Finally all of the pictures from the past week are up! Enjoy.

Yesterday we traveled to Calca to see their celebration for the Virgin Mary. I think that every small town in the sacred valley (at least) as one day of the year on which they celebrate the patron saint of their main church. So far all I have seen are the celebrations in Yucay, Pisac, and recently Calca and they all have been celebrating the Virgin Mary.

The celebration in Calca was especially good (best one I have seen) because of the hilarious dancing that goes on.

We must have seen about 10 different groups dance on the streets. They would parade in like a Mardi Gras krewe and start to dance in the main square.

The pictures will do a good job of describing the scene.

Every trip that I have taken here in Peru has been a blast. This one is no different! I have a lot to write about this trip so I am going to divide this post up according to the islands and towns we visited.

---Bus ride and Puno---

Our trip started after catching the 8am bus to Puno from the Terminal Terrestre in Cusco. Funny note: Aaron and I mentioned to some of the friends we have made here in Urubamba that we were heading on this trip. Two of them were very interested in meeting up with us and traveling there. They were to email us Thursday night or Friday to confirm their plans, but we received no such email. However, as we were boarding the bus, I saw that they were sitting in the front row. So we ended up seeing Lake Titicaca together.

The bus ride turned out to be the best bus ride that 15 soles could buy! In other words it was a piece of shit!

The ride took about 8 hours total and stopped in almost every little city on the way from Cusco to Puno. I had the distinct pleasure of sitting next to a fairly large woman who had a very persistent cough and smelled like rotting wood. This really didn't bother me that much, it was actually the kid behind me who was constantly vomiting which really made the ride exciting!

Needless to say, we were all very glad to be off the bus once we arrived in Puno.

Our first order of business was to find a cheap hostel. And we sure did find a cheap one! Known as Hostal Florida, this establishment boasted 24 hour hot water (hard to come by in Peru), clean bathrooms, and comfortable beds....all of which were not true in the slightest!

In the past I have stayed in some shitty places and this place did not bother me too much. However, the company I was with had issues. We still ended up sleeping there and sneaked into some of the more expensive rooms to use the showers.

That night we went to one of the best bars I have been to in Peru. It was recommended by the guide book and was called Kamikaze Classic Rock bar. The name says it all.

---Island of Uros---

The next morning we woke up at about 730am, ate, and headed down to the port to see about getting a boat ride out to see the islands. Unfortunately, the cheapest excursions had already left by the time we arrived. Our only option was to hire a private taxi to take us around the islands. We did just that.

The cost of the water taxi was approximately 300 soles for any amount of people. We were a group of 4 and it came out to about 74 soles each. The plan was to take the same taxi to the floating islands of Uros and then to the Island of Amantani and finally to the island of Tequile. We decided to spend the night on the Island of Amantani with a host family.

Once the taxi was underway it took about 45 minutes for us to reach Uros (the boat traveled at about 12km/hr). We traveled through some beautiful marsh lands near the shore of Puno. The islanders use the reeds to build floating islands to live on and rafts for traveling.

According to the guide book these people have been living like this for hundreds of years. They initially moved to these offshore houses to escape certain native ruling tribes (Incans etc..). They also continued to live there during the Spanish invasion to avoid certain hardships.

Upon reaching the island community we docked to one of the islands and walked around. Each island was only about 15 meters in diameter and there were about 30 to 40 of them total. Each family lived on a single island. Once we were docked they local family brought out several sacks of trinkets for us to look at and buy.

Each island was self contained. Some had solar panels for power and all of them have little holes for fishing and a big netted hole for breeding/holding fish.

We only spent about 30min here before moving on.


---Amantani---

This is the island where we were to spend the night. It took about 2 hours to reach from Uros.

We traveled beyond the turqoise green waters of the marsh lands to the deep blue, main waters of lake Titicaca. Hopefully the pictures show just how blue the waters are.

Random fact: Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on the planet at about 12500ft, it pays to have lived in Urubamba (9000ft) for a while before traveling to the lake.

We were greeted at the island by our host family and then hiked up the steep shores to our rooms. They were very small but also very nice. The cost of staying there was 25 soles and that got us lunch, dinner, and breakfast.

When we arrived at about 500pm we were immediately served lunch (egg and potatoes). After an hour or so of relaxation and watching the beautiful sunset we were surprised by our hosts with ponchos and traditional (Incan ?) hats for us to wear to the fiesta! I had read that for this weekend only there was a big festival only on our Island. We just happened to be staying there on the night of the main celebrations!

