Peru!

This past week has been a whirlwind.

We flew from Quito to Lima then into Cusco on Sunday and spent Monday adjusting to the altitude (over 11,000 feet!).  And a good thing too...I was getting a cold as we left Ecuador and it only intensified with the altitude.  But with a little coca tea (the same thing they make cocaine from but no worries...only the addition of baking soda and a little chemistry makes it into an actual drug!) and lots of naps, courtesy of my wonderful husband, I was feeling better by the next day.
We spent Tuesday morning poking around a huge artisan indoor market and picking out a few more Christmas and birthday presents!  The boys played at the fountains across the street when they got
bored and Gabe and I perused the alpaca rugs, bronze statues, and carved stone figurines.
Afterwards, we walked down to the Temple of the Sun, Qorikancha, and the surrounding park and enjoyed the unofficial drink of Peru, Inca Kola, a carbonated soda that tastes like (even sweeter!) Mountain Dew.

About a month ago, when we were booking our big Machu Picchu trip, we took a good friend's advice and booked a package deal for our stay in Cusco.  Machu Picchu books up weeks in advance and it can be very tricky to coordinate all the taxis, buses, and trains to get all the way back into the mountains where the sacred city lies.  Sometimes it can take hours to find a seat of just one leg of the journey!  And with kids, we weren't willing to chance it and buy tickets as we went.  So, we booked a three day tour with Santu Tours and were thrilled with our decision.  Our coordinator, Margaret, met us on the steps of the main basilica on the Plaza de Armas with a complete packet containing all of our tickets, vouchers, and instructions, in the order in which we needed them.
We began our tour with our guide Marco, who led us around the city of Cusco, explaining the significance of four different archaeological ruin sites and entertaining us all the while with his wit and humor.  He was very knowledgeable and personable and Jack immediately took a liking to him.  He followed him around like a little puppy and once Marco offered his hand, they were inseparable.  Jack even stood next to Marco while he was telling us about the different histories and looked like a tiny tour guide himself!  It was very amusing and helped keep our social butterfly busy while we learned about the ancient Incas.  We hiked up to over 12,500 feet to see the Saqsayhuaman ruins and while we were out of breath from the climb, the altitude did not seem to affect the boys and they practically ran up the steep steps.  We also visited the Q’enqo and Pukapukara ruins, hiked through a sacred tunnel on part of the Inca Trail, and ended with a beautiful view of Cusco's skyline at dusk at the Tambomachay ruins.  Jack was sad to see Marco go but not before Marco requested a selfie with the family!

The next day, we were up early and down to the main plaza to see the big basilica before we started our tour at 8am.  The Incas built the temple known as Kiswarkancha on the main square in Cusco. It was the Inca palace of Viracocha, ruler of the ancient kingdom of Cusco around a century before the Spanish arrived.  When the conquistadors arrived in Cusco, they decided to take down the temple and build their Christian cathedral directly on top of that prominent site.  The cathedral's construction began in 1559 on the foundations of Kiswarkancha. It is shaped like a Latin cross. The location of Viracocha's palace was chosen for the purpose of removing the Inca religion from Cusco, and replacing it with Spanish Catholicism.  Because 1559 was only 26 years after the conquistadors entered Cusco in 1533, the vast majority of the population was still of Quechua Inca descent. The Spaniards used the Incas as a labour workforce to build the cathedral.  Over the 95 years of its construction, the building work was supervised by Spanish priests and architects, until its completion in 1654.  Most of the stones from the building were taken from Saqsaywaman, an Inca holy and defensive structure located on the hills above Cusco, which we had visited the day before. Luckily, due to its large size, much of Saqsaywaman remains intact. Just as the temple of Viracocha was removed and the holy stones of Saqsaywaman were employed to build the cathedral, the intentional desecration of Inca religious architecture began. Once the Spaniards learned that even the sand spread on Cusco's main plaza was considered sacred, they removed it and employed it in the cathedral's mortar.

After our visit to the basilica, we began our tour with a small group of 20 and set off for the Sacred Valley. Also called the Urubamba Valley, it encompassed the heartland of the Inca Empire.  We got to visit the ruins of Písac and Ollantaytambo, as well as several indigenous markets and a silver factory along the way. The valley was formed by the Urubamba River...in Quechua, the still spoken language of the Inca Empire, means the Sacred River. It is fed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges, and contains numerous archaeological remains and villages. The valley was appreciated by the Incas due to its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the empire's main points for the extraction of natural wealth, like corn and precious metals, like gold, silver, and bronze.  Our tour guide was very informative and helpful by dropping us off at the door of our restaurant for lunch, also included in our package.  It was a huge buffet lunch at Tunupa's, which is a resort right on the banks of the Urubamba River.  We were treated to local delicacies like sliced alpaca, ceviche, and purple corn pudding.  We also got a taste of our favorites like sushi, spaghetti bolognese, and sweet and sour chicken!  It wasn't the most traditional of lunches but it was delicious.  We got back to the main plaza very late (for a family with young children, 7pm is very late) so we decided to eat dinner at a nice gringo restaurant which featured huge butcher paper tablecloths and big crayons for the kids and delicious pisco sours, the national drink of Peru, and local Cusqueña beer!  We had an alpaca burger for dinner, served with lima beans and a spicy homemade salsa on top.  Fantastic!

