Final Musings…

Our trip to Peru was really fantastic, although not without some issues. First of all, you’ll notice that Anthony is missing from all the pictures on the islands. Unfortunately, he got pretty sick right before we went, and Jessica, Shirley and I had to leave him behind in Cusco to recover. (He was doing much better when we returned after a round of antibiotics.) Poor Jessica had a hacking cough and trouble breathing the entire time we were in the country. I got violently ill the morning we were supposed to leave, and Shirley got sick at the airport. (None of us escaped!)

And now for a priceless, final photo. I was vomiting so much at the airport that I garnered the attention of the police and then a medic, who put me in a wheelchair and took very good care of me. (I was wheeled through the security checkpoints all the way to the gate.) Craziness.

Despite our illnesses, I couldn’t have enjoyed our time in Peru more. Even though we saw lots of great stuff, the most wonderful part of the trip was the opportunity to bless the Broggi’s with the oxygen concentrator. Before we left Alberto gave a touching speech about how I’m a gift from God, and how much this will change their lives, etc. Alberto, Marta, Shirley and I all started sobbing and I couldn’t help but thank God for the opportunity to know the Broggi’s. Although I can’t quite explain it, I simply couldn’t love that family more.

Isla Taquile

Well, obviously we’ve returned to the US, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t complete the blog to include our last couple of days in Peru. (My adoring fans wouldn’t have it…). So, back to Lake Titicaca – after we visited the Floating Islands, we speed off on a 1.5 hour boat ride to Taquile Island. Jess and I sat on the top of the boat (Shirley was sitting inside in the warmth), and it was VERY cold, but still beautiful.

Taquile was absolutely gorgeous.

The island is covered in cobblestone paths and there are no cars. Everyone walks everywhere and we saw lots of locals and sheep along the road. Speaking of walks, our first major trek was to Incan ruins on the highest point on the island. Here the locals still make offerings to Pachamama (Mother Earth), and it was a perfect place to watch the sunset.

An altar to Pachamama – and a perfect example of how the people have integrated their traditional beliefs with those of the conquering Spanish Christians.

Shirley with our little 9 year old guide, Daisy.

Sunset on Taquile

Daisy.

While on the island, we stayed with a local family. The couple had three adorable little girls (Daisy is one of their daughters), and it was fun to play and interact with them. Although they learn Spanish in school, the youngest ones only spoke Quechua, which made it hard to communicate. Our living arrangements were a little “rustic” and we spent a good deal of time laughing at each other over our inability to “rough it”.

Sitting on Jessica’s bed.

Our “light”, which is actually a beer bottle with a candle stuck in it…

Me sitting with one of the little girls in the family. Her cheeks are so ruddy -
the sun is so intense and yet it’s so cold on the island. Everyone really has a lot of chapped skin.
(She’s holding a Spanish-language childrens book I brought for her.)

Bathroom facilities…

On our second day, Daisy took us on a walk to the beach, which just about killed us. Supposedly it was a 2 hour walk, but for us it turned out to be a 4 hour walk! We didn’t bring enough water and when we finally returned to the house we were so exhausted we were actually ill.

Infamous beach.

Doesn’t everyone bring their cattle to the beach for a drink? (Remember, this is a LAKE, not an ocean.)

The sheep also would like a drink…

So, after our death walk to the beach, we still had to walk back to our boat, which was conveniently located at the bottom of 500 stairs…

Standing at the top of the 500 stairs with our host father, Bernardo.

One of the most interesting aspects of Taquile was their long tradition of textiles. All the men knit, and all the women weave. Actually, all the men wear knitted hats and you can tell their marriage status by their hats – the married men have a completely red hat, while the single men have a half red, half white hat. When it’s time to get married, the man must present his marriage hat to his wife-to-be, who will test his knitting skills by pouring water in it. If it is knitted so tightly that it can hold water, then he will make a good marriage partner. The woman presents the man with a beautifully woven belt.

The man on the far left is an important leader on the island (signified by his brightly colored hat).
The man in the middle is married, and the man on the far right is single.

Marriage belt – this part is colorful and full of pictures. There’s another part of the belt that’s black and white striped. The black stripes are made from the woman’s hair, which she cuts short in order to put it in the marriage belt.

So much to update!

It’s been a while since I’ve had access to speedy internet, so I haven’t posted anything for a few days. Now we are back in Cusco at our hotel and I have a LOT to say. First of all – if I haven’t lost 10lbs when I get home, someone’s going to pay! We have been walking all over tarnation. Before we left for Puno, we spent a day in the Sacred Valley, visiting Incan ruins.

