Machu Picchu Cerémani

So the closest town to Machu Picchu is Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs). These weren´t the kind of hot springs we were expecting but the water filled by the pools was natural.

We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our day in Machu Picchu. Peanut butter is very hard to come by in Peru so it was a pretty big deal to us.

Got up at 3:30 AM to start walking to Machu Picchu. This picture was taken around 6 AM.

Sunrise.

We climbed this peak near Machu Picchu called Huayna Picchu that has some ruins at the top as well. Theres also an amazing view of Machu Picchu. However it takes about an hour hiking up steep vertical steps to finish. I was pretty winded with the lack of oxygen in this high of altitude.

This is the view from Huayna Picchu of Machu Picchu. To the left you can see the switch back that the buses take from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Between the switchbacks are a set of steep stairs that we walked up to get to Machu Picchu. They took about an hour and a half and were extremely tiring as well, but it was worth beating the rest of the tourists who took the buses.

Sitting at the edge of Huayna Picchu.

That´s Huyana Picchu in the background. We took this picture after climbing down.

This is Machu Picchu in the background with Huayna Picchu behind the city. We ended up walking about 10 or 11 hours the entire day.

The following pictures were taken the day after Machu Picchu. We made some pisco sours to soothe our sore muscles.

Grace and I with our host dad Miguel.

Chubby Bunny

Last weekend Grace and I went to Pisac a couple times: once for a festival and once for the well-known Pisac Sunday Market. The fetival wasn´t as fun as we thought it would be but the Sunday market was really great! All the vendors sell souvenir-like things and I got handmade purse for only about $10. We also found this great store with original paintings on canvas for insanely cheap. We´ll be heading back to that store at some point in our trip. Below are the pictures we took in Pisac.















On Saturday, Grace and I went to visit some friend in Cusco. I wore my UW sweatshirt and had 2 different people say ¨Go Huskies!¨ to me. We ate at this restaurant near the Plaza de Armas and had some wonderful Mate de Coca tea, pumpkin soup, and spinach pasta. After getting back to Urubamba, we went to Sandwich Lab and had these delicious and huge burgers.









This week at the girls dormitory, we had some visitors from the US and Canada come to see what the organization is all about. The girls taught the gringos dancing to the Peruvian Huayno music (pronounced ¨whine-o¨). The gringos taught the girls how to do the twist, the jerk, some MJ moves, and the hokey-pokey.









Last night I was taught Capoeira, a Brazilian form of dance that is similar to martial arts? It was pretty fun. These pictures were of everyone practicing but we got in a big circle afterwards, played instruments, and sang while a couple people did the dancing in the center of the circle.








And lastly, here are some random pictures I took at Ccatán.

Meet my Familia

As I said before, Ccatán is a long-term hostal that I´m staying in and there are several other interesting characters that have been living here as well. First is Miguel, our host dad. He owns Ccatán and has been running the hostal for several years. Miguel is a fantastic cook, which is great because he makes all of our meals. Besides running the hostal, he works as an automechanic and an occassional trek guide. He lived in Germany for 8 months several years ago where he learned how to be an automechanic and he speaks German fluently.



There is also Omar. He has lived in Peru his whole life and in Ccatán for several years but isn´t always home. He is a trek guide that takes people on bike tours of the Sacred Valley. His next trip is to bike from Lima to Urubamba, a 12 day ordeal. He seems to love working as a trek guide and is one of the funniest people at Ccatán. In the picture below, we went to Sandwich Lab in Urubamba one night for a little concert. It was one of the most amazing hamburgers I´ve ever had.


Next is Phillipe. He has lived in Lima his whole life and has lived in Ccatán since May. He works in a hotel in Urubamba, and hasn´t had a day off in 2 weeks, because he is taking the weekend off to go to Machu Picchu with Grace, Amy, and me next weekend. He taught himself English by reading books and watching movies, and he speaks it pretty well. We always play this popular dice game with him called Chicherro I believe that involves bluffing and probability.


There is also Eli. He is from New Jersey and has been living in Ccatán for 6 months. He´ll be here for another 6 months to work on this project he started with a few friends that I mentioned earlier (The Sacred Valley Project) and that I work at a couple times a week. He also is an English teacher at an elementary school near Ccatán. He is in the far right of the picture below. It´s the only one I have of him. We were dancing to Wayno music with the girls at the dorm.


Lastly, of course, is Toby(left) and Gitana(right)! Gitana has lived in several different countries after traveling with her previous owners but ended up staying at Ccatán permanently. Before Toby lived here, he kept showing up at Ccatán several days in a row always around Gitana´s dinner time. Miguel decided to feed Toby once after a few days and hasn´t left since.