Peru
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My Gap Adventure
Cuzco
The Centre of the Universe
Left: A welcome to Cuzco band playing in the airport. Right: My tour mates waiting for our transportatiton at the airport.
Left: Kelly, myself, Anna, Helen, and David.
Right: A Peruvian school girl. There are more kids than adults in Cuzco...they are EVERYWHERE!
Cuzco centre
Left: Street stands at the edge of the market. Right: More Cuzco kids
Right: The 4 brothers performing at a restaurant. These guys sold me a CD with NO freaking CD in it! Bastards!
Two little brothers
Right: Two beers with the group in the background.
The Sacred Valley
The Sacred Valley. This is Sacsayhuaman. From the air, it's a fort shaped in the shape of a Puma's head. The puma is one of the national animals.
Right: An imitation of Christ the Redeemer which is in Rio de Janeiro.
Right: a little girl putting on a traditional dress (she's still got her jeans on underneath)
A family posing for the sucker tourists who will pay to take a picture of a couple of alpacas and traditional attire.
Right: Every house in Cuzco and surrounding areas have a shrine of a bull and two bowls on top of their houses. It's for good fortune.
Right: Me on a day trip to prepare my body for the grueling 4 day Inca Trail hike.
Right: Vermont natives Sarah and Nancy (mother) standing in foreground of Andean mountain range.
A village on our way to Pisac. An ancient Inca town.
Left: A narrow part of the Urubamba River which runs all the way to Machu Picchu.
Right: There are three types of terraces 1. for agriculture 2. to prevent erosion (shown here) and 3. for aesthetics
Left: Nancy, David and Jake climbing through flat terrain (what we call "Peruvian" flat).
Left: Me in an old Inca shower that cleanses the body before entering a sacred city.
Left: Me entering the gate of the sacred city...well, either that or some old doorway.
Left: Elizabeth and Dave (the other David) (the longest distance 4 year relationship I've ever heard of - from LA to Sydney)
Left: Dave about to enter the "Tunel Inti Huatana" Right: the modern Pisac city
Left: Taking a photo of the group from the ancient guard tower above. Right: the winding roads up to the modern city of Pisac
Right: ancient Pisac
Left: the Temple of the Sun (the Incas worshiped the Sun) Right: Anna (an Aussie) standing where she shouldn't be (so rebellious)
Left: My feet and silhouette
Left: There's nothing like standing on a cliff and gazing out yonder.
Left: Anna's idea of a group photo!
Left: Cactii Right: a street in modern Pisac
Once a year, on July 16th, Peruvians celebrate the Virgin Carmen by holding a parade for her. We happened by Pisac during their celebrations! We considered ourselves very lucky since these festivities are few and far between.
The Virgin Carmen is the Saint of Lircay. Religious activities, parties and bullfights are held during the celebrations, which last for many days.
The kids in Peru are so cute!
Especially these ones! Those silly drunks!
While watching this parade, shivers traveled down my spine. The men wearing the white masks reminded so much of the KKK.
Left: I don't know how kids can sleep at night after this parade!
Right: This old lady kept on turning and smacking me in the head with this huge phallic shaped candle!
Right: Puma pride!
A little Amazonian animal. Very playful!
Left: His name was Capisco.
Right: We had him for lunch. Just kidding. This is really really big corn! The green things are Lima beans. Ever wonder why LIMA beans are pronounced "lie-ma" where as the city of LIMA is pronounced "Lee-ma?"
Ollantaytambo
Left: Aesthetic terraces in Ollantaytambo
Left: In this mountain are carved caves. They Incas used these caves to store potatoes and other dried foods. The high winds by this mountain kept the food dry. The local people still use them. The Incas were a very civilized people. They survived by taking care of each other in times of need. They had a system which is now referred to as Inee. Inee meant, "I help you when you need help, and you help me when I need help." For instance, if my crop went bad and I need food, my neighbour would provide me with the food to get through the season, and if my neighbour was ever in a similar situation, I would return that favour. Tabs were not kept, since it was simply the way of life at the time. They had a governing council that would facilitate this too. When your crop was abundant, you'd give the "government" your extras, and they'd store them for you until you would need them. They weren't corrupt, so you wanted to give them your extras, you certainly weren't forced to. Their government was only there to help them. Sounds ideal doesn't it?
Right: Natural mountain water in a room that was formerly a bathroom.
Left: Do you see the man in the picture? It was carved into the side of the mountain.
Left: That same mountain (that yellowish square to the left of the middle is were the dry caves are located.
Right: Can you make out the campaign sign? Vote DAVID! (that's Dave's hand displaying his name in the mountain side)
Left: Look closely, you can see another man's face.
Right: A close up...see it now? During the Winter Solstice, (June 21st for them) the sun lines up directly with the eye of this face. Remember, the Incas were worshipers of the sun.
Left: My attempt to outline the face for you. Right: The town of Ollantaytambo. Most of our porters for the trail live here.
Right: The setting sun on the town of Ollantaytambo
Left: Helen (aussie) and I with Ollantaytambo in the background. Right: Sarah and Nancy through a doorway
Left: Some local kids and I. They probed me for a tip after this photo!
Right: If you look long enough, you can see the Southern Cross, which is to South America as the Big Dipper is to North America.
I drew in the Southern Cross for those of you who couldn't see it
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