The End is Near

I only have a week & a half left.... :(. As per usual, I've done quite a bit since I last updated – I’ll admit I’ve been slacking. Allie & Jessie "Mas Alto" left last week but not before we could go horseback riding up to the Pumamarca ruins. I always forget how much I STILL love horses. I think I might ask for one again this Christmas...The only problem is that I'm fairly allergic to them and unfortunately got asthma on the four hour ride. However, it was beautiful and really fun.

We went to Machu Picchu last Friday. Peru couldn't make it a much less enjoyable experience to get there. From here, you have to buy a train ticket but this includes the 30 minute bus ride to the train station. The train used to run from here but the railway got washed out with the floods (I believe they are restoring it). I had to buy a separate train ticket from Julia & Jessie “mas abajo” through Inka Rail which cost me a whopping $50 (that’s equivalent to s/ 140 which is a lot of money here). I arrived in Aguas Calientes only to find out that they had no returning tickets home for the following evening and the train is the only mode of transportation in and out of town. {Side note: Aguas Calientes is known as a tourist trap and a relatively unpleasant place to be.} We stayed in an overpriced hostel the first evening but were able to wake up very early the next morning to climb Wayna Picchu. Wayna Picchu is the tall mountain pictured in the standard photo of the ruins and has more ruins at the very top.

We woke up at 3:45 am to be able to buy tickets into Machu Picchu, the bus ride and to arrive at the gate of Machu Picchu within the first 400 people in order to climb Wayna Picchu. When we arrived at Machu Picchu, a heavy fog had settled upon the mountain and gave it a very mystical and majestic appearance. We were able to start climbing Wayna Picchu by 7:30 am and arrived at the top by 8:15 am. I climbed to the very top and waited for Julia and Jessie (Jessie broke her ankle about 3 months ago). While I was waiting, I climbed to the highest point, put my backpack down and turned around to find it plummeting down the side of the mountain…oops. I had to yell to the path below to watch out – thank god it didn’t come close to hitting anyone but it continued to fall below that path as well. I climbed down and peered around with a couple other people to see if we could see it. No such luck. For a few moments, I thought I lost anything relatively important (money, my driver’s license, credit cards, iPod, Peruvian cell phone). I found a guide at the top of Wayna Picchu, explained what happened and he was able to retrieve it! It had fallen an additional 20-30 feet below the path and was wedged in a tree. To my surprise, nothing was broken except for my deodorant and a case for some medicine. We spent the rest of the morning at Machu Picchu but were anxious to get to the train station to get train tickets for the following morning since it was the first day of the 4 day dance festival in Ollantaytambo.

Train Ticket to Machu Picchu: s/ 140
Bus ticket to Machu Picchu: s/ 40
Entrance into Machu Picchu: s/ 126
Food and Accommodations in Aguas Calientes: s/ 300
Watching your backpack plummet to its impending doom: PRICELESS

Saturday through Tuesday was the biggest four day festival in Ollantaytambo called Choquekillka. Senor de Choquekillka was some sort of Peruvian Saint that looks identical to Jesus Christ and did something miraculous here in Ollantaytambo. It involved 16 groups of traditional dancers, music, dangerous fireworks, food, and lots and lots and lots of cerveza. The biggest of the four days were Sunday and Tuesday. Sunday, we started drinking early in the afternoon through the evening. We watched the dancers for quite awhile…many of which whip each other in the legs really hard. After, we went to the bull fighting near my house, a cargo for one of the dance groups, and more dancing in the plaza. I was pretty drunk by the evening and as we were sitting down to eat dinner at the cargo someone set down a plate of hot peppers. In my drunken state, I thought they were bell peppers and shoved one in my mouth. A few seconds later, my entire family witnessed the Niagara Falls pouring out of my eyes. Jesus and Janet were running around demanding water, sugar, salt and anything that would help me. Ugh, stupid. Also, I was so drunk that I was in bed by 9:30 – lame. I also found out the next day that I refused to eat the meat that they served for dinner.

Monday I didn’t do much drinking but went back to the cargo for dinner and a few drinks after. Jesus was talking to his very belligerent uncle about joining their dance group – Qhapaq Qolla (they whip each other as well). Jesus mentioned that I wanted to return next year to see him dance and his uncle decided to give me one lashing in my leg. Thank you – I have a bruise.

Tuesday was another heavy day. Once again, we started drinking early in the day and headed out to lunch at the cargo. Jesus received his whippings in preparation for next year AND we were lucky enough to have cuy (guinea pig) for lunch. I tasted a very small bite and the taste was almost as foul as the appearance. After, we went to “La Pampa” for some entertainment, horses, fireworks and….cerveza. {Side note: there are absolutely no regulations on fireworks here. They were shooting off from this wooden toothpick tower straight into the crowd.} We ended up being out until about 3:30 or 4 in the morning which was really rough for me since I had to wake up at 7 am. The entire festival has been one of my favorite experiences here in Peru. And no, it wasn’t because I was served endless amounts of cerveza.

I’ve uploaded some pictures and plan to get more of Choquekillka up. Hope everyone is well in the States and is prepared for my highly anticipated arrival in about a week and a half!
Much Love, Liz

Los Doltons

We plagued Cusco again over the weekend. The ladies headed out on Friday afternoon for an evening at the “Los Dolton’s” concert. Los Dolton’s are my “grandpa’s” band and they’re quite popular here in Peru. My entire family went to the concert as well which made for an interesting night out.

