Machu Picchu

It's hard to believe that just this morning I was walking where Incas walked.

We're in Ollantaytambo (Oh-YAN-tie-tahm-bo) now, a small town just south of Aguas Calientes.  It's our first way point on the journey between Machu Picchu and Lima.  Tomorrow we'll go hiking here and then take a van to Cusco and an overnight bus to Arequipa.  It's a long way, but this experience has already been worth the trip.

Yesterday afternoon we took the train into Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu.  The train had a glass dome, so we were treated to an hour and a half of spectacular Andes mountain views.  The train was also fancy - there was a snack service like you'd have on an airplane ride, and the station had the cleanest bathrooms in South America.  If you've ever been to South America, you'll understand why this is a notable fact...

Aguas Calientes was pretty much what I expected it to be - a conglomeration of hotels, hostels and restaurants serving tourists on their way to Machu Picchu.  But for what it's worth, the prices aren't too steep, and most of the locals still speak mostly Spanish.  Our hotel turned out to be fantastic for the price we paid, and for dinner we found a nice restaurant where we tried ceviche, raw fish marinated in lemon juice and hot red pepper.  I'm not a huge fan (the texture is a little strange), but Tim and Kyle both loved it.

After dinner, we still had plenty of time to get our tickets for Machu Picchu and head to the only other local attraction - the hot springs!  Aguas Calientes isn't named Hot Waters for nothing.  The local access to the springs was quite a bargain - just $4 to soak in the several different pools.  Each one was a different temperature, so we found a comfortable one and sat for a couple of hours chatting with a group of Argentine women.  The guys did pretty well keeping up with conversation again!  I was proud of them.

However, we had to go to bed pretty early in preparation for today.  We woke up at 4:30 AM (the recommended hour), ate the breakfast the hotel graciously prepared at that ridiculous time, stowed our luggage and walked over to the bus station in the dark.  We had been planning to hike up to the ruins, but Tim's persistent cough was starting to get worse, so we decided to pay a bit extra to take the 15 minute bus ride to the top.  That turned out to be a good decision, since the early hour meant that hikers had to climb hundreds of stairs in the foggy morning darkness.  Plus, in the bus line we ran into two French guys we met at Tiwanaku!

We arrived at the entrance a minute or so after it opened, so we had prime access to the ruins.  As we entered, there was a fork in the path.  By chance, we chose the direction no one else picked, so for the first two hours, we barely saw another living soul.

Going to Machu Picchu is like walking into a myth.  For one thing, it's so foggy in the morning twilight that everything looks mysterious.  You can walk up to the edge of a stone platform, look off into the distance and see... nothing.  Just white mist.  It's so quiet that it's almost eerie. Without anyone else there, I could almost pretend I was an Inca.

We found a spot to watch the sunrise, and though it wasn't particularly brilliant or colorful, it was fantastic, because the sudden heat from the sun causes the fog to part and reveal the Andes and the river valley below.  We sat for several minutes in silence (except for the interruption of a guard who brusquely informed us that sitting on Inca walls is NOT allowed, and that we would have to stand if we wanted to see the sunrise).

Next, we decided to head uphill toward the temple sector to see the Templo de las Tres Ventanas and the views of the terraces on the other side of the mountain.  Here we had our first run-in with "ugly Americans" on the trip - a group of girls screaming and taking picture after picture of themselves jumping up in the air in front of the ruins.  Now, I know Machu Picchu is exciting, but if you ever get the chance to go, please don't be those people...

Anyway, the temples were great!  It was really interesting to see how the stonework changed over time.  Down below, the granite rocks were hugely varied in size from giant boulders to tiny chips used to fill in the gaps, while the temples at the top were constructed from finely hewn stone blocks that fit together perfectly with no mortar.  We saw stone archways and platforms that the Incas used to make astronomical observations.  The view was amazing, too.  Those potato farmers must have been so inspired by their surroundings.

After exploring the temples and other main square buildings, we took our first short hike out to the puente Inka (Inca bridge).  The views there were great, too, although quite distinct.  The jungle is denser there, and it looks out over sheer granite cliffs that are totally different from the green, pointy mountains I associate with the Andes.  The Inca bridge was amazing just because I can't believe it still exists - it's literally just a wooden board stretched across a terrifying gap in the rocks, with no handholds of any kind.  Needless to say, we did not cross it (you're not allowed to, anyway), but we did try our hardest to get our picture taken with it.  Unfortunately, some tourists cannot be coached to take a picture, no matter how hard you try.  :-)

Our next short hike took us all the way to the edge of the historical reserve to the puerta del sol (Sun Gate).  At least, it looked short on the map.  It really took us about an hour to walk up the hundreds of steps, and by this hour the sun and the humidity were teaming up to make a fierce heat.  We stopped for peanut butter sandwiches along the way and also to admire the views, which really looked like something from a postcard.  The Sun Gate was also interesting because it led to another path, which we followed for about half an hour, trying to see where we'd end up.  Eventually we ran into another group of hikers who informed us that we wouldn't end up anywhere - we'd found the Inca Trail!  Since we didn't have the permits, gear, or the four days needed to hike the trail, we headed back, but not before we saw an amazing rainforest butterfly!

