On this Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun to highlight a romantic destination that is a little unexpected.  When people think of romantic cities, Paris or Venice might immediately come to mind, and for good reason!  Lima, on the other hand, is not a city that most people around the world associated with love, passion and sweethearts.  But the Peruvians are quite romantic and dedicated an entire park to love - complete with poetry, art and dramatic views.

The Love Park, or Parque del Amor, is located in the Miraflores area of Lima.  It is situated along the malecon which lies atop massive cliffs that cascade into a wide beach along the Pacific.  The view  can be breathtaking on a clear day, and especially romantic at sunset. 

Legend has it that the origins of Parque del Amor lie with the Peruvian poet Antonio Cilloniz's lament "In the cities, they do not build monuments to lovers".  Cilloniz has a valid point; most cities have monuments to war heroes and battles. This resonated with the town of Miraflores so they built El Parque del Amor in 1993 and opened it on Valentine's Day. The park is dedicated to all lovers and is artfully decorated in colorful mosaics, poems and a massive sculpture by Victor Delfin called El Beso (the kiss) which stands over the words of Anotonio Cilloniz.  El Beso features two lovers embracing and is meant to celebrate the lovers who gather to watch the sunset over the Pacific.  

It's a lovely park and definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in Lima.  Happy Valentines Day! 

Here are a few more local oddities that should be quickly addressed:

1. Chicharrones

This is a stall at the central market in Puno, Peru.  The person in the photo is shopping for chicharrones - fried pork rinds.  And shown in the picture is one of dozens of massive bags of pork rinds on hand in this stall alone (one of many in the chicharrones section of the market).
These are consumed everywhere in Peru, and also in Colombia.   

While in the US, the chicharrones shown above are the type most familiar to us, here in Peru, the term is used to describe any type of fried pork.  A typical preparation is to deep-fry pork chunks and serve with lots of oil, potatoes and a citrus-based seasoning.  I had this type in a sandwich from a stand in Cusco, complemented with some lettuce, tomato, onion, potato sticks and a mayo-based seasoned sauce.  

It can also refer to fried chunks of pork fat, which is served as a component of a larger dish.  As an example, one afternoon in Bogota, I had a lunch which consisted of a mix of seasoned ground beef, beans, plantains, avocado, a fried egg and topped off with a nice juicy chunk of fried pork fat. It was awesome.

2.  Inca Kola

Inca Kola is sold and consumed everywhere in Peru.  It's their Coke.  Wherever you go, you will find Peruvian families sitting around a table sharing a 4 or 5 liter bottle of the stuff.  I took this one out of our minibar the day before we left Peru as I had somehow not yet managed to sample the stuff (though I had heard warnings from several other visitors that I was bound to hate it).  

In case it is not apparent in the above photo, it was pretty awful.  Imagine drinking liquified bubble gum, only sweeter.  The appearance leaves a bit to be desired as well.  

3.  Churros with guava cream

As shown in Eva's previous post, we had this dessert one day after lunch.  Churros are, of course, widely consumed in much of the Spanish-speaking world.  Typically these sticks of deep-fried, sugar-coated goodness are served alone or with a chocolate sauce (very common in Spain). In this case, there was a bit of a twist, and the sauce consisted of some sort of guava-cream concoction.  While we have had many interesting, creative desserts along the trip so far, I thought this one was worth particular mention.  We all thought it was one of the best desserts we've had!

Stay tuned for the next episode, where we'll delve into African game.  We've only been here two days and already have lots of material...

We spent the next few days exploring Bogota. First we went on a bike tour with Bogota Bike Tours where we learned a bit more about Bogota's history and  saw both the good and the really bad parts of the city.  Right before we were about to leave, it started raining so we had to wear panchos while riding the bikes. 

Compulsory Military Service:
Our tour began in La Candelaria and we first rode uphill to the oldest part of Bogota, the     Plazoleta del Chorro de Quevedo.  Here our tour guide, Jaime, explained that the reason you see so many young police officers all over the city is that all Colombian men must serve two years of compulsory military or police service.  Joining the army invariably means eventual run-ins with the FARC, which is very dangerous, so most people choose to join the police force.  We next rode our bikes to Bolivar Plaza, the political center of present-day Bogota.

