The Black Market

A few weeks back we picked up an alternative map of Cusco called the "non touristic map".  One of the items on it is a place called Baratillo.  The description is "second hand market (buy northface, Adidas, jask wolfskin, zara at very cheap prices."  It goes on to provide a warning "keep in mind this place is not 100% safe" so of course now I feel absolutely obligated to check it out!  Plus, Melanie has developed a slightly unhealthy infatuation with North Face products.

Anyway, our excursion to the market was planned for Saturday.  We first stopped for lunch.  Melanie recently found the only bagel place in Cusco, which is run by an Israeli and fellow MOT (oddly enough he also runs a sushi restaurant).  After bagels and milkshakes, Melanie strapped on her money belt, we hid all our valuables, grabbed the kids by the hand and headed off to the black market.  

After about a 10 minute walk we come to an area packed with peruvians.  There are tents covering the entire street for about 3 blocks selling anything you could imagine...used phones, chargers, toilets, and tons of old clothes.  We spend the first 20 minutes just walking around browsing and getting our bearings (we're the only white people in the whole place)...and then the real shopping started!  We duck down some alleyway into an actual building with 3 floors of vendors selling name brand shoes and apparel.  On the surface, it looks like high end stuff, but the prices suggest otherwise.  We start negotiating for a North Face jacket for Melanie...we start at 58 soles (~$20), but get it down to 51 soles pretty quick.  We find another North Face fleece for Luke for 40 soles and some North Face hiking pants for me for another 50 soles.  We even found a vest for sydney for only 8 soles.  

All told we spent about $50!  All the items look legit on the surface, but the labels are in all chinese so guessing that they're completely counterfeit...no matter because we're feeling confident that we not only braved the cusco black market, but are now looking extra sharp decked out in all our fake north face gear!

Entertainment...Part 2

Well, I feel like I'm part of a Seinfeld episode, but it seems our entertainment issues have been solved...at least temporarily.  Yesterday, as we were walking home, we passed a street vendor selling DVDs.  I casually inquired if he had any in english, and he answered in the affirmative so we all started perusing the titles.  Then it hit me...these were 1st run bootlegged DVDs (for you Seinfeld fans out there, picture Jerry with a video camera taping "Death Blow" or "Cry, Cry Again")!

I have to say, the selection was pretty damn impressive, but I was very skeptical whether 1) these would be the actual movie and 2) they would be in english.  Regardless, after reading 9 books and watching the 5 movies we brought no less than 3 times each, I figured it was worth the risk.  Plus, you couldn't beat the price...we bought Iron Man 3, Oblivion and Wreck it Ralph for a total price of 5 soles or about $1.80 (or about $0.60 per movie).

We rushed home to check them out and see if they were legit ("legit" meaning they were the actual movie, since at $0.60 each these movies aren't exactly "studio sanctioned"), and to our pleasant surprise they were!  Other than a weird intro featuring chinese writing (which just reinforces that there's no copyright protection in China), the movies are all the real deal!!!  Not only are they studio quality, but the sound is good and we can choose english as one of the set-up options!

The kids and I enjoyed a movie night yesterday with Iron Man 3, and I plan to stop by my favorite bootlegger often to refresh my DVD collection.  If you have any requests, let me know!

A Little Girl

A heartbreaking thing happened today. I was on my way home from the nutrition clinic walking to meet the kids and Scott.  I noticed this peppy little girl, about 8 years old, walking by herself ahead of me.  She was way too young to be walking by herself through the busy streets of Cusco.  I looked around for an adult near her.  There was no one.  I sped up to get behind her and saw her shoes;  they were broken, worn, torn, and disgusting.  I then saw her stop at a restaurant to look at the menu.  (Could she read?)  We came to a stoplight and I said "HOLA".  She looked at me and flashed me a small smile and had the cutest face I have ever seen (besides Lucas and Sydney, of course).  I followed her up to the street where I was turning.  I stopped next to her, leaned down, said hi again and asked her where her parents were.  She opened her mouth to respond to me (with still the CUTEST face you have ever seen) and her teeth were actively rotting out of her mouth.   I have seen a lot of rotting teeth; this was the worst.   She told me her parents are at home and she is going home now.  I asked her if she was hungry and she said yes and then took off.  I had a energy bar in my backpack, but I could not get it to her fast enough. I felt so badly.  Hungry kids make me sad.  

The San Pedro Market

A few weeks ago we went to this famous market in Cusco.  I forgot the camera.  We finally made it back today.  My pictures don't do the place justice.  I find the entire culture under this roof fascinating.  Have an open mind.  Here goes...

I'll start slowly...here is the bread we eat EVERY SINGLE MORNING with butter, jam and sometimes cheese. Yum, right?  Not that yum after six weeks of it. 