By the time we returned to the main site, it was getting to be later in the afternoon and we were pretty tired.  However, we decided to keep trekking until we'd seen every part of the (really large, actually) ruin complex.  We walked to the Casa del Inka, where I learned something interesting.  I hadn't realized that most of the stone walls you see on postcards were just part of the original buildings.  Almost all of the structures in the area had thick, thatched roofs really similar to the ones we saw on Lake Titicaca.  I mean, it makes sense, of course, but I had never thought about it before.

When we had finally seen the whole complex, we were still hesitant to leave.  Machu Picchu is just so amazing!  I hope I'll be back someday, but who knows?  So we sat around for a bit, admiring the views, until we were too hot and sweaty to stay.  Then, we followed our original plan to hike down, trotting down several hundred steps and along the river back to Aguas Calientes.  There, we enjoyed a well-deserved pizza and some pisco sours, the national drink made from lime juice, egg whites, and pisco (grape brandy), before heading back to the hot springs for another soak.  What a day...

Lago Titicaca

The last few days have been among the most peaceful and inspiring in my life.  We've been traveling in and around Lake Titicaca, the giant freshwater lake that stretches across the border between Bolivia and Peru.  It's the highest navigable lake in the world, at 12,507 feet, and it has a beautiful panoramic view of the Andes mountains, although once you reach the center, you can just barely see them.

On Wednesday, we took two three-hour bus rides to cross from La Paz, Bolivia to Puno, Peru.  The Bolivian bus took us to the border, where we walked about 200 yards into Peru and went through customs before boarding a Peruvian bus.  Kind of an odd arrangement, but it was okay.

When we got to Puno, we planned to go to the Coca Museum, the Mirador, and a few other attractions.  However, we spent most of our day 1) getting lost and 2) trying to rescue Kyle's debit card from the depths of an ATM that ate it.  We did eventually recover the debit card and find ourselves, but we didn't have time for the mirador.  Luckily, the Coca Museum was open late, so we went there for an hour before dinner.  I learned a lot about coca.  For one thing, it's extremely nutritious.  If you eat it, it's higher in vitamins and minerals than vegetables like broccoli and spinach.  For another, it is extremely ancient.  Many pre-Inca artifacts have been found that show the practice of chewing coca leaves as far back as 8000 years ago.  There are pouches used for carrying the leaves, statues that show faces chewing coca, and even a 3000-year-old mummy with coca in its mouth (not located at the museum, unfortunately).  The Andean people believed that the use of coca was reserved especially for them, and that it would make the Spanish invaders sick.  They never got to test this theory much, though, because the Spaniards were more interested in destroying the leaves than chewing them.

After leaving the Coca Museum, we went to Balcones de Puno, a restaurant recommended in Kyle's guidebook, for dinner and a show.  I think that is the fanciest restaurant I have ever been in.  I ordered Alpaca steak stuffed with cheese and spinach covered in some sort of sauce called "terciopelo" (velvet).  It also came with mashed yucca and it was absolutely perfect.  Alpaca tastes a lot like beef, but more tender.  Yucca tastes a little bit like potato.  Our dinner came with entertainment in the form of a traditional Peruvian band complete with flutes and drums, and four traditional dancers who showed us dances as diverse as one about a shepherd and his sheep, and another about coquettish lovers.  It was a great introduction to Peru.

The next day, we left fairly early in the morning for our Lake Titicaca adventure.  We boarded a boat with 20 other passengers from all over the world, including Joe, from England, Tiina, from Finland, Yoshi and his tiny daughter from Japan, and Nicola, a Spanish teacher from France.  I loved the feeling of being on the boat with the wind in my hair and the bright, high-altitude sun (I put on sunscreen every hour, but Kyle foolishly decided he couldn't get any more burnt than he already was... false).  Our first stop was Uros, one of the famous floating islands.  Many hundreds of years ago, the people of the floating islands lived on the mainland.  However, threats from the neighboring tribes drove them into the lake itself, where they built themselves islands out of totora, a giant reed plant that grows in the lake.  They dig up big chucks of turf and lash them together with ropes, and then cover them with heaps and heaps of reeds.  They add more reeds each day to keep the islands intact.  They also use these amazingly versatile reeds to build houses, boats baskets, and even to eat!  We got to try some - it tastes like boring celery.  We took a ride on a reed boat and saw black ibises, native birds that the people of Uros use for their curative properties.  They believe that drinking the blood of an ibis can cure epilepsy.

