The new Environment Team will meet on the first Wednesday of every other month, beginning February 2. We’ll meet at Standard Tap in NoLib to plan earth-friendly activities for the group.

The Event Organizers will meet on the second Wednesday of every other month to mix & mingle, brainstorm and plan events, and talk about other “organizer” responsibilities. First meeting will be February 9, then March 9, and then we’ll drop to every other month after that. First few gatherings have already been posted; check them out on our calendar!

Looking forward to a great year!

We drive up through the Sacred Valley, reverse of the route that we took yesterday. After about an hour in a taxi, we are on a part of the road with a sheer red cliffs on one side (and a sheer drop off on the other). I think of Adam and climbing, and we laugh & try to get a photo, as a kind of “climb this!” kind of joke…and the taxi pulls up into a side road. “We’re here!” Alex says. We look at each other, mouths open. Okay, so WE’RE climbing this. With a guide that doesn’t speak much English. Oy.

We meet our other guide, Ario, who fortunately speaks excellent English. We find out that we’re only the 58th and 59th people to climb this thing. They just finished building it about 6 weeks ago. The harnesses are unusual–they go over your shoulders, and clip in front of your chest–but I like it. Feel more secure in a way.

Ario goes over what we are supposed to do. Kristin has told him that we’ve climbed Via Ferratas before, although I’m sure to point out I’ve only done it once and I was scared then. And am scared now. Kristin sounds like a pro. We review, and hike up to the ladder that accesses the Via. It’s straight up. Whew. And we start climbing.

I’m shaky to start, as I kind of expected I would be. Didn’t seem like we were climbing too fast, but I got out of breath pretty quickly, and Kristin and Alex got way ahead. It was chilly, since the mountain was in the shade. Ario told me that his company had to get permission from the land owner, a man who owned mines in Peru (Peruvian owner), and also had to pay a tax to the government to operate.

First break was at about 50 meters. We sat on a ledge and Ario pointed out all kinds of sights–rafters on the Urubamba River, ruins on the other side of the valley, and even ruins in Ollantaytambo, several miles away. Alex took tons of photos–on Kristin’s camera, of course. I had my camera but it was too much trouble to take it out while we were climbing.

We climbed higher and it got trickier–traverses over open space, spot s where you had to figure out where to put your hands or feet. The two guides went ahead so I ended up at the bottom of the group. I didn’t like that very much. Felt much better with someone behind me! Took another short break and then we came to the bridge. Which was really just two wires, one on top, one on bottom. You had to inch your way sideways over a 200 foot gap of nothing. Looking out over the valley too–not even an option to face the rock! Kristin went first & rocked it. It took me a lot longer and I came closer to seriously losing it than I have on any adventure yet. I had my eyes closed over most of it. About halfway through, the wire got higher and It was a bit easier to balance. But still terrifying, and I was really glad when it was over.

After a few minutes to recover, we had “a little more up,” as Ario kept saying, and after two really tricky parts–one where I came pretty close to losing my grip!–we got to a wide ledge and had lunch. Made by Ario’s wife. They told us a little about the business and what they were doing and where they were trying to go with it. They want to make the Via even higher, and then put in some zip lines down, rather than rappel. Coooool. Although I don’t know if I could do it a second time. Told them I would email some suggestions for advertising. Will have to work on that! Neat to talk to some local entrepreneurs.

After lunch, a little hike & a little climb brought us to the rappel spot. Yikes. This wasn’t as scary though, as long as I could face the rock and didn’t have to look down! Just had to drop….keep my legs straight in front…don’t look down….”Amy, you have to look down!” shouts Ario from up above. “You’re going to hit some ledges!” aaand…CRASH. right onto a couple of cacti and those innocent looking agave-things. Oof. Straighten legs again….lean back….I figure out that instead of looking over my shoulder at the rocks at the bottom of the valley some 500 feet below, I can look through my harness & between my legs and see if there is anything immediate that could sneak up & surprise me. There are a few more ledges, none too bad, and I can hear Alex talking to me from below, although when I look back over my shoulder, I still see a 500 foot drop. Oy. But he’s closer than he seems and I’m clipped back into the cable fairly quickly.

