More Trip Updates

Okay, so I left off dancing the night away....We went back to the Puma for some well needed sleep. I woke up shortly thereafter and began one of the worst nights of my life. I was so sick. I won't go into too much detail, to save my mom embarrassment, but let's just say whatever was in my body decided to exit in the most violent of fashions. I think I lost like 6 pounds that night. Joey said he came in the bathroom at one point and I was on the ground saying "I'm dying". The next morning I started some heavy duty drugs and received a blessing from my Dad, brother, and Joey. I even had oxygen administered...my dad thinks I overdid it the day before (all that booty shaking and climbing of ruins in high altitude)...I think it was good old fashioned food poisoning, not that the altitude helped.

The rest went to church. Luckily, it was Sunday and our only real plans were to relax. I was so happy to have my mom there to sit by me. In the afternoon Joey was able to watch the AZ cardinals play for a chance to go to the Superbowl. I hobbled downstairs for the second half. I wanted to be by him in case they won, and they did! Joey was yelling and running around the lobby, jumping up and down. The hotel staff were laughing at the funny gringo. I even saw a tear roll down his face. It was totally surreal to be in such a foreign place, watching that game.

That night, my dad gave a fireside for the Perpetual Education Fund. I put on a dress and went to check it out with Justin and Angelique. I was still real shaky, but it was worth it. It was so fun to see my parents "do their thing". My dad is an amazing speaker. He had everyone laughing and in a good mood. My mom is sooooo good with the people. We watched her one-on-one answering questions afterward. I was impressed with her spanish and her ability to give these people the answers they needed.

The next day it was back up early to catch a plane to Lima. We did sell one cane/chair to the owner of the tour company...I think he felt sorry for us. We kept saying "if we don't sell the chairs, we don't eat!"


Once back to Lima we had a very fun day of hanging out. We went to the "Jockey Club", an awesome mall (I repeat...a very different Peru than the one I knew). We watched 2 movies back-to-back...how deccadent! Then we went to Chilis. It was fun to have some american food. Overall, a great day.

Dance the Night Away

Saturday night, after a beautiful day at Macchu Picchu (it poured rain AFTER we got down the mountain) we went to dinner in Cuzco at "The Incan Wall". It was a dinner buffet with a show. I tried some interesting things (cui, and alpaca...both yuck). The first act was a famous Peruvian Pan Flute band. It was awesome and hilarious. I wish I had a better picture. Justin and I made up stories and personalities for each.

The hard worker, the pot smoker, the peruvian Patrick Swayze, the ring leader, and the ladies man. My dad bought the cd...awesome.

Next there were dancers, doing many different typical and famous Peruvian dances. What they lacked in skill they made up for in exuberence. Well, we were about to leave, when I suggested we stay for one more dance....this ended up being a BIG mistake, as the next dance ended up being interactive with the audience. It was a type of salsa dance with a twist. The dancers had a tissue pinned to their behinds. First the girls would shimmy while the guys tried to light their tissue on fire (yes I said on fire) with a candle. Then vice versa. Of course they grabbed Justin and Jared from our group to participate. I thought I was going to die laughing. I was yelling and screaming. Here is Justin trying to "light the fire". That is Jared in yellow.

Justin shaking his booty. Man this boy can really shake it!

Then of course they came for some girls....Angelique used the "pregnancy" card, as they tried to pull her up, which was genius. I wasn't so lucky. It was pure embarassment. Click on these pictures for hilarious facial expressions. Crisdee was using her phone to video it, but promised me it would not show up on You Tube.

Shaking what my mama gave me!

It was crazy....and embarassing, but in our family, once you are in a situation, you make the best of it. We danced our hearts out.

When we left the restaurant something weird happened. Two tiny boys latched onto my legs (trying to sell gum I think) and would not let go. They ended up pulling me completely to the ground. I fell hard on the street. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to fall. Random I know. Anyway, after such an eventfull day, we were happy to get back to the Puma and crash.

Macchu Picchu

Saturday at 5:00am we were up and off to the train that would take us to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Macchu Picchu.) This train ride was beautiful. Joey did spend a lot of his time in the tiny bathroom, trying to shake off his ailment from the night before. I told him "you just CAN'T be sick." When we got to Aguas Calientes we hit a pharmacy for some major drugs for him. I love Joey's face in this picture...you can tell he doesn't feel so hot.

After the train, you board a bus, and drive a CRAZY road. It is one switchback after another. I had to go to my "happy place" to stay calm. Here is a picture of the road from the top so you can get an idea of what I mean.

I will let the pictures of Macchu Picchu speak for themselves. The views are almost unbelievable. It looks fake.