Violent Political History:
Bolivar Plaza is surrounded by a major cathedral, the justice department and the capitol building, where congress meets.  Jaime spent a bit of time discussing the more recent political history of Colombia including the origins of the current political parties and the FARC.  This all dates back to the late 1940's.  Colombia experienced a period of strong economic growth during World War II, and coming out of the war, there were various political groups vying for control of the government.  The leader of the Populist movement, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was assassinated during his presidential campaign in 1948, setting off a period of significant political unrest in Colombia, essentially a decade long civil war between the conservatives and liberals known as La Violencia, during which time around 300,000 people were killed.  Following the war, the two parties agreed to share power, alternating control of government.  The post-Violencia conservative government pursued a policy of commercializing most of the agriculture in the country in order to boost productivity, essentially favoring large corporate agribusiness over local farmers and, in effect, causing many independent farmers to join one of the larger corporate entities.  Amidst this climate, the environment was ripe for the communist sympathizers to gain more support from these displaced local farmers in the countryside, and in the early 1960's, the FARC was born.  

Since that time, there has been constant fighting between the FARC and the Colombian government, with the FARC vying for control of Colombia'a government, as well as periodically proclaiming certain regions of the country under independent rule of the FARC.  Its activities are funded primarily by illegal activities, including taxes on the illicit drug trade and kidnappings/ransoms of hostages.  They also commandeer land from local farmers for use in the illicit drug trade, and frequently kill those who don't comply.  For this reason, most political entities both inside and outside of Colombia view FARC as a terrorist organization rather than a legitimate political entity.  Over the years, FARC's real political objectives have become less clear, and many people now join the FARC simply as a way to make money.

Today, there remain the liberal and conservative parties active in Colombian government, with the liberal party represented by red and the conservatives by blue (opposite of the US).  Each party even has its own national soccer team!  The FARC, representing an extremist left-wing organization, remains active in certain remote areas of the country, and from time to time, launches attacks against more developed areas including Bogota.  There is currently an ongoing negotiation between the government and FARC, with talks being held in Cuba.  There is still the perception among many in Colombia that the government is controlled by a small group of elite, wealthy people, and corruption remains a major problem.  As an example, Jaime referenced a small bridge in Bogota that took three years to build, rather than three months, as the official in charge of the project is suspected to have pocketed most of the allocated funds for himself.  This, he says, is representative of the way things work in Colombia.

Pablo Escobar:
At this point, Jaime also talked about Colombia's struggles with the illicit drug trade, and in particular, the period of time when Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel dominated cocaine trafficking.  Escobar was, at one point, one of the wealthiest people in the world.  For a brief period, he also had political ambitions and was seeking a seat in Congress, going so far as to offer to repay Colombia's national debt using his personal checkbook.  Escobar was also one of the first drug lords to import a personal zoo, bringing in exotic animals from Africa.  The zoo served two purposes - as a personal amusement park, and also as a means to dispose of his enemies, whom he would reportedly feed to his zoo animals.  Despite the many horrible activities and violence Escobar was responsible for, many of Medellin's poor still view him as something of a local hero, as he would frequently give them houses and cash.  Our guide did not see it that way. He described Escobar's death as the day that the nightmare of Colombia ended. 

Graffiti or Street Art?
And back to the Plaza...Jaime mentioned that most of the graffiti seen in the photo is related to the frequent political rallies and protests that take place here.  Graffiti is present throughout Bogota - much of it viewed as art - and there are even Graffiti tours operating in the city.

Bountiful Market:
From here, we took our bikes to a large, traditional market.  This is a huge, covered marketplace full of vendors selling a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, eggs and meats.  We wandered through the market for about 15 minutes and probably saw less than half of it!  I think that we would definitely be frequent visitors here if we lived in Bogota!!

The Bad (and Sad) of Bogota:
Sorry friends, but this next part is going to be a downer.  After the market, we rode through an area called Santa Fe, which is the red light district of Bogota.  It's the intersection of addiction, poverty and desperation. This was the only time I was really scared - not just because of the men yelling at scantily clad women and transvestites selling themselves outside of dilapidated apartment buildings, or even the the drug addicts and alcoholics nodding off on the dirty sidewalk. I was scared because I didn't see one police officer from the moment we turned down the street that led to this area.  Everywhere else in Bogota, you see officers clad in bright yellow vests on every single street corner.  Not here.  It was as if Bogota decided it wasn't worth sending their officers into this wasteland.  In Santa Fe, we were told not take pictures and after seeing it, you would never want to. These are images you want to forget.  This part of the tour was incredibly sad, and what made it worse is knowing we only saw two streets of the better part of the slums. While we were only here for 5-10 minutes, it stuck with us and  we felt very helpless knowing that it's such a widespread problem that can't easily be fixed. 

