The Heather Jones Bucket List: August 2017

August 31, 2017

Between the emotions of my travel day and the very long day of hiking in the thin air, it took little for me to fall asleep last night. Add in having my own bed (YAY) and I slept like a champ. Feeling refreshed, I headed to a buffet style breakfast filled with fruits, meats, cheeses, eggs, chicken, and a variety of juices. I opted to try grenadilla, somewhat affectionately known as snot fruit. And with good reason. The outer skin reminded me of a bruised orange, but the inside was nothing less than a gelatinous pile of sweet and sticky goo filled with black seeds. That looked like bugs. I ate a bug-filled snot pile, ya'll. Thank God, it tasted nothing like either of those. The goo was sweet and the seeds crunchy, but I absolutely loved it. Disregard how gross it looks, and you'll be pleasantly surprised by the taste.

Quinoa encrusted chicken (YUM!), Eggs, Popcorn and snot fruit. Monochromatic breakfast of champions. (I had about 3 plates of that chicken.)

Gelatinous deliciousness.

Another morning photo of our hotel courtyard.

The monastery.

7:45am and JC (I'm shortening Juan Carlos for the duration of this blog) and Henry were there to pick us back up and took us to Chinchero at 3800m. Henry kept telling us the elevation as if we could convert meters to miles seamlessly in our heads. Thank God for my distance converter app! Chinchero was a cute little town with beautiful landscapes and an amazingly beautiful church (but, sadly, we couldn't take photos inside). The government was in the process of renovating some of the terraces, so there was scaffolding all over the place. Henry informed us that the rainbow flag is to represent Cusco. It used to signify the Incans, but over the years everyone did away with the rainbow flag except for Cusco.

Chinhero seems like a real bummer, you guys. You can't do anything here!

Up the steps we go!

This guy was busy chiseling rocks.

Not my idea of attractive headwear, but to each his own! I bet it keeps your head toasty warm!

Inca drainage system.

Getting ready to start selling their wares.

Loved this little guy!

Peru and Cusco/Incan flags.

Church

Confetti from a previous celebration, not trash.

Door to the church.

Henry discussed two more types of rock walls: pillow (these were more rounded rocks) and flower (the stones make a flower pattern). These go along with imperial (top quality) and some other kind I can't remember from Ollantaytambo yesterday.

Pillow, I believe, because they are rounded.

Perfect weather!

Terraces on terraces on terraces.

Scattered all around the grounds were piles of dehydrating potatoes. Henry assured us these were, in fact, not llama droppings, but I'm not 100% convinced. Women leave them out in the sun to dry for a bit before they are squished to release any remaining foul-smelling liquids. Imagine the smell of rotting potatoes. Yep, that's what these piles smelled like. Still partially convinced it's llama poo. After the liquid is released and they are completely dried, they can be used in soups or ground up into potato flour.

Not llama poop....

...allegedly.

Govenment is doing work to repair terraces, hence their version of scaffolding.

Flower rocks, because each one can look like it's in the center of a flower.

Altitude is still a bit rough. Climbing stairs and pretty much any exertion at all makes me feel like a 60 year old chainsmoker with asthma. Well, that's what I assume they feel like. We drove through town to a textile shop where we were treated to a demonstration on the natural dyeing of the llama/alpaca/vicuña wool.

Haters gonna hate.

Learning how they use natural plants, fruits, vegetables, etc. to dye to the wool. Fascinating.

Love.

They offered us each a muña or mint tea. and I came home with a similar tiny mug.

Brenda said it best that she's showing us the natural dye, not an open hand wound.

This lady was absolutely incredible. She weaves the intricate pattern by hand and memory. By hand. And memory. Now I can understand why it's all so expensive.

Gorgeous.

Terrifying.

Good thing I have good restraint, because I wanted to buy some of that really nice wool. But, I never would have worn/used what I bought. I like quality items, but I also know when not to buy it because it will never get used. Hence, why I didn't end up with an Icelandic wool sweater last year. It doesn't get nearly cold enough in StL to justify hundreds of dollars on one item. I did get a headband though. but, I'll probably never wear it. HA!

I also bought a llama keychain for around 25 cents. Don't you judge me.

