Ankle Spa and Bomberos

Today was a long and amazing day in Urubamba! Urubamba is a small town in the Sacred Valley about an hour and a half from Cusco.
Ali really wanted to go to Urubamba because when she was 16 she participated in a volunteer program with her friend Dawn (Hi Dawnie!!) for a month in which she helped build a Fire and Rescue Station for the Bomberos (firemen) among other things (working with a ceramic artist, bee farmer, sandal maker who makes sandals out of tires etc). It was important to her that she revisit the town and try to find the fire station after it had been almost 10 years.
So we left Cusco this morning and took a colectivo (a shared bus) for about an hour and a half until we arrived in Urubamba which is also really fun to pronounce in Spanish. Try it with us, Oo-rrrroo-bambah (don't forget to roll your r!!). We arrived and walked to the main square which we have found in almost every Peruvian town is called Plaza de Armas. We found the municipal building and were pointed to the direction of the tourism office. They were great and showed us where the Fire and Rescue building was and possibly where the school was where Ali lived.
We found the Fire and Rescue station and it was really exciting! The gate was shut and you couldn't see inside but Ali was determined and she knocked on the big gate and Jesus answered. Literally the guy was named Jesus :). He is an older gentleman who tends the shop during the day and the Bomberos are on call at night. It was a bit more built up then Ali remembered (because they weren't completely finished when she worked on it) but parts were exactly as she remembered.
When they were building the station the Bomberos only had only one fire truck (which was literally a pick up truck). Now there are 4 trucks and the building is complete with rooms with bunk beds. After exploring the Fire Station we tried to find the school where Ali lived but no luck unfortunately.
We then decided to try to find the Salineras or salt mines. We took a bus out to the area we were told the mines were but we had no clear direction as to where they were. We started hiking down this mountain and it was gorgeous. There was no one around but a few farmers and it was breathtaking and amazing to be surrounded by the mountains, farms, and random donkeys and sheep. It was difficult because we got a bit lost and Sarah and her sneakers ended up ankle deep in some mud that from the smell of it had some cow poo mixed in. After her exfoliating mud bath and hysterical laugh attack on both our parts she found a small stream to try to wash off the spa she created for her ankles and feet.
It was getting late and the dark rain clouds were looming so we decided to turn back and walk back up the mountain we had just climbed down. Although we didn't see the Salineras we had a wonderful hike and were ready to head back to Cusco.
We slept for most of the ride back home and stopped at the grocery to get ingredients for some delicious soup. We made soup with onions, carrots, tomatoes, a spicy pepper and quinoa with avocado sliced on top which was if we do say so ourselves delicious. We were also in the mood for something sweet so we bought bananas and melted some chocolate and made our own special fondue.
Tomorrow we are going to go to the Templo de la Luna (Temple of the Moon) with our friend Alex before we figure out our bus ticket to Puno the city near Lake Titicaca. We had a wonderful day and hope everyone at home is doing great.

Love love love,

A & S

Ali and Jesus 

At the Bombero Station

Soccer Field Ali spent time in 10 years ago

Sarah getting muddy

Cleaning off in the stream

Fruit Market in Urubamba

MUD BATH!

Peruvian babe

Sarah y los montanas

Our Peruvian Suyai Wari Style Thanksgiving

It's been a while since our last post.

We've been living at this wonderful place called Suyai Wari, near a small town called Huambutio (http://www.suyaiwari.org/). Huambutio is about 40 km (don't worry we haven't switched to the metric system we just don't know how many miles it is) Northeast from Cusco. We have been disconnected from the outside world which perfectly fits with the energy of the house. We have continued to gain more life experience about relationships with people and ourselves, what a blessing.

So, about this place.... I'm sure you are all anxious to know more. Right now there are about 12 people at the house, including us. It's this environment of deep love, gratitude, community, openness and respect. Everyone cooks vegetarian meals together, plays music, is able to paint on the walls, does yoga, hugs and is so open in conversation and self expression. It's kind of been amazing.

We have been teaching English at the local school for about one and a half hours each morning (except Wednesday because we were both feeling ill). Working with the kids was mentally challenging as we worked with different kids everyday. Also it was challenging because we have been working on English pronunciation of words with the kids. However, it was quite difficult for the kids to read and pronounce since they didn't understand anything that was being read. It is hard for us because we want to be able to help the children with their English but the teacher is very adamant about helping with their pronunciation versus understanding the language. We did our best and that's all we could do. Whether or not we made a difference in their lives, we know that experience made a difference in our lives.