Bullfighting Controversy:
Bullfighting is popular in Colombia and Bogota has a ring where they hosted fights up until last year.  The current mayor banned bullfighting in Bogota because he considers it animal cruelty.  Jaime found this very ironic, because it the mayor used to be a member of the terrorist group 19th of April (now called M-19) and apparently didn't have any issues with cruelty as a young man.  Jaime said that many support the ban, many are opposed because they enjoy this Spanish tradition, and others oppose because it puts them out of a job.  Jaime didn't seem to lean one way or the other, but having studied abroad in Spain, I know this issue is a sensitive one, regardless of which side you are on. 

Our 4 hour bike tour brought us to many other places including one of the national parks and a cute neighborhood that looked like a wealthy suburb from the UK. Turns out that BP developed an entire neighborhood for its employees in the 1950's that resembled home! 

After the tour we were famished so we stopped at Rositas in Plazoleta del Chorro for a delicious meal! It was an odd time so we were the only people there and therefore had the top floor to ourselves, which made for some neat views of La Candelaria.

Overlooking Bogota:
Since we were in the area, we decided to go to Montserate - the tall mountain that overlooks Bogota. You get there by cable car or funicular located near La Candelaria.  The views were spectacular! 

Our last couple of days in Bogota were very relaxing. We wandered around Parque 93 and this cute neighborhood to the north called Usaquen. We stopped every now and then to sample the local coffee and pastries, my favorite of which was this one from Michel Patisserie:

Good Times at Dinner
One night we met up with our Boston College acquaintance Gary, and his wife Kathleen.  We hadn't seen Gary in over 10 years, but luckily he hasn't changed much so it was easy to recognize him!  We went to a great little pub near our hotel called the Red Lion. Both Gary and Kathleen have been teaching English in Bogota for about 2 years and the Red Lion is owned by one of the Kathleen's students.  We had such a great time catching up and hearing about their lives and experiences in Bogota! 

On our last night, we splurged and went to the famous Andres Carne de Res. Although everyone recommended going to the one in Chia, we opted for the one in Bogota which was in walking distance to the hotel.  We were going on a Tuesday night and I don't think the one in Chia was open.  Everyone one was right - it was a really fun experience! And we got there at 7pm on a Tuesday. I can't even imagine what it's like on a Saturday night! We were welcomed at our table by a band and dancer that resembled some sort of fabulous bird (pictured below).  He had both of us dancing within seconds!  We now refer to him as the human peacock.

We ordered two different steak dishes. Chris' was really good, mine was a bit gristly. The tres leches dessert, however, was to die for!  It wasn't as good as Macky's tres leches in Puerto Rico, but it came very close! 

All in all, good times were had in Bogota.  By the time day 5 rolled around were ready to go and were VERY excited to see our family and friends in Puerto Rico!!!

We spent our first day in Bogota sightseeing in La Candelaria - the old part of town.   Our hotel, Casa Real, was located in a neighborhood north of the city center called Parque 93. This part of Bogota is considered safer and it's full of nice restaurants and cafes.   We highly recommend this hotel for its location, delicious breakfast and large rooms that come with a kitchenette, living room and massive bathroom. Bogota has a pretty efficient bus system called Transmilenio that got us to La Candelaria in 30 minutes. 

We first stopped in Bolivar Square to see the primary cathedral of Bogota, the nation's Capital Building and the Justice Palace.  It is named for  Simon Bolivar, who is considered to be the most influential leader during Latin America's fight for independence from Spain.  

We spent most of the day visiting museums. Our first stop was the Botero Museum. Botero is one of Colombia's most famous artists, known for his rotund sculptures and paintings. He is still alive today, and built this museum to showcase his artwork, as well as his private collection which includes pieces from Picasso, Chagall, Degas, Dali, Miro, Renoir and many others.  Can you imagine if this was your private collection?!  I was thrilled.  The cherry on top is that the museum is free to locals and tourists alike!  

If you'd like to see more of the collection, check out The Google Art Project's page for the Botero Museum. 

The Botero museum is connected to two other museums - the Casa de Moneda (Money House) and the Museo de Arte Banco de la Republica.  The former is all about the history of money in Latin America. The building  was built in the early 1600's and was the first mint in what was then called the New Kingdom of Granada.  The museum features coins from many eras as well as the machinery used to develop the coins.  They also had a replica of a map from shortly after the Americas were discovered. Very interesting!

