Home!

Well, I'm back in Canada safe and sound after a great 6+ months! My three weeks visiting Oliver in Mexico flew by, and now it's onto building my life here in Toronto, complete with job and apartment searching and reconnecting with friends and family.

Thanks for keeping posted on my comings and goings, I hope I can see you all soon!
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Traipsing around with Mom and Sue

This marks my official last blog about Peru, seeing as how I have been in Mexico for a day, but it will be a good one! For the past two weeks I was so fortunate to have my mom and our friend Susan come down to Peru to be tourists with me and lumber along the "gringo trail." Full of beautiful sights, amazing hotels and food, and only a few mishaps, the trip was a great way to wrap up my five month Peruvian adventure. We started out in Cusco, where we took in the old stone foundations, including those at the Qoricancha/Santo Domingo temple: the Qoricancha temple was one of the most sacred in the Inca Empire and for that reason the Spaniards tore down a great deal of it and built a church on top. With some sense of justice, the Santo Domingo temple has been seriously damaged over the years with earthquakes, while the remaining Incan stone structures have stood their ground.

We also hiked up from Cuzco to the site of Sacsayhuaman, an enormous stone site that is impressive even though it only contains 30% of the original stones (the other 70%) were carted off by the conquistadores to build in Cuzco. The sheer size of the stones is impressive - it must have been so difficult to transport them (some weigh over 30 tons).

When my mom and Suzan headed up to Machu Picchu I decided to stay behind and take advantage of the chance to visit Moray, where there are many multi-terraced circles which were used by the Incans/Quechua people to experiment with microclimates and crop varieties. Amazingly, each terrace has its own microclimate, allowing farmers to determine which varieties of potato, corn, quinoa, etc. are better suited for particular climates and not others. Although the full site has not yet been restored, the parts that are in good shape are still used by local people to cultivate every year, which I think is a great example of how such old technology can be so useful today. I went after the harvest, so everything is dry, but apparently it's very lush and green during the rainy season.

On our last day in Cuzco we boarded a bus with a tour of the "Sacred Valley" around Cuzco, which is a magical place of snowcapped mountains ringing lush fields and meandering rivers. Sprinkled throughout the landscape are small towns with Incan archaeological sites and traditional markets, making for a great day trip.

The view from Ollantaytambo

Mom and I in Pisaq

Then it was off to the "white city" of Arequipa, so-named for the white volcanic rock which is the basis of many of the buildings. Although it's Peru's second-largest city, it has a very peaceful atmosphere and there is no end to the beautiful colonial-era buildings that have been carefully restored and which can be visited (including our amazing hotel, Casa de Melgar)

Santa Catalina Convent

Casa de Melgar

We spent a lot of time exploring museums, churches and monasteries and relaxing with good coffee before we headed out on a two-day trip through the Colca Canyon.

We also bought some twin hats from the area

The Colca Canyon lies outside of Arequipa and is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon with a population dedicated to agriculture and - now - tourism. Again, the dry season means that everything is brown and burnt looking, but it was still beautiful.

The canyon is home to lots of native wildlife as well, particularly vicunas, llamas, alpacas, and condors. On our second day we were able to see at least 12 condors fly around the canyon walls. Although in the picture it's difficult to appreciate their size in this photo, they have a wingspan of about 6 feet!

From Arequipa it was off up the coast of Peru, stopping at Nazca where we were fortunately able to fly! (many people were having their flights cancelled due to long delays). The lines were as stunning in real life as I had imagined after reading about them and seeing pictures. Although there is no real "answer" as to why the Nazca people drew these enormous figures in the desert, I was awed by art on such a grand canvas and I will go home with less questions about their source and cause, and more appreciation for the beauty that was created in the middle of a barren land.

Getting into our little plane (with fear in our bellies)

The hummingbird (look closely)

In Ica, my mom and I went on a tour of the local wineries, where we sampled the wares (the sweet wines were the best, but just in small quantities)

before suiting up for a trip through the huge sand dunes of the area. Although we thought we were only going on a dune buggy ride, we ended up sandboarding as well (on our bellies) - my mom was so brave!