Then we wait for Kristin. It takes her ages, and I start to think something might be wrong. But finally I can see her being lowered over the edge of the cliff. Turns out she made Ario undo and redo the whole setup so she could see how safe it was. When she lands we both watch Ario leap down the cliff like Spiderman. Heh. Maybe we’ll do it that way next time.

Then we had a little climb down, which was more difficult than I expected, but Ario talked us through it. Then a hike on some crazy loose stones the rest of the way…and we were done! Soo good to get the hot fleece and harness off. Total cost about $66 USD each, including tip. And as we got our stuff together to leave, Ario ran over and gave the taxi driver–who waited for us the entire time–100 soles, one fourth of what we paid them. So they earned about $100 USD total for the whole day. No idea what the overhead is, but that doesn’t seem like very much, considering there were two employees to pay. Hope it works out for them.

This one’s for Ellen, Nicole, and Bonnie!

Nomi, one of the "hosts" in Loki Hostal. First person we met. Lived in the US for 8 years, worked all over the west coast & did a stint in Park City snowboarding. Really helpful & full of jokes.

Sepe (pronounced "seppi"), one of our roommates the first two nights, joined us on our Sacred Valley tour the third day. Born in iran, family moved to Holland when she was young. Almost finished her 3 month tour of South America. Doesn’t want to go home.

Cat & Denise, our two Irish roommates. Arrived in Cusco a few days before we did, kicking off a 10 week tour of South America. Cat works with people with disabilities and Denise arranges student tours & holidays. They get in just about when we wake up. Denise was sick for a few days, but that didn’t inferfere with her partying. Every night Cat says she’s not staying late. Every night she’s out until we wake up in the morning.

Jen from Texas was also on our Sacred Valley tour, I sat next to her on the bus. She teaches K-2 students at a  homeless shelter in Austin, Texas, and her reason for coming to Cusco was to go on a hallucinogenic tour in the jungle. Kristin hopes they don’t do drug testing at her school.

Ario & Alex, our via ferrata guides. They built the via themselves, after doing a lot of research. We’re 40 feet off the ground when Ario says, "Guess what I’m getting for Father’s Day? A son! My wife is having contractions right now!" Kristin & I can’t believe it. Great people, just getting started with their adventure tour company. Cool to meet some Peruvian entrepreneurs. Ario grew up in the Cordeilla Blanca, and speaks excellent English. Alex is a big fan of sport climbing and is a great photographer.

Amy & Rita from Canada, roommates in our second room. Med students, pretty quiet on the whole. Did the Salcantay trek too & told us all about it. Spending their last days in Cusco recovering from the hike and watching the festivities on the plaza. We were glad when they said they went to bed early, nice to have roommates more on our wavelength (not to mention sleep schedule). Rita and her bf are going to visit NY and we gave them a list of things to do if they get to Philly.

Anthony from Australia & Tobias from Sweden. A few days back we shared a few bottles of wine with these guys in the hostal bar, then went out to tear up the town. Anthony is making his way to Santiago to teach ESL. Really into music. Tobias is kind of quiet. Both of them suck at pool, but they can dance. They just met on this trip but totally have the whole bromance thing going on already.

Ingrid from Norway. Spent two days in Lima, been in Cusco for two weeks, did the same trek we will be doing (Salkantay) with the same company. Probably the coolest pretty girl I’ve ever met–we walked into the first club and said, "Ooh, i don’t know about this place, I don’t think I’m cool enough." After a few drinks it was all ok though.

