Machu Picchu Revisited

So, one of the nice things about serving a mission as an older couple is that visits from family are allowed.  And when you are serving in an area rich with cultural heritage and near to one of the seven modern wonders of the world, it sort of causes family to want to come see you.

So this week, we worked hard the first part of the week in anticipation of my sister, Cathy and her husband, Charlie, arriving for a visit starting on Wednesday.

We held two self-reliance workshops on Sunday - one education and one business.  We taught our English classes and piano lessons.  We made some contacts with leaders to confirm some up coming meetings.

We also stocked up on some of our gifts and souvenirs, knowing that once again we had a chance to send home with family many of our things.

Cathy and Charlie arrived Wednesday morning.  They took it easy in the morning while we took care of things at our office and did our classes.  By afternoon, they were ready to get out and explore.  Dave took them around while I did my afternoon piano lessons.  They got to experience Cusco's afternoon showers a bit.  They did quite well adjusting to the high altitude and the jet lag.  They were ready to go full steam the next day.

In order to not let our missionary work suffer too much, Dave decided to stay "on-the-clock" and work the full week.  He continued with the English classes and self-reliance workshops.  It's great to be able to do "splits" in this fashion as a senior couple.

I went off and played with my sister and brother-in-law.  We headed out Thursday morning and took in some of the sites in Sacred Valley.  We visited Chincheros first.  There are arqueological ruins and a Catholic church.

Chincheros is also where much of the weaving is done that is sold in the markets.  So we visited a workshop where we were given a presentation on how the alpaca & llama wool is cleaned, spun, and dyed.

 These show the different plants they use to get the different colors.

They use all natural ingredients.  Lemon juice to lighten the color and salt to change the color.  Here she shows how it was red and then after adding salt, it turned orange.

Afterwards, they have you visit their goods on display for sale.  They of course hope you will buy something.  They even let you try some on and pose for a photo op.  Here they roped Cathy into modeling.  The sunglasses seem out of place, however.

Then they got us all to get into the act.  Why do the hats look so normal on them but so funny on us?

We then headed down to Moray, an arqueological site we still had never visited.  From the photos we hadn't been too impressed, but I have to say in person they are much more impressive.

Charlie & I pose for a photo at Moray above the terraces.

Cathy & I in front of the terraces at ground level.

It is basically a site of 4-5 concentric circles of terraces.  The arquiologists believe it was a site used for agricultural development and testing of different crops as each set of terraces have slightly different weather condtions and from one level of terrace to the other there is a difference in temperature of 2-3 degrees farenheit so from top to bottom the temperature varies, allowing the scientists to test the results of how the crops would develop under different conditions.

Then we had to vamoose to Ollantaytambo.  We took a bit too long at the first two sites and I was in danger of missing my train to Aguas Calientes the city at the base of MachuPicchu.  Our driver had to drive peruvian style (which is a bit dangerous) to get me there on time.  I made a dash through the station gates just as they were announcing the last call for passengers for my train.  I had a few minutes in my seat to catch my breath before the train pulled out.

Cathy and Charlie stayed in Ollantaytambo for a couple more hours before their train left.  This gave them time to visit the ruins there.

We spent the night in Aguas Calientes and then got up the next day to tour Machu Picchu.  I was surprised to see so many tourists still around.  We had to wait 30 minutes to get on the shuttle to go up the mountain.  

This does not mean "peace".  This means this is my second time to visit the site.  We got up early so the morning mists had not burned off yet.

We had about an hour of good weather up at Machu Picchu before the rain started.  Normally it doesn't last too long, but this time it rained for 3 hours, exactly during the time Cathy & Charlie had their hike up Wayna Picchu scheduled, so they ended up doing the hike in the rain.  Good thing they came prepared.

Cathy & Charlie heading off to hike Wayna Picchu, which is the tall peak in the background of my photo above.  It is a popular trek as it allows you to look down on the ruin site.

The good thing about the rain is it brought in the mists, which adds to the mystic of Machu Picchu which has the nickname, the lost city of the Incas.

How's that for a mystical look at Machu Picchu (click on the photo to enlarge it to see better)

The bad thing was at one point the whole mountain top was covered in clouds and you couldn't see a thing of the ruins from above.  And that happened just as Cathy & Charlie reached the top of the peak.  Fortunately, before they descended the clouds blew out and they did get a glimpse of the ruins below.

I had a couple of hours to kill while they did their hike so I decided to visit a part of the ruins that I had missed the first visit ---

 Boy am I glad I did.  It was amazing.  

