The home stretch

Whenever I took a plane flight as a child, I would bide my time looking intently out the window in search of any Care Bears that might be frolicking around in the clouds.

Our flight between Miami and Houston seemed like the kind of flight where I might have found one.

If I got to pick which Care Bear I'd encounter, I probably would have gone with Bedtime Bear, to help me get some sleep during the 30+ hours of travel time between Cusco and Minneapolis.

We had to bid farewell to Saul the tour guide at the Cusco airport. I cannot underestimate how great he was. Not only did he put up with me butchering the Spanish language* on a regular basis, he was friendly, informative and patient at all times. And there were definitely a few weirdos in our tour group that would have tested my patience.

Here is Saul with three of those weirdos-

We flew from Cusco to Lima, and then had a layover for a few hours before our 1:00 am flight from Lima to Miami. We landed in Miami shortly before 8:00 am, which left us roughly 10 hours to kill until our Miami to Houston and Houston to Minneapolis flights.

We decided to spend the time hitting a few more of the South Florida sites. First we stopped at Biscayne National Park, America's largest maritime national park (we watched a 20 minute movie that relayed this fact at least three times). Afterwards we drove to Key Largo for a relaxing, idyllic lunch on the patio at a place called Sundowners. I'd share a picture but at this point none of us were in any state to be photographed.

Enjoy these pristine white flowers from outside the Key Lime Cafe instead.

Thankfully the rest of our day was pretty uneventful, and we landed back in Minneapolis safe and sound around midnight.

And with that, another adventure comes to a close. Peru was amazing.

Until my next international incident, thank you to the approximately three people who have read any of this, and happy travels.

*(Warning, NSFW language coming up.) I had a blast speaking Spanish all week and for the most part I was able to communicate very effectively, but it would be delusional to think I didn't make some mistakes. However, I don't think I said anything quite as hilarious as the flight attendant on our Cusco to Lima flight. As we were landing, she made the standard announcement in Spanish, then repeated it in English. Unfortunately for her, that meant the 40 Americans in our group all heard her say, "Be careful opening the overhead bins, as items may have shitted during flight."

The den of thieves

About two weeks before we left for Peru, I got this text from Mom:

Reading that book is scary. Cuzco sounds like a den of thieves & robbers. 

I had leant her a book I'd just finished reading called Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams. The author is a magazine editor who, despite his career in the travel/adventure magazine field, hasn't camped out since spending one night in a backyard tent as a child. He gets the idea that he should re-trace the steps of Hiram Bingham, the explorer who announced the discovery* of Machu Picchu 100 years earlier. So Adams hires a guide and sets off to trek the various Inca trails that Bingham had trekked. 

The book goes back and forth between descriptions of Bingham's expedition, and Adams's own experiences shlepping about the Andes. I found it amusing, descriptive and highly informative (though I felt in the second half he got away from story-telling and it read a little more like a logbook**).

Between reading some of Adams's experiences in Cusco before he embarked on the trip (including having to be smuggled out of the city because of some sort of strike or government protest or something), and reading the safety advice on our tour operator's web site, Mom was convinced that we'd fall victims to pick-pocketers within minutes of stepping off the plane, and our lives would be in tremendous peril. 

Thankfully, she could not have been more wrong. 

Cusco and the surrounding areas were lovely. Yes, lovely in a developing country kind of way, so poverty was apparent, dogs roamed around the city***, and many of the buildings were unfinished and/or in a state of disrepair, but lovely nonetheless. And all of the people we met were wonderful. Not one introduced their occupation as thief OR robber. 

We started our last day in Peru by driving out of the city to see a kindergarten. Our tour company contributes a portion of their profits to the schools in this rural community, so we'd been notified ahead of time that we'd be visiting the school, and were invited to bring school supplies to donate. 

The kids, ranging in age from three to five, were completely adorable. They each said hello, and told us their name and how old they were. We had an opportunity to ask their teacher questions about how the Peruvian school system works, talk about what the kids were learning, and then enjoy a little recess time with the kids on the playground. Head of the class went to a little boy named Nilson, who walked around and shared his snack- kernels of maíz gigante!!!- with us and his classmates.

After the school we visited a locally-owned alpaca textiles factory. (Mike and Kiki are definitely going to find the souvenirs we picked out for them, let's say, unique****.) 

We continued on to visit four additional archeological sites. The last was Saqsaywaman, which Saul helpfully told us is pronounced similarly to, but not exactly the same as, "sexy woman". The site overlooks the city of Cusco and features very impressive, intact examples of Incan architecture*****. Saqsaywaman is right next to the Christo Blanco(White Christ) statue, a gift to the city from the Palestinian Christian community in the 1940s and a felicitous but unintentional complement to the Black Jesus idol we'd seen the day before in the cathedral. 