Thanksgiving!...We had a lot of unknown ideas and expectations for Thanksgiving since this was both of our first times out of the states and without our families for this day of thanks and gratitude. We went into Cusco on Tuesday to buy lots of food to prepare for Turkey day (except there'd be no turkey at this place). We started cooking early Thursday and the result was an absolutely amazing dinner. We made stuffing, cabbage stew (craut- Ali's Omi's recipe), cornbread, steamed green beans, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, a bean dish, a slaw with carrots, cucumbers, and cabbage and sliced sweet potatoes with cinnamon. All from scratch and everyone was so grateful for everything. During dinner we went around the table and everyone said what they were grateful for. Everyone expressed gratitude for their current experience and new friendships made here at Suyai Wari. It was an amazing Thanksgiving and we were both so happy and full of joy by the end (and tired).

Last night mostly everyone went into Cusco for the night. We came upon the book, The Last Lecture and read the whole thing aloud to each other. It only took us about 4 hours but we highly recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their quality of life and following their childhood dreams.

Oh yeah, how could we forget, there's a pet monkey named Marty. Friday morning we were walking into the kitchen and Marty was sitting on the counter eating the bowl of honey. Marty had gotten off of his harness and raided the kitchen. Don't worry, he was safe and was put back on his harness. (Which he escaped from a second time the same day but then someone ended up fixing because clearly it was faulty.)

So we will be leaving Suyai Wari tomorrow but we love everyone that we have met there. We have learned so much about ourselves from the amazing new friends we have encountered and we look forward to continuing our travels. Our next stop is a city called Puno which is near Lake Titicaca.

Con Amor,
A & S

1200 Something Steps

Machu Picchu. We knew that this would be an important milestone for our trip and we were not disappointed. We were originally going to do a longer 5 day 4 night trek called the Salkantay trek but due to our various illnesses we decided to do a shorter 2 day 1 night trek. We went with our travel bud Tal who you all have heard of by now.  In Cusco you will find that people are hocking one of two things: different types of treks to or near Machu Picchu, and "Massajes miss? Senorita massage?"  They realized that after a long trek there is nothing better than a massage so an entire industry has sprung up.

After a lot of trek company hopping to find the best price we decided on the agency "Friends of Nature"  because our friend recommended it and it was mostly an awesome name. We were supposed to meet at their agency location at 7:30 AM but because it's Peru and you never know what to expect we left about an hour late. There were 5 of us from our hostel, two Brazilians, four Chileans (who we'll get to more later), one Rasta type guy from Argentinean Patagonia and two other Canadians.

The bus was slightly larger then a typical white van and we were a bit squished and unaware that the coming ride would last 8 hours. The way to Hidroelectrico was incredible. We drove on paved and unpaved roads. At one point we were literally driving through the clouds. It seemed we were in this quiet place with tumbling mountains of various shades of green and clouds rolling by. Despite the twists and turns luckily the motion sickness didn't affect us and we enjoyed the scenery mostly at times you could catch Sarah playing Tetris.

We finally arrived at Hidroelectico (which is really just a train station) and we walked along the train tracks towards Aguas Calientes which is the town near the foot of Macchu Picchu. We were surrounded by nature or Pachamama (Quechua for Mother Earth who was the Incan God) and we were loving it. The mountains soar above you and you walk along the river that has shaped some rocks to look so smooth they look like polished marble. We even found a stray dog (that Tal named Baxter) that helped us find the way to Aguas Caliente. We arrived just at dusk and ate dinner and went to our hostel.

The woman would not give us three towels at the hostel (something about the rain making her towels wet), so Sarah went into another room, pretended she was in that room and scored a towel. We enjoyed some strange Peruvian tv and went to bed as we were going to wake up at 4 AM the next day.