It was so beautiful to be out in the middle of the sand with nothing in sight except for the buggy (which was unfortunately loud and smelly) and the sun setting over the dunes.

We then visited the Islas Ballestas, which are a set of small islands that create an ideal shelter for marine and bird life, including dolphins, sea lions, and penguins (my favourite). There was another inexplicable image drawn there, of which many theories abound but none have been proven.

"El Candelabro"

And then we finished up the trip in Lima, with luxurious dinners, last-minute shopping, and...paragliding! Again, my mom is just something else (that's her up there in the big yellow paraglider).

Thanks Mom and Sue for a great trip!

Lake Titicaca (or, Kota Mama)

Between my visit with Kelly and my upcoming visit with my mom (one day!) I spent some time in Puno, Peru and visited a few of the islands on their side of Lake Titicaca. The lake is named after a rock shaped like a puma on the isla del sol, but the name used by the Aymara people (original inhabitants of the lake) is Kota Mama (Mother Lake). The lake is massive and slightly salty and sprinkled with islands on both the Peruvian and Bolivian sides.

One of the most incredible sites on the lake must be the community of the Uros floating islands. Numbering 40-50 in total, each island is built entirely of reeds and floats on the reed root beds. The islanders are constantly layering their islands with more reeds to make up for those that rot and their houses and boats are also made of the same reeds.

We visited one island where there are 10 families living and they took us for a ride on their "reed bus", a boat used to ferry large groups of people for weddings and touristy events.

It was absolutely amazing to see how these communities have managed to create a life with the resources available to them and how they have managed to retain that way of life even in the face of pressures from the mainland and, of course, tourism.

From there, we headed over to Taquile island which is characterized for the high quality of weaving produced by its inhabitants. The men weave themselves hats that signify their marital status and their wives or mothers weave them belts that act as a sort of story of their lives (family members, major events, belongings, etc.)

Now I'm just waiting a few hours until I see my mom! She's coming on the 7am flight tomorrow, so I will soon be graced with yet another wonderful visitor.

Bolivia and Kelly

For the past two weeks i've been in Bolivia, and most of the time I spent with my friend Kelly who flew all the way down from Canada to check out the sights of this incredible country. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but between us we accumulated:

- 1 wrong airport

- 1 delayed plane

- 1 late bus

- 1 happy reunion in the midst of the arrival of a famous Mexican pop band

- 1 lost bag

- 1 brand new bag with brand new clothes and gifts

- 2 stomach bugs

- 2 colds

- 2 hot showers, 1 freezing cold one, and 3 lukewarm ones

- 128 km down 3500 metres of biking (in one day!)

- Befriending a fox, monkey, anteater/raccoon, parrot and numerous tourists

it was a great trip!

We started out in La Paz (Bolivia) and biked down the "world's most dangerous road" (named that way due to a past history of car accidents, not bike accidents). We started at a frigid 4700 metres stepping on snow and ended up sweating at 1200 metres 64 km and 6 hours later. The road is a mix of pavement, dirt, and loose gravel and at times comes perilously close to 600 metre drops, or skirts under waterfalls or over road washouts. But, everyone made it home in one piece and we got a free t-shirt!

Our route through the mountains

Don't worry mom, we went safely!

Then we headed down to the southern altiplano, where we joined up with a tour through the Uyuni salt flats and beyond - a completely surreal experience. The salt desert goes on as far as the eye can see (and beyond, it's over 10,000 km) and the combination of brilliant white, dusty salt and the bright blue sky is stunning and slightly blinding.

My shoe doubles nicely as a car, in the right circumstances

We stayed the night in a hotel made entirely of salt (salt brick walls, salt beds, salt tables and chairs) and it kept us strangely warm in the -18 degree weather. Of course "warm" is relative, as you can see that I'm fully bundled up.

After driving through the salt we ended up in a landscape that resembles what I think the moon (or an unpopulated planet) might look like - all flat land, barren mountains, large craters and scattered lakes of the most brilliant and unreal colours. After driving for hours and seeing no other signs of life, we arrived at a lake filled with pink flamingos, which did not seem to mind the frigid wind whipping the lake surface.