Chicken soup, anyone?

 This was the meat aisle. I did not recognize the white stuff for sale in the bucket.  Do you?

This pig had a rough day, but is for sale.

I am told Peruvians will use all parts, and I mean every single part, of animals for soups and stews

Intestines for sale...

This is such a learning experience for us all.  We all have to eat on the planet...we just go about it in different ways.  A few more pictures will be posted on Flickr soon. 

The Inca Trail

6 months ago when we were thinking about a trip to Peru, the one thing I really wanted to do was to hike the Inca Trail.  For those of you that don't know, the Inca Trail is the walking trail created by the Incas some 500+ years ago to go from Cusco to Machu Picchu. So rather than just take a train all the way Machu Picchu like most people, this past Saturday at 6a we started the 2D/1N "mini-Inca Trail" hike (it's mini because the 4D trek is a little too much for the kids).  

The first part of the trek is train ride to KM 104.  KM 104 is a little more than 2 hours outside Cusco and isn't an actual train station (we had to give the conductor a special pass for the train to even stop there).  Stop is relative because the train barely even comes to a halt long enough for us to get off and as soon as we're clear it moves on leaving us in the middle of nowhere.  

No train, no car, no road, no electricity or phones…just nearly 8 miles of walking in front of us to get to Machu Picchu so we strapped our backpacks on, slathered on sun screen and bug repellent, loaded up with water and started walking.  Our first stop, only about 10 minutes in, is Chachabamba, a small Inca ruin that was thought to be primarily a guard post for Machu Picchu (since Machu Picchu was primarily reserved for the upper class).  After a tour of the ruins, our guide Miguel warned us that the next part of the trail is the hardest.  For the next 3 hours, save for a few brief stops to rest and have a snack, we walked up the mountain on our way to a place called Winaywayna.  

For those of your familiar with Laguna Beach, picture walking up Park…about 10 times on an unpaved and uneven surface…and that's maybe close to what this was like.  On the way, we were able to freshen up at a waterfall:

And the reward for getting to Winaywayna…more stairs straight up!  The Incas weren't just incredible engineers, but they must have also been in amazing shape to traverse these trails and steps on a regular basis.

After Winaywayna, we start the more "gentle" path to Machu Picchu.  The trail winds through several different climates.  At times it's blazing hot as the sun beats down on us, and then the trail turns and we're in the midst of the cool jungle.  All the while, we have some of the most amazing views of the canyon and Urabamba river far below, and the mountains that completely surround us:

After another 2 hours of walking, we're in desperate need of a break, but Miguel pushes us on.  No rest for the weary until we finally make it to Intipunku, The Sun Gate.  Entering the gate provides the very first view of Machu Picchu and only those who take the Inca Trail ever get to see it!  

After soaking in the view and catching our breath, and with the sun starting to set, we begin the final hour walk down from Intipunku into Machu Picchu itself.  We'll spend the next day touring Machu Picchu in depth, but we stop briefly at the Guardhouse for the signature photo:

The hiking was hard, but the scenery and the experience were amazing…in fact, it's hard to do it justice.  Despite sore feet, shoulders and backs, all of us felt such a sense of accomplishment that made the whole experience so worthwhile.  But the day wasn't quite over yet.  We head to the buses to go into Aguas Calientes to spend the night.  The bus takes a winding road down the mountain side with what seems like mere inches from either crashing into the mountain, or toppling off a cliff…but at this point it's nice to be riding and not walking!  And once we get into town, what's the best best way to recover from some 7+ hours of walking?  How about a natural hot spring (video on flickr)?

After a quick dinner, it's off to bed because we're headed back to Machu Picchu at 6a the next day.  I won't bore you with all the details of our tour of the site because I don't think it will come close to doing it justice.  Here's a map of the site that might help, but all I can really say is that it truly is one of the 8 wonders of the world:

If you're interested, you can check out the 300+ photos and videos of both the Inca Trail and the next day's tour of Machu Picchu on Flickr.  There's also photos/videos of our hike to the Inca Bridge, which is a treacherous trail that extends on the back side of Machu Picchu mountain.  ENJOY!!!

Entertainment

As much as we're enjoying our time in Peru, I'll be honest that we're running a little short of entertainment options at night.  After the kids go to sleep (between 8p and 9p), time seems to slow a bit for Melanie and me.  At this point, I've read 7 books, watched 2 full seasons of Game of Thrones and started season 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm.  Melanie has read 4 books herself, and even Lucas has read 4.

Since Season 3 of Game of Thrones won't be out for a few more months, any entertainment ideas are welcome...books we should read, shows we should download, whatever.

