This trip was different for us because we left our babies! It was so hard, and I missed them so much. But this just wasn't a place that we could bring them with us. By the end of the trip I was counting down the days until I could see them again, and I was honestly just as excited to go and pick them up as I was to get on the plane to go to Peru. This trip helped put things into perspective about how lucky I am to have my little angels!
On Monday, July 16 Rusty and I drove to Idaho to meet Emilie to drop off the kids. Seriously, it was awful and so sad haha. But Henry was so excited to go see her and play at her house! As we buckled him in her car he had a moment of doubt when he said, "Can I just go home with you?" in a tiny, little voice. My heart couldn't handle it and I was pretty sure I would just call off the trip right then. But I told him how much fun he would have and that we would send lots of videos and pictures, and bring him a surprise. He was all ready to go then!
Day #1: July 17
Woo hoo! The first day of trips is always full of anticipation and excitement for me! We stayed up way later than we should have the night before cleaning and finishing packing, and then got up early to get ready to go. We met my parents at Jessica's house so that we could leave our cars there and she would take us to the airport. My mom was so nervous haha, and my dad shaved his head! What in the world?! The day was already full of surprises haha.
We got to the airport and had some Cafe Rio (Rusty's choice) and talked to Angie on the phone to say goodbye for a little while. The flight to Atlanta was great, we had a layover just long enough to get to the next gate, and then our flight to Lima was great too. We landed in Lima and Tony (our AirBNB host) was there waiting for us to take us to his place. He was so nice! We loved him so much. His place was right on the coast, so I thought for sure that in the morning we would be able to go and see the beach and touch the water. I was excited to touch the Pacific Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere! We got to the apartment late at night. We could hear and smell the ocean from the balcony, but it was too dark to see anything. The area was nice enough, but it was definitely something that was different for all of us haha. Just the drive from the airport to the apartment showed me how we were in a completely new place! We went to sleep and slept hard, despite all of the honking from the cars.
Day #2: July 18
The next morning we got up and were going to go out to the beach. Turns out, there is a huge cliff to get down there haha. Lima is up on this big shelf, but I thought this place was closer to to water. So it would have taken us too long to get down there so we went up on the roof and walked around. They had a little oasis area up there- it was so pretty!
Tiny elevator haha
When we landed some people were there waiting to take us to the hotel. This hotel is one of the coolest places I have ever stayed! It had this huge indoor courtyard area with couches and chairs to hang out in. When we got there they brought us some Coca Tea. This is supposed to help with altitude sickness. It is made from the leaves of the plant that makes cocaine haha. We weren't really sure what we should do, so I just took a sip but Rusty chugged the whole thing haha. It didn't really taste like anything, just hot water.
"Will this make me high?!"
Alpaca Steak
Lomo Saltado
After lunch we had to hurry to make it to our chocolate class! It was so fun. They talked to us about the process of making chocolate and taught us a bunch of things, like depending on the other trees that are close to the cacao tree it can change the taste of the chocolate! That's crazy! Then they gave us a big pod and cut it open. We tasted the stuff around the beans (sweet, but the texture was awful) and then we roasted the beans in a big pot. After that we had to grind them up into a paste with a mortar and pestle. The guy made it a little competition between all of us, and Dad came in first! Woo hoo! Rusty came in second, and they both got some prizes to take home. The guy wouldn't even taste Mom's haha. It was really gross. 100% cacao. I don't even like dark chocolate. Yuck. Then we used that paste to make some hot chocolate, and the shells from roasting the beans to make some tea. At the end we used chocolate and a lot of different toppings to make our own chocolates! It was so much fun!
After our class we went back out into the city. We made our way over to the San Blas neighborhood, which is famous for its art and culture. What we didn't know is that it's also famous (or should be famous) for the street vendors being crazy! Haha! They were so determined and would not ever give up. This one guy tried to sell me a flute thing, and I said no and he just kept following me around. So I kind of passed him off on Rusty and literally ran up the hill where the street was. As I was climbing up I could hear him playing the flute following Rusty up the whole way haha. On our way we stopped at a bakery and got the best Alfajor cookie we had on our trip, and then we also saw the 12 angle stone on the Archbishop's Palace. The Incas were so good at their architecture, that they didn't use mortar in some of their buildings. They just fit the stones together so perfectly that they wouldn't go anywhere. So one of these rocks is actually cut so it has 12 different angles! It's so crazy! Eventually we made up it to the church that was on my list. It didn't look that cool on the outside, but apparently it's really cool on the inside. It was closed when we got there so I guess we'll never know. :)
The yummiest alfajor cookie we had there!
The 12 sided stone!
Our hotel
Day #3: July 19
Today we had the morning to ourselves before we started our tour. I had heard that the Mercado de San Pedro was really good, so we made our way over there. When we got there it was all shut down though, and there were police everywhere. Later we found out that it was all closed down due to protests that were going on. The protesters were everywhere! While we were over there we went and picked up the chocolate that we made the night before. It was really tasty!