After a good night's sleep, we were up at 5am and our personal driver met us at our door at 5:45am.  (There was a 3am option but we decided to opt out of that one with children.)  He drove us to the Ollantaytambo train station and we boarded the 7:45am Peru Rail train to Machu Picchu!  The train was wonderfully equipped with seats and tables facing each other and the kids even got a snack (always a plus with children)!  The windows on the sides and the ceiling of the train were huge and provided excellent views of the snow-covered mountains of the Sacred Valley.  We had an incident involving a cup of hot chamomile tea spilled on Mike but other than that, the kids were great and we arrived in Aguas Calientes around 9:30am.  We were met at the station by our tour manager and were led into the sacred city and to our tour guide, Viktor.  Again, this is where our packaged deal came in handy...the entrances to the train station, bus station, and the actual entrance to Machu Picchu was crammed full of tourists, trying to buy tickets at the last minute.  They limit the amount of visitors into the site to 2500 daily so if you are going to buy per leg, get there very early.  Or of course you could hike up the Inca Trail with a guide for a little less.  We would have loved to do this but with kids this young, it was pretty much impossible.  Next time!  The trains from the Ollantaytambo station are every 1/2 hour  and take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours, depending on stops or track maintenance.  Buses from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu and back leave about every five minutes, or when the bus is full and the trip takes approximately 25 minutes.  Peak season is June-August so our trip at the end of April wasn't even considered "peak" and it was very busy.  That being said, it was a shockingly large ancient city and the 2500 people allowed in on our day didn't detract from the beauty of the place.

Our guide led us around the mountain from the entrance of the park to the actual beginning of the Inca's sacred city.  As he told us a bit of the history, we hiked up the stone stairways and across the grassy terraces and learned that these remarkable ruins became known to the scientific world in 1911, after the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham was led to the site by locals. Perched dramatically 1000 feet above the Urubamba river, some researchers believe that Machu Picchu was a country resort for elite Incas. At any given time, there were no more than 750 people living at Machu Picchu, with far fewer than that during the rainy season. The Incas started building it around 1430 AD, but it was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.  It was a remarkably well hidden place, and well protected. Located far up in the mountains of Peru, visitors had to travel up long valleys littered with Inca check points and watch towers. Remarkably, the Spanish conquistadors missed the site and many scientists think that was because the Incas destroyed the trails to Machu Picchu to protect it. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a sacred place.  Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls, meaning no mortar was used. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows.

All of this wonderful history was given to us as the boys were climbing on and off the stones, while we were taking as many pictures as possible, and generally, just soaking up this amazing experience.

 

We made friends with llamas....and fellow tour members!  And then Michael followed the llamas and Jack followed his new friend the rest of the day!

This place was absolutely amazing and as you can see, we took a lot of pictures to help the boys remember.  Our boys were three of probably five kids we saw all day so it was truly a once in a lifetime experience for all of us!

The ride back, while long, was uneventful.  Very quiet and the boys slept most of the way.  We got home around 9pm, shared a pizza while the boys crashed in bed, and then headed to bed ourselves, feeling awed at our experience.

The next day, we packed up and flew from Cusco to Lima, Peru, and Miraflores, a very nice and modern suburb of Lima.  Miraflores was a stopping point on our way to Santiago, Chile (where we are currently heading!), but we knew we were going to need some downtime.  And boy, were we right!  We didn't realize how tired we were until we literally slept for most of the next three days!  But I can tell you, Michael and Jack are becoming quite the travelers...they know exactly what the seatbelt sign means and they know when to put their traytables down for the snack.  And they are so cute waiting for the luggage at the baggage claim!!

 

We headed to the beach, the famous cliffs of Lima, the Parque de la Amor, our first American-style supermarket, and to a very cool lighted fountain show called Circuito de las Aguas Magicos.  You can go during the day but at night, the fountains and lit by colored lights and set to classical music.  We shared a popcorn and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Today was our last day here and we headed out to lunch for fresh and local ceviche and a pisco sour!  The ceviche was delicious, very spicy, and extremely refreshing...Mike got salmon and tuna and I had mixto, a mix of clams, fish, shrimp, squid, and octopus!  We even got to try the local churros and melted chocolate, a delicacy for breakfast!

We are currently on a 19 hour bus ride, via Cruz del Sur, an extremely nice bus service that runs in Peru, to the border of Chile then a flight to Santiago!  Wish us luck!
As always, check our facebook page and our instagram account, #dclandromomania for daily updates!