Todos son deliciosos

Ceviche:

Pollo Brasada:

Beef Ribs:

Choclo con Queso:

Spinach and Quinoa Ravioli with Andean cheese:

Asparagus Gratin with Andean Cheese:

Sopa de gallina:

Pollo a la brasa con papas:

Alpaca steak with Creamed Quinoa:

Anticucho (beef heart skewers):

Cuy (Ginea pig):

Parrilladas:

Chicha (purple corn juice) y Cancha (roasted corn kernels):

Potato chips and nuts:

Mate de Coca:

Limonada:

Inka Cola, stuff of Inca priests:

Pisco Sour:

Jugo!

Queso Helado (cheese ice cream):

Alfajores:

Passion fruit tart:

Churros con chocolate:

Tres Leches:

Earth balance

Ok, everything in life is supposed to be balanced. There's good and there's bad, there are pros and cons, there are good days and there are bad days.

Well there was a catch to having all the luck I had yesterday. It meant today was going to suck.

I got to the airport at 9am for my 11am flight. It was delayed. Ok no problem, ill sit in the lounge, have breakfast, wifi, not a problem.

Noon comes, we board, we sit for 45 minutes. Lima is having problems and we won't leave until 4pm. Ok. We deboard and I very clearly let them know I was going back to the lounge, which for whatever reason was before security, so I'd be going back to the first floor. No problem, ill have free lunch and snacks, and In the meantime, what I thought would be an advantage to having wifi to chat with friends wasn't. Ending up getting into an argument with a close friend.

3:45 comes along, I go back upstairs to get ready to board, the plane left without me 10 minutes prior. With my bag. Next plane is 8am the next morning. Great. I have no clothes, no toothbrush, no place to stay.

I go back into Cuzco, have dinner, get ripped off. I go back to a cheap hostel, no more rooms. I go back to another, they don't have change for a 100 soles bill. Why this country has 100 soles bills is beyond me bc not a damn person can ever break them. I go to about 6 shops, finally one has change. She doesn't believe my bill is real. I go back to the hostel, I'm locked out.

I know it's just a bad day, and I know I had a fabulous day yesterday and I know Lima will be wonderful, but right now, I really just miss home.

Machu Picchu

People flock to Peru to visit these amazing Inca ruins every year. I was no exception.

Machu Picchu is one of the only Inca sites undiscovered, and thereby untouched by the Spanish conquistadores. The site wasn't actually "discovered" until 1911 by Hiram Bingham, who cleaned it up and made it accessible for us to visit now. There are really only 3 ways to visit the site. Either you hike the inca trail, you take the Perurail train, or you drive, but even then at some point you need to take a train.

My trip to Peru revolved around my visit to Machu Picchu. I started in Arequipa and Puno to allow myself to acclimate to the altitude so that I'd be ready for it. I stayed in Cuzco for 6 days for the same reason, and to be able to pick a beautiful day to go. Everyday that I've been in Cuzco, I've been hit by thunderstorms. Everyday on the forecast, there was nothing but rain. And when I bought my train ticket, I had no choice on the date, she sold me the only ticket available to visit, on my last day in Cuzco. All week I'd been very anxious about my visit and the weather, but there was nothing I could do but make the best of it.

Two days before, forecast called for perfect weather. And every day after, rain.

There's a little travel angel that sits on my shoulder to give me great weather on important visits-- just like when I went to the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall.

The train ride is nearly 4 hours long, but it's cute and travels along the most scenic, beautiful path to the overpriced town of Aguas Calientes sitting right at the base of Machu Picchu. On the way there and back I sat with very nice middle-aged travelers from Germany, Canada, Peru and Argentina. Everyone had some interesting stories to tell.

From there, I took a bus up to the site- which by the way, is very scary. There is a very narrow path winding all the way up the side of the mountain with nothing to keep you from falling over. These drivers go back and forth so many times a day that care isn't exactly a consideration.

When I got there, not only was it sunny with perfect blue skies, but it was so warm and beautiful (I got a pretty bad sunburn). When I saw Machu Picchu, I giggled like a little school girl and i think i took about 400 pictures. It is just incredible. Really awe inspiring. How the hell did they get those stones up there? Why?