The closed market
The protest
So we went back to the square and went into the other church (the Cusco Cathedral). The cathedral was cool and had a lot of paintings in it, including the famous Last Supper one that a guinea pig. This was the site of an old Incan palace, but when the Spaniairds came they tore it down and built their cathedral on top, shaped like a cross. It also had a really cool silver altar inside. Again, no pictures allowed inside. Then we had lunch before going to the hotel so we could be picked up for our tour. For lunch, I ordered one of my favorite things! I got Cuasa Rellena, and Rusty got Rocota Rellena. They were both so delicious. And as a free appetizer they brought us some chips made with their different potatoes (they have more than 3,000 kinds!) and some canchita which is corn that is kind of popped like popcorn, but the kernel isn't broken yet. There was a musician in there playing and he was awesome. My mom wanted to know if he had a CD so I went over and asked him, and when he said yes I asked how much it would cost. He told me and then I made the funniest mistake ever haha. I meant to say, "Your music is so beautiful. My dad is going to come and pay you." But what I ended up saying ways, "Your music is so beautiful. My dad is going to come and hit you." hahaha. Pagar and pegar are so close in Spanish haha.
The protest through the square
I bought this vegetable thing from this old lady...
And it was terribly disgusting
Rocoto rellena
Causa rellena
I accidentally told this man that my dad was coming to punch him instead of my dad is coming to pay him
Our tour guide was named Ereesban, and he was so smart. He took us to some sites around Cusco and told us about the Incas. Our first stop was at Sacsayhuaman. It was up on a hill, and one of our favorites! The city of Cusco was built to look like a puma, and this part was the head. It had lots of lightning bolt lines to make the shaggy head. It looked awesome. We got to see the drainage system that they used, and the HUGE stones that they put in place. Seriously, they were so big. Some of them even made different shapes, like a puma paw and a llama. I can't believe that they fit them together so perfectly.
This is what you see when you first walk in. It might not look very impressive, but wait until you get further in!!
This is when we first learned about the 14 Incan Kings, most notably Pachacutec. He is the ruler that is believed to be responsibile for all of the amazing architechture that you go to Peru to see, including Machu Picchu.
This picture kind of gives a sense of how huge these rocks are! It's amazing. And how perfectly they all fit together-cut to match and form right next to the next one. Obviously, this is amazing engineering but we learned a lot about the huge slave labor population that they had and how it made all of these sites possible.
For the Incas, it was really important that their cities were all created to look like something. Cusco was made to look like a puma (a very sacred animal for them). This part of the city, Sacsaywaman, was made to look like the head. It has some really amazing zig zagging lines that show its fur.
This shows the difference in the kinds of walls. For special, important structures they used the larger stones and they were fit perfectly together. For other structures they didn't fit together perfectly and used what was around.
Irrigation/drainage system
Zig Zags from above
People have rebuilt these roofs to go on the huts to show what it might have looked like. We're not sure what these huts were for, but they are only in one area.
This is the open field where they would have big festivals! This is a tradition that still happens today. About a month before we got there, they had a big festival up here.
There was a stop with great views of the city of Cusco. Because it has been built out so much you cannot see the shape of the puma anymore, but man it is pretty impressive!
Ereesban showed us the difference between llamas and alpacas with our hands haha.
LLAMAS
This angle shows the zig zags that formed part of the puma
The puma paw
The llama in the rocks
At the end there were a bunch of women in traditional clothes selling things, or letting you take a picture with their baby llama and sheep! Ahhh!!
Our next stop was Tambomachay. This was a secret place that the Inca kings used to take baths. There were also lots of places to put idols and mummies. They would put old mummified kings there to protect the new king and watch over him. Kings would also carry them around with them to intimidate people- and let me tell you, that would intimidate me. No thanks. It was a really pretty place, and so peaceful. I loved what they were able to do with irrigation and creating little waterfalls. When we were getting back in the car Ereesban told us to get some choclo y queso to try. So we did!
As we were walking back, we saw a woman and her daughter with their little sheep getting set up to sell things here. I love their traditional dress!
LLAMAS!
Our first views!
The fountain would come out here. This was a good spot to take a drink (for them, not us haha).
Here you can see the places that they would put the mummies and idols to watch over them.
It was so cool here because we literally had the place to ourselves for most of the time. This helped to get the feeling of the peace and refuge that the kings had when they would come here to bathe.
Then we walked over to the other side and there were some ruins over there. One possible idea for these ruins is that it was a lookout point for the King's guards. There wasn't much of it left; Ereesban told us that years ago people would go to these ruins and dig everything up looking for treasure and artifacts to sell. Even without not much of it remaining, the views from the top were pretty. You could see our next stop from here!
Another woman walking along the trails
The view from the other side
The ruins from the lookout
Choclo y queso!
Then we went to Pukapukara. This was a military fortress and watch place. You could see the different routes into Cusco from here. The walls were all built with stones that were different shapes, maybe because it wasn't a place of worship or that it needed to be built very quickly.
I think that these rocks still look really good...
Different housing for the military
Choclo y queso
Our last stop up here was Q'enko. They believe that this was used for sacrifices, and also for mummificaiton. There is a giant sundial and astrological temple on the top, and people used to be able to go up and see it but after a while people were defacing it so they stopped. I was bummed we couldn't see the top, but the mummy spot was really cool!
