The Incans made some really cool stuff!

In my post yesterday about the protesting near Cusco, I said that I would tell you a little bit more about what we did during our trip...and include pictures as well. Here's a brief recap:

We traveled to Cusco on Tuesday, and the first day visited a few sights in the City. One was a place called Saqsaywaman, ancient ruins built by Andean people just outside of Cusco. Cusco, by the way, was also the capital of the Incan empire. Saqsaywaman was our first glimpse at the impressive construction skills of Andean cultures, especially the Incas. We also visited other ruins in Cusco proper, at a place called Qoricancha. These ruins actually sit inside the cloister of a Catholic monastary that was built on top of the ruins. A close up picture of the impressive work is to the left. As you can see, the Incas used no mortar in their brick construction...they simply perfectly carved out bricks that they stacked upon one another.

On Wednesday, we started off our day with a really interesting experience. We had the privelege to receive a traditional Andean blessing by a elder who lives just outside of Cusco. He made a sacrifice of various foods, coca leaves, candies, and other things that would make Pachamama, Mother Earth in Quechua, happy and that would bless our group. He then wrapped up all of these offerings in a packet, blessed us one-by-one with the packet, and proceeded to burn the packet as an offering to Pachamama. Prior to this experience, we had read a decent amount about the religious beliefs and traditions of historical Andean cultures, so it was a great experience to witness a common custom first hand. While this tradition was much different than any other religious experience I had been a part of, I can still say that I experienced something significantly spiritual in this tradition. It also helped my try to get more of a grasp on the copmplex identity of the people of Perú.

We also left Cusco on Wednesday, and took a tour through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, which was an area very important to the Incan peoples (as the name makes very clear) for its good agricultural properties, climate, and central location within the Incan empire. We stopped in the valley at a place called Pisaq, to view more ruins. Some of these were somewhat rough, and others more advanced, as you can see in the picture to the left. The rougher construction represents pre-Incan cultures and the more finished wall is a product of the Incas. While at Pisaq, we walked around with our tour guide for about an hour and visited several small neighborhoods that are connected by trails carved into the mountains. The Incas had a very intricate series of trails that connected villages and served messengers very well. It is said that Incan messengers could deliver important information from one side of the Incan empire to the other as quickly as modern mail service could do now over the same distance.

After Pisaq, we traveled to Ollantaytambo, which is a historical Incan village that is still occupied today. Many of the houses and buildings in the village still have foundations that are remnants of Incan construction. There are also very insteresting, and intact, ruins on the mountainsides surrounding the village. We visited the most concentrated area of these ruins, and after looking at the ruins a little bit, my friend Matt and I decided to hike a bit on the mountainside beyond the ruins. We came across our leader, Duane, who told us we ought to summit the small peak, because there was a great view of the village below and also a pretty impressive cross placed at the peak. Our tour guide (named Elvis, his picture is to the right) had told us to only explore for about 30 minutes or so, but we figured that if our professor had given us the O.K., then we'd better keep on hiking. Sure enough, the hike, which was made difficult by the high altitude, was very rewarding. We found the cross at the top and could see all across Ollantaytambo. However, on our way down, we stumbled across to young local boys, who had apparently been sent up to check on us, as the park was closing, and we were the last people out exploring. There were only 6 or 7, and running up and down the mountain, so needless to say Matt and I were a little bit humbled by their ease in dealing with the altitude. As we descended the boys told us that Pachamama would be upset with us because we were up on the mountain nearly after the sun had set (not a safe practice), however our tour guide told us that the guard at the park had a soccer game to go to and wanted to lock up so he could leave, so we couldn't help but wonder if maybe we weren't really in trouble with Pachamama.

Another highlight Wednesday night was back at the hostel we were staying at in Ollantaytambo. A few friends were hangning out, and we decided to head up to the roof of the hostel to sit and relax in the cool air for a while. As we reached the top of the ladder and stepped up on the roof, I looked upwards and saw that the full moon I had seen earlier in the evening was now nearly fully eclipsed. "Whoa! I forgot, today is a total lunar eclipse!" I said as I dropped the water bottle I was holding. My friends and I sat and whatched the spectacle for about half an hour or so...it was a beautiful sight, especially given our setting for observing it, and I hope that some of you back in the states were able to see it as well.

Thursday was the highlight of our sightseeing during our trip, as we made our way to Machu Picchu...the highlight of Incan ruins which was recently named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. The ruins were just as spectacular as I had seen in pictures, and I tried to capture some of their beauty in a few pictures. However, what struck me most about the place was the surrounding mountains, which are stunningly beautiful. As you can see in the picture to the right, there is a peak just above the ruins themselves that were we able to climb up to, via a very steep path and staircase made of stone by the Incas. In addition to this trek, some friends and I also hiked along two other small trails near the Machu Picchu complex. As much as we walked around and admired the amazing construction and ingenuity of the Incas, we were just happy to do some hiking and admire the Andes...a very different and refreshing sight from what we would be seeing in Goshen at this time.