We headed back on the bus to head to Moray, amid a very windy, bumpy ride. JC and Henry took us on their interpretation of a Peruvian shortcut through the bumpiest, roughest road in all of Peru.

Traffic jam.

Short cut.

Moray is something out of science fiction. Everything looks so perfect, it's almost impossible to believe the Incans did it and not aliens. Almost. ;-) Because of the size and the depth, each level in the terrace has its own mini climate, allowing for different grains and vegetables to be grown. The Incans used this as a sort of food laboratory and the terraces helped acclimate the produce to the altitude and climate. Henry told us that there are OVER 3800 DIFFERENT KINDS OF POTATOES! I think I can name 5 or 6 off the top of my head. What did they need that many kinds of potatoes for?

Not your average terrace.

Moray selfie.

We couldn't go down there, but I imagine they were quite deep, given what we saw at Pisac.

Three amigas!

Say that 5 times fast.

Total Dr. Suess style tree.

There were two more smaller terraces, irrigated by the water from the mountains, that were less impressive, mostly because they had yet to be fully excavated. This was a fairly quick stop since we couldn't fully explore the terraces, so back on the van to drive through the town of Maras, a mostly deserted town that was almost haunting. Henry said the town didn't offer much anymore, so most people had moved on to find a better life. All we saw was a small group of school children with kites, out to test their flying abilities with a little competition. (August is the windiest month and schools often take children outside to fly kites to capitalize on the wind.)

Totally dead.

Is this a ghost town?!

Found some kids! No adults with them though...

Cuties!

"Let's go flight a kite. Up to the highest height!"

Straggler!

Our next stop was the Maras Salt Mine, definitely the crowning jewel of the region. 5000 ponds staggered in terrace fashion, filled with salt water left to evaporate and reveal the natural salt within. None of my cameras could capture the sheer size of this mine. Unbelievable. Salty lukewarm water from the Qoripujio spring in the mountain flows into the pools, where it's left to evaporate in the dry Andean air. The "flour salt" is skimmed off the top and pink salt is on the bottom. The salt has been said to not only taste good, but to also be good for you – filled with magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc. We each bought some for mere pennies, really. I also bought some chocolate filled with salt and puffed quinoa, which is now one of my favorite things.

All of those white areas are salt ponds.

Even the panorama doesn't do it justice.

People for scale.

The Qoripujio spring.

Henry encouraged us to try it. It was definitely warm and when tasted, I felt like I was drinking from the ocean.

Unbelievable that there are 5000 of these here.

Salty water flowing into the ponds.

Henry showing us the top layer or "flour salt".

Pink salt on the bottom.

Narrow walking paths didn't make for much room to pass people.

Trying to get a photo of me, and Sandi didn't quite understand. Ha!

Tried for that wistful photo you see on Instagram. Big. Fail.

We thought he was a shaman (similar to the one we met the day before). Turns out he was just a regular guy wanting to see the salt ponds, like us. He had no idea why we wanted our photo with him!

All the salt!

The temperatures in Peru have been all over the place, depending on what we were doing. Today, it was really hot under the blazing sun, so I had to take off my outer layers. Something bit my elbow, which freaked me out immensely. It's the only bite I received the whole trip, and it didn't look like any other bite I've ever gotten, so I immediately panicked. Luckily, it didn't swell or get infected and was gone later in the day. Whew!

We saw a lot of Peru this morning, but it was time for another buffet lunch. This one was a cute little place on the Urubamba River, and I found that I liked it much better than the day before. There were two guys playing popular cover songs with pan flutes, the view was better and the food was tastier. Including the alpaca. I wanted to try it, so I initially asked the server for just a little bit. I went back later and asked for me, where he gave me just a little bit. I had to tell him a few more times to keep giving me more! It was in a pisco sauce (a type of Peruvian liquer), and tasted like roast beef. YUM!

More kids out flying kites!

Beans, rice, quinoa, and alpaca.

More alpaca and some plantains.

Bite sized desserts. My fave! Coconut cake, tres leches cake, chocolate mousse with orange, banana cake and peach cookie.

Had to!!