We had time for lunch and a little last-minute shopping back in Cusco before departing for the airport. It rained, but you can't complain about the rain when it results in a view like this- 

Not a bad way to say goodbye to such an incredible place. 

*Scientific discovery. Though Hiram Bingham is largely credited with "discovering" Machu Picchu, there were actually two Peruvian families living at the site when he found it in 1911. And you can't really discover something if someone else knows already knows it's there, now can you. 

**This impressive literary critique brought to you by my perfect attendance (2/2 meetings) at book club. 

***The dogs seemed somewhat cared for and mostly kept to themselves so although they made me very nervous, I survived. I did at one point see what can only be described as a canine gang, with upwards of 20 dogs congregated on the side of the road, but luckily we were on the tour bus so they couldn't carry out any sort of group attack on me. 

****And I use the word "unique" in the most Midwestern, passive-aggressive way possible. 

*****I did not expect to learn so much about walls on this trip.

Marinated in happiness

Another busy day in Peru has come to a close. Let's see what we were up to...

We walked back to the Plaza de Armas in the late morning, and once again, the citizens of Cusco (Cusqueñans, which is a super fun demonym) had prepared some entertainment for us. Because this can't possibly be what they do every Sunday, right?

We arrived at the plaza just as a parade was kicking off. There was a military band, and a lot of groups of people walking in formation. 

No floats or people throwing candy though, so clearly there's room for improvement. 

After the parade we had lunch in a little restaurant on the plaza. It was time for me to achieve my Peruvian food goals!

Goal #1: Drink a Pisco Sour. Check. 

Goal #2: Eat obscure South American mammal meat. Check. (Opted for the Alpaca skewers and they were actually pretty good! Tasted a little like pork.)

Goal #3: More maíz gigante. Check, plus bonus points because the giant corn kernels were covered in a cheese sauce!!

Emily had an alpaca burger, but found she preferred her bite off my plate. "It tastes like it's marinated in happiness."

We had a tour in the afternoon of the cathedral and the Koricancha, or Temple of the Sun. The cathedral is notable for it's painting of the last supper, in which the disciples are dining on Guinea pig and Judas is depicted as Francisco Pizarro. It started raining on our way to see the Temple of the Sun, which I think is what they call irony. 

Sadly tomorrow is already our last day here. It's been a great trip so far, so hopefully tomorrow is more of the same!

...and fireworks (!)

After Machu Picchu we had lunch in Aguas Calientes, and then traveled back to Cusco. We arrived around 6:30, which might as well have been 10:30 for as dark as it was and as exhausted as we all were.

For dinner we went to an adorable little pizza place where I had a delicious pizza with jamón y papas (ham and potatoes). For whatever reason, Peru is swarming with pizzerias. This is good as recognizable food makes Mom happy.

To close out the day, Emily and I went exploring, and walked the three blocks from our hotel to the Plaza de Armas.  It was Saturday night, so we reasoned there would likely be something going on, and we were so. completely. right. 

There was more, including weird performers in masks and drinks at the highest-elevation Irish pub in the world, but it's time to go now so we'll have to save those stories for another time.

Blue skies...

Well, yesterday was pretty incredible. 

I woke up this morning feeling a little sore, but the good kind of sore where you know that you earned it the day before. 

We left the cutest, most picturesque hotel in South America just before 6:00 am. We had a short bus ride to Ollantaytambo, where we boarded the Inca Rail train for a 90 minute trip to Aguas Calientes.

The scenery was okay, I guess*.

Aguas Calientes is the small town at the base of Machu Picchu. From there, we had to switch to another bus to drive up the mountain.  At the top, you get in line to show your passport and enter the archeological park. Approximately 2,500 people visit Machu Picchu every day, and approximately 2,400 of them were in the entry line with us. (I think the other hundred were in the bathroom line.)

But the travel and the hordes of people were all forgotten as soon as we saw this view: 

Here's another one, of Emily**, Mom and me. Photography credit: Saul the Tour Guide. 

As you can see, we won the weather lottery and were blessed with an absolutely beautiful morning. The temperature must have been around 65/70 degrees. We had several hours to explore, and we could stick with Saul or head off on our own. I left the group briefly to hike up to the highest overlook (when did I start to like hiking? this is a mystery but a good development as it was really nice to get a little good exercise), where I saw this guy hanging out:

Overall it was completely fantastic and if you want to see the rest of the (too many and that all kinda look the same) pictures I took, you know where to find me. 