The Zoo is Crazy

Seriously, I've never been to a place quite like this zoo.  Every day something new happens that would likely result in a normal zoo being closed down by whatever authorities oversee these things, but in Cusco there is no such oversight.  Anyway, this morning we had 2 separate incidents of monkeys escaping from their cages.  In one instance, we look up to see a full size spider monkey swinging from the condor cages.  As the zoo administrator tries to coax the monkey down by tempting him with some bread, she asks me to grab the toucan.  I guess she was worried that the monkey might grab the toucan and kill it so I grabbed some loose clothing lying around (the old clothes are used for the animals to sleep with and to cover the cages from the sun) and cover up the toucan (you can't catch the toucan if she can see you).  Once covered, I pick her up and take her to her cage.  All the while, one of the other zoo keepers somehow convinced the spider monkey to jump into his arms, at which point he took him back to his cage and disaster was averted.

Later, we start our daily responsibilities of cleaning some of the animal cages.  We're supposed to clean out any excess food, and pull out the loose clothes that are left in the cages overnight.  Sometimes the animals crawl inside the clothes and make it difficult to pull them out without letting them loose.  Today, I'm cleaning out some random animals cage and he's not visible so I'm assuming he's hidden in the clothes and so I'm trying to be a little extra careful.  After pulling out a few pieces of clothes, it quickly becomes apparent that the cage is empty...the animal has apparently escaped in the night!!!  We of course alert the zoo administrator, who doesn't really seem that worried.  By 11:30a when we left it was still unclear if the animal was ever found...oh well!

Finally, Friday is apparently "meat day" because next thing we know some random guy is walking in with a side of beef draped over his shoulder.  He literally has a huge chunk of meat about the size of a 10 year old boy, hanging over his clothes...no protection, no gloves, no nothing.  After he deposits the meat in one of the back rooms, for some reason he insists on shaking all of our hands.  Keep in mind that he has raw meat literally all over him...thanks goodness we were all wearing gloves.  I gather someone else comes in later in the afternoon to hack the meat up to give it to the animals!

Next week we're back at the orphanage, but the zoo will never be far from our thoughts.  We'll miss it's non-stop entertainment and look forward to volunteering there again in 2 weeks.

Zoo

This week we started a new volunteer assignment at the Cusco zoo.  When I say "zoo", I use the term very loosely.  While there are animals (and some of them are even kept in cages!), there are no vets and the people who work there seem to have little if any formal training on being zoo keepers.  There's a fee for visitors, but no one actually mans the entrance to collect the money, and there's really only 1 rule…keep the door to the zoo closed so the free-roaming llama doesn't escape!

Volunteering at the zoo typically starts with taking some of the animals out of the back storage rooms.  It's unclear why these animals aren't just left out overnight, but no matter.  We start by loading the turtles (there's probably about 20 of them) into a wheelbarrow and wheel them out to the exhibition area where we place them amongst the birds!  Next up is several monkeys and some other animals that look like ferrets and possums, but their exact names are unclear.  One, named LuLu, was allowed out of his cage and actually attacked Melanie, but she survived!  Finally, we bring out the toucan...for him we just open up his cage and let him hop out.  Today the Toucan, while roaming the zoo uncaged, actually attacked another bird...caught it in his mouth and seemingly killed it!  Check out the video:

It was unbelievable to watch, until the zoo administrator rushed up and grabbed the toucan and basically yanked the still alive bird out of its mouth!!!  Needless to say, this place is never dull!

Next up...feeding the animals.  What do they eat?  BREAD!  That's right, pretty much every animal in this zoo starts the day off the same way we do every morning…with a breakfast of bread.  The monkeys, the parrots, the macaws, the peacock, the bears, the ostrich, the deers…all of them get bread!  And how do they get the bread?  We feed it to them by hand!

I don't mean to be critical because it's a lot of fun…and I'm no vet (but mind you that neither is anyone who actually works at the zoo)…but I'm pretty sure none of these animals are meant to have a diet of complex carbohydrates.  One story I heard is that the zoo used to have a cheetah.  When we asked the woman who runs the place what happened to it, she informed us that it died of some kind of an intestinal disorder…likely from all the bread!  We also saw a dead monkey…can't say the bread was the cause, but guessing it didn't help.

Needless to say, I don't think this particular zoo is going to win any awards, but they do the best they can with the resources they have available.

Anyway, after the bread, we help clean the cages and then cut up fruit because the best way to wash down complex carbohydrates is bananas, watermelon, apples, pineapples and papayas!  On Monday's the bears, vultures and condors get Alpaca meat that one of the employees cuts up for them.  On other days, some of the animals get chicken.  The feeding isn't an exact science.

One Of The Boys

Before we came to Peru, I thought our work in the orphanage would be sad. That has not been the case. The boys are in a great moods when we see them and greet us with smiles, hugs and high-fives. Today was different.