Ori from Israel. One of our second group of roommates. On his way around the continent as well. Doesn’t have much planned but is taking Spanish lessons in Cusco. Really broke it down for Kristin how to "backpack". Three pair of pants, two shorts. One nice dress shirt, two t-shirts, one jacket, one sweater ("jumper"). Sneakers, sandals, swimsuit, alarm clock & watch. Everything else you can buy along the way. Sending a big package home with all the stuff he collected in Bolivia & Cusco.

Gilbert & Ronal, our canyoning guides. Super fun, crazy, very helpful. No reservations. (see photo). Really big on rafting. Gilbert does the guide & cargo rafts on multi-day rafting trips on the Apurimac River, Ronal paddles the safety kayak. They work together a lot, both work for a few different outdoor adventure companies in the area. They tell great stories. Ronal doesn’t like sheep after getting run over by one as a kid. Gilbert likes clubbing.

The history is that Ollantaytambo was the site of one of the last strongholds of the Incas holding out before the conquistadors took over. Manco Capac, a relative of the last true Inca King, retreated there and held out against the Spanish forces, so much that they retreated back to Cusco. But with Spanish reinforcements arriving, Manco retreated even further west to a former palace of the Inca kings, Vilcabamba, bypassing Machu Picchu and keeping it hidden from Spanish marauders. Hence the nickname for Machu Picchu, “lost city of the Incas”.

The main thing to see at Ollantaytambo is what remains of the Temple of the Sun, six giant pink granite stones with odd knobs carved into them. Apparently these were brought up from the quarry below. They are still intact, although there were probably many more. You can’t quite tell from the photo below (I was avoiding tourists), but they are about 15 feet tall, all one block of stone. Amazing.

Across the town on the facing mountain, you can see a few more ruins, and also some curious natural shapes in the rock! (Thank my camera zoom for deciding to work so I could get this shot.)

There was a tourist market just outside the ruins, with some Inca stonework still intact. Judging by the polished stones and double doorway, my guess is that it was something for royalty, although we had to rush out & I didn’t get a chance to find out. Will have to do some research on my own I guess!

Pisac seems to be most famous for its agricultural terraces, which extend up & down and around the mountain. But there are also the remains of some buildings.  There was a plaza type area and two peaks–we went up the one on the right, which led to the religious temples–the Temple of the Sun, of course. It was hot and there was a lot of uphill and downhill on some sketchy Inca rock steps. I think the Inca steps are going to kill me. There are some in our hotel too and they are tough.

The Incas knew a lot about earthquakes. The windows and doors are narrower at the top, and walls inclining in toward the center of the building are apparently much less susceptible to collapse. Proven in the Cusco earthquake of 1650; the “new” colonial buildings all were destroyed, but the Inca walls that the conquistadors used as the foundation for their buildings and churches, remained standing.

Learned that the cross with the circle in it is the Inca cross, and that inca gravesites always face east because they believe in the next life. (Being a sun-worshipping religion, everything began in the east for the Incas.) From what our guide told us, very striking resemblance to the Resurrection. Will have to Google to check up on him (and also find out more about the resemblance).

This was about half an hour of uphill hiking. Didn’t seem like anything too difficult, but it seems I can only go about half as far as normal, and when I need to stop, I NEED to stop, heart racing and totally out of breath. Am going to try to find some slightly stronger medicine than coca leaves. Although they do work, a little.

As we came back down to get back on the bus, a local musician was playing a flute, and the thin music filled the otherwise empty silence. I passed another passenger from our tour sitting on a rock–a mom from California who brought her husband and three daughters back to Peru, where her parents were born–and I grinned at her & sat down. “I could just sit and listen to the music…”

“…all day,” she finished, with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Swarmed by vendors while waiting for our tour bus this morning. People sell everything here. finally bought some postcards, and a painting of the area, haggled from 65 soles to 25 (about 8.33 USD. And once it looked like one of us were going to buy something, soon we were surrounded. Saved by Sepe shouting “9:00! where’s our bus!” Frantic scramble back to the tour agency, fortunately right off the plaza. Found the bus!