*Sarcasm font.
**Emily is still not quite her usual self, but she was a trooper, and sucked it up to participate in all the day's activities. Like a boss.

Día uno en Peru

So great news, wifi is the same in Spanish as in English.

I'm posting this from the lobby of the cutest, most picturesque hotel in South America.

Right?!?!

It's been a busy day and it feels really late, both due to the busy-ness and the fact that it's fall here so the sun set at like 6:00pm. It's only 9 something, but it's definitely just about bedtime.

We landed in Cusco just before noon, to bright blue skies and a gorgeous afternoon. We met all of the other people on our tour, as well as our tour guide, Saul.

Saul is fantastic. He politely humored me all day while I attempted to converse with him in Spanish. (Okay, but actually the Spanish is going really well! Either my two whole hours of studying last weekend paid off, or I hadn't regressed quite as much as I thought. I even successfully bartered in the market this afternoon, both speaking & understanding during the conversation!)

Saul is also, by default, our personal photographer. He took this picture of us as we stopped to get our first glimpse of the Sacred Valley.

(Immediately after taking this picture I realized, with some embarrassment, that I was still wearing the same shirt I had on yesterday. Overnight flights are hard. Don't worry, I've changed shirts since then.)

Along the drive, Saul told us about the local crops, including maíz gigante (giant corn!) and quinoa. I didn't retain as much information about the quinoa because every time he said quinoa, all I heard in my head was the commercial where the two guys are at the tailgate, and the wife packs veggie burgers, and the one says "what's a quee-no?", and the other says"I think it's a loofah."

We went to a silver shop and saw local artisans making jewelry, then had some time to shop in a local market. There was a section of the market that prepared and served the aforementioned local delicacy, Guinea pig. 

Come on, how could anyone eat these guys?!

(I will spare you the picture of the cooked Guinea pig but it was just as gross as you are imagining and made up my mind that I'm going to skip the cuy this trip.)

The day ended with a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, for all but one member of our party. Emily is currently lying miserably in the cutest, most picturesque hotel room in South America, suffering from altitude sickness. Cusco is about 11,000 feet above sea level, and though Urubamba (our stopover this evening) isn't quite that high, the combination of the thin air and driving around on winding roads in a bus all afternoon has done her in. We go to Machu Picchu tomorrow so we are all hoping she'll bounce back after a good night's sleep. 

Speaking of- the alarm is set for 4:30am, so I better get going if I want a good night's sleep too. 

¡Buenas noches!

The condor has landed.

Dateline: Lima. 7:00 am. We've gone through customs  and there is a shiny new (pink!) stamp in my passport!

 

I have already seen two people at the airport this morning wearing Chicago Bears shirts. Poor misguided souls. Don't worry, I brought a Packers shirt for later this week. #represent

The flight from Miami went well. The seats and temperature were comfortable and all three of us slept for at least a short while, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still tired. It took five and a half hours, not four and a half like I'd thought because, as it turns out, Lima is back in the Central time zone. It is foggy/cloudy here so we can't really see much scenery beyond the tarmac. Hope this clears up before Machu Picchu tomorrow. 

Our flight to get here left last night/this morning at 2:00am. It's about a two and a half hour drive from Mom's to the Miami airport, so naturally we left the house at 1:30 in the afternoon. Aside from a stop at Walgreens so Emily could buy sunglasses, we didn't really have any concrete plans.

We ate at a place called Rocco's Tacos in Delray Beach.



After lunch we drove to an open-air mall in downtown Miami. There was live music and I found some adorable new sandals. Here's Mom & Em with the market in the background. 



Our next flight leaves at 9:40, and then we have one more bus ride before we arrive at our hotel for tonight.

Maybe might need to schedule a little nap in there too.

A brief education on driving in Florida

Emily: How fast are you going right now?

Mom: 79.

Emily: [judgment]

Mom: You're allowed to go 79. 

Emily: So 70 is the speed limit, but 79 is how fast you're allowed to go?

Mom: Yes.

Emily: Huh. Why don't they put 79 on the signs then?

Mom: I think the 0 is cheaper. 

Guinea pig, stroopwafel, et. al.

Apparently one of the fairly common items on Peruvian menus is cuy, or Guinea pig. I have been debating for some time now whether or not I want to try it this week. 

I generally like to try some of the local "delicacies" when I'm on vacation, particularly if it's something I can't get at home. Case in point, I think we stopped at Tim Horton's three times during our overnight trip to Winnipeg for the World Cup last summer. 

