Photos from Pisac

 Enjoying the sun!

 For the Incas there are 3 gods, Condor - god of the heavens, The Puma - god of the earth, The Snake - god or the underworld. The drainage system has been made into a representation of the snake.

 The main road where we got dropped off by the bus.

 A cool building, you can see they have etched in the Condor, Snake and Puma.

 More Inca terraces.

 My friend Elwyn trying on hats in the market.

 These 2 decided to join us on our hike up the mountain.

 This is a rare mountain flower called a shooting star. I found it fascinating, because, when I learned about it years ago, I was told it was only supposed to be found in the Rocky Mountains, (maybe it is a cousin).

 Chilling out close to the top where we stopped to have lunch.

Photos from Machu Picchu

 Proof I was there! LOL

 It is amazing how they would cave out standing stone to make, steps, sitting areas, ect. I can't imagine the time and effort it would take to do some of this work.

 This is a terraced area inside Machu Picchu  that had really great acoustics so it is thought to have been a gathering area for meetings, entertainment ect. Kinda like a town hall.

 You can't see it because of the clouds but this naturally placed stone mimics the mountains behind. There are no tool marks on the stone so it formed naturally that way.

 One of the cool plants in the area.

 This is the view from one of the terraces where we decided to have an afternoon siesta. At the end of my feet it drops off about 30+ feet. Don't roll over it is a rude awaking! Just kidding Mom, there was lots of space. LOL

 Reflecting pools used in ceremonies.

 A perfectly framed mountain through one of the windows in the guard area before the entrance to the main area.

 A view of Machu Picchu from the guard tower/area. This is where most of the postcard photos are taken from.

A Christmas tree made from green pop bottles, (in the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu ).

Photos from Ollantaytambo

 The town of Ollantaytambo from about 1/3 of the way up.

 The Incas used canals a lot.

 At the bottom looking up.

 One of the main entryways. You can tell it is a main entrance my the double frame.

 Me at Ollantaytambo

 My friends that I went to Ollantaytambo with. A lovely couple from the US.

 It is amazing how perfectly straight and uniform this ledge is.

An amazing fountain that still works perfectly.

The stairs at the end of my street. I have to climb them when return from the market. The first 2 weeks in Cusco I thought they were going to be the death of me every time I climbed them. Amazing what getting used to the altitude can do, I can now sprint up them.



One of my favorite pedestrian only streets in Cusco. I walk it frequently to and from Plaza de Armas (main square).

The other side of the wall, (and looking the opposite direction), from the previous picture.

 Another nice pedestrian only corridor. The stone building on the left is a convent.

 This is the view when you just enter Plaza de Armas from the street in the previous photo. It is the main church in the plaza, (there are 2).

This is the view to the left from where the previous photo was taken, (and the other church).

New Update

Jan 18^th

Well I tried a Peruvian dish today called Cuy (baked guinie pig). It is quite a delicacy here and the locals really like it. I found it to be ok and edible but a lot of work for what you get. I am glad I tried it but I won’t be eager to have it again. I shared it with my friends Damian and Rebecca and they felt the same way about it.

Jan 22^nd

Thing have been quiet here, there is not too many students here in the language school and being the slow season not too many tourist either. My friends Damian and Rebecca have left and I have made a new friend with a new student (Elwyn).

Jan 25^th

I have been spending my days studying Spanish and spending my evenings talking with Elwyn. She is a fascinating person and it is easy for us to lose track of time when we are in one of our many conversations. Tomorrow we go to Pisac and Ollantaytambo.

Jan 29^th,

Pisac was fun and we met a couple of very interesting people along the way. We started from the town side and hiked up, I had for gotten that my friends Annie and Renzo had told us to take a cab to the other side of the ruins then we would only have to walk down. Therefore we never made it to Ollantaytambo. It was good though, on the hick up we met 2 people who decided to hike with us and ultimately the 4 of us spent the day together. Elwyn left to continue her travels and then return to the US. It is an interesting thing about being in a tourist town, you make quick friends as everyone tends to be quite real and without pretense but everyone moves on quite quickly as well.

Feb 10^th,

Things have been quiet and nothing really to write about. This past weekend I went out with some of my friends/instructors at the school as it was someone’s birthday. We ended up going to a Karaoke club, as that seems to be fairly popular here. It was fun as a number of the people in our group can sing very well. I don’t really sing but they did convince me to participate in one song. Thank god it was in English as my Spanish is not that good yet.

