The Beaches of Ecuador

After arriving in Guayaquil, Ecuador, we immediately jumped on a bus and headed for Puerto López with the intent of seeing some whales and relaxing on the beach. Strolling through town that evening looking for a restaurant to catch some dinner, a family called out to us and called us over to their hostal/boat tour office and told us about their whale excursion the next morning. We weren't really expecting to find a whale watching tour that evening, but they made us a good offer, and we were thrilled to get to possibly see some whales so quickly.

The next morning, we boarded a double-decker boat with about 10 others, and we headed out to sea. Within about 30 minutes, whales were breaking the surface of the waters not far away, spouting water mist into the air as they breathed in before heading back down. Several waved to us from afar, flapping their beautiful tails out of the water. One of the highlights was that we saw one massive whale leap out of the water and come crashing back down in a giant splash. We had a great time on our whale watching excursion!

Unfortunately, relaxing on the beach in the sun was not in the cards for us in Puerto López since it was too overcast and stayed quite cool. Without the sunny weather to entice us, we were less motivated to wade in the chilly Pacific waters.

Our original plans were to then catch a bus inland to Alausi to ride a train down “The Devil's Nose,” the second highest train route in the world. But luckily we discovered that the train had been shut down due to repairs before we caught a bus out that way. So instead we headed up the coast in search of sunnier beaches, to the well known town of Canoa.

Unfortunately, the overcast weather followed us and there was no sun. But we had a lovely time anyways. After arriving, we found out that some of the locals were having a chili cook-off to raise money to help with a neuter program for strays and a mobile pet health center. Surprisingly, they can make some good chili down here. We also spent some time relaxing on the beach and playing cards. The next day we went for a jog along the expansive beach coast in the morning. And for the afternoon, the hotel we stayed at held a 4^th of July party with BBQ chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. Felt like we were back in The States again.

Sandboarding and Pisco Tasting

After returning to Cusco from Machu Picchu, we jumped on an overnight bus to Ica – a city well-known for its production of a grape-distilled liquor called Pisco, more typical wines, and to a lesser extent sandboarding down the massive sand dunes that look like they were shipped over from Egypt. Shortly after we arrived, since it was a Sunday and the bodegas were not open, we borrowed a board from our hotel and walked over to a nearby sand dune that was practically in our backyard.

Sandboarding is very much like snowboarding, except it can be significantly easier to learn since it is slower and softer. After just a couple times down the dune, I was starting to get the hang of it and already starting to go a bit faster. The problem is that walking back up the dune to go down again is extremely exhausting! So after just a few more times, I had to call it day.

The next day we took a taxi out to some of the bodegas where they make their famous Pisco liquor and wines. First was Vista Alegre where we were given a tour of the facilities where they had massive fiberglass vats for fermenting wine and the predecessor to Pisco. We viewed some of the casks, including some antique casks that were over 8 feet tall and over 100 years old. They also showed us the distillery where they heat up the fermented wine, condense it back down with massive cooling coils, and then separate the three byproducts: methane (a toxic substance), the alcohol (for consuming) and the ethanol/butane (which can be used for heating the oven of the distillery). After the tour, we were given samples of the wine, some good, some just okay, and the samples coming a little faster than what we are accustomed to – not much time for smelling and sipping. And then to top off the wines, we tasted some very tasty (and powerful) Piscos. Pisco can most closely be compared to a Cognac or Whisky, even though its produced from grapes. The three shots of Pisco they offered quickly made us realize we would only be visiting two bodegas that day

The second bodega was El Catador. Our guide explained to us that there are two types of Pisco bodegas in Peru – the “modern bodegas”, like Vista Alegre where its very similar to our wineries we have in the states; and the other is “artisanal bodegas,” which is the group that includes El Catador. The main difference that we could tell in the production was that a modern bodega uses machinery in its process, and a traditional bodega uses more traditional means, such as foot stomping to crush the grapes, earthen pots for fermenting, and a massive fire oven for distilling. The only similarity was in the cooling coils, but rather than residing in large copper pools of managed water, their cooling coils were in large cement formed pools. Since El Catador only produces Pisco, they have quite a variety of Piscos for tasting after the tour, including a traditional, an aromatic with a very rich aroma of fruitiness, a non-aromatic with absolutely no aroma as the name implies, a Pisco and milk which tastes much like a Bailey's Irish Cream but possibly tastes even better, and a Pisco Sour which tastes much like the Margarita-ish drink you can buy everywhere in Peru.