So we dressed up in the costumes and hiked across the Island (lead by our hosts) to the Plaza de Armas were three huge bonfires were lit and load of people in costume were dancing. A friend of mine names Kevin thought that we whould dance with them (and by dancing I mean forming a big circle around three bonfires and skipping really fast).

There are some hilarious pictures from that night!

After we partied in the main square our hosts lead us back to the house were we had our second meal. This time it was potatoes and rice with some carrot mixed in!...it tasted excellent! Once we were done eating a second time, it was time to go to the individual community party that our host family was included in. Still in costume we made our way straight up a steep hill to the small community house. There in a bare room people were dancing around in circles and salsa dancing to live music. A group of very talented kids were playing nonstop. I was constantly out of breath due to the altitude and the fact that the islander's dance was basically running around in circles!

We danced in that building for about 2 hours before calling it quits.

We made out way back to the house and passed out.


---Taquile---

The next morning at 800am we had breakfast (fried dough), said our goodbyes to the host family, and hopped onto our taxi.

We made it to the island of Taquile in about an hour. We docked the boat and hiked about 3km up a steep path to the plaza. The trail to the main square was gorgeous.

We relaxed in the main square for some time and then continued on our way around the island.

Both of these islands did not have anything extremely interesting to offer. Although each island was entirely terraced by the Incans and there descendants, the main reason for visiting the Islands was to get away from the grimy city of Puno and to get great views of the lake.

The pictures from Taquile are very good. I think they capture the magnificence of the lake quite well.

Once we had hiked all the way around the island we caught the taxi back to Puno. This trip took about 3 and a half hours. It was a good time for me to catch up on my sleep!

Once we got back to Puno we paid out taxi driver and headed directly to the main square of Puno to get lunch. After that we made our way back to the bus station to see about getting a bus back to Cusco that night.

---Return to Cusco---

We needed to get back that night in order to teach the next day so we were limited in our bus company selection (both bus stations had about 15 different bus companies). We ended up paying about 25 soles this time for the ride--and we were glad we did! That 25 soles bought us luxury seats on an air conditioned bus with TVs and a DVD player! That money also meant that we only had to stop three times on the way from Puno to Cusco! We should have gotten the same service to Puno. That evening in Puno would have been much more enjoyable!

We arrived back in Cusco at about 1130am and wandered around the dirty streets of southern Cusco looking for a taxi to get us back to Urubamba. We eventually found one and an hour and a half later we were in Urubamba.

Aaron and I played this entire weekend trip by ear as we have most of our trips here in Peru. We knew that we wanted to see the Sacsahuman ruins (pronounced 'Sexywoman') with our tourist ticket and we also knew that we wanted to go to Puno and see the lake. We had already bought the ticket to Puno the previous week leaving at 800am on Saturday so we decided to spend a night at the same Hostel in Cusco as the last time, see Sexywoman, have a few beers at this famous Irish pub, and then catch our bus to Puno the next morning.

The plan worked perfectly. We arrived in Cusco early so we could stop by Nick's office in Cusco to take care of a flight to from Cusco to Lima.

After milling around in the main square we headed up the very steep path to our hostel, threw our bags down, and then headed up to see Sexywoman. The hike up was fairly steep but relatively short. We made it into the sight easily.

After having seen Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, AND Pisac whatever there was on the top of this mountain we were hiking up would have to be very impressive in order not to be a let down.

Having said that, these ruins were impressive, but probably at the bottom of this list in terms of interest.

The site was massive and seemed to resemble the same layout as Machu Picchu. There was a quarry, several levels within the temple and massive field in this middle.

Like Machu Picchu and the others, the shear size of the rocks used here made the site worth the trip. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me about the entire site was the stone quarry.

Somehow the Incas had managed to carve the massive stones from the quarry leaving a very smooth cylindrical pattern in the rock the stones were cut from. The quarry was huge and the smooth cylinders stretched the entirety of the quarry. How such a pattern was created for such a long distance boggles my mind. While we were up there, we were approached by a guide (at least I think he was a guide) who informed us that the cylinders and cuts in the rock channeled spiritual energy into whoever stood atop the quarry. He lead us through a weird ceremony right on top of this rock which supposedly enabled spiritual believers to feel the true power of nature. All I felt was the rock and the stares of the surrounding tourists!