You have to hike up around the back of the mountain and not many tourist take the time to hike the 15-20 minutes to the site of the bridge so it was a quiet, solitary hike in the rain and mists, but it reminded me of our time on the Inca trail and I enjoyed it.

 One of the few views I could glimpse down into the valley as I hiked through the mist and the rain

 Parts of the trail had the old Inca stonework still in place.  I was literally hiking along the side of the mountain, as you can see below when you look over the edge of the wall.

And the bridge was AMAZING!  

 It was literally built into a sheer cliff.  Where the boards are I am sure the Incas had a rope bridge like what we had visited in September.  Obviously they don't allow the tourists to go out on this bridge, but to imagine them building this on the face of a sheer cliff and then using it was incredible!

The good thing about the rain was it chased away all the tourists.  By noon, most had given up and left the ruin site so we didn't have to fight the crowds in the afternoon.

Since I already posted a ton of photos of Machu Picchu when we visited last November, I am only posted a few unique views that I took this time around.

 Below is the view from the hill heading out to the Inka Bridge. Since we didn't visit that part of the site last time, I didn't get this view and I really like it.  Wayna Picchu is the tall peak in the back.                                  

This time there were plenty of llamas hanging around.  This one below seemed to pose for me as I snapped his photo.  He even paused in chewing his cud.

One llama even spit on an unsuspecting tourist.  Not sure what she did to deserve it.

We spent the whole day on site and left on one of the last shuttle buses.  We spent a second night in Aguas Calientes and the next morning headed back home.

We returned to the Sacred Valley by midday so we had Dave & the Johnsons meet up with us and took the afternoon to tour Pisac, Dave's favorite ruin site.  This time we also got to see a section of the ruins that we normally don't have time to see.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from this visit.

 Cathy in front of a guard tower.  Below are caves in the cliffs that were used to bury their dead.

 A section of the ruins that we visited for the first time and the view looking down from this part of the ruins.

Dave has all the luck.  He found this arrow head in the dirt.  It looks as good as the ones we've seen on display in museums.

 Above, the group posing for a photo at the beginning of the ruin site and Dave taking it easy on top of one of the temple walls.

After a full day of activity, we headed back to Cusco and arrived in time for dinner together at a nice typical restaurant.

 My sister and I pose with the hostess dressed in a typical dance costume.  Below we were serenaded by this typical Peruvian band.

Here we all are waiting for our food to arrive.  Left - Gabby & Henry Guerra, Charlie & Cathy.  Right - Pat & Dawn Johnson, myself & Elder Rhoades

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  Bruce C. Hafen - The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life's Experiences, p. 7-8

"I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is no. The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice. 

Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his.  But if we decline the Savior’s invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.  Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life.” 

My Favorite Month in Cusco

October is my favorite month in Cusco!  We are out of the cold and heading into the warmer months, so that means the nights and early morning hours are not as difficult but we are not into the rainy months yet, so the days are warm, sunny and dry.  Oh, and there are less tourists around.  But not this year, it seems.  We are still seeing plenty although not as much as June, July and August.  All the Cusquenos agree, the tourism business has been booming this year.

Cusco in October

We started the week out with the second day of General Conference.  The talks were well done and inspirational.  I am anxious to start reading and studying them.  Now with the Gospel Library app, you don't even have to wait for the Ensign to arrive.  Within a day or two, you can download the talks and begin.

President Monson seemed so weak.  It was good to hear him speak, but my goodness, it was a bit nerve racking to watch him sink lower and lower towards the end of his talk.

Since we are an hour ahead of Utah time that meant we had until 11 am before the first session started.  So I decided to go out walking since I knew I would be sitting around most of the day listening to the messages of the living prophets.  The weather has just been too gorgeous to sit around inside all the time.

Well, it turned out to be a bad decision.  I was on my way back to the apartment and walking on smooth pavement (which is unusual here, actually) when I twisted my left ankle pretty badly.  It hurt so much I could barely walk.  I gingerly continued walking the rest of the way home.  The last few blocks, the pain was not as bad, so I figured I had simply stretched some muscles and had walked it off.  So I didn't bother to ice or bandage it.  Second bad decision.

My ankle continued to hurt during the day, but nothing too bad.  Monday morning when I woke up, however, my ankle was so swollen and putting any weight on it was difficult.

 Can you see how much bigger my left foot is?  Holy cow!  It looks like feet from two different people.  As the week went on the coloring around my ankle worsened despite my trying to stay off of it as much as possible.