Our tour guide is a funny guy named Evert, (we think). Grew up in Pisac, speaking only Quecha as they do in the villages. Learned Spanish at school and now has perfect English. But unfortunately, this tour is pretty much exactly what I didn’t want–we only get 20 minutes in each location!

Tour itinerary: Pisac ruins, Urubamba for lunch, Ollantaytambo ruins, Chinchero ruins then back on the bus to Cusco. 250 km total. Not bad for 25 soles, but I’d rather take time to explore. We are running out of time to do all these things! And here we thought three weeks would be way too much.

BUT, the ride on the bus was totally worth the 25 soles. the mountains of the Sacred Valley are unbelievable. We stopped for photos, but they are worthless. The shadows in the valleys and the colors of the fields are amazing.

Lunch in Urubamba, cute little town. Beautiful glacial mountains, reminded me of Maui’s lee side but not as green.  nice restaurant, ate outside in the garden. Kristin had alpaca meat, my piece was kind of gristly so I gave it to a cute doggie. Am having a beast of a time getting the toilets to flush in this country! seems to be tougher in the sacred valley than in Cusco; at this particular restaurant a little boy came in as we came out, and dumped water in the tank when everyone was finished! Seems like composting toilets would be easier.

Then on to Ollantaytambo, super cool ruins, lots to explore. Sat next to Jen from Texas on the bus. She was fun to talk to. The little market was great and I just loved this little guy sleeping in the courtyard.

After Ollantaytambo, it was another long ride on the bus to Chinchero, where we stopped for a weaving demonstration. Super, super cool! Will try to post photos & video, it was fascinating. At least I thought so!

When we got back, it was definitely shower time since we were covered in dust from the ruins. Then we met up with Jen from Texas and a fellow from our tour. He was from Brazil and wanted to practice his English. He asked us each what we knew about Brazil. I won: Amazon, Sao Paolo, Pele, Carnival, beaches, Giselle Bundchen, men’s beach volleyball Olympic team silver medalists!

Then in for another early night. We had to pack up & get ready to move our room because of the trek that didn’t work out. So we moved to another room for two nights and then we have to move back again. Sometimes I really don’t think this hostel has any idea what’s going on.  But it’s cheap, so I should really stop complaining, eh?

Blew that already. Spent $30 US on stamps to mail postcards. I think I might have gotten too many stamps for postcards, but I guess I’d better use them all.

Things are very cheap here, so it’s easy to buy things. I think I want a sweater, I got a pair of socks and I think I’m going to buy some more ($3 for handmade alpaca wool socks??? are you freaking kidding me???). I got a patch for my backpack and have gotten a few souvenirs for others so far. I’d also like a blanket and may buy some wool to knit myself a sweater! Hoping that our homestay will be in Chinchero so we can see that weaving demonstration again, maybe get some wool really cheap!

Food wise, it’s really cheap. Just have to be careful not to go to the more expensive places too often. Most meals cost less than US $7, even in the expensive places, but I had a salad & coffee yesterday for about $4.

Taxis are another story. You really have to bargain; they often charge tourists twice as much as locals. Same goes for the combis, the local buses. We are doing ok, don’t usually pay more than one or two nuevo sol more than we intend to.

But we’ve also learned you can bargain anywhere. Shops, hotels, even restaurants! Need to keep practicing. Budget is holding up ok, we’ve paid for mostly everything already! Just the hotel & food for the rest of the trip it seems….and of course, "lattes".

We talked to the tour operator at the hostel about a jungle trek. Just before we left, our original plans for a trek to Tres Cruces to see the sunrise on the solstice were canceled because the tour company had the wrong dates. So we’re left with three extra days. Nomi, one of the hosts or employees in the hostel, told us we should go to the jungle if we could. But it’s getting a bit late to book another three day trek where we’d return in time, so we decided to rearrange our itinerary so we could go after the Inca trek. Which meant rush all over the place.