A giant sun dial!
Cool, narrow alley way
The mummy place!
Where tools for mumification were stored
These are the two areas used for mummifying people. They would put them in the far seat next to a window where they would bake in the sun and dehydrate, then they would move them to this bed/bench at night so they would freeze. Bizarre.
The last stop of the day was Qorikancha.
After our wonderful, busy day we wanted to go out and find some yummy donut things that we had heard a lot about. They are called Picarones Ruinas, and they were pretty dang good! I put the address in my phone that the front desk gave me, and we ended up at a really fancy hotel. I thought it was a little weird, but when we were in Boston the best Boston Cream Pie was at a really fancy hotel too. So I just went with it and asked the people there. They looked really confused, and laughed and laughed at me. Then they told me the right place and it was this little hole in the wall two doors down haha. They even had the vent going out the open door.
The Cristo Blanco on the hill
Day #4: July 20
Today was the Sacred Valley Tour! We got picked up early by our driver, which happened to be Irving again! Best day ever! We went and picked up some other people that were going to go on the tour with us, but then there was this random guy that Irving saw out the window and was like, "Hey get in the car." I was so confused because we had no more space. But miraculously another seat appeared in the middle front, and the guy got in. Come to find out, that guy was Fernando... our guide haha.
The first stop that we made was Chinchero, a tiny town up in the mountains that is known for its weaving. It is also believed to be the birthplace of the rainbow, how cute is that? It was an important town because it was right on the path from Cusco to Machu Picchu. When we first got there we went to a really cool old church.
How their bricks were made: mud and straw!
We saw lots of cute locals
Main square
Old Incan temple remains
This church was again, as was common for the Spaniards, built right over the top of Incan temples. You can still see the foundations of them right to the side of this new church. This church still runs services every week, and the ceiling was really amazing.
I bought some scarves from this lady!
Our next stop, and main stop, was a textile home where a woman showed us how they traditionally dye the wool from the llamas. At the beginning we got to see some llamas ourselves! Then she did some really cool demonstrations for us. It was really fascinating. The most memorable part was when she took a parasite from a cactus and crushed it in her hand. Its blood was extremely dark, and that is what they used to dye the wool red. She also put some blood on her lips and said the women wear it as lipstick! Haha! For different colors, they would boil the wool with different plants, roots, and leaves that they had access to. They were amazing.
After the demonstration we got to buy some things. I bought a hat and so did Rusty!
Our next stop was Moray, which is a circular farming area. They would plant different things on each level because they were different temperatures. Such a small difference, but from top to bottom it changes almost 30 degrees. These people knew what they were doing.
After Moray we got to go to the Mara Salt Mines. This was incredible! There is a natural spring that comes from somewhere in the Andes that is super salty. When we first got there we were able to taste it. The farmers each own different mines, and they irrigate the spring to flow through all of the plots. Then they cut off the water supply and let all of the water evaporate out and leave only the salt behind. Then they go and break it up and pack it out in a giant bag and then sell it.
After Moray we got to go to the Mara Salt Mines. This was incredible! There is a natural spring that comes from somewhere in the Andes that is super salty. When we first got there we were able to taste it. The farmers each own different mines, and they irrigate the spring to flow through all of the plots. Then they cut off the water supply and let all of the water evaporate out and leave only the salt behind. Then they go and break it up and pack it out in a giant bag and then sell it.
The indigenous people used parts of the giant yucca to make thread to use.
Fernando, our guide!
Carrying a bag of salt
Cute little local women with these hats on
Storehouses on the mountainside made to look like the god Wiracocha is holding them on his back.
These terraces for farming were so incredibly wide!
In the temple of the Sun, this is the Unfinished Wall of the Six Monoliths. Each of these pieces of stone weigh 50 tons and was brought from a quarry across the river.
The Incan symbol
The last stop for the day was Pisaq, which was a little town with a great market. We got there a little bit late from our other stops, but we were there before everybody started closing up. We were able to buy some silver jewelry, little finger puppets, and Mom got chased to the car so that she would buy a ring haha.
Pisaq
This morning was an early start! We went to the Mercado de San Pedro. It was our last morning in Cusco. We walked over and were relieved to find that it was open! When we first walked in we saw a bunch of smoothie stands. One of the things that I had on my list of food to try was a lucuma smoothie, so we got one here. The lady let us try to lucuma by itself, and it honestly was not that great. But in the smoothie it was divine! She also let us try some chirimoya.
This market was amazing and one of my favorite stops in Cusco! There were so many crazy sights, smells, and sounds that it was a very different experience from going to WalMart. We started in the produce area and they had all kinds of things I had never seen before, and then they had avocados that were MASSIVE and came in huge bags. There were so, so, so many avocados! And they were huge! I was talking to a lady about some different fruit called maracuya and she grabbed one and cut it open for us to try. It was like nasty, gooey boogers inside. I took a tiny bite and she was like, "No, Mas!! Mas!!!" so I took a big one. YUCK.