The Museo de Arte Banco de la Republica had two interesting collections of modern art - Urban Mutants and  The Forgotten. One was about this tumultuous history of Peru and the other was a collection of photographs from all over Latin America. My favorite was Vicky Ospina's La Gallada.

After these museums we hit up the Juan Valdez cafe for a cup of the famous Colombian coffee. Then we walked around la Candelaria a bit. 

After walking around a bit, we went to the Museo de Oro or Gold Museum which happend to be free because it was Sunday.  This museum has the biggest collection of pre-hispanic gold in the world. It's impressive! 

We headed back to Parque 93 on the Transmilenio around 5pm and then went  out to a great restaurant called Central Cevicheria for what else...ceviche!  

In Aguas Calientes, the small town at the base of Machu Picchu, we were drawn into a local bar by the live music wafting out into the street.  The band consisted of five local gents with flowing Inca manes going to town on the omnipresent pan flute to the delight of a full house of tourists and locals alike.  With Machu Picchu only a short distance away, it was indeed magical.  Amidst this backdrop, what better place, we thought, to sample the alpaca?

Alpaca holds a place of distinction as a staple food in Inca culture.  It is lauded by those in the know for its leanness, lack of cholesterol, and most of all for its distinctive flavor.  

The menu at this particular restaurant featured at least ten different preparations of alpaca.  For me, the best way to try it out was to keep it simple, corrupting its natural flavor as little as possible.  I therefore selected the grilled alpaca steak with avocado and a side of potatoes.  I placed my order and received a satisfied nod from the Inca waiter, who apparently respected my choice of fare.  Eva, who unfortunately does not boast the same lead-lined digestive system that will allow me to continue to post these entries during our trip, ordered a ham sandwich, which received a somewhat less enthusiastic response.  

Here is what showed up a little while later.  As a disclaimer, the dish shown here is being visually short-changed by the harsh phosphorescence of an old cell phone camera.  In that place and time, it looked tasty.

Unfortunately, it tasted about how it looks in the bad cell phone photo.  The meat did not resemble any I had previously tasted.  The closest comparable that I've had is probably venison, although even that is a stretch.  It's really a dish all its own.

While the leanness claims were certainly accurate, overall, I would rank the taste lower on the list of the creatures I've consumed over the years, though still a perfectly edible form of sustinance.   (The dubious honor of last place has been held by the lowly camel since 2007, and from my perspective its throne is quite safe.)  Perhaps the cut of meat or the preparation was not the best, or maybe the lustrous Inca manes of the guys on stage and their pan flute siren song simply overshadowed this humble meat.   While I am not in a huge hurry to order another alpaca dish, I would certainly be willing to give it another try in a different time and place.  However, on this day, it was the alpaca who got the last laugh.

We had a 4am wake-up call on day two in the Amazon.  We ate breakfast at the Gryffendor table. In lieu of coffee, I tried the hot chocolate, which was fantastic. After several cups, we ventured out on a trek to see some otters in a nearby lake.  We walked down to our boat through a blue mist and when arrived at the river we could see the sun rise in the distance.  

We took the boat up river about 10 minutes and then we had to hike about 20 minutes to find the lake. The lake used to be a turn in the river and eventually was closed off due to sediment. It's home to a variety of animals including a family of otters, caymans, piranhas and birds.   Once we arrived at the lake, we boarded a jury rigged pontoon boat, which consisted of two canoes connected by some wooden boards with benches nailed atop.  As we began to float across the small lake, the sun began to rise and light up the jungle around us. 

We never spotted those wily otters, but we did see our fair share of birds and we even fished for piranhas.  Piranhas are difficult to catch because they nibble at the bait instead of swallowing it one bite. They are fast and agile and your bait quickly disappears from your hook.  We used bits of raw beef and those picky piranhas only ate the red meat and left the fat.  I was the first non jungle native to catch one! 

After spending about an hour on the lake, the sun began to strengthen so we headed back to the lodge for a snack of cheese croissants and passion fruit juice and then prepared for our next expedition: the Macaw clay lick. 

The clay lick consisted of a clay wall along the river bank.  Macaws gather here to lick the clay when they feel completely safe from predators. Therefore, we had to sit in a hidden hut and remain very quiet while we waited for the macaws to show up. 

Question for class 2A: Why do macaws lick clay?