After about an hour on Uros, we got back on the boat for another hour-and-a-half ride to Amantani, a natural island in the middle of the lake.  Upon our arrival, we were greeted by our "host moms" and walked across the island to the home where we would sleep.  Our "mom," Margarita, fed us a delicious traditional lunch of quinoa soup, fried cheese and vegetables. One interesting vegetable addition: okka, a tuber that tasted like a soft, slightly sweet potato.  After lunch, we walked to the community center to meet our tour group and go on a hike.

We started up the hill, passing rows and rows of uprooted potato fields (the harvest had just passed) and villagers going about their daily business, leading sheep around and carrying bags of vegetables up and down the island paths.  There are no roads on Amantani, making it the perfect refuge after the chaos of La Paz.  As we got higher, the view of Titicaca got better and better.  Eventually the path split in two directions, and half of us decided to climb Pachamama, (Earth Mother) the higher mountain while the other half headed up Pachatata (Earth Father).  I'm sure the other people had an equally wonderful time, but I think we made the right choice.

Sunset atop Pachamama was a spiritual experience.  The peace was absolute.  Neither pictures nor words can describe the feeling of pristine, panoramic beauty surrounding you.

After sunset, we walked down to Margarita's house for a light dinner of a million carbs (potatoes with rice, anyone?).  It was nice to get a chance to chat with her.  She said that she's been hosting travelers ever since her children grew up and left home, and that it's always a nice treat to have people come.  That made me feel a bit better about invading her house - apparently each host village on the island only gets tourists about 3-4 times/month because they rotate.  Thus, when there ARE tourists, it's party time!  Margarita brought out a large bundle of clothes to dress us up for the celebration.  The men got nice, easy-to-wear ponchos, while Tiina and I were fitted into a petticoat, two skirts, a blouse, a sash and a shawl.  I didn't have to worry about the chilly Lake Titicaca evening air!

The fiesta was a good time.  Kyle got the party started by dancing, and all the rest soon followed suit.  The music was a lot like Balcones de Puno's band, so dancing was a bit challenging - you couldn't do the standard gringo shuffle.  There was a lot of holding hands and dancing in a circle done by tourists and Amantanians alike.  I think the highlight of the night was watching Yoshi's little tiny daughter dance with everyone.  There wasn't much light in the room, but boy did her smile light everything up.

After the party, we were in for one more treat - because of the extreme altitude and near-perfect darkness, the stars on Amantani are like nowhere else in the world.

In the morning, our island adventure was almost done.  We breakfasted on pancakes (!) and gave Margarita her hostess gift of a bag of fruit and a "lucky" gold U.S. dollar.  I sincerely hope it does bring her luck; she was a wonderful host mom and made our stay very special.  Thanks, Margarita!

The very last stop on our tour was Taquile, an UNESCO world heritage site.  Taquile is well-known for its beauty, as well as for its interesting hats.  You see, on this island, a man's status is broadcast through his pointy, tasseled, knitted-alpaca hat.  As you get older and more respected, you get to add more colors to your hat, until finally you're an elder and you get the most decorative hat of all.  Pretty neat, huh?  However, Taquile's world heritage status means it's the most "touristy" of all the islands on Titicaca - some of the residents will sit around all day trying to get you to pay them to pose for a picture, which is a bit depressing, if you ask me.

We spent about two hours on Taquile, long enough to take a couple of short hikes to see the sapphire lake views.  It was also long enough to get a special Titicaca treat - trucha (trout)!  I've never been much of a fish person, but apparently that's because I've never had truly fresh fish before.  Now that I've tasted trucha frita, I'm a convert for life.  :-)

La Paz and La Nausea

Yesterday was the day we had planned to see most of La Paz.  Since I had spent a couple of weeks there, I led the boys around a bit.  Our first stop was el Jaen, a street with many colonial houses that have been transformed into cultural museums.  We visited the house of Pedro Domingo Murillo, a leader of the Bolivian independence movement in 1809, who was brutally executed by royalists.  We read a lot about that war and even saw the Declaration of Independence (it doesn't look or sound so different from ours).  We also learned that Bolivia used to extend all the way to the coast, back when Chile was a lot shorter.  Apparently, lost Bolivia its seaports to Chile and quite a bit of land to Paraguay, which the Bolivians say is the main reason for their stunted development as a nation.

Next, we went to the Museo de Instrumentos Musicales, a private museum that is so FUN!  They have an extensive collection of Bolivian musical instruments, from ancient stone flutes to antique 10-string guitars made of armadillos.