Maracuya
Then we wandered over to other parts of the market. They had huge aisles full of different kinds of bread, cheese, and fish. The fish aisle had this mom just hacking away at fish with her toddler laying down on the table with his head on the raw fish haha.
At the back of the market there were a bunch of food places. Most of them sold things that were "working class" food, and things that I didn't want to try. Like goat head soup haha. But back there was a little band and they were so cute! On our way back to the front we passed a big flower part too.
This guy was peeling potatoes so quickly!
After the market we went back to our hotel to take a car to Ollantaytambo, and then a train from there to Aguas Calientes. Irving dropped us off and we said goodbye to him. I started joking around with him on the drive there about my sister that he could marry haha. He said he wanted to meet her! When we got dropped off at the train station we grabbed a sandwich really quickly and then got on the train. It was a really beautiful ride. We went through mountains and were next to the Urubamba River. Something that I thought was crazy was that if you were watching out your window you would see lots of different ruins just on the mountainside. It is crazy!
There were tons of amazing ruins all along our train ride!
When we got to Aguas Calientes somebody was there to guide us back to the hotel. Aguas Calientes is really small, and I don't think I saw any cars. Most of it is all just for walking. We got to our hotel and then went up to check out the view and pool on top. It was so pretty! After that we walked around the town for a little bit and then got dressed to go to the Hot Springs.
Dad, Rusty and I walked over to the hot springs. It was fun to walk through the town and see all of their cool relief carvings. Each one had a story behind it, and they were pretty special to find. Then we made it to the hot springs and the best part was the walk from the front gate to the springs. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was all forested and in the mountains and there were cool birds flying around. I loved this walk so much. When we got to the hot springs you could look down and see the water and it was all brown haha. They just bring the water straight from the springs, so it does not look very clean or inviting. There were lots of different pools, each one was a different temperature. When we got in the hottest one, the floor was all gravel. Definitely not a normal swimming place for us, but these views could not be beat.
The center of town had a futbol field!
After our time at the hot springs we were walking back to the hotel and this lady started talking to us about the restaurant where she worked. The prices were crazy, so I told her we would go somewhere else. She gave us a screaming deal and so we said we would come back. There was a big wood burning oven inside. We ordered our food, and it was not the most delicious food we had on our trip. This was probably our least favorite restaurant, but that might be due in part to what we ordered haha. The boys really wanted to try cuy, or guinea pig. It is a delicacy here that is only eaten by natives on special occasions, like birthdays or holidays. It came out with its face and everything still on and I wanted to die. I did try a piece of it, but honestly I don't even know what it tasted like. I pretty much just swallowed it so that I could say I tried it haha. YUCK.
After dinner we went back out to find some snacks to pack with us for our trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow! We got everything all gathered and packed so that we wouldn't have to do that in the morning.
Day #6: July 22
MACHU PICCHU!!!! Today is the day, today is the day!! Man we could not sleep last night because we were so excited. There were a lot of emotions: would the weather hold out? Would it be a let down? Would we die on the bus ride up (I had heard it was terrible)? Would we just love it and be so happy?? And finally, it was time to get up. It was an early day (we had a lot of those on this trip) and we got dressed and grabbed our bags. We went down to have some breakfast and then walked through the town of Aguas Calientes to find the meeting spot. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think there was some mix up because our guide was late and was on the phone a lot. Later we found out that he didn't really speak any English... and was actually quite a terrible tour guide (even in Spanish). This was a big bummer because this was the main reason for our whole trip, but honestly during the time we were there I wasn't even that bothered about it because I was just so excited to be there. But after we got home and I started to think about the tour I was bummed about it. There were so many cool things that we could have learned and seen, but we couldn't because our guide was crummy. But alas, I digress. The tour of Machu Picchu was still amazing! I mean, it's hard to have a bad day here.
So we met at the plaza mayor and then once the whole group was there we made our way over to get in the giant lines for the buses. We got on the bus and I started to get so nervous because I had heard that this bus ride was crazy and that you felt like you were going to die the whole time! I thought it would be like Santorini where I truly thought we would die, and so I was prepping myself. Then we started up and it wasn't even bad. Like, some cliff edges but the bus was not hanging over the side as it turned so I felt pretty safe. :) It did get really narrow though in parts where only one bus would fit at a time, so we had to back up and scoot over to make room. That was a little nuts!
We got up to the top and got our passports stamped and then went to the entry gate. There was a short little hike and then you see the amazing views that you think of when you think of Machu Picchu. It was breathtaking! And the clouds had cleared away (a miracle!) and you could see everything. We were so happy! We got to spend some time here and take in the views and take a lot of pictures. Such an amazing place.
The main gate to the city!
Ok, this thing is pretty cool. It has lots of functions. The big thing on top served as a sun dial, and the top surface of it has the corners pointing in the cardinal directions. Then on the main table surface, top right corner (hard to see from this view) there is another nub that points to magnetic North. How did they even know that?! These people were amazing.