After our 'spiritual' encounter, we hiked up a bit further on the mountain to a white stone statue of Jesus overlooking all of Cusco. It was a pretty weird looking site and we didn't spend too much time there.

We proceeded to hike back down into Cusco and back to our hostel. We found a really cheap place to eat, and then we decided to see a free movie of our choice at this makeshift bar/theater. It is a very common practice for bars and cafes to have a wide selection of bootlegged DVDs for customers to watch. We found a place right next to the square and chose The Motorcycle Diaries. The movie was excellent. Che Guevera spends a lot of time in Peru, particularly in Cusco so it was pretty cool to be watching a famous movie about the town we were in. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

After the movie we headed over to an Irish pub and had a few of pints before going back to the same bar that we had been to before (Mythology). We had a couple of free drinks there and then headed back to the hostel. The next morning we woke up and caught the 8am bus.

Pictures from Sexywoman will be up soon also!

As time is now running out for this trip, Aaron and I have begun to take several day trips to some of the great ruins in the valley. We wanted to make good use of our tourist tickets and traveled to Pisac last Wednesday.

The ruins in Pisac were great! These ruins rival Machu Picchu!

The site is located about a 2 hour hike into the mountains north of Pisac which is about an hour bus ride to the east of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. Both Maria and Nick think that the actual ruins here are in fact better than the ones on Machu Picchu.

I can't say if I agree with that statement. The ruins might be in better condition than at Machu Picchu, but the location of MP still beats out Pisac!

To get there Aaron and I hopped on a bus traveling to Cusco via Pisac. Once we reached Pisac, we spent a few minutes at the Pisac market which is famous for its size and the Alpaca (llama) clothing they sell.

My guide book recommended that we take a taxi up to a section of the ruins called Qanchisracay and then hike down. We did exactly that.

Once we were on site it was easy to see why Nick and Maria had such a high opinion of the ruins. Unlike Machu Picchu, the ruins here are in much better shape. As you will be able to see from the pictures, the stones they used here were massive and cut to perfection. It was very apparent that the stones used here took more skill and time to carve and install than the ones seen a Machu Picchu. The stones were flat and seemed to fit together like toy building blocks.

Another plus for this site is the amount of people present. It was basically deserted during out time there and made for a really peaceful environment for marveling at the architecture.

To hike from Quanchisracay to Intihuatana (main sun temple) we took a series of steep cliff passes and a very narrow tunnel through a rock face. The views from the hike were fantastic. On our way down once we had finished seeing the main temple, the views of the western and eastern Sacred Valley were very impressive and worth the 2 hour hike back into Pisac.

Once we were back in Pisac, we flagged down another bus and road back to Urubamba just in time for our late afternoon lessons!

The pictures from this day trip will be up shortly!

A massive earthquake hit northern Peru last night registering somehwere between a 7.5 and an 8 on the Richter scale. Here in Urubamba we didn't feel anything. According to CNN, Lima had power outages and 85 casulties 15 of which were fatal.

I am going to now post updates to the blog!

CNN also reports that at least 330 are dead in a few northern cities.

Pictures from last weekend are now up!

I have changed the layout of the site a little. All the picture links will now appear in the 'Pictures' category on the right panel. Pretty complicated, right?

Today after tutoring Tany (the correct spelling--I was yelled at!) we took the bus into Cusco to check the prices of plane tickets to Lima (for my departing flight) and to get bus tickets to Puno (the main city on lake Titicaca).

It was a long day of walking all over Cusco. The brand new major bus station is located close to the airport and was a long walk from the Urubamba bus station. We stopped at several travel agents on the way to see what they had to offer in the way of bus tickets to Puno. The cheapest ones they offered were 60 soles.

I figured that this was a ripoff and decided to walk all the way to the actual bus station which was located far from the city center and inquire there about tickets.

The first booth we ran into offered us seats for 15 soles. We took them.

So now the plan is to go to Cusco firday and see some of the ruins; spend the night; and catch the bus at 800am the next morning for Puno. We are thinking about coming back that monday--giving us 2 nights at Lake Titicaca.

That's it for now!

Our plans changed slightly for this past sunday the morning of. Nick was very instant that Aaron and I not miss the festivities that were taking place at Moray.

A celebration from what I could tell was called Pachamama took place in the old Incan ruins at Moray. Nick said that Pachamama was a Simon and Garfunkel invention. I wasn't really sure what he meant by that, all I know is that he couldn't remember the actualy nave of the festival. All of the fliers called it Pachamama.