Walking down most of the streets to the Plaza is an ordeal. People are everywhere trying to sell you things, pass out flyers, trying to get you to come into their restaurant. “No gracias, no gracias” is what you say as you are walking down the street. I am used to looking at people and saying hello though, which of course is an open invitation for people to follow you and continue to pester. But since it’s so hard to breathe here, I’ve gotten a thicker skin and am getting better at walking down the street with blinders on. Kristin says I’m a magnet.

But a guy carrying a bunch of hand knitted hats caught my eye, I saw a flash of pink. I’d wanted to buy one of those, alpaca wool, this one’s great. i successfully haggled him down two whole soles–about 66 cents, for a total cost of about $9.33. Need to work on that. (I am getting better at changing money in my head though!)

And then we passed by one of many shops. This one caught my eye because of the patches hanging on the side. I got one with a vicuna (a llama-like thing) and one of Machu Picchu. also got a pair of nice gloves, and alpaca socks for $3!! if anyone wants a pair send me an email…will try them out tomorrow & wash them before the trek, let you know how they hold up!!

Stopped by the South American Explorers Clubhouse in San Blas. Really pretty setting, beautiful courtyard & quiet common area. You can actually rent rooms there long term. We joined the club for baggage storage when we get to Lima for the day. We also got to use their phone and internet to rearrange paragliding, via ferrata & canyoning. Still didn’t find a jungle trek. But we have to rush out to the office of the canyoning fellow. Which turns out to be his house. Odd. But he does a lot of business on the internet, and its working out, so he doesn’t need an office. Cool.

On the way back we stopped by the Pachacuteq monument. Pretty cool. Pachacuteq was the ninth Incan emperor, and apparently did the most for the empire. We walked up the stairs to the top of the monument and saw lots of photos of Incas along the way. Another procession on the square today, this one by the Santa Teresa Church. Kristin asked a nice woman on the street what all the fuss was, she said it was all part of the festival of Corpus Christi, which started on the 16th and apparently continues with festivals & parades & processions until the Inti Raymi (Inti = festival, Raymi = sun in Quecha, the language of the Incas) on the 24th, which is the second largest festival in South America (after Carnival in Brazil).Had dinner with our two Irish roommates. They’re traveling through south America for 10 weeks. sheesh. most people here seem to be from Europe, all on extended holidays. Soooo jealous. Dinner was a BBQ offered by our hostel, you have to sign up during the day and dinner is at 8. we had chicken, steak & chorzio & four different salads. Steak was awesome. Total about 5 American dollars each.

Koricancha was believed to be the center of worship for the Cusco Incans. Inti, the sun, was their primary deity. The original name for the temple was Inti Kancha, “temple of the sun,” but due to the gold used in the inside, the name was changed to “Qori kancha,” or “golden courtyard.” Gold was used in statuettes and to line the walls and floor of the temple. There were also smaller temples on the inside, such as the temple of the rainbow.

The Spanish invaders destroyed the temple and stole all the Inca gold, and the church of Santo Domingo was built on the original site. The church was built on the stone foundations put there by the Incas, and while the church has been damaged and rebuilt, the Inca walls are still standing.

The site is maintained now by an order of priests or friars I think, and a large portion of the church is dedicated to the Inca history of the temple. Although there are quite a few dedications to Santo Domingo and other Christian figures.

courtyard

Kristin looking through an Inca window

the double doorjamb signifies a royal entrance. This and other themes in Inca construction repeat themselves in many of the archaeological sites we saw.

views from the balcony

Cool thing in the garden of Korikancha. The puma, at the top, represents the Inca people’s connection to the Earth and land. The snake, on the left, symbolizes their connection to the underground world (some Incan temples, such as the temple of the moon, were built around natural caves). The condor, at the bottom, represents their connection to the heavens.

really cool plant. no idea what it is.

outside on the beautiful grounds of the site

Inside the church at the altar