LLAMA
After our tour, Mom and Dad went back to Aguas Calientes on the bus and Rusty and I used our second entrance on our ticket to go in and just sit and look out over everything for a little while. It was really nice to be able to just relax and see how beautiful everything was without being in a rush. I really feel like you could easily take two or three days here. There are lots of hikes we didn't get to do because we just didn't have the time, or the energy. Then we got on the bus and wandered around the town for a little before we met back up with Mom and Dad for dinner. We went to one of the yummiest places ever! And we got some of our favorite food from the entire trip. This place was awesome! After dinner we got on the train to go back to Cusco. The train ride home was interesting. They had a littler performance where they did a little fashion show, and then there was a really weird story they told about a tiger guy. It was all really confusing and hard to hear, but it sure made us laugh hahaha.
Day #7: July 23
Today we woke up early (especially early considering we got in so late last night from Aguas Calientes!) and got on a plane to Iquitos. It was all pretty uneventful, but the flight was really cool! We all took necessary naps, but also got to look out the window and see endless trees, forests, and the giant Amazon River! It was amazing to see it from the air. This is one of those things that we had all always wanted to see, and we were finally seeing it! It was amazing!
We landed at the airport in Iquitos and the airport was so tiny. I had known that before, so I thought that this town would be so tiny. But it was actually really huge! We stepped out of the airplane outside and were immediately hit with hot, humid air. It was very different from the weather that we had in Cusco. A driver was there to meet us and take us to the office where we would be taken to Jacamar Lodge. The drive to the office was unlike anything I have ever experienced! I felt like I was in another world! There were so many bikes that looked like rickshaws but were with motorcycles. It was insane! We made it to the office and then walked down to a bank to get some more money and saw a little parade going on in the main plaza, and then took our own rickshaw thing to the port! It was so fun to ride in that!
The port was absolutely crazy. It was covered in trash and I all of a sudden got really nervous and kept thinking to myself, "Where am I?!? What am I doing here?!?!" We had to walk out onto a little dock and then got on the coolest boat to go to the lodge. The boat took us out onto a tributary to the Amazon and then eventually made it to the Amazon. It was huge! And so, so brown. We had a ride of about an hour and a half before we made it to some land that we walked across. The best part was that we went through this tiny town and there were some kids out on their porch with their pet sloth! We got to hold it, and I fell in love with it immediately!
Fancy bow tie life jacket
Our first "port" stop haha
The church
Banana tree!
The school. Each child got to decorate one of the tiles
We got in another boat and entered the blackwater part of the Amazon River and then made it to our lodge. The lodge had different rooms inside, each with its own bathroom. There was no electricity, and the top half of the walls were just screened with some curtains. There was a bed with a big bug net on top. It was definitely very bare.
Bringing in supplies
Our place!
Our room
Bathroom
We had some time to settle into our place and eat lunch before we headed out for our first adventure! There were no lights or electricity in the rooms, and the water in the bathrooms (toilet, sink, shower) all came straight from the Amazon River. So it was freezing cold, and brown. And yucky haha. Trying to shower in the dark with the gross water was a little unsettling. We also had a little frog friend in our bathroom, but I was so happy about that because that meant he would eat the bugs.
Walking from our room to the Dining Room
This palm spaghetti was so good!
We did a jungle trek and it was insane. We took the boat for a little bit, then got out and just started wandering around. The first thing that our guide did was show us a giant termite nest. He whacked it with his machete, and then put his hand on it and they swarmed all over his arm. Then he smashed them all and said, "Natural repellent!" Then it was our turn haha. The weirdest part was that is smelled oddly good, kind of like lemongrass. And I didn't get bites on my arms but my legs got lit up! The rest of the trek he showed us different plants and their uses, things that we could eat, or leaves we could use as bowls for water. The mud was so thick in some places that our boots got completely stuck in it. He showed us this massive tree and told us how scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, and bats all live there. YIKES. He then whacked it with a big stick and it made the hugest sound. He said that local tribes use that as an emergency sound in case someone is lost.
Termite nest
He also told us a lot about different kinds of plants and foods that they eat. Some leaves they can use as bowls or containers to move water, and some things that you can eat like this little yellow tomato like thing.
There were obviously lots of bugs, and we "got to" see and hold some of them
Look at the blue on that butterfly
Giant flower
Giant banana leaf
Look how wide this tree is!
There is a tree that produces this cotton stuff. The people use it to stuff pillows and beds.
Our thoughts and feelings after our day trek
We went back and had dinner and relaxed a little bit. Well, relaxed as much as you can in the Amazon Rain forest. I'm pretty sure that at this point each one of us was seriously questioning our decision to come here. I was going to have a panic attack about having to stay there for the night haha. I just wanted to go home. But alas, it was not time to go home. It was time to go out on a night trek to look for tarantulas, spiders, frogs and snakes. We didn't even have to leave the hut to find a tarantula. There was one in the dining room!
The hat I wore to protect myself from spiders
Frog
Spider
Weird bug
Weird bug
Frog
Spider
Crazy caterpillar
Lizard blending in
Day #8: July 24
Today we woke up in the Amazon Rainforest! How cool is that? It was so loud from all of the birds and frogs and monkeys that we didn’t even really need to be woken up for our sunrise boat ride. This was by far my favorite day in the jungle. We did the coolest things! We started with breakfast and then went out for a morning ride. It was so quiet and peaceful, and we saw the most beautiful birds flying around!