I spent 4 hours hiking through the site and all the nearby remains. But every time I stopped to look at the mountain top, it just took my breath away. It is so spectacular, and it is such a treat to find something undestroyed and in beautiful condition. There's so much to see. Just amazing. 2400m, 8,000ft up. And the scenery of the mountains surrounding you is so dramatic and stunning.

I signed their "control" book and it felt so official, so amazing. My name is in a book that proves that I was there. So cool!!

Just as I was finishing up my visit and getting on the bus to leave, guess what? A thunderstorm came in. Am I lucky or what??

I visited Machu Picchu. Because of how difficult this past week has been, and how physically challenging it is to visit Peru, this visit is much more significant than any other to me.

It's so crazy!!!

7 chakras of women

On my way to the bus station the other day, I passed a cute little woman on the street selling jewelry with her son Mauricio hanging on her back. Everytime I said "como estas Mauricio?" He would throw his head back and laugh, such a cutie pie. Anyway, his adorable 4' talk mom was showing me some of her jewelry, none if which I was looking to buy, because I'm not interested in "indigenous" designs so much as I am interested in "ethnic" designs.

But then she showed me this one that is the symbol of the 7 chakras of women. I haven't at all gotten into shamanism which is big here, and I couldn't find anything online that remotely resembled what she told me. So if she bullshitted me and this is completely untrue, tell me.

So she began to explain, from what I understood, that the 7 chakras are:

1. La cabeza - the head
2. La intelligencia - intelligence
3. La boca - the mouth, for communication
4. The throat? Didn't get this part
5. El corazon - the heart for sentimentality
6. The belly and womb for reproduction
7. Don't remember the 7th?? I think it was the legs or feet to be strong for your family.

Even though I only understood 3/4 of what she said, I thought these had a beautiful meaning so I took 2! I'll take anything in support of women, to support women!!

4 more ruins

That sounds a little like George Bush's second term...

Anyway, I went to see the ruins I didn't get to visit on the day I saw Pisaq. I was very happy to find that my legs were functioning after the grueling climb, so I went back to my $1 bus towards Pisaq, and got off at Tombomachay, the furthest and highest of the four sites- peaking at 3700m. From there, I would walk 8km, 5miles, downhill back to Cuzco, stopping at the other three sites along the way: Pucapucara, Qenco, and my favorite name, Sacsaywaman, pronounced like 'sexy woman'.

All the sites were impressive, and I'll admit I was feeling a bit cocky about having conquered the previous day, and had zero qualms about climbing any of these sites. The day started out beautiful and sunny, and I was just eating it all up.

They're all interesting. Tombomachay was a bath, and the fountains still flow, which is pretty remarkable. Pucapucara was a hunting lodge, Qenco was used for animal sacrifices and Sacsaywaman was a fort involved in many battles between the Incas and Spanish.

On my way to Sacsaywaman, I stopped to ask a man if I was following the right path which led to a 20 minute conversation about where I'm from, how I learned to speak Spanish, and my favorite question every Peruvian asks me, "pero, no esta tranquila?" Yes, it is lonely traveling sola. "Pero mis amigos y los Americanos no quieren viajar, y yo tengo que viajar, me gusto mucho, es para mi salud. Entonces, viajo sola."

He expressed distaste for what the Spanish had done to Sacsaywaman, explaining that they had no respect for the culture or religion here, and yet they came over and completely took over Cuzco, offering it only, as he put it, terrible, ugly buildings.

Anyway by the time I got to Sacsaywaman I was blessed with yet another thunderstorm, but this one got me soaked through to the skin leaving with me a terrible chill. The site is massive and yet it is only 30% of what was originally there. I understood what the man had meant regarding his distaste. So much had been destroyed by the conquistadores so that they could use the stones to build their houses. One of the most intact structures that remains is the massive cross that was laid right at the peak, overlooking all of Cuzco. Like ha, mother fuckers, we are here and we got this.

I was once again beyond exhausted from the walking, climbing, and raining, so by the time I finished this site, I took a taxi back to the Mercado San Pedro for a huge, delicious bowl of chicken soup. Totally worked for the soul.

In case you were wondering...