Ceci actually told me a legend about the armadillo guitars.  They are called kirkinchos.  Once upon a time, the kirkinchos were many and they walked the earth.  However, the kirkincho was sad because he alone, among all the animals in the jungle, could not sing.  The birds sang, the monkeys howled and the frogs croaked, but the kirkincho was silent.  One day, he brought his plea before his gods.  "Please," he said, "I want to sing like the other animals of the jungle."  "Very well," said the god, "but your wish will cost you your life."  "Anything," said the kirkincho.  The god agreed and performed the magic.  From that day forward, the kirkincho produced the most beautiful sounds, but only as a guitar.

Dark for a children's story, eh?  We saw lots of kirkinchos in guitar and harp form, along with condor feather flutes, pig foot maracas and a variety of more modern instruments that we were allowed to play!  There was a giant xylophones, bongo drums, and a big rain stick from the rainforest.  I had a ton of fun; interactive museums are my favorites.

In the afternoon, we lunched on salteñas (like juicy empanadas) and delicious desserts at a bakery.  I tried a concha, a seashell-shaped pastry filled with the lightest, fluffiest whipped cream I have ever had the privilege to eat.  Yum. 

Since Kyle and Tim hadn't visited la Iglesia de San Francisco or el mercado de hechiceria yet, we walked to that part of town and took a tour.  It was fun to watch them learning so many new Spanish words; our guide was very understanding and spoke to them slower so they could understand. 

Unfortunately, the good part of my day ended there.  I started to feel a bit sick to my stomach while we were in the church, and I got sicker and sicker for the rest of the day.  We stopped in a cafe so I could rest while Tim and Kyle got beers, but I was out of commission.  I don't even remember a lot of the evening.  I know we got lost a lot, and walked a lot, and I had an asthma attack and eventually threw up in the bushes.  Fun.  Not.

I felt a little bit better by the night time, so we went out to eat with Ceci so I could return her phone and say goodbye.  I didn't eat much (we shared some pita bread), but I had some tea and then we headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

Tiwanaku

On Monday, we woke up fairly early, got some tasty pancakes from our hostel and walked over to the La Paz cemetery to find a bus to Tiwanaku, the ancient ruins to the north of the city.

I had received instructions to walk "past the cemetery to the right of the florists" to find these particular buses (such an odd organizational system for public transport), so it took us a few minutes to figure out where exactly we were supposed to go.  On our way, though, we saw plenty of interesting things.  We walked through several blocks of market, which was chaotic, colorful, and full of people hurrying from one place to another.  You can buy everything there, from used happy meal toys to colanders to car parts.

We soon found the side street where the minibuses picked up, and within an hour we were on our way to Tiwanaku.  We drove through miles of Bolivian Pampas (high plains), which gave us a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance but looked completely different from La Paz.  It reminded me a bit of Wyoming.  On our way, we chatted with some Argentinians who were convinced that corporations (especially US corporations) are ruining South American culture.  I wasn't 100% sure I agreed, but they were certainly interesting to talk to.  Even Tim and Kyle joined in the conversation.  They are understanding better and better!

Tiwanaku is definitely a wonder.  It was inhabited as early as 1500 BC, although most of the complex was built around AD 600-800.  Still, it's so old!  Like Roman old!  Much older than Machu Picchu.

What interested me most about Tiwanaku was the variety of sculpture found there.  First of all, there are these giant monoliths depicting religious leaders.  They have square faces, intricately carved designs, and depictions of the vessels they used for hallucinogens.  Some of the monoliths are only a few feet taller than people, but the largest one was probably 30 or 40 feet high, all one piece, and quite intimidating.  How did they move and carve a stone so large?  Especially in a place where there are very few rocks to begin with?  Well, some anthropologists theorize that they floated them across Lake Titicaca on giant reed rafts.  Pretty amazing, huh?

Besides the monoliths, there were a series of dozens and dozens of ceramic heads nailed to the walls of one of the principle temples.  Tim, Kyle and I theorized that perhaps Tiwanaku was an alien landing site and that the aliens taught the natives how to carve... those faces do NOT look human.

The Tiwanaku site also includes a couple of incomplete pyramids, as well as quarters for the upper-class residents of the city.  There was a central patio surrounded by many tiny bedrooms - the Tiwanakans must have been incredibly short to fit in those sleeping spaces!

We had a very enjoyable day, except for one problem - at the incredibly high altitude (even higher than La Paz) on the exposed plain, Tim and especially Kyle ended up frying in the Andean sun.  I'm not sure Kyle's skin will ever recover.

Once we got back to La Paz, we were absolutely famished, so I suggested we share a Pique a la Macho (which basically translates to Spicy Man Food).  Pique is a dish that combines french fries, hot dogs, beef, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, bell peppers, a beer sauce and ketchup.  It sounds like a bit much, but if you share it, it's just perfect.  Mmmmm...