Jessica and a local woman in Pisac

Shirley is too cute in the Shaman hat...

We walked about 5 miles in total, visiting multiple ruins along the way – Tambomachay, Q’enqo, Pukapukara and Saqsayhuaman. Anthony wasn’t feeling well, so it was just Jess, Shirley and I, which made for some good girl talking time.

Tambomachay

Jess at Q'enqo

Saqsayhuaman

Jessica & I at Saqsayhuaman

Our next adventure was Puno and Lake Titicaca. OMG, I can even begin to tell you about our experiences here on the blog. First of all, we took a horrible, stinky, dirty, 8hr bus ride from Cusco to Puno. All three of us actually made it the whole 8 hours without peeing. And that is a feat, I’d like to point out! Once in Puno, we checked into our hostel and went out for dinner. Puno, in my opinion, is an ugly, dirty, crowded city. There really wasn’t anything redeeming about it at all, except that we needed to stay there in order to be on a boat early in the morning on the Lago.

Our first stop on Lake Titicaca was the ‘Floating Islands’, which actually DO float. They are man made islands of multiple layers of straw. The people who live on them originally created the islands to get off the mainland and away from the attacking Inca’s. Hundreds of years later, they are still afloat.

Islas Floatantas

The locals dressed up Jessica. Doesn't she look like a bad Boy George?

Floating Islands and a boat made out of the same reeds. Notice the Puma heads on the front of the boat.

Uros women on the floating islands trading goods.

Puma heads on one of the reed boats

Ok, seriously? The Seventh Day Adventists have made it to the floating islands?!?!?!

After our trip to the floating islands, we sped off in our boat to the islands of Taquile, where we spent 2 days and 1 night. More to come on that…

The Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu

We left our hotel in Cusco behind and headed out to Ollantaytambo on Tuesday. The drive takes you through the Sacred Valley, which is absolutely beautiful. Except for the few towns we drove through, there is little else, but farmland to see. The mountains in the background are capped with snow and the clouds seem so close at this altitude. We passed by shepherds herding their sheep, farmers plowing their land (with yoked oxen), children running in their school uniforms and women walking along the road with large bundles of hay. We had to stop several times for cows and donkeys crossing the road. Every few miles we’d see a long stick stuck up in the air with a red bag on the end – this means that there’s a chicha bar nearby (local fermented corn brew – brown, cloudy, nastiness in my opinion).

Photo of the Sacred Valley taken from the car

When we arrived in Ollantaytambo, we found our hostel and set out to explore the old, Incan city. Today Ollant. is a small pueblo, where the people still live in the original Incan structures and still get their water from the aquaducts that the Incans set up hundreds of years ago. There are also vast ruins that can be climbed and explored. We chose not to pay the outrageous fee to explore the “official” ruins, and followed the advice of a local, who told us there were other ruins to explore that were completely free.

Shirley and I exploring along a local road in Ollant.

Of course, the ruins were on top of a MOUNTAIN! So, I just about died getting up to the ruins, but did eventually make it. It always amazes me in South America that people aren’t worried about the possibility of lawsuits – the trail was almost straight up and definitely dangerous in some places. And the ruins just sit there untouched. Pretty cool.

Anthony & Shirley almost to the first ruins on the trail.

View of the ruins from the street

Guinea pigs (cuy) on the floor of a woman's house

Same woman's house - Shirley & I standing in front of a table full of offerings. Notice the skulls of the ancestors in the background and the dried alpacas. It's all real. Trust me.

We took the backpacker train from Ollant. to Aguas Calientes, which is the town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain. The train ride was pretty – we passed the Inca Trail several times and the scenery got more and more lush, the closer we got to our destination. Aguas Calientes is actually located in the cloud forest, which is a lot like the jungle (amazing flora & fauna), except without the heat and humidity.

Isn't this little girl so cute? Took this picture while waiting at the train station in Ollant.

Shirley & I sharing a beer on the backpacker train.

We arrive in Aguas Calientes - on a bridge over the Urubamba River.

Jessica, an Incan princess statue and two little local princesses.

There is NOTHING to do in Aguas Calientes and it’s basically just a launching point to Machu Picchu. Still, we wandered through the handicraft market, ate in the restaurants and stayed overnight here. We awoke at 4am in order to get up the mountain in time for the sunrise. Check out the line for the buses…

The best photo I could get in the dark of the line.