We were out the door by 4:30 and there were already people ahead of us when we began the hike at 5:00 AM. We started to climb the 1,200 or so steps and it was amazing. It was also very difficult we stopped to take a break a few timed to catch our breaths and also to take in the scenery. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to climb to the top but we weren't done climbing. You still have tons of steps once you arrive. We had a two hour tour and then began exploring on our own. There was also this incredible Incan draw bridge that we got to see,

We had brought some food and had a wonderful (if semi illegal because you are not supposed to have food at Machu Picchu) picnic in the corner of a ruin with Tal and our other new friend Peter who was from New Zealand. We explored and climbed to the way top of the ruins where we had an unbelievable view of the ruins and the surrounding valley. It was a wonderful day and we took the train back to Hidroelectico once we walked (jogged) down the mountain which only took us 30 minutes! And had another 8 hour drive back to Cusco.

We are now doing volunteer work at this place called Suyai Wari that we found on the website HelpX.net. It is kind of like living in a Hippie Commune and we love it! We will write more on that in our next post. Sorry for no pics this time we don't have time to upload them.

Also about the Chileans we became really good friends with them and hopefully we will be spending New Years with them in Santiago.

Love to everyone,

A & S

P. S. Our prayers are with everyone in Israel keep safe. Also we wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving full of gratitude and love we wish we could be with our families but know we will be thinking of you on Thursday.

The Climb (Not the Miley Cyrus song)

The day we've been waiting for... Off to leave for Machu Picchu. After looking at so many different trekking agencies we decided on Friends of the Nature tour operator. (we willl let you know how it is after the trip but they were super friendly when we booked).

We decided on a two day/ one night trip. Today we will go by bus to Aguas Caliente, the closest city to Machu Picchu. We are given lunch and dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we will wake up super early (4am!) and hike up to Machu Picchu.

Wish us luck. :)
Love,
A & S (and Tal)

Cultura de Mochilleros

We're nine days, two cities down, one bacterial infection, and we have met many mochilleros (backpackers). We have not written in a few days because Sarah has been very sick with a bacterial infection which was masking itself as altitude sickness (or so we thought) until Dr. Manuel came to her rescue and gave her some antibiotics.

This is how Sarah looked in her bunk bed in the hostel (Picture 4 below)

While Sarah has been super sick Ali got a little congested and her nose would not stop running so before she went to bed she looked like this. (Picture 6)

Everyday at noon in a plaza near where our Pirwa Colonial Backpackers Hostel is (which is in Plaza San Francisco) there is a free walking tour of Cusco. Ali went without Sarah yesterday and made some friends with other travelers staying at the hostel. It was very cool kind of the interesting, underground, spots around Cusco. There was a lot of free food samples, chocolate tea (delicious), Peruvian Jager shot (pretty good, mild), Peruvian beer or Chicha which is boiled and fermented corn, chips and dips at this place that is a fushion between Chinese and Peruvian, and a shot of Pisco punch, so basically a lot of samples of drinks and chocolate but it was great. The tour guide was awesome, funny and spoke great English.

We have realized that as we continue to travel we are constantly meeting people from all over the world. Lucky for us almost everyone speaks English. So if you're going to travel be prepared to answer these questions:

"How long have you been traveling for?"
"Where are you from?"
"How long are your travels?"
"Oh you just came from _________? How was it? Where should we go there? Any good advice?"
"Oh you got sick? What happened?"
"How long have you studied Spanish?"
"Wait how do you say tomato? And WHAT is a biscuit? Oh a cookie? Got it."
"Oh yeah and what's your name again?" (Although you/they never asked in the first place)

Although we have this conversation over and over again we still love to learn about new people and make new friends. Sarah is feeling so much better so today we went with our friends Tal and Evelyn to a few markets. We went to the handicraft market but on the way as we were walking down Avenida El Sol we got caught up in a religious procession. This is an incredible thing to see about 200 people walking down the street, priests, nuns, children dressed like angels, people wearing capes, and tourists trying to understand what is going on. (Picture 5) Some of the priests were carrying a large statue on a platform with one of their Saints. It was great to be a part of the processional and we even got some holy water thrown on us!

We continued down to the artesanal market where they sell everything from sweaters to miniature nativity scenes (Picture 3). Ali got a comfy Al Paca sweater (everytime we write that we think of Al Pacino, so all alpacas seem like badasses). We also went to a typical Peruvian centro comercial (mall) where we saw everything from fay-bans, Peruvian barbies and Sarah got fresh squeezed OJ in a bag with a straw and the lady used like 18 naranjas (oranges) (Picture 1).