 Feb 17^th,

I have stopped going to Spanish school as I now need to integrate what I have been learning. Nothing really all that exciting has been going on. I went out with some friends dancing at one of the clubs. I ended up staying later as some other friends showed up just as we were getting ready to leave and they asked me to stay for a bit. Over all it was fun but I did end up getting home way later than I originally planned. No the sun was not up but the sky was getting lighter.

 Feb 24^th,

Today I went for a hike with a couple friends, (Annie & Gallia), from the house. It was a hike that Annie knew about and not a typical tourist hike. It was good but with it being the rainy season there have been a number of landslides. We had to cross 4 of them on our hike but it was ok as it was a sunny day with no rain and the landslides had dried out some, so they were not slippery or in danger of shifting more. If it had been raining we would have turned back and not attempted it.

It has been interesting here for the past week as this week has been the festival of carnival. One of the traditions is for people to run around with buckets of water, water balloons, and water guns trying to soak as many people as possible. As you can imagine it is very popular with the younger people. More than once I have been used as a shield on the street by the young girls hiding behind me. Apparently, frequently I am the biggest thing to hide behind. While normally no one is immune from getting wet, (tourist and local alike), I have been spared from getting wet. I guess the young boys/men don’t want to take the chance with me.

Over all I would not have cared and was fully expecting it to happen. Water does not matter, however in the last few years they have also started using silly string and a type of non-permanent aerosol paint to tag their victims with. I would not have been impressed with that as that can stain cloths.

There is a humorous story though, from early in the week when I was returning from lunch with my friend Mark, (Mark is tall but quite thin).

As we are walking down the street, this young girl, (about 14), grabs me to hide behind, and the young boy, (about 11), is running so fast he cannot stop or dodge me. He ends up bouncing off of me, falling to the ground with his bucket of water on top of him. Of course the girl thinks this is very funny and the boy rushes off to get more water and I am sure the chase was on again.

Since leaving the Spanish school I have been going to a different place for Salsa lessons and have met a nice group of people. We are trying to find an evening to go out to practice as a group. This Wednesday is our first attempt we shall see how it is to get a larger group together to go out.

Welcome to my blog.

The primary purpose is to be an online journal for my family & friends to keep up with me while I am living (in Peru) & travelling in South America. I will aslo be including information that I may think is relevent for other people's adventures.

Thank you for Visiting.

Gregory

P.s. I will add photos soon.

Nov 26, 2012

Flight was rescheduled at the airport.

Nov 27, 2012

Finally on my way. The extra day was nice to have to just decompress and have a day to relax as it has been go, go, go, trying to get everything done before I left.

At Lima airport, immigration was very simple, similar process to Mexico have to push a button to see if your luggage gets scanned or not. I got the red light so I got scanned but it seemed like there were a lot of red lights. As I suspected there was a mis-communication between air lines and I have to get them to fix it. Good thing I have 6 hours to do it in. Not irritated mostly just tired.

Nov 28, 2012

At the hotel in Cuzco, everything has worked out just fine, all of my luggage has arrived so all is good. Everyone has been very helpful and friendly along the whole trip. Very tired as I did not get much sleep in the past 24 hrs, I had some coca leaf tea when I got to the hotel as it is supposed to help adjusting to the high altitude and prevent altitude sickness. Going to have a nap for a few hours.

Got up and had some more tea, as I have a slight headache and I have some tingling sensations in the extremities. Going for a walk to get to know my way around and to meet with the people managing the rooming house where I will be living at for a next couple of months.

Good news is the people and the rooming house is great so I can move out of the hotel and save myself some monies. The bad news is, at this elevation I feel like I am completely out of shape! Walking up one flight of stairs makes you feel like you just ran 10! Because your body is looking for oxygen and you are breathing so much deeper/harder I defiantly notice the exhaust of the passing vehicles. Oh, and as a pedestrian you have no rights so you get to play frogger on the roads. I am exhausted so I am going to bed.

Nov 29, 2012

I am moving to the rooming house today, getting some groceries from the nearby markets, walking to check out where the Spanish language school is and just settling in.

Not as bad for feeling like I have a constant lack of oxygen but I still wheeze on stairs and hills. Slowly my body is adjusting.