Based on the limited research* I've done to prepare for this trip, there are a handful of things Peru is known for that I'd like to try. The national drink is something called a Pisco Sour. Obviously it would be rude and probably xenophobic to turn down someone else's national drink, so I'll definitely be checking that out. The Cusco region in particular is also known for coca products- coca tea, coca candies, chewable coca leaves, etc. The coca plant is supposed to help alleviate the affects of the high altitude. And if you're wondering, "Beth, is coca what I think it is?", well, I'll direct your query to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website, which explicitly states It is illegal to bring coca leaves into the U.S. for any purpose, including to use for brewing tea or for chewing.

The thing is with the Guinea pig, some places serve it as part of a stew, with other meats, but I think most places serve it whole. Like, cooked Guinea pig body laying there with little legs sticking out and head attached and just...no. If that's the only option I'm going to have to pass. This is supposed to be a vacation not an episode of Fear Factor. 

Anyway, we're not in Peru yet. Today we flew into Orlando by way of Chicago. And on our first flight of the day, we were introduced to a completely unexpected delicacy- the stroopwafel. 

The stroopwafel is a Dutch treat that was sort of like a very thin waffle, with a layer of caramel inside. Yum. They were handed out on the morning plane flight instead of the usual peanuts or pretzels. It was so tasty that we specifically asked the flight attendant on the second flight if they had any. He claimed he would check for us, and made a show of walking to the back of the plane, but he returned empty-handed. You just know the rest of the flight attendants were back there eating them all. 

We also got to enjoy a unique dinner** experience today. After Mom picked Emily & I up from the airport, we met up with Kiki (who was randomly in Orlando this week for a conference) at Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort. It is an unwritten family rule that all meals eaten in Orlando must be eaten on Disney property, so we had reservations at one of the resort's restaurants, Sanaa. The food was described as African-inspired with Indian spices, and it did not disappoint. 

And though maybe not entirely authentic to the African theme, my drink did come with a light-up ice cube so I was pretty happy. 

Tomorrow it's on to Miami, and then the overnight flight to Lima. Better get some sleep now!

*I bet those of you who've traveled with me before cannot believe I just used the phrase "limited research I've done to prepare for this trip".  

**I attempted to eat local for lunch too, but it was a bust. Let's just say the airport satellite location of Chicago's famed Billy Goat Tavern didn't really warrant the on-site t-shirt sales. 

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¡Hola!

As I find myself on the eve of another international adventure, I thought I'd try dusting off the travel blog and giving it another go.  Kinda forgot about this, to be honest.  But my last two international adventures were both to Canada, and Canada- while awesome!- really only qualifies as international in the most technical of terms.  Also writing this is a serviceable distraction from packing.

It's Tuesday night, and we leave tomorrow morning.  Mom, Emily and I are going to Peru!  Mom found a great deal on a "weekend express getaway" which includes a day at Machu Picchu and two days in Cusco.  Seems crazy to be traveling to South America for the weekend, but apparently Lima is only a four and a half hour plane flight from Miami.  Oh, yes, this trip involves a bumper day on either side in Florida, a location which I'm already on record as stating might as well be a foreign country too.

To prepare, I spent the weekend half-heartedly reviewing Spanish vocabulary.  At the time of my high school graduation, I was muy bien at Spanish, actually.  Other things that were true at the time of my high school graduation: Y2K was a legitimate concern, the Spice Girls were on their Spiceworld tour, our family shared one cell phone (for emergencies only!), and Mark McGwire was a national hero.  So it's been a while.

The studying did not get off to a great start because I couldn't find any of my intended study materials.  I used to have this really sweet flip-card thing with a bunch of common verbs and tenses.  It was in my Spanish notebook from Senior year.  Pretty sure I had a Spanish dictionary too.  Alas, I guess now they are all in that big biblioteca in the sky.  

So I moved on to Plan B, which was taking no less than 37 of the Spanish quizzes on Sporcle.com.  I am not sure how much this helped, but thanks to a very entertaining Spanish-translation-of-the-movie-quote quiz, I can tell you which movie "Yo tengo pezónes Greg...¿Puedes ordeñarme?" comes from.

It probably would have been wiser to spend this time packing.  

Not sure what the wifi situation will be in Peru, so I guess we'll see how frequently, if at all, I'll be able to post down there.  I wonder what the Spanish term for wifi is?  (Also true at the time of my high school graduation- wifi hadn't been invented yet.)

Either way, I'll do my best to take pictures and keep track of our always-entertaining experiences.

And if you're wondering, the movie is Meet the Parents, and the quote translates to "I have nipples Greg...could you milk me?".