We then went to another market (San Pedro market) where there was dead meat being butchered everywhere. There was also produce being sold everywhere. Ali was obsessed with these little wooden spoons at the market and bought some. We agreed to buy no souvenirs since we only have backpacks but Ali could not resist. We finished seeing this market and at the church outside our hostel was another little market/festival with games. One of the prizes for the game was a pack of cigarettes (Picture 2-sideways).

Finally, we made it back to Pirwa Backpacker's Hostel. We chatted with some fellow travelers, because that's what you do, and gained some great information about the W Trail in Chile that we plan on doing. We also got some knowledge about English dental care, quite different. Did you know that the hygienist and dentist are in two separate locations?

Anyways, long post. Off to bed so we can be productive tomorrow.
Besitos,
A & S

PS. Sorry these pictures are uploaded out of order and one sideways... we are working on our skills.

Blame it on the Altitude

Last night was very interesting as we slept for the first time at our couch surfing family 's house.  As we were walking up the 100 steps we did not realize what it meant that the train tracks were about 50 feet from the house and wonderful Perurail arrives every few hours blasting it's horn to let you know to get out of the way. Despite the train and the stray dogs barking like it was the Twilight Bark we slept alright, cozy in our sleeping bags.

Waking up this morning it was strange not knowing the election results. No matter what only one of us would be happy so we were bracing ourselves. We went to our favorite cafe in Cusco and found out the results.
One of us was very happy! But mostly Ali is super proud to be from the great State of Maryland where Gay Marriage is now fully legal! Also for all those gamblers out there you can soon go to a casino in Maryland and stalk the Redskins (it's where they spend the nights before home games) 

Unfortunately since we arrived in Cusco, Sarah has been feeling the altitude and as a result hasn't been feeling very well. We decided that it would be best if we did not sleep all the way up on the mountain so we found a hostel where our friend Tal is staying. We walked around Cusco and were constantly bombarded by touts selling little trinkets and watercolor paintings of Macchu Picchu and the gorgeous surrounding Sacred Valley. We did find our way to the San Blas Spanish School where we plan on having some semi private lessons tomorrow and starting next week we will be staying with a family and having class everyday. The Spanish School is so bright and airy with brightly painted walls and smiling and friendly teachers.

Some things we love and have noticed so far about Peru:

- The older men 40+ all dress with such class. Usually black or brown loafers, slacks, a sweater (or our favorite a sweater vest) and for that extra touch of class a very Peruvian fedora.

- The high altitude really makes walking harder.

- The life span of an Incan can be up until 115!

- Peruvians are mostly beaming with this sunny, happy energy. They are outwardly friendly calling everyone Amiga. They have a genuine curiosity about foreigners and want to know about their lives.

- People think Ali's hair is pintura or painted on and they have difficulty believing it is real until she says "look at my eyebrows"

- The sun is strong here even when overcast so Ali got burned obviously but now she has an AWESOME Peruvian hat (photos to come)

-People walk their sheeps and al pacas around on a leash.

- When you haven't showered in 4 days it's not about the water pressure.

That's all for now :)

Xo

A & S

Alphabet Soup in Cuzco

We stayed at Barranco's Backpacker's Inn last night in Barranco. Yesterday we relaxed and ate at a great restaurant, Roky's. Ali had pollo (chicken) which she loved and Sarah had papas (potatoes) with carne and cebollas on top (meat and onions). We both said we were going to take half to go because it was so much food but we ended up eating it all :) but it was also the only meal we ate. We did walk about 2 hours yesterday, some of which was more strenuous so guess we were hambre (hungry). We met some interesting people in the hostel, one of which flew with us this morning to Cuzco, his name is Tal.

When we got to Cuzco we weren't too sure where we were going, we wanted to find a cafe con Internet and found it at the fifth cafe we went into. Forgot the name, should have written it down.

We are staying with a great family in Cuzco, they have two little boys that are funny and so cute. We were going to stay here 2 nights but they invited us to stay longer, we will see. Where we are staying seems like it will be a whole new and different experience.

We are staying on top of a hill in Cuzco where we have a wonderful view and to paint a picture there is a bathroom outside of the apartment and no hot water. We had to trek up about 100 stairs to get here but the dad was so nice and carried our day packs since we had our other packs. They can only get water from 4am-10am and 6pm-10pm. Sarah felt a little stomach ick, possibly from altitude. The family is so nice they already served us tea and alphabet soup with one potato each. It is quite a Peruvian experience.

A&S

Wandering. Serious indecisiveness.