These were the basic highlights of our trip to Cusco...in addition to the experience that took place on Friday that I wrote about in my last entry. On Saturday we were also in Cusco, waiting for our flight, but basically just hung out and took it easy after all the high-altitude walking and hiking we had done. Right now I am back in Lima, however I will be leaving in the morning to go back to the high altitude.My bus leaves at 7:45am, so I should get into Huancayo, where I will be doing my service, sometime in the evening. Right now I know very little about what life in Huancayo will be like, but I did find out today that I will be staying with a young couple in their 30s. Once I get settled in Huancayo I will be able to tell you a little more about what life there is like. But right now I have to get back to finishing packing my bags and get some sleep for my traveling tomorrow. Until I write next from the mountains...

Travel made difficult by protesters

Earlier today I returned to Lima from Cusco...two days later than planned. We were originally scheduled to fly out of Cusco on Friday morning, however our plans quickly changed due to labor strikes going on in the area. Because news of these strikes, and the status of our group, made it's way back to the states already, I figure I should give my description of the events that we experienced due to the strike (for another perspective, click on the link to the left to Rachel's blog).

On Friday morning, we knew that some labor stikes were ocurring in the Cusco area, and our tour guide decided we should leave Ollantaytambo (our base camp of sorts for the sight-seeing we did at various ancient Incan sights) early...real early, at about 3 am, in case we might encounter any roadblocks on the way back to the Cusco airport. Sure enough, after about an hour or so of driving, our bus came to a stop due to a large tree that protesters had placed across the road. A few of the guys in our group helped some others on the road with removing it, and we were on our way pretty quickly. However, about five minutes later, our bus came to a stop again at another roadblock. It was unclear what exactly would be happening next, so our group just kind of hung out on the bus and to wait it out.

Various students on the bus were doing their best to stay warm, pass the time, or in my case sleep...but all of our activities were interrupted by some commotion that we heard outside. We started to hear some voices in spanish shouting and getting louder and louder. Then all of the sudden, there were 20 or so drunk Peruvian guys (who had apparently stayed up all night drinking and preparing for the strike) who surrounded our bus. There was quite a bit of shouting and at one point there was a loud thud as one guy hit the side of the bus with a large stone. It also appeared like some of the guys outside were attempting to let the air out of our tires. Needless to say, we were all pretty stunned by this, and unfortunately we couldn't understand all of the rapid shouting by the protesters or our guides who were at the front of the bus talking to them at the door. One of the few things I did catch was our tour guide shouting in Spanish, "They're just tourists! They're students, they support you!" As I heard that, I naturally felt a bit of panic, and there were definitely others on the bus who expressed outright fear. However, after a minute or two of shouting, the protesters moved on down the road, apparently no longer interested in the bus full of tourist/students.

Once they moved on and everyone calmed down a bit, our tour guide informed us that it wouldn't be safe for us to travel by bus any longer (though after that experience, we wondered how safe it would be to be getting out of the bus). Instead, we were going to leave the bus, grab the things we felt like carrying with us, and walk the remaining nine miles back to Cusco. No one was particularly excited about walking that distance, especially as it was cold out, the sun still hadn't risen fully, and there was a light drizzle of rain coming down to top things off. But, we went on our way...and saw some very interesting sights along the way.

As we walked we saw many more trees and large rocks set up as roadblocks, which prevented travel into Cusco by autos. As we passed through small towns, there were also very few stores open, as everyone was participating (or being forced to participate) in the strike. I guess I should probably say what exactly this strike was all about: in a nutshell, the government of Perú, in Lima, has begun the process of allowing private investment near historical sights such as Machu Picchu. The only step left in passing the law is for it to be signed by the President, Alan Garcia. As many people oppose private investment in these locations, a 48-hour labor strike was held in Cusco, with transportation in the city suspended as well, to express concern towards Garcia over the law.

When we finally got to Cusco, the city had a very strange feeling. There were no cars driving around, only people walking around in the streets. At one point, in the main square, our group rounded a corner and saw a large group of people marching towards us chanting, on their way to protest in front of city hall. There were also tires in various intersections that had been set on fire to prevent traffic from using the streets. However, from what we saw, the protesting was very peaceful, as there were police in the streets monitoring things, but I did read online that there was some violence and eve a couple of deaths in the Cusco area. The only somewhat violent thing that we saw were a couple of glass storefronts that had been smashed (one of which was an office of LAN Airlines, which is Chilean, and Peruvians have historically had conflicts with Chile and their companies). Finally after an hour and a half or so, we made it to our hostel where we could rest and nap after our long, drawn-out return.

As it turned out, there were no flights on Friday, so we had to reschedule our return to Lima. And with a group of students as big as ours, we weren't able to get space until today, Sunday. So, today we returned to Lima, and are now safely back with our host families. Tomorrow we will meet as a group to discuss our final plans for going to other parts of Perú for service, and on Tuesday I'll head to Huancayo where I will stay for six weeks. For now, I won't saw more about our trip to Cusco, now that I've got the most important story out of the way. Some more stories and pictures of the real reason for our trip, Machu Picchu and other ancient Andean sights that we visited, will have to wait for tomorrow.