An unexpected surprise in Ica was their Regional museum which housed well-preserved over a thousand years old Pre-Incan and Incan ceramics and textiles, mummies discovered near Ica from the Incan times, and several examples of head deformation, an Incan custom. Somewhat like the tradition to bind girls feet with cloth at a young age in Asia to keep their feet small, the Incans would wrap babies' or childrens' heads in cloth to elongate their heads. The museum did not go into detail as to why the Incas practiced head deformation, but the skulls and information about this practice were fascinating.

The next morning, we had a little time to spare before catching our bus to Lima, so we took a taxi over to Huacachino, an oasis in the middle of some massive sand dunes. It's quite spectacular to be driving among these dunes that stretch to the sky and then it opens up to a small body of water surrounded by palm trees and restaurants and hotels. It's exactly as you would imagine an oasis to be – with a bit of modern world mixed in to please the tourists. We had some ice cream, strolled around a bit, watched some people on sand buggies and then headed back.

The Mysterious World of Machu Picchu

So, the original plan for Machu Picchu was to hike the Inca Trail for 4 days, seeing several ruins and other sites along the way, and the pinnacle at the end with Machu Picchu. However, due to issues with LlamaPath, the company organizing the tour, and some unforeseen circumstances, we made plans to take the train to Machu Picchu directly.

An interesting note about the train... Since there were extreme conditions during this past rainy season in February, which left several thousand people stranded in Machu Picchu and having to be flown out by helicopter, the standard train route from Cusco was not fully functional. Instead, we had to take a two hour bus ride to a train station on the way to Machu Picchu where the train tracks had been fully restored and operational. Not quite what we had hoped for, but still a beautiful ride among the Andean mountains.

After finally arriving in Aguas Calientes, the city very near to Machu Picchu and commonly used as a base camp for visiting the ruins, we found our hotel, dropped of some gear, grabbed a sack lunch and got our bus tickets to Machu Picchu. The bus ride up to Machu Picchu was a short 20 minute windy trek up the side of a steep mountain.

After arriving at the main entrance to Machu Picchu, we followed our guide book recommendation to walk on up to the Caretakers hut, which offers amazing views of the entire grounds – the view that you see in most pictures of Machu Picchu in guide books, on TV and in magazines. It was astounding! With the mountains in the background reaching into the clouds, the brilliant green hillsides, and a few llamas nibbling on grass along the terraces, Machu Picchu was everything you hope it to be – breathtaking.

We continued upward along a route that lead away from the main ruins site and around the back of the mountain to where an Incan drawbridge had been built and restored. The walkway along the edge of the cliff could have made some a bit weak in the knees – but it was completely safe.

We then walked through the main site of the ruins, viewing the endless terraces that cascade down the mountainside, the ceremonial baths, many temples where the stones are so finely crafted that they need no mortar, a huge stone monument to represent a condor and many other amazing places. And we made sure to take some time to just sit and take in the view.

Machu Picchu was an amazing experience we will never forget.

Inti Raymi (The Sun God Festival) – Peru's Largest Festival

Two days after arriving back in Cusco, the entire city, thousands of Peruvians from outside of Cusco, thousands of foreigners, ourselves, and Hilda celebrated Inti Raymi. The morning begins at Qorikancha, an old Incan ceremonial site which now forms the base of the Santa Domingo church. Here hundreds of performers gathered to start the ceremonial dances and the first prayers to the Sun God. It was very hard to see as we arrived a tad late, but a nice foreigner offered us his chair after seeing me trying to do a balancing act between a bench, a stool, and Hilda.

