Two big things that I have been waiting for my entire service happened last month: things came together for a large project and I got a grant funded to build 35 improved cooking stoves AND the two other Lee ladies came to visit!! It was funny to me how I spent the entire month of May 2010 in the States last year for reasons beyond my control, but that this time around May was the best month I’ve had all year!! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect time with them. Having Mom and Jenn here was a lot like seeing my Peace Corps experience with fresh eyes again, seeing their reactions to the places I’ve come to know and love, my house (apparently it’s worse than a shed according to my mom, but I’ve tried to make it a relatively cozy one and had forgotten about that first reaction I had the first time I came here and entered what was only a cinderblock bldg), having them meet the people I now call great friends, translating for everything….being able to show them my life here, having them meet and have a great time with people they would otherwise never know, felt like a reward for waking up every morning and deciding to be here in Peru.
My community had been anticipating their visit for months, planning what we would do when mi familia came to visit. In the weeks coming up to their visit, my two best friends at site (the twins Annie and Karen) told me they wanted to learn a song in English to sing to my mom and Jenn…..they chose “My Heart Will Go On” which I told them was sure to make my mom cry since I spent most of my preadolescence belting that song out imagining I had a future as the Irish-American Celine Dion. I wrote down the words and then we went through it by sounds and practiced lots. When the big day came, they sang it perfectly!!! I was so proud of them, and my sis, mom, and I spent all day with the twins getting the full tour of the chacras around my site full of alfalfa, corn, potato, and different fruits. We had a hearty (literally) feast of cuy-guinea pig with Jenn getting served the wide open mouthed top half of one poor creature. The two of them instantly understood why I complain about carbohydrates here, the impossible amounts you get served, but they did their best. Then it was off to see the LIVING guinea pigs. In the night we danced huayno (a traditional dance in Peru, especially the sierra) and exchanged gifts and stories. The 3 of us slept in my bed after they heard rat stories from my little host brothers, several of which I acknowledged were true, and awoke to a beautiful sunny mountain morning, and went to go milk the cows. The twins made arroz con leche for lunch with fresh chocklo (large grained corn) and we had a feast before my mom received a beautifully colored table runner with her name hand sewn in as a gift, and Jenn received a scarf with her name too. I was so taken aback by how generous they were being with my family and everything they were saying about our friendship that there was definitely some happy crying going on. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when I leave.
We left my site, exhausted but perfectly content and started making our way back to Cajamarca city to head on to Cusco. I had booked us flights to Cusco and spent an hour arguing in Spanish with a ticket agent who had given our reservation to another family named Lee…nice security Peruvian Air! Ticket man also tried to make me get in line for new tickets claiming we’d been listed for the 6 am flight when I had a reservation in my hand saying 10. Knowing that getting “in line” in most of Peru is one of the most blood pressure raising, rage inducing thing I can think of, I used all my staring down and yelling abilities I’ve learned while being a non-tourist in Peru and refused to budge so things got sorted. Once checked in we also drove around in a bus on the airport tarmac looking for our plane for a good 5 minutes. And so our Cusco adventure began.
I had been to Cusco in 2006 and I have to say that it looked completely different to me this time around. This time I was so relaxed, used to Peru, very used to the sierra, not even thinking about language, and just ready for a good bed, food, company and artisan scarf shopping. We stayed in San Blas, the oldest part of the city with cobbled tiny, tinnnny roads and some textile artisan shops. We found an Irish pub and had a nice meal there (of course with our favorite thing, pisco sours, not Guinness….this is PERU afterall) then the next morning headed to Aguas Calientes which is a tiny town at the base of Machu Picchu. Most people had talked about the town being far from idyllic, but I honestly thought it had an iota of charm. Of course the charm was quickly swept away when I saw the menu prices….so after a few indulgences we vowed to cross the river into the ‘real’ Aguas Calientes for our next snack. Anyone who is going….just get off the tourist side of town by crossing the river (it’s still super tranquilo) and you’ll find your 40 sole dinner for 4 soles. Your food doesn’t taste of robbery if you do it that way. We got up early to Machu Picchu and saw it in all its wonderful glory, it was like seeing it for the first time again because it was covered in clouds that slowly began to disappear and reveal the ruins. There were tons of alpacas too! We did hikes out to the Inca Bridge and up to the Sun Gate for spectacular views that were well worth the stairs up. I have some serious admiration for anyone who does the 4 day Inca trail….it would put the toughest setting on a stair climber to shame.
All in all we spent a good 7 hours at the ruins exploring, hiking, and taking it all in. It certainly earns its keep as one of the most recently named 7 wonders of the world. Incredible to think of what it must have been like in its day. Our taxi driver that night told us there are theories that Machu Picchu was a dwelling for the women who would sleep with the Inca or otherwise entertain him, or another that it was built for the greatest minds of the empire who were vital to creating infrastructure or keeping everything in check….and that once these great minds were used they were summarily executed so they couldn’t share that knowledge. Doesn’t seem that viable that they would build them houses then though if there weren’t going to be sticking around long.
So couldn’t have asked for a better trip with mom and Jenn….hopefully my dad will make it before the end of service. Since they left I’ve been laying low trying to get my project into full swing at site and fighting off a particularly angry tummybug….Peru 14 is down to 5 months left in Peru which is crazy!
Abrazos!