Cool nests
Doing laundry
After our ride, we came home to get ready to go see the tribe and go phiranna fishing. We rode the boat to the tribe and got out to an opening with a few little huts. We learned that this was not their town, but their meeting place for visitors. After the Conquistidors, they don’t want white people visiting their towns (who can blame them) so they meet in a designated spot. They took us inside what one of their houses look like, kind of like an upside down bowl that has a gab about six inches at the bottom. Now, from my short experience in the jungle I would not want an opening on the floor into my house because of all of the creepy crawly things, but apparently building their house this way will protect them from the ghost that lives in the forest. When we got inside they played some music for us and then crushed up a plant and painted all of our faces. Then it was time to dance! This is another favorite memory of mine because they were dressed in their traditional clothing, and so the women didn’t wear shirts. And Rusty was asked to dance with someone and his face was hilarious! They didn’t really dance as much as walk around in a big circle around the house, but it was awesome. It really is so cool to see a culture that has been around for so long, even if it was in such a small way. After dancing we went outside to blow the blow dart. It was actually really heavy and you had to blow way harder than I thought, but it was really fun! The weirdest part was the target that we shot at. It was a big pole that looked like a man, but his penis was sticking way up haha. Later when they showed us the goods that they had made to sell there were a lot of similar references. We later learned that there is some legend that has to do with the forest giving sexual powers, but we never really learned anything more than that.
After the tribe we went straight to go pirhanna fishing! Turns out the pirhanas like the blackwater, which is right where our lodge was so we didn’t have to go far. It was the craziest thing; as soon as you put your hook in the water there would be a ton of bites! And if you did it close to the surface you would see these tiny little ones attacking it. The lower down you went, the bigger the fish. We used raw chicken for bait, and had to replace it so many times because they would just bite it off. All four of us did catch something though! Mom caught the biggest one, and it was actually really big! The biggest out of any of us on the boat. Rusty and Dad caught some that we got to keep for lunch, I caught one for lunch, and also a teeny tiny one that was called a Silver Dollar haha. It was so tiny but man it’s teeth were big! One of the workers held the pirhana up to a leaf and we watched it bite a clean mark. So crazy! For lunch they cooked up our fish and we got to eat them. They actually tasted pretty good!
Then we had some down time before we went back out on the Amazon to look for the elusive pink dolphins. These dolphins are only found in the Amazon and they can be hard to find! On the way to the lodge I saw a dolphin fin, but it was gray. We looked around for a long time and didn’t see anything. Then they started whistling and two actually came! We didn’t get a really good look at them (they didn’t jump or anything) but we definitely saw their backs and they were pink! Crazy. These things are super ugly, so I didn’t REALLY mind not getting a good look at them. By this time it was starting to get a little late. The sun was setting and it was GORGEOUS. Then we hoped out on a little peninsula that was all mud (it was low season for the water) and gave ourselves mud baths. It actually really did make my mosquito bites feel better! Then came the best part: swimming in the Amazon River. It was dirty and yucky and kind of scary, but I did it! And nothing bit me! It was weird because the current was fast but also you’d feel a current of warm water and then a current of cold water, and then back to warm. It was bizarre! After that we got to take a boat ride back to the lodge watching the sun set. Then we got to throw some dry clothes on before heading back out for a night boat ride to look for snakes. It was a full moon while we were there which made it absolutely beautiful, but I guess the snakes don’t come down low when it’s so bright from the moon so we didn’t see any. Then we came back, took a freezing cold shower in the dark in the Amazon water, and climbed in bed for the last night.
Hahaha Mom's face
I sunk down in the mud to my knee haha
As we walked back through that little town to get to the boat to take us to the lodge, we saw a lot of fireflies! I had never seen them before, but this was amazing! When we got back we went out in a boat for a night ride. It was really relaxing. We went out to see snakes, but because of the full moon the snakes didn't come down. I was ok with that.
Day #9: July 25
Today was our last day in the Amazon Rainforest, and I have to say that none of us were that disappointed it was almost over haha. It was amazing and we did not regret doing it, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime thing. This was an intense experience haha. On our way out we went to a nature reserve, which was on that same little spot of land where the tiny town was that we had to cross over to get to the second part of the river for our lodge. We got there and Brandon (our guide) showed us the sugar cane press that they use. He put some sugar cane in and we got to press out the liquid and drink it. It was so sweet! We couldn’t drink very much, but Brandon gulped it all down and finished it off haha. Before we went in, we were supposed to wash our hands. There was no wall by the sink and there was a little monkey just hanging out in the tree right there! It was so cool! Then we went in and got to go see the animals! We got to a little enclosure with a monkey and an anteater, and Brandon said, “Who wants to go in?” and nobody did anything. Where I come from, you don’t go into the enclosures haha. Then he looked at me and said, “Debes ir primero” so I went in. There were little vines hanging horizontally around the enclosure, and the monkey was on the other side. I remember thinking, I hope he comes closer, and then the next thing I knew he was running across the vines and jumped on my head haha! I panicked and thought, “Is this normal? Should I be worried about this?!” but Brandon and the reserve worker didn’t look worried so I figured it was ok haha. Then they told me to walk around in circles around the perimeter so I did. After that, it was someone else’s turn but the monkey wouldn’t let go of my head haha. He latched on pretty good. The worker told me that he had lost his family, so he wants to be attached to people. Literally attached to them. To their heads.