Since I last saw Machu Picchu during mid day, it was really amazing to get up there at dawn. There were so many clouds that we didn’t actually see a real sunrise, but it was absolutely amazing looking over the ruins in the fog and then watching it slowly lift.

Shirley & Jessica climbing the old Incan steps

Fog rising...

Still lifting...

Jessica

Still lifting...

Exploring the ruins - one of the doors in the city.

The clouds have lifted!

Aren't the Andes just incredible?

Just a note – I just noticed that the time/date stamp is off by a day and several hours, so you’ll have to disregard that. I’ll write more later – yesterday afternoon we observed a ceremony conducted by a shaman, honoring Pachamama (mother earth).

2nd Day in Cusco

Hello all. We enjoyed our 2nd day in Cusco – went to the artisan market (Jessica bought EVERYTHING she saw!), had lunch at a typical Peruvian restaurant, wandered back to Plaza de Armas and had dinner at Jack’s Cafe (my absolute favorite restaurant in Cusco).

Ok. So these are the steps that we have to conquer every day in order to get back to our hotel! It’s hard to tell from the photo, but they seem endless, especially on the way up in this atmosphere with NO oxygen! Still, we have quite the view of the city from our rooms.

The view from the terrace at our hotel. Notice the ‘Viva El Peru!’ written on the side of the mountain.

I just had to post this because it’s hilarious. This is Anthony as an Incan Warrior.

Photo with a woman in traditional dress at the restaurant where we went for lunch. (I enjoyed an Alpaca Strogonoff).

The hot chocolate at Jack’s Cafe deserves it’s own spot on the blog. I have maintained the opinion for the last three years, that this chocolate caliente is the best in the entire world. (As you can see, Marta joined us for dinner as well…lovely.)

Well, that’s all for now. We are off to Ollantaytambo this morning, where we will spend the night and then we will be off to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. I’ll be sure to post when we get back. It’s really cold here (as always), and I’ve gotten a kick out of watching my friends freezing and buying scarves, gloves, hats etc…apparently they didn’t believe me?

Arrival in Cusco!

We made it to Cusco yesterday morning with all our luggage, including the oxygen concentrator box! (Yay.) We did have a few snags along the way, but I am grateful to be back in this beautiful city and to have the opportunity to catch up with folks I have not seen in a year. Customs actually did not give me a problem with the concentrator, but I had a LOT of issues getting the people at the airline counter to take it! Anyway, thanks for your prayers, because it is finally here with Marta.

We spent our day wandering aimlessly around Cusco and then met up with the Broggi Family at 4pm to bring the concentrator and see them for dinner. It was SO good to see them again – there were hugs all around and it was fun introducing my Peruvian family to my friends.

This is Martita and we are holding the gifts that they had for ME. Mom – Alberto got me a doll! ç

The plans for today are to visit the Mercado Artisanal, San Blas (the arts district of Cusco) and possibly the Cathedral, which contains a painting of the Last Supper with Jesus and the disciples eating a GUINEA PIG (the Peruvian national dish).

Next Trip to Peru

Just thought I’d write a quick post to update everyone on my next trip to Peru. I’ll be traveling there with Shirley, Jessica and Anthony from Aug 8th – Aug 22nd.

Yesterday I booked my plane tickets to Cusco. Here’s the itinerary below:

Saturday, August 8, 2009
American Airlines #1999
Newark (EWR) to Miami International (MIA)
Departure (EWR): August 8, 4:45 PM EDT (afternoon)
Arrival (MIA): August 8, 7:58 PM EDT (evening)

Saturday, August 8, 2009
LAN Airlines # 2511
Miami International (MIA) to Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM)
Departure (MIA): August 8, 11:55 PM EDT (evening)
Arrival (LIM): August 9, 4:35 AM PET (morning)

Sunday, August 9, 2009
LAN Peru # 75
Lima Jorge Chavez International (LIM) to Cuzco Velazco Astete (CUZ)
Departure (LIM): August 9, 7:20 AM PET (morning)
Arrival (CUZ): August 9, 8:35 AM PET (morning)

———————————————————————————————————
I’ve also booked our hotel in Cusco and a package trip to Lake Titicaca. Since I’ve already been to Peru twice and seen both the good and bad sides of tourism there, I feel pretty strongly about responsible tourism in the country. I know my money can go very far in a place like Peru, and it’s important to me to know that the local, indigenous people see some kind of benefit from my dollar being spent in their country…

We’ll be staying in Piccola Locanda while in Cusco, which is a hotel that uses its proceeds to fund child development projects in the country. You can check out their website here: www.piccolalocanda.com

I’ve asked the owners to let me know what kinds of supplies would be helpful for them in their work with the kids. Generally Spanish language children’s books are always welcome, so I asumme we’ll bring some of those. I’ll post what other kinds of supplies are needed as the trip approaches, but please do consider donating school supplies, books, children’s clothing etc, as we’ll bring whatever we can fit into our suitcases on the way over.