We started off at the lovely Hotel Ninos for some deliciously warm showers and cute accommodations. I met my family outside of the concert venue and got in for FREE in the back way with the band. Yup, I’m famous. Lito, the pianist asked for my information and I was relatively confused during our exchange…partially because he was a bit of a creep. But, little did I know that I would get the biggest shout out during the concert. Seriously, you’re reading the blog of an up & coming Peruvian star. The concert was fun and they had some interesting renditions of American songs. After, we went to our typical hot spots in Cusco and stayed out drinking and dancing salsa until five am. Ugh, tiring. Side note: when I was being spun around during my sensational salsa moves I accidentally elbowed some chica in the head….twice. Whoops.

Saturday, we went to see a Sexy Woman. Ok, it’s Saqsaywaman (A Qechua word) which are more Inca Ruins in Cusco. Despite my hangover, it was a beautiful walk and an amazing view of Cusco. We unsuccessfully attempted to sneak in the back way and now I’m writing you from Peruvian Jail.

Just kidding, I’m not in jail. But we did get kicked out. Later, we headed out for the evening and took the town by charge. At one point, I found myself dancing with our Spanish teacher and since he is not much taller than 5 feet I felt like I was dancing with a 3 year old child. It was awkward especially because my hands engulfed his. Yet again, another evening of drinking til 5 am.

The following day, I arrived home to find my family drinking at 1 o’clock in the afternoon for Mother’s Day. Apparently for my family, Mother’s day includes drinking festivities and dancing salsa in the main room. It was fun and a very unique experience for Mother’s Day.

On the volunteering front: I have another 3.5 weeks left here. Yikes, I know it’s going to go fast. I’ll be finishing out the last few weeks of English Class at school by myself as well as English Club at the Telecentro. Also, I started teaching Jesus English tonight in exchange for salsa classes. I plan to be a Salsa Pro by Sarah’s wedding.

Hope all is well in the States. Chau.

"Vacation"

Vacation was a saga. Problem after problem after problem, literally.

Alli and I both got sever food poisoning on the 10 hour bus ride to Arequipa. I threw up for the entire time and we had an A$$hole of a steward to deal with on top of everything else. We arrived in Arequipa and spent the day in bed due to lack of energy or the ability to really consume food (for me at least). The following day we took a bus to Cabanaconde which is a little pueblo next to one of the deepest canyons in the world - Colca Canyon. This six hour bus ride was once again hell. The bus had no bathroom and Julia ended up getting her purse stolen due to a brief lapse in judgment. Her purse included her credit cards, passport card (not her actual passport, thank god) and 25 USD. Clearly, the majority of this really has little use to a Peruvian because most places do not take credit cards and she was able to cancel everything when we reached Cabanaconde. Oh and I threw up again, YIPPEE. Thankfully, Carlos from our hostal in Arequipa set us up with his friend Carlos (yes, Carlos again) in Cabanaconde. Carlos took us around to the look out point to see the Condors and to other look out points for the Canyon. The Condors were probably one of the most magnificent animals I've ever seen. The pictures don't do justice. I also posted a couple others of the canyon and the three of us. I think it's pretty obvious I still wasn't feeling 100%.

We left Cabanaconde that night and headed back to Arequipa....once again on a hellish bus ride. For some reason, they decided it would be a great idea to cram as many smelly Peruvians in the aisle as possible. On a positive note - we had an entire day and night in Arequipa to do the touristy bit.

The next morning we went to Puno but not without bus problems. We arrived at the bus terminal with about 5 minutes to spare. Grabbed our "embarking" ticket and went to get on the bus but were told that we were at the wrong terminal....great. We speed walked to the other terminal, once again attempted to get on, were told that we did not have the right embarking ticket. So, we ran to buy the embarking ticket which of course took FOREVER. Went to get on the bus and it left...missed it by 2 minutes. What a nightmare. Thankfully, we found another bus for 30 minutes later with the luxurious Cama Seats. We got to Puno in the afternoon and the first thing we did was try to get to the island we wanted to stay at for the evening. We made a deal with some fisherman to drive us to a peninsula a 1-1/2 hour away and to get us to the Island Amantani for the evening. They drove us to the peninsula, stopped at someone's house in the middle of nowhere (it was dark at this point) and were told that we were going to stay at this woman's hospedaje for the evening. The woman who owned it smelled like she hadn't showered in 3 months, the rooms and beds were really dirty with lots of bugs and not to mention the cold. I pretended I had asthma and we got a taxi back to Puno for the evening and the returned to this woman's house AGAIN in the morning so she could take us in a rowboat (there are pictures for proof) to get to the island. We spent the day on the island but began to be concerned that we wouldn't make it back for our bus to Cusco because we simply didn't trust the guys we had paid. Thankfully, they showed up and we got some money back for their lack of communication and crappy service tactics.

We were on time this time for our bus to Cusco. However, we paid and expected the cama seats but received the same kind of bus we took to Cabanaconde aka no bathroom and crappy seats for what ended up being a 9 hour ride.

Needless to say, we were all happy to arrive back in Ollanta. On a positive note, we got to see a lot and learned the following:

-Don't eat salad. Just don't.
-Don't trust the bus systems - they suck.
-Don't have expectations for Peruvian vacation.

I'm heading to Cusco on Friday with my family to see my dad's dad play in a band. I think it'll be fun and interesting as per usual.

Chau for now.