When we arrived, we noticed a hawk perched on a branch near the clay lick.  This was bad news for us because macaws are afraid of hawks. Eventually the hawk flew away and we noticed 8 or 9 macaws in the tree tops above, still very far away.  Our guide noticed that they began to descend little by little toward the clay lick and we were very optimistic that we'd be able to see them up close. However, another hawk showed up and scared them away.  Then a couple of loud boats came by and sealed the deal. No macaw close-ups for us.

Now, it may sound really boring sitting in a hut waiting to see macaws for an hour, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. First, the interaction between the hawks and the macaws was fascinating to witness.  We also had some human entertainment from the other guide, Willian. He had been assigned to the Indian family with the young child (about 3 years old). They showed up after we had been waiting in the hut for about 30 minutes.  The baby was sleeping, so we were in good shape. However, as the macaws started to descend the baby woke up and Willian tried his best to keep him quiet. This consisted of breaking off pieces of nature and pretending they were toys, dancing, and then finally he resorted to attempting to rationalize with the baby, asking him politely to go back to sleep. None of these tactics was successful and the baby's mom had to take him away from the hut.  While Willian did not succeed in calming the baby, he managed to make us laugh. 

We later witnessed Willian wearing the baby Bjorn with the 3 year old in it while hiking back to the lodge. He was sporting an supressed grimace on his face.  

On our way back to the lodge we happened upon a group of squirrel monkeys eating fruit in a palm tree. We had to go off the main path to see them but it was worth it! We enjoyed watching them jump from treetop to treetop. Our guide, Robin, got really close with our camera and snapped a couple of great shots:

After lunch at the Gryffendor table, we had a little siesta before our afternoon adventure - visiting the chaman.  The people of the Infierno often can't afford modern healthcare. Therefore they turn to the local chaman who uses native plants to treat a variety of aliments. The chaman also serves as a spiritual guide, and many people from the area take a hallucinogen called Ayahuasca while in his care, in order to see their future and understand their purpose in the world. 

We had to take a boat about 15 mins along the river to arrive at his farm/clinic.  We then took a tour of his farm.  The chaman doesn't speak English so Robin (who once trained as a chaman's apprentice) translated for the group. Here were some of the things we saw:

We saw a few other plants including:
-Chuchuhuasi - painkiller
-Cordoncillo - used to make Novocain.  We chewed some of the leaves and sure enough, our mouths went numb. 
-Sanipanga - used as a red dye

At the end of the tour we sampled a couple of elixers which all tasted the same - like strong cough syrup.  

After our visit to the chaman, we went back to the lodge for dinner. Right after dinner a few of us went on a night hike with Robin which turned out to be almost deadly.  

We made our way through complete darkness in search of creatures of the night with only a few flashlights to guide the way.  The first thing we happened upon was a colony of bullet ants having their way with some sort of shrub.  Robin cautioned us to keep our distance from these massive, venomous ants, before proceeding to get bit by one of them.  All was well, however, as he claimed he'd built up an immunity to them over the years (though still very painful!).  

We were all now thoroughly worried about what other sorts of things we might unknowingly brush up against in the darkness of the Amazonian night.  A few minutes later, someone's flashlight caught a spider descending from a tree right between the two Canadian girls.  Intrigued, someone asked Robin what sort of spider it was.  Robin immediately freaked out and pushed everyone away from the spider.  He explained it was a Wandering Spider, one of the world's deadliest.  He then proceeded to probe the spider with a stick, which I'm sure the spider appreciated.  At this point (about 10 minutes into the 40 minute hike), Robin decided it was best to head back.  On the short walk back to the lodge we also saw a tarantula and a wolf spider.  All in all, a short but successful night hike, mainly because we made it back alive. 

Upon our return to the lodge, folks were hanging out at the bar. William called me over saying he had something to show me.  Already suspicious, I slowly approached him knowing he had something up his sleeve.  He literally did.  He straightened his arm and out crawled a giant tarantula.  I was worried the spider would bite him, especially after our encounters on the night hike, but he told me that even if it bit him, it would just itch like  a mosquito bite. He then passed the tarantula off to one of the other guides at the bar who escorted it back into the woods.  

We spent the next few hours draining a bottle of Pisco with Robin, the Canadian girls and their Peruvian guide.  We learned a little more about Peruvian foods (including brains), marriage customs (most don't get married because they can't afford it) and shared a few laughs.  

I slept a lot better that night, and the next morning we departed around 8am for our journey back to Cusco.  Below are a few more shots from the beautiful Amazon.