We are suppose to help the boys with their homework; some need it and some don´t.  I sat down next to a boy that had his head down on his backpack today and told him I would help him with this homework. He shook his head no.  One of the directors came over to the two of us and yelled at him to pull out his homework immediately and begin. He had tears in his eyes.  When she walked away he put his head back down.  In my best Spanish (which is not terrific yet) I explained to him that I would stay with him and we could do the homework together.  He shook his head no. I decided to find out what the hell was going on so I walked up to the woman that yelled at him and asked about him. Here is his story:

JC is a 12 year old boy who apparently used to LOVE school and do well.  Apparently his father was horrible to him and everything changed. I did not get exact details;  I am not sure I wanted them.  JC ran away from home and lived in the streets.  The police finally picked him up and brought him to the orphange. Since then, he has been depressed.  He hates school.  He hates to shower.  He hates everything.  He has been in the orphanage a few years so, if you do the math, he ran away and lived in the streets when he was likely UNDER 10 years old.

We bring fun activities with us to the orphanage (balls, jump ropes, art supplies, etc.) I had colored pencils and paper with me today and so I sat back down with JC and told him that I would make him a deal.  I told him that we would play tic tac toe three times and then look through each of his notebooks to see what homework he had.  I drew the grid, nabbed him lightly with the pencil and told him to go first.  He looked up, took the pencil and marked an "X".  I let him win that first one.  The last two games we tied.  Then I began opening up his notebooks to see where his homework was.  As I flipped through his notebooks I noticed that some of his school work involved pictures he had to draw and color.  The kid had some artistic ability!  I asked him if he liked art and he said yes.  He had about six notebooks that we went through and for the life of me, I could not figure out what he had to do for homework.  But I did begin to figure just how much this kid loved art.

As I was going through JCs notebooks Sydney came to sit with us and she began coloring this picture where I had scribbled a bunch of black pen on white paper.  She added color to the spaces.  The finished product looks like a mosaic.  He just sat and stared at her picture.  I asked him if he wanted to try it and he said yes. So he and Sydney sat there and he completed about three of them and they were gorgeous!  I wrote a bunch of postive notes about his works of arts and told him to keep them.  By the end of the day he had done NO homework, but he was all smiles and had beautiful art.  Scott and I left him all the pencils and told him he can have them for the night ("JC, you are the boss of the pencils") and we will do more art tomorrow.  I would like to think the homework would get done tomorrow, but this is as far as I got today.

Day 3: Taquile

Our "mama" woke us about about 6a.  We slept in our clothes and there's no running water for showers so it didn't take long for us to be "up and at 'em".  Breakfast was pancakes with jelly…which everyone loved.  After saying goodbye to Lindy (Celestina's adorable 3 year old),

then came the long dreaded trek back down to the boat, but this time with a twist…our "mama" strapped our suitcase to her back and carried it for us!  Admittedly, I did the hard work of carrying it up the hill, but Celestina carried it, strapped in a blanket and hanging from her neck, all the way down the mountain without 1 complaint or so much as a stop to rest (I was not as generous going up).  She explained that all girls on the island, starting at age 15, learn to carry very heavy loads on their back…Melanie and Sydney have a lot of work to do to catch up!!!

Once loaded up, we started the short trip over to Taquile where we observed how the locals weave clothing the old fashion way…by hand on a loom, crafting designs entirely by memory.  Then…more hiking.  We spent the next hour walking to the city center:

where we had lunch of lake trout and of course potatoes and rice!  There's really not much more to tell about Taquile…it's much like Amantani where locals spend their entire time either catering to tourists or farming potatoes.

After lunch we walked over 520 steps down to our boat where we started the now 3 hour boat ride (which should probably only take 20 minutes on a normal boat) back to Puno.  In Puno we hit an internet cafe, since I was suffering from withdrawal, and then we had pizza dinner (pizza is incredibly popular in Puno…you can barely walk 10 feet without coming across a place that serves it).  By this time the kids could barely walk…in fact, Lucas fell asleep on the lobby couch at the hotel we where we waited to be picked up.  Our ride showed up at 9p, and took us to the bus terminal where we boarded the "night bus" back to Cusco.  Honestly, the night bus may have been the highlight of the trip for the kids.  Each seat reclined into a bed, we had movies (the kids watched Ice Age in Spanish) and we even had wifi!!  We probably didn't fall asleep (in the same clothes we've now worn for 2 days straight) until near midnight and the bus rolled into Cusco at just before 5a.

Exhausted and disgusting we spent all of Sunday recovering.  Enjoy all the pics and the few videos we took.  Next weekend is Machu Picchu!