So Aaron and I woke up early again and caught a taxi to the ruins. This was a mistake on our part as we could have gotten their for a lot cheaper if we had taken the bus or setup of collective taxi ride.

Moray was once believed to be an Incan research center. It is a depression in the earth which the Incans terraced and tested certain crops at certain altitudes.

This was a very serious celebration. There were lots of people in attendance most of whom were locals. The celebration took place at the base of the ruin and involved what looked to be at least 200 people (give or take 50). The first part of the celebration consisted of 5 groups of kids dressed in red, green, orange, and yellow costumes. Each kid carried an Incan flag (rainbow which closely resembles the gay pride flag). The kids paraded down the steep ruins and each color occupied a ring around the base (the pictures will do a better job of explaining).

There was a group of drummers and people playing wooden flutes for the whole thing. Once the kids were all setup, people with offerings of food made their way down and eventually Patchatuec himself (Incan hero) made his way down. The whole thing took at least 2 hours to get setup and then another 1 and a half to finish! Needless to say, we didn't stay the whole time.

On our way back we decided to walk the entire way! We started out by climbing a small hill to survey the area and pick the general direction that would take us to Urubamba.

From that small hill only about a quarter km from the Moray ruins, we could somewhat make out the highway which lead down from the high plains and into the sacred valley--into Urubamba.

So we started to walk towards it! There is no such thing as trespassing in Peru. You can walk were ever you like and people will only wave at you.

Of course the path to the highway was not what we envisioned. We made our way across the high plains with extraordinary views of the peaks of the Sacred Valley the entire way to a impassable gorge. We decided to take a left and walked around the gorge. I ran into some locals who pointed us in the right direction to a trail that lead down into another valley.

We made out way along that trail into another incredible little valley that descended directly into the Urubamba river. After wading through some irrigation canals and jogging across several hay fields we eventually found another trail which seemed to be used by horsemen.

We took this trail all the way to the Urubamba river. We ended up about 2km west of Urubamba itself and actually came down from the high plains right next to Salinas (salt flats which have been used for over 350 years).

We crossed a shabbyy wooden bridge across the Urubamba to reach the main highway. We hiked down the highway all the way back to Incaland.

This was an amazing trek which from our best guess ended up being about 10-11km. We free lanced the whole thing (with a little local help!) and had a great time!

I think Nick was happy that we had finally taken his advice and gone for a random walk in the valley. He is a big fan of this type of thing and thinks that Peru is the best place in the world to do it.

I hope the pictures do our trek justice!

This pas weekend was very busy.

We planned on going to Ollantaytambo on Saturday and then to the Pisac ruins and market on Sunday.

Saturday we got up reasonably early and caught a combi to Ollantaytambo at about 1030am. The ride was uneventful and very crowded. Of course everytime you get into a combi the ride is cramped. The combi is no bigger than a VW bus and they stick on average about 25 people and usually one of two dogs. I think I have a picture of the ride up to Ollan.

Once there we made our way through the main square and to the site of the ruins. Ollan is the same town at which we catch the train to Machu Picchu. So technically I have been to Ollantaytambo 6 separate times! This also means that it offers great views of the valley that leads to Machu Picchu.

The combi costs one sol (about 35cents) from Urubamba. The more I think about it the more I think that Urubamba is the best place to be in the Sacred Valley. It is no more that an hours drive to any of the ruins in the valley, and makes getting to Machu Picchu extremely easy. Its location has allowed Aaron and I to see MP a total of three times without (It is still expensive) draining our funds completely.

Anyway, once we made it to the entrance of the ruins we noticed that the entrance and price of the tourist ticket (allows access to all of the ruins in the sacred valley for 10 days) was half for students. I of course had left my student ID in my room.

The drive is only about 25min in a combi (10 in a taxi) so while Aaron milled around in all of the tourist shops I caught a combi back to get my ID. The drunkard that sat next to me who kept asking what my name was (in spanish) made the time fly!

Once I got back we both purchased the tourist tickets and entered the ruins. These were some of the best preserved ruins in the Sacred Valley. This site was the only place where the Incan forces were able to repel the Spanish conquistadors. I believe it was during the Incan rebellion lead by Mano Inca during which Ollan was turned into a fort and withstood a Spanish onslaught.

After spending about two hours there we headed back to Urubamba. The pictures are great and will be up shortly.