After the initial ceremony at Qorikancha, everyone headed down to the Plaza de Armas for the next ceremonial act; however, we continued on our trek uphill to Sacsayhuaman, an impressive Incan sanctuary and temple to the sun, where the main ceremony of Inti Raymi is performed. Sacsayhuaman is a great representation of how the Incas could build large structures still standing today without using any mortar. It looks like this was a common practice for their ceremonial sites/buildings. By the time the ceremony began, there were tens if not hundreds of thousands of people smothering the hills to enjoy the festivities.

Inti Raymi began with the Incan people gathering together from the four regions to dance, pray, and perform sacrifices for the Sun God. The entire performance was in Qetchua, the traditional Incan language, still spoken today in Peru and parts of Ecuador. Hilda kindly translated parts of the prayers and speeches for us so we could follow along. The last to join the group were the Inca Queen and the Inca Emperor, who were each carried on high thrones by their followers to the primary temple. Here the high priests, Inca Emperor, and other high ranking Incas prayed to the Sun God, Inti Raymi, while the groups performed traditional dances. In honor of the Sun God, they sacrificed a black llama and gave gifts of gold, hand-made pottery, and food.

A Day in the Life – Living in Curahuasi

It's interesting to take a look at how your life can be different when living in another country. Here is a description of a typical day living in Curahuasi, Peru.

We typically awoke between 7:00 and 7:20 each morning and sat down for breakfast by around 7:40-8:00. Hilda prepared us breakfast each morning. To drink, we would have anise or manzanilla tea, hot chocolate or a smoothie. The smoothie was served warm, traditional Peruvian style, but Hilda would sometimes leave it sitting on the table for us resulting in a cooler drink by the time we arrived for breakfast. The smoothie included fruits such as mango, melon, and banana, milk, a substance like honey except it was extracted from a tree, sugar, and beer. To eat, it would be bread with butter, jam, and/or avocado, soup, left-overs from dinner, picarones (doughy pastry you dip in a Peruvian syrup), french fries mixed with a fried egg, or rice with a fried egg on top.

We headed off to the all girl's high school, where Augusto works, by 8:30-9:00. Most days, we worked in the computer lab removing/troubleshooting the never-ending viruses, reformatting hard-drives, and removing viruses from teachers and administrative personal computers. On occasion, I (Haley) would get to teach an English class. We left the high school at 1:20 when the school day ended and walked back to the house for lunch. A few mornings during the week, we went to two other schools to teach English. One school had children ranging from 3-11 and sang songs and played games in English. They were a hoot. The other school had kids ranging from 12-13 with about 35 kids in the class.

For lunch, the whole family sat down together and ate - Augusto, Hilda, Augusto's mom (she was there just over half the time), and us. Lunch was always the largest meal of the day and included soup as the starter and then another meal. The soups typically included rice, french fries, potatoes or a combination, carrots, and sometimes chicken, pork, or beef. Most of the main dishes, like the soups included 1-2 starches and 1-2 meats. We had Chicharron, which is roasted and seasoned pork, boiled potatoes, and large corn kernels which you ate all by hand. Lomo Saltado was another dish with slices of beef mixed with tomatoes and onions served on top of a bed of french fries with a side of rice. There was a dish that included all your typical Peruvian meats – guinea pig, pork, beef, fish eggs, and chicken, and cornbread, a chunk of white cheese, seaweed, and the large corn kernels. Peruvian causa was another dish which is like a tuna fish sandwich, except instead of bread, they use a potato cake on top and bottom to hold the sandwich together and we had a chicken salad sandwich instead of tuna with two olives and a couple of hot peppers on top. Other meals included fried trout, fried or roasted chicken, hot liquidy jello, or rice with a fried egg on top. Hot tea was served every evening and chicha morado, a purple corn-based juice that is similar to cool-aid, or Inka Cola, a bubble-gum flavored soda produced in Peru, was served for lunch.

After lunch, we had about 20-40 minutes to relax or prepare for our class with the girls at the convent. We taught there from 3:30 to 5:30 every Tuesday-Friday. We taught English for 1 to 1.5 hours and then worked on math or homework. I had the girls in the first two levels of high school aged 12-14, and Eric had the class of girls in the top three levels of high school ranging from 14-16. We had a lot of fun working with the girls. They had English classes at their high school, but didn't know hardly any English. Just about any topic we covered was new to most girls.