Ater lunch, Henry and JC dropped us back off in Ollantaytambo for our train ride to Aguas Calientes (yes, that means Hot Waters) where we will depart to Machu Picchu from. They'll stay in Ollantaytambo and pick us back up after our trek. We'll be taking the Vistadome train, which has windows in the roof, so you can get better views of the vistas!

We had over an hour to kill, so Sandi let me borrow her phone to call my sister and get the scoop on the upcoming funeral plans. It was good to talk with her, but heartbreaking not to be there helping out.

Brenda told us we had to try the very popular Inca Kola. Which tastes like carbonated bubble gum. Gross.

Going to Machu Picchu!

Errrrbody on the train!

Our trek would take about an hour and a half through the mountains. It used to be that the only way to get to Machu Picchu was to hike the Inca Trail. I did consider it, but given our limited time in Peru, we didn't want to waste another few days walking. I imagine it's pretty cool though. The train was fairly comfortable, though not quite enough room for our luggage. We left the bulk of our suitcases with Henry, since we would only be spending tonight in AC, leaving tomorrow afternoon after our excursion. Therefore, we each only had our carry on backpacks full of a change of clothes and what we'd need for MP. Even so, not a ton of room for those. Since the ceiling was open for viewing, that only left under our seats for luggage. This long-legged lady did not appreciate that.

Mah franndddd!!

Mah other franndddd!

Gorgeous day for a train ride.

Packed house.

Peruvian countryside.

She only likes me for my pear juice!

Pear juice and carrot cake snack.

Arrived in Aguas Calientes, but our hotel liaison hadn't arrived yet. Fortunately, he showed up shortly thereafter, and after we weaved our way past stall after stall of Peruvian goods, we made our way to our hotel for the night. Much fancier than our monastery hotel, but I definitely preferred the solitude of that one.

Train station opens up into a big market.

Small stream in the middle of town.

Our hotel.

Yay for separate beds again!

Much smaller shower.

Fun fact. In Peru, you can't throw the toilet paper into the toilet. Nope, you have to wipe, then throw your funky paper into the trash. Apparently, their outdated septic systems can't handle the influx of paper. It's normal there, but I found it highly disgusting. I guess that's why almost every bathroom I went in to had the trash emptied fairly regularly. Well, most of them.

Once we got settled in, we headed up to the rooftop bar to get our free pisco sours. It's a local Peruvian drink made from pisco liquer, simple syrup, lime juice, egg whites and ice, all blended together in a blender, topped with a few drops of bitters. And it's freaking delicious!! Henry had told us that pisco sours were like breasts....two is plenty! And he wasn't kidding. After two of those, we were feeling pretty good!

*Fun fact: in Peru, they call limes, lemons and lemons, limes. So, while they put the "green" citrus juice in the drink, they actually called it lemon juice. Yeah, that's not confusing at all.

Trying to get the big llama photo in the elevator in our pic, but you can't see it at all.

Sylvia was great!

Frothy and delicious!

Let's go for round 2!

Pisco sour with my new Peruvian headband. I'm so cool.

I swear we are not drunk.

Literally the only time I've worn this headband.

Sylvia, our bartender, was great, and luckily, the rest of the bar was empty, so we could pick her brain. The pisco liquer comes in a variety of flavors, but she was sadly out of the rest of them, so we couldn't try the pisco sour variants. The only way to get to AC is by train, and it takes awhile to get fresh supplies in. Turns out she works 26 days straight, then has only 4 days off. She actually lives in Cusco and has to take the really long train ride back and forth for those 4 days. Sounds like a very hard way to live, but she said there aren't really many other options.

Next, we met with Abel, our guide for Machu Picchu, and he went over the time frame for the next day and what we can expect. I was able to call my parents after that to check in with them about the funeral for the next day. They've been so supportive of my decision to go, though I know they wish I was there with them.

To round out our night, we had an early dinner at MaPacho, a recommendation from Brenda's sister who visited a few months ago. I ordered the aji de gallina, which is a chicken/rice/potato dish that I get from my favorite restaurant in StL (which happens to be Peruvian). Unfortunately, they got the order totally wrong and had to remake it, but the server did comp my meal. It was worth the wait, because I freaking love this dish. He offered some more booze as well, to make up for it, but we were already beat, and have a very early start to Machu Picchu in the morning!