It made for a very frustrating week, as I didn't feel like I was working as hard as I should with what little time we have left. Also being stuck in the house resting my ankle, rather than out and about in the gorgeous October weather!  I truly can't remember ever spraining or twisting my ankle as badly as this.

Dave once again had to hold down the fort a bit more on his own so I could limit my walking and weight-bearing on my foot.  By the end of the week I was doing much better, but still babying the foot and the swelling was still visible but not as pronounced.

We have been trying to nail down our return to Pleasant Grove.  The church usually likes to have that arranged three months out.  We have been shuffled around from one entity to another as we don't technically fall under the jurisdiction of our mission president.  We were sent to the area offices in Lima, who then sent us to our Self-Reliance manager, who then sent us back to Lima's travel department, who then sent us back to our mission office here in Cusco.  

We have indicated to them we would like to leave Cusco after the first semester of Pathway finishes up on December 17th.  We would fly out the morning of the 18th to Lima, have our exit interviews with the area manager, Carlos Fermandez in the morning and then we would like to head down to Paracas, Peru & the Islas Ballestras for a short two day trip.  We would then return to Lima and attend church on Sunday, Dec. 20th and fly out in the early morning hours of Monday, Dec. 21st.  We've been told our arrival would be sometime in the middle of the day the 21st.  As soon as we have definite details we will let you all know.

We are now committed as Speaking Partners with two Pathway students.  This means we spend 30 minutes a week with each of them practicing their English.  Pathway has a set topic you discuss with them during this 30 minutes.  Dave is doing most of this work since both students are male.  He enjoys it.

By Thursday afternoon, I was going stir crazy and needed to get out of the apartment.  We had a free afternoon, so we decided to visit the Inca Museum.  We figured we can't live in the Inca capital of the world for 18 months and never visit this museum.

No photos were allowed in the museum, but I was a renegade and managed to take a few photos without being caught.

 Theses ceramic vases were huge.  Below is the stairwell baluastrade art work.

 Above, the inner courtyard.  I really don't think it was outlawed to take this photo, just the artifacts.  Below is a photo from the top floor window, looking out on the main cathedral on the Plaza de Armas.  How do you like the column art?

Friday we attended our first Peruvian marriage ceremony.  We were invited by a return missionary that Dave has befriended, Calif Munoz.  He served his mission in El Salvador and has been home over a year and a half.  He is also participating in Pathway.  He married the sister of one of my piano students, Yeni Montanez.  So with connections on both sides we felt we needed to attend. 

It was typical Peru schedule however.  We were told 2:00 pm at the municipal building but it really didn't take place until after 3:00 pm.  

We had to do something to entertain ourselves, so we figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity for an official looking photo op at the Santiago district courthouse in Cusco Peru.  To the left is the Peruvian flag and to the right is the Quechua nation flag.

The courthouse patio had a huge poster announcing the third annual Guinea Pig festival the next day.

The members of the church have to be married civilly first and then they go to the temple to be sealed.  

Here comes the bride to join her husband to be - Calif, on the left.

Lots of photos were taken after the ceremony and after everyone filed by to wish the couple congratulations.  This photo shows my piano student, the bride's sister, Yeni with her son Dallin in front who is also taking piano lessons from me.

We were even invited to get our photo op in with the bride and groom.

 As the couple left the courthouse, it is typical to toss multicolored confetti on them to wish them luck.  They then took off on a tour of the city for wedding shots at the various famous landmarks and historical sites.

The family and friends headed over to the Santiago chapel which was only a few blocks away from the courthouse for the reception.

The cultural hall all decorated up, ready for the festivities.  Below is a photo of their wedding cake.

Our volunteer, Gladys Machado attended the reception.  She is Calif's aunt.  Doesn't she look bella?

We finally had to leave before the reception ever got started.  The bride and groom were taking too long to return to their own party.

Friday evening I facililtated an Education workshop and Dave taught the English class.

Saturday morning I got up early to buy local train tickets to MachuPicchu in anticipation of my sister and her husband's visit next week.  I was fortunate enough to not have to wait too long and I got on the trains I needed to go.  So I am going back to MachuPicchu!!  I had really hoped to get back to visit one more time before our mission ended.  Dave said he wasn't interested in seeing it again, so he will hold down the fort and keep the ball rolling while I play hostess to my family.

Spiritual Thought for the Week:  Thomas S. Monson, "Be an Example and a Light"  October 4, 2015.  

"You have come from His Presence to live on this earth for a season, to reflect the Savior's love and teachings, and to bravely let your light shine for all to see.  When that season on earth has ended, if you have done your part, yours will be the glorious blessing of returning to live with Him forever."

"I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  John 8:12