Nov 30, 2012

First day of classes today! It was fun and enjoyable. It is also going to be intense as they really do not want to speak English to you even though they are quite good. I understand the reasoning as they want you to immerse yourself in the language. It just takes some getting used to. Learned numbers, alphabet, adjectives and a few other things. The brain was ready to explode by the end of the day!

The good news is, my body is becoming more accustomed to the altitude as hills no longer bother me and I can walk at a quicker pace, however stairs still make me feel like I have emphysema.

I have been invited to go out with my house mates so I shall see how the evening goes.

 Dec 3, 2012

The weekend was relatively uneventful. Friday night I went out with my housemates and some of their friends and got to try a Peruvian drink called Pisco. It is made from grapes but it is not wine. You can have it straight or mixed with something I had it mixed as it is greater than 40% proof. Even when they mix it here it is usually 2oz per drink. The bar I was at (La Roca) uses a good quality Pisco so it was a smooth drink and would be easy to get carried away and need to be carried home!

Saturday there was a festival of some type in plaza de Arms (the main square). Being only a 10 min walk from there I went down and watch for a bit but left after being harassed by the street vendors. It is the slow season so they are probably are a bit more aggressive trying to make a sale and I do stand out a fair bit here.

Sunday was a nice, sunny, relaxing day. I took my book and found a bench down at the plaza de arms and read for a few hours and ended up getting a sun burn on my arms. Went for a late lunch to a pizzeria with my housemates and their friends, then we just spent the afternoon at the plaza hanging out.

Today, (Monday), I had my second class of Spanish lessons and it was a lot of fun. I enjoy the instructors as they are quite funny. We get a lot of laughs at my attempts at their language. I start out ok but by the end of the day my brain is ready to explode. I am actually very fortunate taking lessons right now as there are not a lot of students so even though I signed up under the group rate I am getting individual training.

I changed rooms today as my new one while slightly smaller is better set up for a long term stay. I am still trying to get used to that all the girls and women wear very tight jeans and stretchy pants. And frequently high heels, which I just marvel at as I do not know how they can walk with the hills and the cobble stone streets without twisting their ankles. Oh well, I am not complaining as it gives some nice eye candy to look at. (Hey! I am healthy young guy, I am only enjoying all of the scenery that Peru has to offer! LOL).

Dec 16, 2012

For the most part things have been uneventful. Mainly I am just getting used to the altitude and doing my Spanish classes, (6hrs a day), which keeps me quite busy and by the end of the day I am exhausted.

Yesterday I went out to the discothèque with some students and instructors from the school. We went to a club where the locals go not normally where the tourists go. As you can imagine the 3 of us that were obviously foreigners received a fair bit of attention, especially because we wanted to dance. And like many places the men don’t dance unless they have 3-4 bottles of liquid courage. Since my Spanish is not really that good it was almost impossible to have a conversation with anyone who did not speak some English. Over all it was a lot of fun, however it will be a lot more interesting/fun when my Spanish is better.

The clubs down here are a lot different than in North America. For one thing they do not close until 7AM! I was not prepared for this so therefore I went home early, (in relative terms). Also the clubs allow drinks and cigarettes on the dance floor. So you defiantly have to be aware of the people around you. There are other differences too but they are just that, differences, and need to be experienced if you so choose.

I have been taking Salsa dance lessons for 1hr a week at the language school. It is a lot of fun but it is a workout! Everyone is tired at the end of it. Salsa is normally a very fast dance so it is hard to keep up especially when you are gasping for air.

I thought I was doing better with the altitude however it takes longer than one would think to fully acclimatize. There are some stairs when I go to the market and typically I have to take a short break at the top. I found that coca leaf tea helps not only with altitude sickness but also helps with energy and is an appetite suppressant, as well as a digestive aid. Who knew all of the benefits!?! If you are ever in Cusco I recommend going to the Coca museum as it is very informative and interesting on the history and uses of Coca leaves. (Interesting fact: Peru is one of the few countries where it is legal to grow the Coca plant and their biggest customer is the US for producing medicinal cocaine products). By the way drinking Coca tea or chewing Coca leaves will not get you high as it takes an incredible amount of Coca leaves to make cocaine, plus the process of making cocaine takes many chemicals not found in the body.