Among this expanse of flat land we came across random enormous rock formations that resemble images such as a human face or tree, or parts of a Salvador Dali painting.

On our last morning we drove right through active geysers at a height of 4,900 metres, spewing sulphuric gases, whistling like kettles, and filling the sky and covering the sunrise with steam.

After filling up bags with wonderful Bolivian gifts, Kelly took off back to Canada and I headed to the winter solstice festival at the archaeological site of Tihuanaco. Apparently over 10,000 people go every year to welcome in the sun and with it, the Aymara New Year. Among those gathered was Evo Morales, the Bolivian President, who generated a lot of attention and (it seemed) adoration from everyone as he raised the two flags and sprinkled the ceremonial fire with coca leaves and fruit.

At the first sign of the sun, everybody raises up their hands to welcome in the energy of the new year

And then I headed straight for the birthplace of the sun itself- la isla del sol on lake titicaca. The island is surrounded by impossibly blue waters which in turn are ringed by snow-capped peaks and the whole setting was absolutely gorgeous.

I walked under our dear friend (the sun) for a few hours, crossing the island before settling down to a plate of freshly-fished trout. Amazing!

Chachapoyas

From Chiclayo, I set out to Chachapoyas - an area in the "Ceja de selva" (the andes mountains on the way to the jungle). Chachapoyas is a small town that is just recently becoming touristed due to the great number of archaeological and cultural sites in the area.

My main reason for going was to visit the site of Kuélap, an enormous fortress built into the top of a mountain and apparently constructed with more stones than the pyramid at Giza.

The whole fortress is ringed with walls that must be at least 20 metres high and within they built a city of round stone houses on various levels depicting the family's social status. The jungle overtook Kuélap after its inhabitants fled from smallpox and it was rediscovered in 1847 by a local lawyer who was charged with marking out landclaims of local farmers. (this means it was "discovered" before Macchu Pichu). Today, trees and flowers still grow among the house foundations and llamas graze in the grass, but it's possible to understand the grandeur that the site once had. Unfortunately, because it's at least 42 hours by bus from Cuzco, it is infrequently visited, but I am hoping to change that - if you are planning to come visit Peru, make sure to head to Kuelap!

A house as they think it must have looked 600 years ago

The following day, we decided to visit the Gocta waterfall, another place that has only recently become touristy.

After hiking for two hours through woods and farmers fields, we arrived at the site, where the spray from the falls hit us with a great force - since it was dry season, I can't imagine what it would be like when it's raining. The falls are 771 metres high (as a reference, the tallest falls in the world are 948 metres high) and rank as one of the highest in the world. Because of the height, we couldn't see the whole falls on the one trip, but we were able to appreciate the first drop, which was stunning.

The waterfalls in full

Our day to the falls was wonderful overall, with our guide picking local fruits (guava, passion fruit, chirimoya) for us to snack on and showing us his artesanal sugar cane press, from which he makes chancaca (or pilloncillo, a sugar product that is similar to molasses paste). I'm now on my way back to Lima and then on to Bolivia to meet up with my friend Kelly. Time is flying by!

Chiclayo and Sipan

The cathedral in the main square of Chiclayo

On my trip up north I basically zoomed through Chiclayo, stopping for just long enough to see the sites of the Sipan tomb and Sican pyramids at Tucume before jetting out east. Although it was a short trip, it was great!

Tucume is a site with 26 adobe pyramids that they have just begun to excavate

A lot of people may have heard of/seen parts of the Sipan story, which is Indiana Jones-ish in its tale. In 1987 a truck driver and a few friends decided to look for a tomb under what was thought to be a small hill in the middle of sugarcane plantations. They found what they were looking for and looted over $1.5 million worth of gold and silver before the police caught notice (because others wanted a piece of the action there was a gunfight near the tombs, drawing the police attention). The main archaelogist of the region was able to protect the area and they began excavating and attempting to recover what the thieves had tossed aside (ceramics, shell jewelery, textiles, copper). To their surprise they found a series of tombs filled with more gold, silver, copper, shell and textile products than what the grave robbers had originally uncovered. In the main tomb, they found the coffin of the "Lord of Sipan", which was filled with over 400 pieces of precious metals and surrounded by 8 persons who apparently willingly sacrificed themselves at the time of their Lord's death.

