Day #2 - The Sacred Valley

Our first morning in Peru we headed to breakfast and then met our guide for the day.  We had a lot on our schedule, but it was all incredible.

We went to the Ollantaytambo Fortress for our first stair climb, I mean tour.  Our whole trip was a bit surreal, I kept having to remind myself we were really doing this, really seeing these places we had seen in the history books.  We learned of architecture, infrastructure, irrigation, planting, and religious rites.  All as we walked up in the mountains through ruins that have lasted hundreds of years through extreme weather, earthquakes, and a whole lot of tourists.  The Incan people were way ahead of there time in planning cities.  The amount of patience, strength, endurance, and connection with the land is seen in all the places we visited.

Ohmmmmm... 

The sun temple.

Ollantaytambo has both religious temples and military quarters, but on opposite sides of the fortress.  From the temple you can see faces carved into the opposite mountain, as well as storage areas for grain.  And then down into between you see the town.

After the fortress we got into the van and headed out to Moray.  These circles are for crop experimentation.  There are actually three different sized circles, all with different levels, and due to the location as you go farther down into the circle there are different micro climates.  So the Incas were finding what plants (mostly corn and potatoes) worked best for different climates and different soil types.  Amazing.

Look at what we saw on our rural dirt drive, out in the middle of no where.  And yes, we stopped and took pictures.

 From Moray we headed to Salineras, or the salt pans of Maras, over 3000 of them.  There is a little natural stream that comes out of this mountain and the Incans discovered it, made these salt pans, and then harvested the very good tasting salt.  And it is still used today to do the same.  We all really enjoyed this site.

This is where the natural spring comes out of the mountain.

The only non-bottled water we drank.  Well, not really drank, but stuck our finger in to taste the salt water.

And our last stop was 3700 meters above sea level in Chinchero, were some wonderful women taught us how all the amazing weaving and dying of alpaca and wool of Peru comes about.  We were the only ones there at the time and we felt right at home with these sweet women who weave to support their families.

Two in one - a hat scarf

Finishing up our long, but amazing day in the Sacred Valley.

Peru - Day #1 - Getting there

Early Sunday morning we boarded our plane and headed to Cusco, Peru.  Once we arrived in this city that sits over 11,000 feet above sea level, we left!  We got in a van and drove down...about 2,000 feet.  When making our travel plans, we decided it would be better for our bodies to start a bit down to try to avoid the true altitude sickness.  And it worked, none of us got altitude sickness (well, maybe I did but we can't decide if it was the altitude or something I ate, but it was short lived and didn't stop any of our plans, I think I ate something that didn't agree with me, who knows).  On the 1 and 1/2 hour drive to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley we saw some amazing vistas.  Once at our hotel, we enjoyed walking around this small, rural town which we really enjoyed and had a great dinner.  Then early to bed since we had woken up at 4am and we had a HUGE day ahead of us.

We packed light.  This is all we had for a week.  And it worked.  Wow I had no idea a family of six could travel with one pack back and two duffle bags.  For the train we could have a total of 66 pounds of luggage, we did it in 55.  

Our hotel and the owner.  It was really a fantastic place to stay.  Though it was a bit loud at night.  This little town has very narrow roads and huge trucks coming in and out of it.  There are constant horns honking, goats bleating, and truck noises echoing in the narrow alleys.  But the location was perfect for us.

Two little monkeys jumping on our first walk around Ollantaytambo.

The view from our balcony was amazing!  The ruins were right there.

More Dieciocho - Middle School style

The middle school and high school combine for there Dieciocho celebration each year.  It is on a volunteer basis for those who participate.  There are incentives though...extra credit in Spanish class for those who do.  So Mason did not, but Dallin did.  He did a dance from Easter Island.  And even though he was not too excited about it, he did a great job.  I loved watching him.  

There was also a dance off.  Which involved the Cueca, the traditional Chilean dance that everyone learns from the time they are in preschool (all the kids, including Easton have learned it the last 2 years).  It was a lot of fun to watch, even if I couldn't convince my boys to participate.

Another traditional dance. 

39 years!

Happy Birthday Babe!  A good night spent together with good food and yummy dessert!  A favorite dessert of Mark's that we haven't had in 2 years.  It takes a few special ingredients that I picked up in the summer just for this occasion.  I love this man who is my perfect match!

You see that Baby Ruth.  It is gold around here.  There is a specialty store near here that sells  American candy, but you never know exactly what they will have.  And we struck gold when they had these favorite candy bars of Marks!

Fiesta Patrias al Jardin

 They had a little celebration at Easton's preschool.  Unfortunately the parents can't come...not enough parking for everyone.  Oh well, I got a few cute pics of him and his friend.  They weren't really looking in any of them, but they sure were enjoying each other.   At the celebration they danced some traditional dances and ate empanadas.  I think there was probably a lot of giggling involved.

My little huaso.

One of his teachers, Ms. Costanza

This is just one of many projects they worked on in preparation for their week of celebration.  It is a map of Chile.

Kites are a big deal here for the celebration...it is spring after all.

Fiesta Huasa

As Chile gets ready to celebrate their indepence day, the 18th of September, or Dieciocho, there are a lot of fiestas and assemblies going on around here.  To start them off we went to a fiesta hosted by the Union of security, groundskeepers, etc. of our kids school.  It is a big event.  It includes a rodeo, dancing, games, and lots of food.  

Nothing like blue ice cream all over everything!

Basketball in Full Swing

We are in full basketball mode around here.  Drew does basketball one day a week and Dallin and Mason are practicing 3 times a week, plus games.  So it feels like basketball, basketball, and more basketball around here.  I love going and watching the boys play.  These are from their first games, so there will be more to come.

 Dallin warming up

Mason Getting ready...