Final Days and final hours almost in Peru

I finished my last day of school on Friday. I really enjoyed the kids and have many memories of funny things they did, like speaking to me in quechua and laughing their heads off when I did not know what they were saying.

I have been thinking of what I will miss when I will leave here, the sparkling eyes of the children, the silence of the mountains, the early morning sun and the songs of the birds in the garden and the unhurried pace of life here, I have never seen anyone rush! I am hoping to sustain the inner peace I have experienced here when I return home. I will also miss the friendship of Aida and Kinkulla, the family I have been living with for two months. They just got the internet installed and they have a webcam as well so we will be able to continue the friendship via internet and webcam.

The Sun Gate and Machu Picchu

A little bit of history about Machu Picchu learned from our guide, Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham who was walking the trail taken by Simon Bolivar through Latin America. When he found it, it was covered with trees, about 60% is original and 40% has been reconstructed by the government. The Spanish did not find Machu Picchu. It is believed that the Incans fled from Machu Picchu before it was finished, either because of illness or perhaps fear of the spanish finding it.

We visited Machu Picchu on Sunday morning early about 6:30 a.m. It was covered in mist, a beautiful sight, it is in a valley and gets lots of rain. It is believed that Machu Picchu served as a spiritual retreat, a site for astronomy and also for testing different crops and herbs. The Incans used the astrological calendar for deciding the best time to plant and harvest.

Our guide took us on a walk through Machu Picchu for two hours, it is a very big place, we visited lots of temples, it is believed that Machu Picchu functioned like a modern university as a place to learn new things and try out ideas and also a spiritual retreat.

I got a to spend a few hours by myself just walking and sitting to take in what I was experiencing, it is a place of great beauty and peace for me. Finally, I climbed the Huchupicchu, the baby mountain next to Machu Picchu and then it was time to leave and take the train back to Ollantaytambo and then home to Calca.

Inca Trail and MachuPicchu

Inca Trail and MachuPicchu

I began my journey to Machu Picchu at 3:30 a.m. when the taxi arrived to take me to the train station at Ollantaytambo. The taxi driver wanted an English lesson on the way to the train so that kept the conversation moving. I got on the train at 5 a.m. and met my two hiking partners and guide at km 106, the place we got off the train. We began walking the Inka Trail at about 6 a.m. It is good to get an early start before it gets too hot.

Basically we were climbing a mountain to get to the IntiPunku or Sun Gate, where we could look down into Machu Picchu. It was a difficult climb and we did it in two hours, our guide had allowed 3. We had lunch and continued to another Incan site on the way to Machu Picchu called Winaywayna where it is believed a lot of food was grown.

We continued to climb the Machu Picchu mountain, the last part had a 100 steps. We reached the IntiPunku or Sun Gate and were able to look down into Machu Picchu. I had seen pictures and it was quite amazing to be looking down at it.

Visit to Lake Titicaca/ Isla Taquile

We got back in the boat after visiting the Uros islands and headed for Isla de Taquila which was about two hours by boat. There was a steep climb from the shore up to the town square. They use terraces for their farming here as you can see from the picture. It is a very beautiful place and the inhabitants who speak quechua continue to live like they have for hundreds of years, no cars or roads. We had lunch in a restaurant you see in the picture and were served a wonderful meal of fresh trout outdoors.

Approx. 2,000 people live on the island and more continue to leave as they get an education. The men do the knitting and the weaving and the women prepare the wool for knitting and the thread for weaving.

Our guide made the point that the Incas get all the credit for advancements in the culture, particularly farming technology but that the groups prior to the Incas were farming with terraces and the Incas improved on the practice.

Visit to Lake Titicaca/ Uros Islands

Last weekend, I visited Lake Titicaca. It is about a 6 hour journey by bus on a good highway to Puno where Lake Titicaca is located. The terrain changes in the course of the journey from highlands to Altiplano. It is possible to grow most crops in the highlands whereas the Altiplano is higher and suitable for in american terms, 'ranching', or grazing cattle or sheep, llamas or alpacas. It is difficult to grow food because it is very dry.

I took a tour to the Uros islands which are about 45 minutes by boat from Puno harbor. They are called the 'Floating Islands' though now the inhabitants have secured them and they no longer float. However, as you can see in the picture, everything is made from reeds that grow in Lake Titicaca. The sensation of walking is like walking on a very thick carpet that moves up and down. The houses are made from the reeds, the reeds are used for medicine as well. There is a school on the island and the children now go to school, the current generation did not go to school and depend on fish and the eggs of the comorants for food. They also do crafts, like knitting and embroidery.

We took a ride in a boat made from reeds from one side of the island to the other. We were given a demonstration of how they expand the island when they need more room. Also in the picture the women are doing a role play of how they negotiate/barter at the market in Puno with other women for goods that they need, like beans for dried fish.

Visit to ruins at Pisac/ Terraces

Built on top of a mountain, the archeological complex of Pisac is made up of various separate units. It includes groups of terraces where food was grown. The Andean territory, considered one of the eight centers from around the world where agriculture originated, cradled peoples whose needs and agricultural vocation allowed them over time to develop numerous types of crops.This was not only due to the different ecological zones in the Andes but also to certain agricultural practices and the creation of techologies such as terraces.

The road well travelled, our route to school

This is the road that Tanika and I walk to school each morning, it is a beautiful 5 mile walk along the river and between the mountains, it gets us ready for ' los ninos' the kids. We take the bus home in the afternoon.

the garden, Cusco and visit to Ollantaytambo

The attached pictures are of the garden I sit in each morning before I go to school. The Cusco picture is of the plaza and there is always music on the Cathredal steps.