In case you couldn't tell by the desecration and destruction of the Inca temples...

the Spanish were here.

Pisaq - where rock and roll is NOT cool

The plan was to take a mini bus out of Cuzco to Pisaq and make my way to the 4 other ruins outside of Cuzco on my way back. Didn't actually work out that way.

Pisaq is about an hour ride at only 2.50 soles, $1, to the inca site in the sacred valley. It's essentially more ruins set into and on top of a mountain peaking at 2700m or almost 8900 ft. It's high. So I walked through the cute little village set at the base, purchased the expensive boleto touristico, at 140 soles, and began my ascent. That shit is steep. I was huffing and puffing, taking breaks at every flight of steps, and I noticed that everyone else I was passing was descending-- not ascending. Oh great, there's another entrance, and guess what, it's easier from that side. Hooray.

I continued climbing and to prevent the same stupid mistake I made at Taquile on lake titicaca, I was absolutely determined to climb this entire mountain. I plugged in my headphones and put on my workout mix to keep me going. Jay Z and the Black Eye Peas are pretty motivating, I have to say. I kept climbing higher and higher. When i was about 2/3 up, I saw a park sign. I thought, oh maybe it's a little factoid about how high we've climbed, or something motivational. Absolutely not. You have just climbed nearly 7500 ft and all that Peru has to say for it is, "don't climb the walls". Thanks a lot for those words of encouragement.

When I was about 3/4 of the way up, I noticed these dark, ominous clouds approaching. Oh shit. Here comes a thunderstorm. And I could see the sheets of rain pouring over the town ahead of me, approaching. I really wasn't sure what to do. Even if I tried to descend, I wouldn't make it all the way down in time, and I'd just throw away all the hard work I'd put in for the last 1.5 hours. So I decided to wait it out. I sat and hugged a rock that just covered over my head, but not really, and let the rain pour right over me. I wasn't so much afraid of the thunder (thanks to "my favorite things" that Fräulein Maria taught me to do), and I wasn't even too scared of the lighting, because I knew that even I am not THAT unlucky. What I was most afraid of was encountering nothing but muddy slopes and falling somewhere, a la 127 hours, alone, on a mountain, in Peru, knowing fully well that I will never cut off any limb to survive. Ever.

30 minutes later the storm passed and the sun came out. Great! I got to the peak and boy oh boy, those ruins were not that impressive, but it's ok. I made it! It was so high that the mountain touches the clouds. I took all these great shots, felt proud, and began my descent.

I started thinking about my blog entry and how I'd describe the day as a great success. The sun dried up most of the rain and there wasn't a single slippery slope to encounter. And I was so tired/amped up that I was flying down the mountain carelessly, realizing that my legs were working at half speed and I was tripping over myself frequently. And just as I had thought in my head, even I am not that unlucky.... my foot slipped out from underneath me as I slipped on pebbles, and i slid down the slope, scraping my back and hands along the way.

You see, when you are going down a mountain, it's important to choose your next step carefully. Rocks are your friend. Pebbles are not. Pebbles don't rock.

Pebbles are these tiny, sneaky little things with squeaky high voices that like to trick you into thinking they're on your side. When in reality they are not. They get together by the dozens and tell you, "hey, we know a way to get you down faster, wanna try it? We promise, you'll go really fast!" And lo and behold they all decide to start rolling underneath your feet so you lose your balance, and sure, you descend quickly. At the expense of your skin, and clothes.

Luckily they were only minor scratches and bruises, so I got back up and continued downward, cursing those sneaky stoners. I was even feeling so great that I confidently (but had no other choice) climbed down a rickety old ladder (I have a fear of ladders). I descended in about half the time it took me to climb, at around an hour and a half. And by the time I got to the bottom, my legs were literally vibrating. That was just about all I could handle for the day. Besides, it was then 5pm and the sun was setting soon.

Famished for not having eaten and exhausting all my calories on the climb, when i arrived back in Cuzco, I found a restaurant with a salad bar and wifi, (salad bars are a big thing here apparently) and just began shoving. Food, that is; in my mouth. And then it started pouring in Cuzco too.

How did I not get the memo that Peru = mountain climbing and <> relaxing vacation?