Sugar cane press
Local kids
A monkey just hanging out outside!
Then we got to hold a sloth, but before we held it the worker had to get it out of the cage and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. He went to grab him and the sloth clearly was trying to run away but it was so slow that it was hilarious. After the sloth, we got to see the toucans, but they didn’t want to come out so we didn’t hold them. Next was the anacondas. He got one out and I thought, Wow! That thing is huge! And then that wasn’t even the big one. The big one was still inside but started trying to escape through the open door. Ah! Then we got to hold macaws, and I was actually really scared of them and their sharp beaks. Lastly, we held a caiman.
One of the funniest things in my whole life was watching this little sloth try to run away from the guy who was grabbing him from the cage haha. So slow.
We got on the boat and made the hour and a half trek back to Iquitos, and the funny thing is that this time Iquitos didn’t seem so crazy to me.
The port
We made it to the airport and then had a long wait. Then when it was finally time, we found out that our flight had been delayed. It was so confusing! There were no workers for our flight company, it wasn't on any of the screens, and we had no idea what was happening. But eventually the airplane came in. It was a tiny plane, so the flight attendant said that if our bags were too big we would have to check them. While we were waiting she took Mom's backpack, and then Mom told her that we all had big bags. So the rest of us ran away and then boarded the plane by walking past her only showing our fronts haha. Mom was so mad that her backpack got taken. We landed in Lima and were picked up by someone from our hotel. We got there and went straight to bed.
Day #10: July 26
Today was our only day in Lima (we had to be at the airport at 11:00 PM) and so we were originally planning on getting an early start to the day. But 10:00 rolled around and we had all been sleeping soundly, only now it was time to check out and we weren’t ready! We hurriedly checked out and then got a cab to take us to the Plaza. We got to leave our big backpacks at the hotel which made the day so much easier. Our first stop was the Plaza de Armas. We saw the Archbishop Palace and the Presidential Palace, though we didn’t go inside either of these. Instead we walked over to the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco. Now this place was interesting! Before we walked in we did find some churros! I had been promising Rusty churros this whole trip, and we finally found some. But they were from a street vendor and they looked kind of sketchy, so I didn’t eat mine. After the Iglesia we found a store that sold them and they were SO delicious! Rusty said they were way better than the other one.
I loved all of the bright colored buildings as we were driving
Government Palace
Archbishop's Palace and Cathedral
Government Palace
San Francisco
Churros Round 1. Because we bought them on the street I was too scared to eat them. So Rusty had two haha.
The Iglesia y Convento de San Fransisco is crazy cool. It’s a church, convent, and catacomb all in one. We walked in and waited to go on our English speaking tour, and it was really interesting. We saw books that were hundreds of years old, bones, and art. There are the remains of more than 25,000 people here. The idea was that if you were buried inside a church you would be closer to God, but there was only so much space so it would cost a lot of money. There is a huge stand that is carried in a parade that is made of silver, weighs 2,700 pounds and takes 40 people to carry. Built in the late 1600s, it withstood three earthquakes. It has tiles from Seville and a style that was kind of Arabic as well as Spanish. The main altar is all made from wood. Another cool part of this building was the library. It has books that date back from before the Conquest, and some cool things like the first Spanish dictionary and a bible from the 1500s. They also had in glass display cases some of the books that they would use for the altar. These books were huge so that everyone could see them. Then we went down to see the catacombs. It was so creepy in there! I have never seen any before, and it was so eerie but fascinating at the same time. They had wells that were down there that were full of bones, and they were organized in geometrical patterns.
Churros Round 2! I ate them this time and they were so good!
After this, we walked down to a bank to get some more cash and then got a taxi to take us to Huaca Pucllana. This is a temple site that is pre-Incan, and dates back to 200-700 AD. So cool and so old! We took a tour around and were able to see the main pyramid and little huts made from adobe and clay bricks up close. The pyramid has seven different levels, each one with a different purpose. Mainly, the purpose was for ceremony and offerings. It was fascinating to know that this used to all be covered in dirt and people would come and play on it. They would find artifacts and then take them home to keep them! Later, people realized what it was and started excavating. This has been a really long process and they are still working on it. We were able to see lots of walls from huts, and even a burial tomb where they buried three adults and one child (who was sacrificed. So terrible). We also saw lots of amazing pottery from that time period. They have decided that there were three rituals that were performed here: human sacrifice (especially minors), breaking of large vessels with marine decorations as an offering to the gods, and feasts spotlighting marine food-especially sharks.
They were obsessed with sharks. Obviously I felt a connection to them. Until I found out about the child sacrifices. Then I didn't like them.
This place is nuts because it's right in Lima!
A real, preserved footprint!
I wanted to be friends with this llama...
But he bit my ear!! Ahh!