The remaining pictures are of Ollantaytambo which I visited with Tanika and Murela.
I visited Ollantaytambo, it took me a while to pronouce this correctly. This was an important Incan site, it was of military importance because the Incans could view and guard the valleys all around them, they also grew and stored food here high up in the mountains, they could store food for two years, it was also a ceremonial site as well. The Incas won a battle against the Spanish here. It is quite amazing to see how they designed their buildings and carried these huge stones several hunded tons to such a height.

Adventure continued

I am hoping to post some pictures soon, the internet is not that reliable here and I have lost pictures after I saved them because the system went down, a minor detail.
One of the local towns I love to visit is called Pisac, it has a very nice Plaza with a market with lots of beautiful alpaca hand knitted items. I think one word that will stay in my mind for a long time is "Alpaca" because all the vendedoras shout it out all the time to attract shoppers and of course it is necessary to bargain with the sellers.

Arrival in Cusco/Calca October 11

I arrived in Cusco on a sunny Sunday morning, the flight into the airport was very thrilling, I could see the red houses with tin roofs glistening in the sun. At first, I thought it was cars, but then I realized there are not that many cars in Cusco. I was met at the airport by Kikulla and the ride to his home by taxi was down, Cusco is aprox. 10,000 feet and Calca where I was going is in the Sacred Valley of the Incas and is lower, there were some spectacular views on the ride from
the airport. I just knew I was going to love it here.

I was greetly warmly by Aida and I found out I was going to have my own room, I expected to share a room. Aida and Kikulla serve lunch to tourists who are visiting the area with a guide. I was invited to have lunch with a couple from Washington D.C. with their two guides. They were celebrating thier 10th wedding anniversary with a 10 day trip to Peru.

When I walked through the door of Aida´s and Kikulla´s home, I stepped into a beautiful garden, their home is laid out like the adobe homes in New Mexico with a big courtyard down the middle and gardens on each side and living quarters on both sides of the kitchen, it makes for a lot of privacy. My room is facing the garden and also the surrounding mountains. I love to get up and sit outside in the morning, I am always greeted by the sun and their two German shepard dogs, Rufo and Neily ( I am not sure about the spelling).

On Monday, October 11, Tanika (my teaching partner from England) and I went to meet the Director of the school where we would be teaching. We began teaching on Tuesday morning.
Quechua is the first language of the children, spanish their second and we come in with english their third. Nobody in the school speaks english. We prepared a lesson plan. We decided we would do a review of what they had learned before from the previous volunteers who left lots of notes at Aida´s and Kikulla´s home.

One of the teachers told us the children knew what we were presenting to them, we did not find that to be the case but decided to move on to a new lesson on the weather. We teach each class from 3A, B, C, 4A, B,C, 5A,B,C and &6A,B & C once a week. We have 45 mins with third and 4th grades and 1.5 hours with 5th and 6th grades. Teaching is hard work !

Most of the classes are interested in learning, we have one or two classes that resist. The teachers are getting more involved and that is a big help. We start by explaining everything in Spanish and then moving to English.

My time in Lima, October 6-10

I was met at the airport by Joanne and her husband who were sent by i-to-i to meet me, I received a huge welcome from them and felt at home already, they could speak some english and told me the host family where I would be staying did not speak any english, my first experience with immersion.

I experienced the traffic in Lima on the ride from the airport. Lima is a city with 8 million people and lots of taxis and old cars that spew out pollution. I was tired, I had been travelling for 12 hours. I was greeted warmly by Mercedes and Abraim when I arrived at their home in San Miguel ( a neighborhhod in Lima) about 20 minutes from the airport.

The next day I explored the neighborhood and then two other volunteers arrived so I had other people to do things with, Tanika from England who had just spent 5 weeks teaching English in the Galapagos Island and James from England who was going to be volunteering in an orphanage in Trujillo ( north of Lima). Tanika and I would be volunteering at the same school in Lamay.

We went into the center of Lima and visited some the sights, the Cathredal which is situated in the Plaza de Armas ( all cities seem to have a Plaza de Armas). The Cathredral was built by the Spanish ( los conquistadores), very impressive and massive, we took a guided tour, lots of gold and beautiful wood, they incorporated the beliefs of the Incan population with the Roman Catholic Church, used many of the symbols that were meaningful to the Incas in the statues, e.g. the sun, Inti Raymi. There is a huge festival honoring Inti Raymi every June 26th.

On Saturday, we had an orientation at Fiorella´s home in Miraflores (in country host for i-to-i). We also met all the other volunteers with i-to-i, most of whom would be staying and volunteering in Lima, at schools and orphanages. We had a wonderful lunch at a private club, I had ceviche which I loved. Afterwards, we took a tour of Miraflores by bus, it is a very pretty part of Lima, lots of parks along the ocean, good for surfing.

Getting ready to leave

I am leaving for Peru on Tuesday and will be arriving in Lima on Tuesday evening, I have a few days to get to know Lima and will have an orientation on Saturday. I will be staying in a home in Miraflores, Lima.

The orientation will include learning about the culture and an introduction to the school and children in Calca where I will be teaching English to 6-12 months. I fly to Cusco on Sunday morning and will be staying in a home in Calca, which is about 20 miles from Cusco, in the highland area of Peru and in the general area of Macchu Picchu. I plan on writing about my experience and posting pictures.