Also, we’re waiting for reservation confirmation from the agency about our Lake Titicaca trip. The company we picked for this is also committed to ethical tourism, so I feel pretty good about working with them. We’ll be taking the 2 day/1 night “non-touristy” trip to Remote Taquile & Uros Islands. Here’s a the website: www.titicacaperu.com/remote_taquile_and_uros.html

Lake Titicaca is located in the southern-most portion of the country. (One shore is Peru and the other is Bolivia.) There are several islands located on the lake, which is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world (12,500 ft). The people there have built “floating islands” out of the local reeds and they live on these man-made islands in houses built of the reeds and use boats made of the same reeds as well. I’ve heard that the culture here is very different than many other parts of the country and I’m excited to have the opportunity to visit.

And, of course, we’ll be visiting Machu Picchu as well. We haven’t booked that part of the trip yet, so stay tuned for details. We plan on taking a train to Aguas Calientes, staying their overnight and then hiking up to Machu Picchu to experience the sunrise the next morning. Should be absolutely breathtaking.

As many of you probably already know, this trip isn’t just a vacation for me. Actually, the impetus behind the trip is to have the opportunity to deliver an oxygen concentrator to my Peruvian Mother, Marta. Marta has COPD and relies on supplemental oxygen much of every day. Getting her this oxygen concentrator will allow her to be more mobile and visit family in other parts of the country, drastically increasing her quality of life. This trip would not be happening without the generosity of several individuals – first, Brian Silence at Sequal Technologies, who graciously donated the expensive piece of medical equipment, and secondly, my church family and friends at Bethany Bible Chapel in Winchendon, MA, who paid for the most expensive part of the trip (besides the actual oxygen concentrator), my plane ticket. I can’t possibly thank them enough. Here’s a picture of the concentrator…

I can’t wait to hug Marta, Alberto, Jessica and Martita…my Cusquenan family in Peru!

More to come later…

Tiff

From CNN:

Peru rebels launch deadly ambush

Twelve soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in a bomb attack by rebels in a remote coca-growing region of south-east Peru, the military said.

A military convoy was returning to base when a device hidden under one of the vehicles exploded. The survivors were then caught up in a gun battle.

The armed forces blame the Shining Path group, which wrought havoc in Peru during the 1980s and early 1990s.

It is the worst attack in a decade by the Maoist-inspired organisation.

‘Narco-terrorists’

The surviving soldiers returned fire on the rebels for several hours. Peru’s military command said women and children were among those killed.

Many more were injured during the attack in the Andes mountains, at Huancavelica province.

It came amid reports that Peru’s army had launched an operation to remove some 300 Shining Path rebels who work closely with cocaine traffickers in the region.

The BBC’s Dan Collyns in Lima says soldiers killed in the attack were part of that operation, which is focused on isolated jungle in the Ene-Apurimac valley – a hotbed for traffickers and guerrillas.

Our correspondent says the number of confrontations between the armed forces and the rebel groups, which the authorities call “narco-terrorists”, is increasing.

In the 1980s and 1990s the guerrilla group attempted to impose a communist regime. Almost 70,000 people were killed during the violence.

However, the conflict has been largely dormant in recent years, and analysts say the Shining Path is a fraction of its former size.

Charity:Water – an answer to the sustainability comment

Hello to all. A friend recently posted a comment on this site asking about the community’s involvement in Charity:Water projects and sustainability. (See the comment under the last post.) Charity:Water responded with this answer:

The goal of charity: water is to implement sustainable projects in developing countries. This is why we focus on funding local partners who employ mainly national staff. Another important component of our water projects is that we always include well maintenance trainings for the community members. By training a well maintenance committee in the village, they are empowered that this is their well, and not charity:water’s or the local organization’s.

Of course if a big part breaks, the local NGO would be available to fix it. But for small repairs and general maintenance, it’s the community’s responsibility. Including women in the process is also very important. Teaching women in the village basic engineering skills to maintain the well is very empowering, and they take their roles very seriously.

Thanks for the comment, Sue.

Check out the drilling going on today LIVE!!!

http://www.charitywater.org/birthdays/livedrill.htm

September Birthdays Unite.

Do you have a September birthday or know someone who does? Make a difference this year.