 Dec 22, 2012

It has been an interesting end of the week and weekend. I travelled with some friends from the house to Ollantaytambo (Thursday) and Machu Picchu (Friday). Ollantaytambo is an Incan site on the way to Mach Picchu. It is a smaller site but still very interesting and takes about 2hrs to walk it.

Machu Picchu is a huge site! We spent 6 hrs walking the site and we didn’t get to some of the areas that are at the edges of the main site. I could have easily spent another day there but that is because I found it so fascinating there. During the high season they sell out the 2500/day tickets that are available for the site. There were just over 300 tickets sold for the 21^st so it was nice not to have so many people there.

In the end it was almost a perfect day as it was nice and sunny in the AM until about 10:30 then it was cloudy with some sunny breaks for most of the day and then after we decided to leave and were heading to the bus to go down to the town it started to rain. We were able to take/have lunch while on the site as well as we found a nice place to have a short siesta, (we had to get up at 4am to catch the train). During the high season I do not know what they will allow as there are a lot of rules that it seems that may not be enforced during the slow season. (This is common in Peru and from what I am told, in S.A. Fequently there are rules/laws but they are not enforced). It was amazing to be there on the 21 as it did seem like there was a lot of energy in the place and it was very memorable as there will be only a handful of people who can say they were there on that date.

I highly recommend going to Machu Picchu and if you can to go in late Nov early Dec while it is the slow season and before the rainy season really kicks in.

Dec 26, 2012

This was my first Xmas in another country. It was very interesting and overall was good. We did a secret Santa gift exchange at the school. In the house I am staying it is like a makeshift family. I understand most hostels are the same way. We all gave some money for the Xmas dinner which we had at a friend’s place as he had a larger dining room. In total there were 11 of us. It was interesting as for one girl it was her first Xmas ever as she was from a different religious background where they do not celebrate Xmas. For quite a few of the people there it was their first time having turkey for Xmas dinner. I think for all of us it was a first in one way or another. While it was good and I enjoyed it, it doesn’t really feel much like Christmas for me as I am I away and the language school was only closed for the 25.

Over all I am impressed at the hospitality of everyone here and how they try to include the foreigners in things and make them feel at home. New Year’s Eve should be interesting as apparently Cusco is the place to be for New Years in Peru.

 Jan 2, 2013

Well New Years did not disappoint. We started by going to an invitational only party at a very popular hostel, (Loki), then we went to the main plaza for midnight, which was insane. A person from USA told me it was similar to new years in New York but on a smaller scale.

At the square our numbers dwindled to only 3 as some went home because they drank too much and others went back or never left the party at the hostel. Being we were 3 male foreigners, 5 local girls decided to become our local guides, 1 was mainly doing it because she thought she could get us to buy the alcohol and she was not very happy when we refused. But that was a short lived issue as the rest of us ignored her temper tantrum. Eventually, somewhere along the way the my 2 male companions went home, so me and my 5 new friends went to a nearby discothèque and danced until 6:30am! I said goodbye to my new friends and walked home in the morning sun. It has been many years since I have stayed up all night partying. I was actually surprised that I was not more tired when I got home.

  You do have to be careful during the holiday season though as there are many pickpockets who use the crowds and distractions to steal. On New Year’s Eve 2 people from our group had their cell phones stolen and someone tried to steal mine but I felt them trying to remove it from my belt and I stopped them. Unfortunately I was not fast enough to catch them to turn them over to the police. Mind you, if I would have knowen how to call him a thief in spanish the crowd would have dispensed thier own form of justice. Or at least, that is what the locals tell me would have happened.

 Jan 12, 2013

For the most part things have been quiet and returned to routines, going to school, homework, salsa lessons, going to the market and getting to know the different people that rotate through the house and school.

On Wednesday night I went out for dinner with a couple from the school to a restaurant called, “La Cusquenita”. The restaurant has a buffet so you can try many different local dishes as well they have a live show with music, singing and dancing. It was very good and the show went basically the entire time we were there, (2.5hrs). It was a little more expensive than most restaurants in this area, but in my opinion it was worth it.

Last night I went out with some of the instructors to a club called Mythology, next to Plaza de Armas, (the main square). It was one of the instructors birthday. It was fun as everyone likes to dance and since it is next to the main square there is a good mix of locals and foreigners.