When thinking about the Amazon many words come to mind - humid, colorful, bugs, sunsets, monkeys, piranhas , wonder, mud, terror and spirituality.  The jungle is not for everyone and if you are looking for a relaxing vacation, skip it all together. However, if you are looking for an adventure, enjoy viewing exotic wildlife in its natural habitat, don’t mind sweating for a few days straight, and love serene views like the one below, then make the trek out to the jungle.  

We spent two nights at Posadas Amazonas, an eco lodge on the Tambopata river which is part of the Amazon region. To get here you must take a plane to Puerto Maldonado, Peru which is about a one hour flight from Cusco.  In order to explore the Amazon, you need to book through an authorized tour group (in our case, a company called Rainforest Expeditions).  They picked us up at the airport and brought us to their “office”  which was basically an open air hut with a few computers, a bar and a storage closet. We were the first in our group to arrive so we waited for about an hour, sipping passion fruit juice while the other group members showed up.   From this point, you have to take a small boat to your final destination, so passengers are only allowed to bring small bags.  Upon arrival at the office, most people pack up small bags with enough supplies for the next couple of days and then lock up their larger bags at the office.  We didn’t have to do this since we were already carrying backpacks. 

At the office we met our guides - Willian (yes, it's spelled with an n) and Robin. They are both 20 something guys from the Tambopata region and grew up in the jungle. Willian was definitely the class clown and regularly made us laugh throughout the trip (often times unintentionally). Robin was more serious, super nice and very knowledgable about the jungle. 

From the office we took a bus for about an hour across dirt roads and rickety wooden bridges (not kidding – sometimes they were just wooden planks that went over a five foot ditch) until you get to the boats.   As we found out later, if it were raining, we would not have been able to use these roads. 

During our bus ride, one of the guides explained a bit about the region. Althought the land is protected by the government, they have a problem with squatters, or people claiming the land as their own. In Peru, if the government doesn't kick out squatters within seventy two hours, they can stay and make a case for ownership that they have to take to a special court. Therefore we passed by many tents and shanties that serve as shelters for the squatters.

They also gave us an overview of the agreement that Rainforest Expeditions has with the local community called El Infierno.  The company has a 20 year contract with the local people of the Infierno where they split profits from tourism 60/40 (60% goes to the locals).  Rainforest Expeditions also employs the people from the local community to work at their lodges as tour guides and staff.  The only other jobs in this area are mining or collecting Brazil nuts, so this is a pretty coveted job for the locals. It works out great for the company because nobody knows the jungle better than the people the people that grew up there. Also, Rainforest Expeditions runs 'eco-lodges' and therefore do little damage to the jungle, something that is very important to the people of El Infierno. 

As we approached the boats, one of the guides explained that Rainforest Expeditions owns three lodges – Posadas Amazonas, which is a one hour boat ride up the river, Refugio Amazonas which is about a three hour boat ride up the river, and Tambopata Research Center which is an eight hour boat ride. Eight hours on a small boat is a really long ride so the last one is for those folks who are really into wildlife, birdwatching and nature photography. I would not recommend such a long boat ride for first time adventurers! 

We then boarded our boat, which is basically a long, thin covered canoe with a motor.  When boarding the boat, the first thing you notice are hundreds of butterflies fluttering around. I’ve never seen so many in one place in my life. I attempted to film them but put the camera away when the boat almost tipped.  Since the boats are so thin, weight must be evenly distributed on each side of the boat or it starts to tip.  It's a little un-nerving at first, but you get used it.  The boat ride turned out to be quite pleasant.  The breeze felt amazing in the humidity and we managed to cool off for a bit.  They served an amazing lunch on the boat– fried rice in a plantain leaf.  Luckily for me, we had a family from India on our boat and they were vegetarians. Therefore I didn’t have to worry about the staff serving birds for lunch. I think the fried rice was my favorite meal during our stay!

About an hour later, we arrived at our lodge, climbed out of the boat and then hikeed about ten mins to the lodge. Thankfully, porters carry your large bags so you don’t have to navigate these stairs with your luggage! 

They welcome  you to the lodge with a seat in their open air lobby and a glass of fresh juice or water.  Since it's an eco lodge, they must explain how everything works:

- All rooms have three walls – one is open to the jungle
- Electricity is only available from 5pm to 9pm. Flashlights/headlamps are  a must after 9pm.
- They serve breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner at set times and you eat with your tour group. We really enjoyed eating with our group as we had the chance to get to know some of the other travelers. 

We then went to  our rooms which were pretty cool at first glance. I'd consider this glamping, but we certainly were anything but glamorous at this point. 

