a lot of mosquitos on the trail but I just can´t even believe it with it getting so cold at night...what kind of mosquitos are these anyway?? I did pick up some sunblock today...don´t know where that Target sunblock we debated over ended up Mom...but hopefully this will suffice. We have to be up by 6am tomorrow...I am praying for a hot shower as it will be my last opportunity at one for the next few days through whatever mother nature conjours up...cross your fingers for dry and warm. All and all a great, albeit exhausting day. Excited for what tomorrow brings...
and elicited Carlos to help us make travel plans for Sunday- a challenging day to attempt to get to a remote part of the country! The guidebook said that Sunday's are the worst day to attempt to travel as sometimes ferries simply decide not to run. We crossed our fingers that we'd have 'buenas suerte' in the Sunday travel department. We negotiated with Carlos as his original quote for a private taxi (most taxis in Nicaragua are 'shared' - you can imagine the safety concerns this raises) the ferry port of San Jorge was $60 USD, but we managed to get him down to $40 which seemed fair especially considering the trouble we anticipated encountering if we attempted a bus without Vida. Carlos then made a quick call to Totoco (our next destination) to arrange transport once we arrived to Isla Ometepe (the island of 2 volcanos)...once we got all this settled we ran up to our room so Brian could grab his camera...
We arrived at the church to see it was in session...there were some women playing with children out front- some were riding smaller versions of 'big wheels' around the concrete cross planted on the corner of the church's grounds.
Brian pulled out his camera and got to work...we stepped inside to the left- the entrada for the bell tower. 
We paid our $1 entry fee and embarked on the narrow spiral stone staircase that wounded us up to the tippity top of Granada...signs politely requested that we not ring the bells...whose tattered ropes may have proved too tempting had it not been that mass was in progress! 
The view was spectacular...especially given the volcanic backdrop. 
The wind whipped and swirled around us...there were a few other people up there snapping pictures as well...we got a few and headed back down the staircase...
.the night was balmy with an ocassional breeze. Brian couldn't understand why I still wore my scarf in this weather...it took a few times of telling him before he understood it was purely out of fashion and had nothing to do with function :) we arrived at to the end of the block and found ourselves at another iglesia in session...decided to turn around as it was getting dark and the street becoming more desolate...besides Brian's camera screamed "wealthy 
