No Rain!

So now that we are away from the comforts of the CCS house, we have much less reliable access to the internet. But, we are in Cusco...we made it with no rain, no problems at all. Things went very smoothly from Ayacucho to Lima, dropped off two of our bags at storage to lighten our load, then Lima to Cusco. Our wonderful guide from our Ica trip (who had arranged this week for us) surprised us by being at the baggage claim in Cusco. He had taken a bus from Nazca, about an eight hour ride, so that he could be our personal guide to Macchu Picchu. I think part of it was that he was a little concerned about two women and two kids wandering around on their own, something that I know several other people will appreciate. He has five nearly grown children of his own so he definitely has that paternalistic air. The first night in Cusco, we checked out the lay of the land and found a little bar/restaurant called Norton's Rat owned by people originally from Arizona. Then we had dinner at Chez Maggy, one of the original and best pizza places in Cuzco. It was good, but the type of cheese they use hear is different than in the US (of course) and it seems to wreak havoc with my stomach so I think I will skip the pizza from now on. There were some interesting pizza combinations including our guide's which was banana and egg.....

We stayed at Hostal Saphi, close to the gorgeous main square, which is plain but decent except for being next door to the one room being remodeled with sledgehammers. At least no one complained about the boys being a bit rowdy....I don't think anyone could even hear them above the pounding and power tools. The next morning we got up bright and early to go through the Sacred Valley with our guide. We made several stops including the Inca ruins of Sacsaywaman, a wildlife refuge, a textile shop, and a chicheria. The wildlife refuge at first looked like a very dreary, depressing zoo, but we realized that this family was trying to rehabilitate animals that had been confiscated from the illegal international trade. There were South American condors that were being breed so the young could be released into the wild and pumas which had been kept, drugged, in Lima so that tourists could pet them. The owner told us that smugglers will take up to 100 macaws from the jungle and put them into tubes to transport to the United States. By the time they get there, only 9 or 10 will have survived but the smugglers will make around $1000 on each of them. The refuge just opened about a year ago and as is typical of Peru, no government funding is given to them. So we of course made a donation to them-an amount that we will never miss but is exhilarating for them. The "textile" workshop was really just an extremely touristy place that sold beautiful alpaca garments for exorbitant prices. Our guide told us this going in, also noting that the traditionally dressed "weavers" supposedly working the looms were only pretending to do so. But his main purpose in bringing us here was so that we could touch and feed the domesticated llamas and alpacas. Which we of course loved....little baby alpacas that were just adorable and others that looked like mops with eyes and hooves. At the chicheria, which was basically someones home on the side of the highway with a red flag on a stick to signify what they sell, we got to see (sort of) how chicha is made. Chicha is a fermented corn drink that has been around since before the Incas. Peruvians drink it like Americans drink Budweiser and we had to of course try it while we were here. However, there is some danger in drinking chicha from roadside homes as the sanitation there may not be up to our industrialized standards. Also, chicha was originally made by chewing the dried corn and spitting it into a pot of water to start the fermentation process. I know that some chicha served in restaurants is not begun this way but I can't really get a straight answer out of any locals as to whether the chicha in traditional chicherias is chewed or not. So we were a bit apprehensive but didn't want to offend our hostess and ......well, what the hell. So we tried a strawberry tinged chicha and it was actually pretty good. No ill effects seem to have followed so I think our stomachs must be acclimating to the various Peruvian bacteria.

Lots more to write but the kids are ready to go in search of some breakfast. In this most touristy of areas, they are sure that they can find some good buttermilk pancakes and also want to try Peruvian hot chocolate. More later.....

Jenny