The room was pristine and we later discovered that it takes a lot of work to keep the rooms this way every day. 

After unpacking, we met up with our group for an afternoon hike out to the look-out tower.  The groups are intentionally small - our group consisted of five other people - two girls from Canada who were a few years younger than us, and an older woman accompanied by her grown son and daughter, who were treating her to a Peruvian vacation!  On our way our guide, Robin, pointed out some interesting trees like the Walking Palm Tree and the Brazil Nut tree. The Brazil nut is really important to the people of the Infierno. During rainy season, when tourism is slower, they gather and sell brazil nuts. It’s another way they make money. 

We arrived at the tower which was essentially a scaffolding tower with wooden landings connected by stairs and supported by cables tied to nearby trees. It was rickety and really high up (150 feet) and Chris is afraid of heights so he had a hard time enjoying the view.  The tower platform was about 4' x 8' and there were nine of us up there at once.  At one point, Robin was sitting on the handrail on the top level without holding on!  The view was fantastic and from up here we were able to spot many birds. 

Something about these seems a little wrong, but they still invoke a good chuckle.

Another typical example will advertise the cuy and include a picture like this:

I find this one interesting from a marketing perspective.  For example, it's interesting to think that there's some segment of the population that sees it and gets hungrier.

However, the most common examples feature a photo of the cooked cuy prepared in the traditional fashion - something along these lines:

This type I find sort of intriguing.  I actually find the tomato hat to be a nice touch, adding a bit of playfulness to an already weird meal.  I knew it was only a matter of time before my own dish of cuy arrived, and eagerly awaited this masterful presentation.

Alas, however, when I finally did place my cuy order, it showed up like this:

Unfortunately, we waited until our last night in Peru to sample the cuy, and were running low on Peruvian cash.  Turns out the #1 local cuy joint in Cusco does not take credit cards, so we had to resort to the touristy spot.  To my dismay, this also meant no tomato hat.  Still, I was also a bit relieved, as I had absolutely no idea how to butcher a whole cuy.

This particular cuy happened to be classed up a bit with some rosemary seasoning, and was then charcoal roasted while brushed with sort of a sweet and sour sauce, adding a nice crisp char to the surfaces.  I am told there is only one way to eat cuy, and that is chicken wing style.  No fork or knife required.  Turns out it was good advice, as eating cuy is a pretty time consuming process.

So how does guinea pig taste?  Ironically, a lot like pork.  Actually, it's an incredibly tasty dish.  The flavor sort of reminded me of the Asian style baby back pork ribs authored by my dad and savored by anyone who's attended one of our BC tailgates.  Would I have it again?  Without a doubt.

Up next:  alpaca, chicharones, Inca Kola and a variety of tropical fruits

It may have taken us a while to get there, but Machu Picchu is worth it. It's stunning. 

Our day began at 5am because the buses start leaving Aguas Calientes at 5:30am. There was a line of people waiting for the bus but it moved quickly and we were on our way shortly after 5:30am. The buses climbed the mountain through a series of switchbacks and as we ascended, the sun started to rise and it was clear that we were headed toward something really special.  

When we arrived there was a pretty long line at the entrance but once the park opened at 6am it moved very quickly. To get into the site you must have an official ticket and your passport. 

Upon entering the site, we stopped to admire the view and then took the obligatory photos thinking it would get a lot more crowded later. 

At 7am, we could hike to the top of the actual mountain Machu Picchu.  The hill you see behind us in the photos above is called Huayana Picchu. Machu Picchu sits across from Huayana Picchu and while it's peak is less pointy, it is much higher.  We wanted to hike Huayana Picchu, but there is a daily limit for hikers and tickets were sold out a week in advance. We were able to snag a couple tickets for Machu Picchu mountain instead. The hike was challenging, especially being in high altitude but the view was spectacular.  Here are some photos and a video from about 3/4 of the way to the top of Machu Picchu. 

We almost made it to the top but turned around about 3/4 of the way up because we were running out of time and were afraid we wouldn't be able to take a full tour of the ruins.  

By the time we got back down the mountain we were incredibly tired and hungry. We rested in a spot with a great view of the ruins. Then  we left the park to get some food at the cafe.  It was probably 10:30am and there was no line at the entrance. Everyone had come first thing in the morning. Because Peru limits the number of people who arrive each day, the site didn't feel that crowded.

Maria is from Aguas Calientes and is incredibly passionate about Machu Picchu. She told us that she could never live anywhere else in the world because Machu Picchu is a huge mystery and every day she visits the site, she observes something new. Since so much is unknown about this culture, these observations are like tiny puzzle pieces that bring her one small step closer to understanding how the Incas lived. 