They had some cool gardens where they could tell from the soil that the people then had gardens here too
Sacrifices
Half of this location is still covered up with dirt and just looks like a mound. Years ago kids would just come here to play. Sometimes they would find things and then take them home! Crazy!
Then we got another taxi to Miraflores. Once we got to Miraflores we walked around the trail on the cliff above the ocean. We started right at the lighthouse and made our way to Lover’s Park. This park is dedicated to lovers and looks over the bay and is just beautiful. It is made from different tile pieces and kind of reminded me of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona.
We were getting ready to get a taxi to take us to our last stops when we met a man holding up some pictures of the colorful water fountains. I pointed it out to my mom because that was our next stop and he started talking to us about it. It turned out he didn’t sell the pictures, he was a taxi driver. He ended up sticking with us for the rest of the night and he was so quirky. His name was Richard. Richard was a brilliant man who used to be a professor at the university. When he retired, he decided that driving a taxi would be fun and allow him to talk to lots of people so that is what he did. All of the time spent in the car with him involved him telling us stories about famous authors, quoting poems and books, and giving us information about famous people from Peru. He mostly spoke Spanish though, so it was all spent with him telling me and then me translating it for everyone else. After a while I was getting a headache (my Spanish is not good enough for this haha) and so I would just nod my head to him. He would yell, "Translate and tell them!" There was even one time when I seriously didn't know what he said, but he laughed so I told my family, "Just start laughing!" Haha. The more we laughed the more satisfied he was. If we didn't laugh he would make me retell them haha. This guy was hilarious. Before we got to the Parque de la Reserve, we stopped to get a quick bite to eat. Richard took us to this sandwich place that he really loved. It was really yummy!
This park was even better than I had imagined! Seriously, anyone going to Lima needs to come here. And night time is the best. They did fountain shows, like the Belagio, but they had lasers so the water was colored! They even projected images onto the water like a slideshow. We got there right in time for the big, main show and it was awesome! Then we had a little bit of time to just walk around and see all of the other fountains before we had to leave to catch the museum before we had to be to the airport.
After the park we went to the Larco Museum. The only food that we had not been able to try yet was ceviche, which was the main one to try in Peru, and in Lima! But we wanted to wait until Lima to try it and then we were rushing around so much. But I asked Richard and he said that the museum has a restaurant that has really good food, including ceviche. After we looked around we went down and the restaurant was beautiful! We ordered one dish (actually Richard was really nice and went down and put the order in for us so that we wouldn't be late) and we all shared. It was really rich, but really good!
Double spouts were very common
Woven cloth!
The ceremonial cup and knife for offering sacrifices. It was cool to see these after we had seen so many places that offered sacrifices.
Musical instruments!
Jewelry!
Nose ornaments
Ear ornaments
The most complete set
They gave the public access to their storage rooms, and it was insane! They were huge with so many artifacts inside.
The fancy restaurant
Richard!
THEN, our final destination in Peru, we made it to the airport. It was late at night, but we made it through every thing on the list for our day in Lima! Woo hoo! It was a busy day but we made it. Lima was a beautiful city and we really enjoyed walking around. It sitting up on the cliff by the coast is so stunning. At the airport we went and got burgers at TGIF and then got in line to get on the plane. By this time it is around 12:30 AM. As we were standing in line I started to feel really sick. Honestly I did not want to get on that plane at all, and I probably wouldn't have, but I just kept thinking that I needed to get back to see Henry and Adeline. Well I made it on the plane and then went back to the bathroom where I threw up a bunch haha. I guess maybe the ceviche and the burger were just too rich?? I don't know, but it made the flight home even longer than it really is. It was rough.
Today was spent on the airplane! It was an uneventful flight (after being sick and throwing up) and we tried to sleep for most of the flight to Atlanta. Then we had a three and a half hour layover where we caught up with Emilie about how the kids did and finalizing plans to go and get them. When we landed, our phone service had been shut off because our friends that we share the plan with didn't pay the bill haha. They are travelling and someone stole their credit card, so they shut it down but then our bill didn't get paid. That was a stressful way to come back to the country! But I got it fixed pretty quickly and we were able to talk to everyone we needed to. We did lose all of our texts and phone calls that had come in while we didn't have our service.
When we landed in Salt Lake Jessica came and picked us up from the airport! It was so fun to see her and tell her about some of our adventures. Then we went and got our car and started right away to Burley to get our babies! We were seriously almost as excited to see our babies as we were to go on the trip. We missed them so much! We met them at Taco Bell there and it was so great to see them! Then we came home and got home late- around 11. We went straight to bed to try to catch up on sleep from our trip.
Our review: Peru is an amazing, diverse, and beautiful country that has a surprisingly low number of tourists given what it has to offer! We loved our time there, we loved the people, and we loved the food. It definitely fanned our flame of love of travel and made us decide that we wanted to branch out even more and see more places. I was nervous going to South America, but we felt very safe the entire time. We were smart about where we went and at what time, but I felt way more uncomfortable while we were in Greece than I did in Peru. It sounded scary and intimidating to me, but it was a complete joy! Peru, te amo!
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