Our last weekend in Lima was relatively uneventful. We mainly packed up and cleaned and got ready to go. We did go and try out amazon food with one of our friends from our ward. The amazon food was kind of different with lots of plantains used, but not the crazy eating worms and snakes like our friend joked about. Nathan was disappointed about this, I was relieved.
Before we knew it we were leaving our rental behind, and catching an early morning flight to Cusco. We only stopped in Cusco for a bit to drop off bags at our hotel, and get some cash. Then we started our journey to Machu Picchu.
We first headed over to Pisac. Which was a beautiful drive. The city with the copper rooftops is Cusco. It is gorgeous.
First off in Pisac we checked out their market. Which was a lot of fun. It was similar to what we had seen in other places, but we were able to bargain for cheaper prices. We bought a few fun things that day.
Nathan trying on a sweater. We didn't actually buy it though...
I got to hold a baby vicuna (a relative of the llama).
After all our shopping we went to a basically abandoned restaurant and hung out for awhile. Baby had fun with the toys they had there.
After lunch we headed up to the ruins above Pisac. They were interesting. They had a beautiful view, and just seemed to be nestled on the hill. It seemed crazy as we walked around trying to imagine people actually living there.
These are agricultural terraces created by the Inca. They are all over the place around the Cusco area.
The town on the hill.
It is kind of hard to see in this picture, but there are actually remnants of other buildings in the mountain side. Maybe a landslide took them out.
Same set of ruins different view.
After Pisac we caught a long taxi ride over to Ollantaytambo where we had some mediocre pizza before catching a train ride up to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Caientes is a weird town that has no roads for cars, has only restaurants, hotels, and shops, and is nestled in the middle of towering mountains.
Of course Aguas Calientes was not the main attraction but was just the launching point for Machu Picchu! Machu Picchu was amazing and beautiful. We immensely enjoyed walking around the ruins and speculating about different buildings, trying to picture having a family here, hanging out with llamas, enjoying the amazing view, and pondering its mysteries.
We also learned that Machu Picchu wasn't completely abandoned; there were a ton of sand flies there, and they started to eat Nathan right away. Thankfully a kind couple let us use some of their mosquito repellent.
Seriously though, Machu Picchu was amazing. Here are the photos. Just to warn you I took a lot, but everything was just so gorgeous.
How they would have "pegs" sticking out of the wall.
Where the rich lived. They got smoother stones and fancier accommodations like a bathroom.
Underneath the moon temple.
One of the temples.
Really smooth stone. So much so there was a sign that said don't run your fingers along it.
Some llamas joined us in our exploration of the ruins.
Temple of the Condor. Can you see the bird in the rock?
Huayna Picchu which Nathan was not able to get tickets to go up. :(
There was a plaza that had three different temples.
After hours exploration we were done. On the bus back to Aguas Calientes we were both like; well that was the highlight of our trip. It was becoming more and more real that we were actually leaving Peru soon.
After killing a few hours in Aguas Calientes, and taking a train and taxi ride we were back in our hotel in Cusco and ready to sleep. The next day we explored Cusco and saw what it had to offer. We went and saw the Cusco Cathedral which was huge and gorgeous, but we weren't able to take pictures. The cathedral had so many large scale paintings it was a bit crazy.
The Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Tthe Catheral we went and saw is the one on the left.
We then went and saw the sun temple Qorikancha that had a monastery built on top of it by the Spanish. It was an interesting juxtaposition of architecture, and a prime example of how the Spaniards basically spat upon the beliefs of the Incas.
A model of what the Sun Temple used to look like before the Spaniards got a hold of it.
The smooth stones with basically no mortar were part of the original sun temple.
Then after that we went and saw the ruins of the military fort of Sacsayhuaman; which was a favorite for both Nathan and I. The stones were so massive it was amazing, and I know I definitely wouldn't want to storm that fortress. We had fun as we walked along speculating the military strategy that would be used in defending the place.
The fort also had some nice views. There is the Plaza de Armas right there.
Nathan is ready to battle.
Me trying to do a sexy pose, but just laughing about it.
Imagine getting through the door and having to get up these stairs with warriors fighting you every step?
Well that was it for that day. After Sacsayhuaman we retired to our hotel where the owner let us make spaghetti in their kitchen and we ate dinner overlooking the city. Which reminds me our hotel had an amazing view, absolutely gorgeous.
The next day we caught a taxi back to Ollantaytambo to go with a nonprofit program up into the mountains to learn about weaving from some women who lived there. It was a fun experience; we were able to see how they spun the wool/hair into yarn, how they dyed it, and finally how they weaved it. We also got to try our hand at weaving some bracelets, but to be honest the women still did most the work on those too.