Joey, doing the pose my sister Ashley loves so much. "I did it!"

Joey showing the all important "pacchu mama"

Joey, goofing off.

Even more goofing, he crawled under this big rock to act like he was crawling out of the earth.

This is Joey pointing to Wainu Picchu, the mountain you can climb there. They let 400 people climb it each day. Unfortunately the list was alreading full, and we couldn't do it. (well, I should really say fortunately, Joey was just hanging in, Justin, recovering from acl surgery, Angelique, pregnant, and I am out of shape!)

A tired and hot group resting in the shade.

Once again, I mention that Justin was/is recovering from a recent knee surgery. There was alot of climbing. Can you say ice pack?

Look at all the terraces for the farming of different crops....a common occurence in incan ruins. And still in use all over the andes today.

I am afraid of heights, and there were MANY crazy drop offs. Here's me challenging my inner calm.

I had to include this picture of Joey playing "risk" on his iphone. He did this alot on this trip (boring). I thought it was funny, being at one of the 7th wonders of the world, and Joey still interacting with his first love, the everpresent iphone. (Justin and Crisdee also had them!)

Joey and I at the entrance of the city.

We were off the ruins by the afternoon. We did some shopping in the markets, and then got back on the train. We rode to Uribamba, got back on our little bus, and drove back to Cuzco. We saw some beautiful countryside. Farms, animals and mountains. We got a little carsick at the end...lots of switchbacks once again, coming back into the town of Cuzco. I will tell about dinner in my next post.

Friday

We got up early (this was a trend) and got on our little bus. We traveled even higher into the Andes. We were able to stop and see some AMAZING vistas.

Joey with the "sacred valley" behind him.

Justin and Angelique. I must say the air was pretty thin up here. Angelique was really tough, I thought she might struggle being pregnant. But she didn't (tough Idaho stock).

Two little girls we met with their baby llama, Cholito Luis Miguel. These girls were like 10. So short!

One of the gateways to the incan trail. Runners (Chasquis) would run from the ocean up the Andes Mountains, they could make the trip in 4 days running. Joey went super far and then ran back...trying to be a Chasqui.

We got to visit a llama farm. (There were many different types, Alpaca, Vicuna...hmm, I forgot the other kind) Here is a good picture of us using the portable chairs. I know you all wish you had one.

Joey, putting alfalfa in his mouth to make the baby vicuna kiss him.

We learned how they dye the wool.

This is a picture of a woman and her daughter weaving. The baby is 2...Grace's age. I need to put her to work. This baby was adorable and was totally hamming it up for the cameras.

Click on this picture and get a good look at Angelique's expression. Priceless.
More kissing....Joey blamed the extreme sickness he got later that night on this. Funny. I think it was eating the street food, or using the water to brush his teeth.

Funny picture, my mom and I are making the same quirky and squinty face.

Next we went to some ruins called Otayllabamba. (Please correct me mom, I'm just winging it) It was quite the climb.

At the bottom, we jumped over a rope to take a picture of the still existing waterways. Notice the three tiered carvings. This was very significant to the inca people.

After this hard day of climbing in high altitude, we went to Uribamba to stay in a beautiful hotel that is a monastary. Most of my pictures turned out blurry (spooky). But it was gorgeous and romantic. We had an amazing meal. During the night Joey got REALLY sick.

Even blurry, you can tell how picturesque this was!

Cuzco

Disclaimer: I am going to post tons of pictures. This is a family journal, and I want to remember this trip. It may be boring to the average reader.

Okay, so after a short rest, our tour guide Ophelia came and got us. First we went to a monastary built on incan ruins.

Our group learning, I love Joey's yawning face.

The whole group sitting on the wall of the monastary. Beautiful Cuzco behind us.

Next we set off for Saxsayhuaman..(sp?...pronounced Saxy woman....yes we told lots of jokes). The workmanship of the incan walls is incredible.

Joey loves to make fun of me for always wearing a hood. I have been known to even wear them inside my house if I am chilly. Also, you can see Justin holding one of the aforementioned "cane chairs".

We went to another sacred place...this rock was special because it is shaped like a puma...or was it a condor...or wait, a snake? (Gotta LOVE my dad's hat)

Okay, so this bridge doesn't look scary in the picture, but there was a very DEEP ravine below. Crisdee was screaming "take the picture!!!"

Next we went to a white statue of Christ that sits above the city. Then we went back to town and ate some food. (I had lomo salteado...Crisdee, remember the adobo?) We also ate some anticuchos (skewers of beef heart) on the street. Yummy. We walked back to the Puma and chitchatted in the lobby. I love sitting around with my parents and talking. It is the best.