The Inca Trial

Five years thinking about it.

Four days trekking an estimated 45 kilometers climbing from 2600 to over 4200 meters (the apex of Dead Woman's Pass) and then back down again.

Three (occasionally rainy) nights spent in tents.

Two very well-used rain ponchos.

One unforgettable arrival in the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.

I have never been more proud of my daughter.

It's all a big museum

As some of you may know, I had a hard time getting my family to feel joyful about going to a museum or fort when we were on our cross Canada tour.  They did join me but they weren't necessarily happy about it.  They were impressed with our last tour at Fort Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia (it was mostly outdoors and people in period costumes would walk around and answer any questions and offer information).

Chloe at Saqsayhuamain

Selvy explaining how the royalty
would sit on this stone throne in Q'enqo for
celebrations and offerings, etc.

I now realize that the trick is to arrive in a location where everything around us has great historical significance, is outside and is inspiring in some way.  On our first weekend in Cusco we toured around some local ruins with Selvy, one of the founders of Peru's Challenge.

This stone casts a shadow of a puma
on June 21st (winter solstice, a very
important date in the Inca tradition)

Looking down at Plaza de Armas, the main square in Cusco,
from Saqsayhuamain ( pronounced somewhat like sexy woman)

This last weekend, as Chloe has already explained, we were in the Sacred Valley visiting various towns and ruins.  At each site we visit we all shake our heads in wonder as we contemplate not only how the Incas built the temples with such clean lines and close fitting stones, but also how they got those huge stones (which were often from a quarry at a different site) to the top of the mountain!!  Everything we're seeing is truly awe-inspiring.

water system at the top of
the Pisac Ruins

The shape of the "windows"
help make the ruins seismically
sound (no upgrades needed here!)

This coming Friday we will begin our hike up to Machu Pichu, along the Inca Trail.  We think we're prepared for the cold nights with our alpaca hats, socks and gloves.  We'll see how well we do physically, especially on day 2 of the trek which we've been told is the most difficult day (up to Dead Woman's Pass or Abra de Huarmihuañusca at 4,200m).

Wish us luck!

Hello Cusco

One of the side-effects of getting adjusted to the high altitude of Cusco and our new existence as volunteer's with Peru's Challenge is that our blog entries have been a little sporadic.

It has been a very cool week. We got here and almost immediately got impacted by the high altitude and also by a stomach bug that we think Heather picked up in Lima. Almost as soon as we got off the plane we (well, at least Heather and I - apparently kids are immune) started to feel the effects. Thankfully we seem to be somewhat adjusted now.

Once we arrived we were met by the Peru's Challenge team and taken to our home base in Cusco where we met the other volunteers. There are people here from the USA, South Africa, and Sweden, including a two-year old boy.

We received our orientation trip to the community where we will be volunteering on last Friday. It is amazing what the Peru's Challenge team has been able to accomplish here. Our focus will be on doing some teaching and completing construction of the local greenhouses, as well as assisting with the local woman's craft market and even doing some house visits with the local social workers.

Here's a look at the greenhouse (before we started on it) and the school area:

Saturday we had a trip into the centre of Cusco and a visit to the local black market. Unbelievable. Like a giant maze filled with people selling anything. A couple of times Chloe and I had to turn back as we were sure we would lose our bearings if we went deeper in. Here's a sample of movies that were available (note the titles)

Sunday had us horse-riding to explore some Inca ruins in Cusco.

One of the things we learned was the significance of various animals to the Inca people, and how they paid tribute to those creatures in their temples. Here's Chloe at the head of the snake and me at the tail.

We are definately not in Kansas anymore