After class, which sometimes ran a bit late, we would head back to the house for dinner, which was typically served within a half hour or so of arriving back home. Like lunch, everyone would sit down together and eat and talk about our days.

Around 7 pm, friends of Augusto's would come over and play golpe, a Peruvian poker game sort of similar to gin rummy.

We couldn't take our showers at night b/c the water was typically shut off throughout the town at night. We are not sure why but every evening the water would turn off and not turn back on till sometime in the middle of the night. We typically tried to slip in a shower in the middle of the day when it was warm out as it is not common to use heaters in Peru and it could be quite chilly in the morning and at night.

One traditional practice in Curahuasi, and I think most of Peru, was to have a party amongst the teachers for every local school's anniversary. There were 3 during the month we were in Curahuasi. For these parties, the teachers typically leave school early and head over to the school having the anniversary. Everyone sits down for a few speeches while beer is passed around and a lunch, such as fried trout and potatoes, roasted chicken and potatoes, or roasted pork and potatoes. After lunch, the teachers have a volleyball and soccer tournament. If the school has lights, then the party goes until late into the night with dancing and drinking.

Also, most every Sunday afternoon, Augusto and Hilda would take us to Cconoc, hot springs pools at the base of the mountain near the river. We'd soak our weekly aches away and clear our minds for the upcoming week. They told us that Cconoc waters are known to be medicinal and ail many issues. If we stayed too late, though, it was a shivering sprint to the changing rooms.

Our last days in Curahuasi

The warm hearts of the people in Curahuasi, Peru made us feel so comfortable and welcomed over the last month. The people here are so kind and went out of their way to ensure that we knew our help was appreciated and everyone is awaiting our return, as soon as possible. Willy, Willy Jr, Heidi, and Mom threw a Father's Day celebration at the Maria Guadalupe school, where we taught English a few times to the youngsters. The party included 11 dancing performances by the students, food, and dancing amongst the kids and parents. One dance that kept us cracking up was a rendition of Thriller by Michael Jackson and another one that was performed by four of the older boys just for us to express their thanks for our help!

The following morning, Augusto, Hilda, Willy Jr., and Heidi walked with us around San Cristobol, a beautiful mountain overlooking Curahuasi with magnificent views of the canyon nearby, close-up views of snow-capped Andes mountains, fun trails for exploring the Peruvian hillside, and the top is the ultimate destination for a yearly pilgrimage for a 3 day festival. They say that the canyon is one of the “mas profundo del mundo” canyons in the world due to the steepness of the canyon with the flowing river down below.

Two more cock fights followed over the weekend, where we saw 2 fights where a rooster decided he did not want to fight anymore, and jetted for the exit. For the second day of cock fighting, we were a bit late because we had cake and tea with two of the fathers at the church where we have been teaching English. Father Walter and Father A both speak a little English and are very welcoming and laid back.

Our last days at the all-girls high school included me teaching a few English classes, while Eric continued fixing computers in the school's computer lab. The teachers coordinated with the students for a Father's Day celebration later that day where the girls sang, danced, gave speeches, and played games with the teachers watching and eating food made by the girls. Also, that morning the school expressed their gratitude for our assistance and their sadness for our impending departure with the special honor of raising the Peruvian and Curahuasi flags during the morning gathering. And again at the end of the day, Augusto, the director, some teachers and a class of students gave another presentation of thanks and gave us some locally-grown and locally-made Anise liquor.

Needless to say, our experience here in Curahuasi has been a memorable one – and we hope to return some day and see everyone again.

Hilda and Augusto would not allow us to take the bus back to Cusco, so after school we all drove to Cusco together, which can take about 2.5 hours if you leave in the morning, but took over 3.5 hours due to construction and another half hour driving around Cusco due to traffic congestion. They both had to work the next morning so they dropped us off, ran a few errands in Cusco, and headed back for the evening.