Photos from the past two weeks

Kitty cat Jordan saw downtown.

One of the plazas downtown.

This would be a more accurate image of Cusco proper if there were more garbage in the pile up front.

This is one of the (absolutely massive) ruins at Moray in the Sacred Valley. This level of terrace farming was really, really impressive because there is as much as a 2 degree C change in temperature at each level. In this one spot, crops ranged from potatoes to corn to coca leaves. This place could have been the place where the 3,000 species of potatoes in Peru come from. Those little nubs on the sides of the terraces are stairs. More info here: http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Spring2012/Moray/tabid/2137/Default.aspx  

Another site at Moray.

Emily at one of the smaller sites at Moray.

These are the salt mines at Maras in the Sacred Valley. A saltwater stream flows out of one of the mountains here, and nobody knows where it comes from or why it's so salty-- just that the Incas began this process of mining and refining the salt, and it is done to this day the same way it was done hundreds of years ago without any machines.

Walking around in the mines. We're not going to post any other pictures up close simply because it was so incredibly bright.

Saksaywaman. These ruins and their paths and deathly tunnels (charkanakuna) expand all across the northwestern part of Cusco, from a "cerro" mountain near the downtown Plaza de Armas, all the way out of the city into the woods. It's been a nationally protected site since the 1990's, so any inhabited adobe mud houses spotted up in the woods had to have been established before then. Also notice the totally ballin' water canal system. You find that stuff everywhere.

THIS IS GIDGET. She is our new baby. She was brought to our host family's house about the same time we were, and they mistakenly called her Dora, but she has since developed an eternal bond with us and we are going to find a way to take her back home with us in December.

Seriously, kittens can be so hit-or-miss. But Gidget is great. She is playful, but doesn't bite or scratch hard at all. She sleeps a lot and likes to sit on our laps, but she'll give us space if we want it. And she purrs really loud, which Emily loves at night, but Jordan hates it. Oh well. :-)

Seriously she loves us.

Awanakancha. Heading back into the Sacred Valley, this is a "tejidos" community that raises llamas, alpacas, and VICUNAS, and uses their wool, in combination with a number of natural dyes and a boiling in baby urine process, to make yarns and eventually knitted goodies for people to spend a whole lotta money on.

It's yellow from the die. The baby urine and boiling make the colors stay. Also, notice the cool q'oncha stove. (Don't even try to pronounce it because you will not pronounce it correctly. Quechua is just that way.)

All the natural resources they use as dyes.

Sacred Valley above Pisaq.

Ruins at Pisaq.

Llamas on my ears, llamas, llamas on my ears.

Further into the Valley we find Ollantaytambo (pronounce Ole-yawn-tye-TOM-bo). Here we are standing on another mountain by the Sun Temple, looking out across the pueblo and over at the storage houses built into the mountain.

I love this picture. Go ahead, click on it. Open it up. It's beautiful. There are stairs leading all the way up the terraces.

More Sacred Valley.

Congratulations! If you've looked through all of these pictures, it means you likely are interested in our trip, so we'll share some real honest details about how it's been going.

--Everything in Cusco smells. The school isn't as bad, and some businesses downtown aren't so stinky either, but there are few other exceptions within city limits. Sometimes it's less pungent, just rotten fruit, but most of the time it's dog urine (there are rabid and stray dogs all over the place, and they defecate all over the place too), oil smells, warm meats, warm dairy products, pollution, dirt, or trash.

--There's trash everywhere. Downtown is nice, and the Inca sites have been very well-maintained, but in most other places, people litter. Sometimes it's household waste, sometimes it's unwanted bricks or broken shingles, sometimes it's just piles of dirt and rocks. We cross on a bridge over a literal trash river to get to the bus stop every day. You haven't seen any pictures of this because garbage doesn't really attract people to your blog.

--Our bed is comfortable.

-- Cold drinking water is almost non-existent. Drinking hot tea and above-room-temperature fruit juices is an every-day ordeal. We are very fortunate that our host family has a water filter.

--The food isn't awesome. We had heard it would be, so that might be playing a role in our disappointment, but our host family uses a very dramatic amount of soybean oil in their cooking, and any time we've eaten out we've felt a little gross afterwards. It's mostly some kind of soup with chicken, tough and salty meat, potatoes, and rice. Did we mention potatoes and rice?

--However, today: we went out for lunch at a new restaurant that just opened up yesterday just a block away from our school, and the food was by far the best we've had here. It was hugely more expensive than any other place we've been, but for $35 we got two massive plates of high quality food, two bottles of water, and a drink. That's pretty good compared to the States! We are definitely going to be returning.

--Peru does also have pretty yummy baked goods. Bread here is tasty and fresh, very cheap, and other treats are also really affordable and "disfrutable." :-) If you've ever had tres leches cake, you know what I'm talking about.

--On that note, the hot chocolate is SO much better. It's made out of pure cacao paste. It's. So good.

--All the water in the city is shut off and sent elsewhere in the evening until the next morning around 5am. This means no flushing the toilet (this ties into the first point about things smelling bad), no showers, and no doing any dishes. What's more is that it's at a different time every day; some days you lose water at 9:00, sometimes at 3:45. At our host home we've probably never had running water past 9pm, but our classmates tell us theirs goes out around 11. I guess it's different for different regions in the city.

--Another tidbit about living where we do is that we are much further away from the school than any of our classmates. We take the bus every day, sometimes two times a day, and this adds up. However, on the bright side, I feel confident in saying that we are much more fluent in using the bus system than our peers. ;-) That's definitely a plus.

--Going out downtown with friends is a blast. Lots of eating and laughing and dancing occurs. And the artisan crafts here are incredibly beautiful, and made with so much attention.

--There are some drawbacks to living with a host family when you are a married couple used to living alone, and those drawbacks are highlighted with cultural differences of the idea of hosting. And that's normal. Just something we're working through. Emily is especially working on this. ;-)

--And in conclusion, the Inca ruins are incredible and well kept. Our classmates are all really fun to be around, and Gidget is the best little kitty cat ever. This Saturday we're going to do a ceramics class, maybe some salsa lessons, and next weekend we are taking a trip to Puno... AKA Lake Titicaca! We'll probably post more at that time.

Love,

Jordan & Emily

Photo Dump

    We're pretty tired. Stomach aches, sore legs, fatigue, and a consistently inconvenient timing of bathroom urges ruled our day today. People here are good, and our host family is great.

    Absolutely everything in the city center is founded on Incan stones and architecture, with Spanish colonial buildings on top. Some call Cusco the Rome of America, but I say differently-- the cost of living here is quite humble.

Flying over the enormous, breathtaking Andes. What looks like water or snowy river is actually the tops of clouds.

Above Cusco.

Cristo Blanco.

Plaza de Armas in center.

Far right, the ruins of Sacsayhuamán (Head of the Puma). Bottom right, limestone Inca temple ruins. Cristo Blanco is visible near top center.

Iglesia de San Cristóbal. Walked from here above the city, all the way down to the Plaza de Armas.

Plaza de Armas, 5pm.

The fountain in the center of the plaza, feat, Inca Pachacuti.

This one was taken for Hannah. Starbucks looks so small here.

For comparison: Jordan is likely the tallest human in Peru.

Babby shep.

Cute girls we met outside Starbucks when we were trying to get to a bathroom. We ended up not getting to the bathroom.