We had already learned a lot from our tour in the Sacred Valley but Maria was choc full of new information:

- Machu Picchu was never finished. The Incas were in the process of building it when the Spanish conquistadors arrived.  Once the Spanish started demolishing their cities and temples, the Incas abandoned Machu Picchu, burned all bridges and destroyed all roads leading to the city in order to hide it.  They did a good job. The ruins were not discovered until 1911, when American Hiram Bingham, introduced it to the world. This is why it's often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas. 

-Construction likely began in 1450 and it was probably abandoned in 1572 when the Spanish arrived.  If this is true, the Incas only lived here for a little over 100 years. 

-The city is about 8,000 feet above sea level and the terraces go all the way down the mountain to the river. It's likely the Incas started building the city from the river up to the peak. The terraces are used for 3 purposes: 1) agriculture - it gave them more space to grow a variety of crops at different climate levels 2) structural support- they supported the city, preventing it from falling down the mountain 3) decorative - they look pretty and were also in the form of the Chakana or Inca cross. 

-They didn't use fancy tools to break apart the rock. The rock has natural fissures or cracks. The Incas would wedge a piece of wood into these gaps and saturate the wood with water, causing the wood to expand and break apart the rock into smaller pieces. Then they would polish the rock with other rocks to create stone cubes used for building.  

- The location of Machu Picchu was strategic. Why choose to build a city so remote and high up?  There were a few reasons. First, there was a natural rock quarry on the site which was their main resource for construction.  Second, there was a natural spring that ran through the site that supplied water to the entire city. Third, they wanted to avoid floods which regularly destroyed towns in the valleys. Lastly, they wanted to avoid landslides and this site in particular was a little flatter and rockier than the surrounding mountains and therefore less likely to fall apart. 

- The water spring was very important.  They built a series of channels and fountains that run throughout the city.  Experts believe that the same amount of water that flowed during the time of the Incas still flows today. 

- There are several theories about who lived at Machu Picchu.  The most common theory is that only nobles, priests and scholars lived here. Farmers and peasants came to work the land but returned to their villages after work. 

- You can tell where the important people lived by the quality of the stone. For example, temples were among the nicest buildings with the best craftsmanship and beautifully polished stone.   The King's house and the priest's house were also nicely done.  The lesser nobles' homes were made of stone that was less polished and structured.  In Inca times, those buildings would have been covered with clay.  Note, it's believed that the King did not live here permanently but only visited for about 2 weeks at a time. 

The Incas built all doors and windows in the shape of a trapezoid because it's sturdier. According to our guide, they got this idea by observing humans. If you stand with your feet together and something hits you or the earth moves, you are more likely to fall down than if you were to stand with your feet wide apart. 

- Machu Picchu was a full working city.  They had gardens, a central lawn where they held parties, schools, temples, and storage units. They also had a city map and a weatherman!

Religion was very important to the Incas and they had various temples throughout Machu Picchu.  The Temple of the Sun was one of the most important and was located right next to the King's house. This is a semi-circular structure with two windows - one aligned directly with the sunrise during summer solstice in June and  the other aligned with the sun during the winter solstice in December.  When the sun came directly through each window and reflected off of a stone in the temple, the priest knew it was a new year (their new year began on the June solstice). This was the most important day of the year and the city celebrated with festivals and feasts for weeks. 

Another important structure is the Temple of the Condor -  which is stone carved into the shape of a condor - the totem for Heaven. There are many theories about the purpose of this temple. Some say the priest made sacrifices to the god of heaven on the head of the condor and then carried the animal into the temple as a metaphor for feeding the god.  They also discovered dungeons below this temple. 

It was truly a spectacular day! We caught at 2:30 train back to Ollantaytambo and then hired a taxi to take us back to Cusco for about 30 soles which is the equivalent of about $12.  Not bad for a two hour ride back into town! 

Upon our return to Cusco, our main packs (we only carried the mini packs to Machu) were waiting in another lovely little room at the Rumi Wasi.  We showered, picked up a couple sandwiches (Chris finally had his chicharones sandwich) and went to bed early.  We had an early flight to the jungle the next morning!

Hi Class 2A! We have another question for you.  The Incas considered the condor, puma, and snake to be sacred animals because they represented each world - heaven, earth and the underworld.  There was another animal that was very important to the Incas.  Can you name the animal?