A replica of the tomb of the Lord of Sipan

At the tomb, you can see replicas of the coffins with the buried subjects and the valuable pieces and a nearby museum has painstakingly restored every piece found and displays them individually with special lights and cooling systems specific to each item. It's absolutely incredible to think about the great (non-economic) worth of the gold, silver, and copper items and it's such a shame that this worth was not valued by the Spaniards and grave robbers, who tended to melt down the most exquisite works of art into bricks to sell abroad. Seeing this site reminded me of how much has been lost to melting fires, and made me grateful to think that at least a small idea remains.

Leaving Huancayo

Today is my last day in Huancayo - really! I delayed my departure by three days because I felt like it would be too rushed to leave right after my last day of work, but I have my ticket in my hand and I'll be off tonight! On my final day at the office we had a Pachamanca, which was wonderful and a perfect way to wrap up my stay here.

We spent the morning making humitas - dekerneling the corn, grinding it up, preparing the dough with spices, oil and raisins, and filling the corn husks with dough.

We made enough humitas for 150 people to eat 4 each - whew! I am happy to say that they were delicious (even though I couldn't say whose specific humitas I ate, I'm sure that I am a humita queen by this point).

While we prepared our corny snacks, other staff members were preparing four ovens and filling them with potatoes and meat. So much meat that I was full for the next two days, but it was great!

We ate in the CIP fields under a warm afternoon sun and laughed and reminisced about my stay here, which has flown by.

Then we danced the day away with live music!

I have been so fortunate to have such a wonderful experience here in Huancayo, and I am going to miss this place and everyone who I've met. It seems strange to leave now, but I'm sure that I'll have a wonderful time with the adventures that are coming my way. I'm off to Chiclayo and the archaeological site of Kuelap now, and will be heading to Bolivia in just over a week to meet up with my friend Kelly and then up to Cusco to spend two weeks with my mom. It will be great!

Your yearly bath

Today I had the honour of witnessing an annual event in one of the communities where we are working - the annual bath of their cows, sheep, and dogs. We arrived at 7am at an altitude of 3700 metres to find that the ground was covered with frost and that all water in the area was frozen. This was the first time I have been in such low temperatures in this area, and I was a bit worried about how the animals would manage being wet and cold. Of course, as is always the case here, I was not dressed at all like the people who had invited us: the women had their multiple skirts over leggings while I was went a bit overboard with toque, scarf, down vest, and gloves.

Some of the ice once it had broken up

On an annual basis, the entire community gets together and bathe their animals in an area they have built of stones which consists of two corrals joined by a bath - a narrow and deep opening fed by spring water.

The bath is the circular area with the blue tarp, filled with sheep

The process went roughly like this:

1. Everyone met to discuss how much they should pay per animal per bath while they drank chicha from a shared glass

2. Various medications and creosote were added to the spring-fed bath to kill off infections, fleas, parasites, etc.

3. People with cows brought their herds over to the bath

4. Cows were led into the first corral and the entrance/exit was blocked by friends and neighbours yelling and waving their arms

5. The owner lassoed the bull's/cows' horns and dragged him/her into the bath, whereby the cow charged out the other end into the second corral and peacefully chewed some cud

6. Alternatively, some farmers stood behind their cows, yelling and pushing until the cow dove not-so-gracefully into the bath - I had no idea cows could dive

7. Once the whole herd had been bathed, they were allowed to leave the second corral and go to pasture

8. The process was repeated with sheep, bathing the lambs first so that the ewes jumped into the baths of their own accord to follow their babies.

The animals don't seem to really enjoy the bath

My ears are still ringing with the sounds of bleating ewes and startled cows, but what was most incredible was the way in which the entire community worked together to make sure that no animals were lost and that all animals were bathed in a short period of time.