Learning how to spin yarn.
They boiled certain plants to get a green color in the water to dye the yarn.
Setting up the loom.
And Showing us how they weave. It is quite the process.
Got a glimpse of the men's traditional dress.
Then it was our turn to try and weave.
Someone had to watch the baby while we made our bracelets.
He's like this isn't my mom.
The yarn is now ready to be hung up to dry.
Wrenn made another Peruvian friend. :)
Our finished bracelets!
Our tour guide.
In addition to learning about the weaving process we were able to go and see inside one of the instructors homes. It was very interesting. They had dirt floors and guinea pigs that just scurried around inside. This home probably had about 10 guinea pigs just wandering around.
Around 1pm we got back into Ollantaytambo from our tour and decided to check out Ollantaytambo's ruins. They were a lot more extensive then we thought, and as we saw another set of ruins we started getting an idea of how big the Inca empire was. We did have to climb a nice set of stairs to get to these ruins so that was fun.
Ruins on the other side of the valley we didn't get a chance to check out.
Ollantaytambo!
A temple or two at the top.
As always some amazing views.
How would you like these to be your stairs,
or these...
Ollantaytambo was worth the climb, but we were getting pretty tired. We did have one more set of "ruins" that we wanted to see before we left the Cusco area and that was Salineras; which are Inca salt pans. I don't think of them quite as ruins because they are still in use today. They were really interesting and really beautiful. It was a little scary trying to keep our balance walking along the edges of these pans, but it was totally worth it.
Yep those are salt Crystals.
The whiter it is the more salt the pan has.
People collecting salt from the pans.
Salineras was so cool. I loved it. It is amazing how a scenery of salt can be so spectacular and unreal.
Well that was our last stop in Cusco then we caught a miserable overnight bus ride down to Puno to check out Lake Titicaca! The Puno part of our trip was very laid back. I hadn't planned it very well and we were pretty worn out too, so we spent most of our stay in Puno in our hotel. We did some napping, eating pizza, taking photos, watching TV, reading, whatever! We just didn't have the motivation to do much sight seeing.
I got bored in our hotel room and took a bunch of pictures of Wrenn, enjoy.
Well one of our three days in Puno we managed to rally our spirits and take a boat to see the lake. The boat was slow and smelled of gas, but it got us to our destinations and we were able to enjoy beautiful views along the way. We were also able to make friends on our long boat rides. We had fun conversations with a Canadian couple and a French guy. It was interesting hearing about their views of America, and our current affairs. Wrenn also made a few more lady friends, after all he is a flirt.
So many floating reeds.
The first stop on our boat trip was the floating islands. These islands are made of reeds and they float and people live on them. It seems kind of crazy but it's true. They were intriguing to walk on and they smelt like a damp corn maze, so that was unexpected.
Another thing that was unexpected about the islands was how many of them there were. It wasn't just a couple, there is a whole community living on these islands! You can kind of see how far its stretched out in these pics.
One of their boats they use to get around.
The lady explained that those blocks are the roots of the reeds and they cut them out and use them as the foundation for their islands. They then pile lots and lots of reeds on top of them. And then voila, home sweet home!
For food they mainly fish, and get stuff from the mainland, but they can also grow potatoes. Which we think that's what these are but we're not sure.
We decided to take the boat out for a spin. :)
It looks like they use other boats to get around as well.
The floating islands were fascinating and we were glad that we were able to get a glimpse of such a unique culture. After the floating islands our boat took us an almost 3 hour ride to the island of Taquile. The island was beautiful and the trout was delicious, but not sure if it was unique or beautiful enough to warrant such a long boat ride, but we did it and had fun with it anyway.
We lost baby's hat so he had to steal mine.
After Taquile we took an even longer boat ride back to Puno. It was long and a little scary as some waves started to pick up and they had to pump water from the engine. The whole time I just kept thinking I can swim to shore, but how do I do that with Wrenn? Thankfully I never had to figure that out.
Puno was a good experience. Part of me wishes I had planned out our days there better. The other part of me is like no we needed a relaxing part of our vacation too. Either way we had fun.
Puno was our last stop in Peru and then on December 9th we started our long day of traveling by taking a taxi to the Puno airport and on the ride there I was able to get my last glimpses of beautiful Peru...
Then we arrived at the airport and we took our flight back to Lima, then caught an overnight flight to Houston, then a connecting flight to Dallas, then finally back home to Denver. It was such a long day of travel I don't think I thoroughly was able to appreciate what I was leaving behind.
Peru I will miss your wonderful people, your beautiful scenery, your rich heritage, your delicious food, your talented artisans, your fabulous ruins, and your awesome culture. Thank you Peru for my once in a lifetime adventure. It was perfect.