On to Cusco

Well, tomorrow our SST group leaves for Cusco and Machu Picchu. Naturally I'm really excited about that, but as I sit here in Lima, I realize that I'm pretty sad to be leaving my host family here in Callao that has treated me so well over the past five weeks. They have opened their home to me, always going out of the way to make me comfortable. I don't know how many times they let me have the front seat when we got a cab, walked to the bus stop with me in our potentially unfriendly-towards-Americans neighborhood, sent a few pieces of fruit to school with me, or any number of other things to make my stay in Lima enjoyable. This past Friday we had a going away party for all of our host families which was a great way to say good bye. We sang some songs for them, had some words of farewell and thanks, and spend time mingling and talking to everyone.

This past Saturday I also said thank you as well as good-bye to my family in the best way I knew how - by getting up early and making them breakfast. After a discussion with my sisters and host mom, I realized that here in Perú, they don't have pancakes like the ones we are used to in the States. So, thanks to my mom for sending a recipe to me, I made my family some American-style pancakes. They weren't quite like in the states, but they were pretty close. Afterwards I went to Lima zoo with my mom, sisters, and a couple of friends of the family. That was a great way to spend a little time with them here on the last weekend. My family also took me out to eat on Sunday night and then we walked around a bit in an area of Callao called La Punta, which, as the name suggests, is a peninsula that sticks out into the Pacific. What really struck me during our time at the good-bye party, making breakfast, at the zoo, and at La Punta, was my family's desire to take pictures of us together. It really makes me happy that they want those memories of me, because it shows that they've enjoyed having me around and want to remember. And I know that I'll remember them, pictures or not.

This week, we'll be leaving Lima for Cusco, where we'll spend one day. We'll head to Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo (a historic village of sorts close to Machu Picchu), and spend two days in that neighborhood. On Friday we'll return to Lima, and then everyone will head out into rural Perú for their service assignments. So, in about a week or so I'll have a whole new host family, surroundings and daily routine to tell you all about. Until then I'm going to enjoy Cusco and Machu Picchu, which I know I'll have a lot to write about when we get back.

A few new pictures

Guess it's been a while since I posted, sorry about the delay. I actually was preparing a post about a week ago with various new pictures, but the internet connection I have is pretty slow, so the pictures were uploading very slowly, and I ended up just quitting. Now a week later, I've finally gotten around to putting up that post.

Obviously, with the delay that I've had in posting, I've been very busy the past while. This past week we spent a lot of time looking at religion and arts in Perú. We had a great lecture about the history of the Catholic church in this country, which is fascinating, as the Catholic church has had a lot of influence on Perú, as in many other Latin American countries. Another highlight this past week was going to the Museum of Art in Lima, where unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures. But the artwork there is amazing, from the pre-columbian artwork of native Peruvian cultures, to current artwork that depicts Perú very diverse culture.

Probably the most enjoyable times this past week were spent at the Pacific Ocean, where I got to swim three consecutive days. Thursday and Friday several people from our SST group went down to the beach to enjoy the view, and take a dip in the water. Spending time near the ocean is an awesome activity that we don't get to enjoy much in Goshen, so we're really trying to live it up. The first picture of this post of the sunset was taken on Friday as we walked back from the beach. Our experience in the ocean yesterday was pretty exciting, as our group got to go on a boat tour and swim with 'lobos marinos,' or sea lions in English. That was a pretty awesome experience, I've never swam that close to any marine life of that sort before. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that, but I'm sure there will be some photos up on the Goshen blog. The picture to the right is of me and Rachel enjoying the sun in the boat.

One fun, and very interesting, event that I was able to attend recently, guess it's been two weeks now, was a church youth retreat with my host sisters. The event was located in Chancay, about two hours north of Lima, also on the coast. It was quite a bit smaller than the Mennonite conventions I'm used to from my high school years, only about 150 people or so, but it was a great way to see into a very unique part of Peruvian life. My host family's church is Evengelical, which represents a small percentage of the Christian community in Perú, so it was very interesting to get a look at their traditions. It was also nice just to get out of the city of Lima, see another place. While in Chancay we also visited a really interesting castle, called the Castillo de Chancay. The pictures here are from our visit to that castle. In the second picture with me is Phil, a fellow SSTer, who lives with my host dad's brother, and went along to Chancay.

Well, those are a few of the things that I've been up to recently. Sorry it's taken me a while to update you. Finally, here are a couple of pictures from my home life. The one on the right is me in my room, and on the left is me with my host parents, Segundo and Mervy. Well, I'm off to do some school work...gotta finish up a project as this is our last week of Spanish classes. Then I'm going to head to downtown Lima with my family for some sightseeing and dinner. I'll be sure to get an update with some pictures of that posted a little faster next time.