Yesterday we went with Chela (Aunt of Ali's Mom's friend). She picked us up and showed us all around town and took us to lunch. She got us 3 desserts, sugar coma. She was amazing and we let her know she's our Peruvian mom. We felt so welcome and had a great time with her. Thanks Chela :)

We went out dancing last night with two American girls we met and a couple Peruvians. Very fun but we called it a night around 2 AM. We are currently sitting in a cafe called Bisetti and attempting to figure our next plans. We are going to walk around our new favorite neighborhood Barranco (kind of artsy and chill) to look at some hostels for tomorrow night.  We are planning on flying to Cusco on Tuesday morning
Chau y Besos, (Bye and Kisses)
A&S

                                         ( 3 sugar filled desserts)

Airplane Meatballs

The journey has started. Ali arrived into Houston yesterday and we spent the day running errands. We met up with Ali's friend from college, Elyssa for lunch at Hungry's, a yum restaurant.  It was so great to see Elyssa before we left and discuss the finer points of travel injuries for those of us prone to "klutzism" (Ali).
A few more errands included Starbucks, Microcenter, the bank and obviously one last trip to our favorite place, REI. Ali obviously made friends with the banker and asked to see pictures of "his monkey," which was what his kid dressed up as for Halloween. He brought us each a cold cup of water since Ali was so friendly, (really she just needed water to take some Tylenol) (don't worry Mom I just had a minor headache - Ali)
We each unpacked our backpacks, compared our stuff, and then repacked. I definitely have more pills. I have 3 big bottles of pills from my acupuncturist for injuries and digestion. I was hesitant about bringing it all but would rather take those than western meds so I shoved them into my pack.  Well at this point we were both getting anxious and pretty silly. Discussing where our last dinner would be resulted in Sushi King! No better way to leave America, right?
After dinner we took my wonderful pup, Max, to his long-term foster parents. Thank god for good friends! I cried, obviously, and my dad took a lot of photos. Ali decided to call it a night after being up since 5 AM for the flight to Houston. I was less than considerate as I was vigorously in search of heat patches for my back for the plane. My anxiety was high and I decided at 1 AM it was a wise decision to do an acupuncture electrical cord treatment, so I did. Ali woke up and looked at me as if I were nuts, which may have been slightly on target. I eventually fell asleep.
(now Ali's taking over) I have to say that rolling over and seeing Sarizz with wires and clothespines connected all over her body was not that unusual I think that Sarizz might decide to study to be a shaman by accident because she would probably love it and I can always use a good shaman (who couldnt really?). Today started with Sarizz's mom Deb doing one of the greatest things a Jewish mother can do get us bagels and lox and whitefish.
I mean what could have been a better send off? We finalized our packs and got ready for the airport. I have some issues with travel anxiety so I like to get to the airport an unhealthy amount of early so we compromised and got there about two hours before our flight. Sarizz and I were in that laughing, giggling swhere you are nervous so everything is funny.
Sarizz went to the bathroom (for the 80th time) (we're staying hydrated!) and met a new friend because she was carrying a backpack. Now we talk to everyone because who knows if we meet Peruvian royalty or something. Now we're on the plane and my neighbor is lurking at what I'm writing so I wnt him to know that he is devilishly handsome and if he happens to have a spare bedroom Sarizz and I would be hppy to help a Peruvian out if he ever needs a guest to stay there for free, watch his cats, whatever. (Editors note that guy turned out to be much more devilish than handsome as he proceded to drink approximately 12  mini bottles of wine and had trouble maintaining personal space).
For dinner Sarizz and I were served a delicious assortment of airline food. I got the airplane meatballs while Sarizz (who pretends to be a vegan but she eats red meat) ate some lettuce. Suffice it to say we gave our neighbors all of our brownies and bread and we will not be pursuing careers in airline culinary arts (I think they offer that course at University of Phoenix?) Sarizz and I are perusing our South American guide book deciding where the wind will blow us next. It is a strange new experience for me not having a plan but I think it's good for me. Not having a plan might be exactly what I need right now.  All I know is Sarizz and I are staying in Lima for the next few days and that seems perfect to me.
  Flight was good, we watched Dogs in the City which kept us entertained while we were nicely trying to evade conversation with our airplane neighbor. He did give us some good tips on places to go but you know those people that just keep talking, they don't get the hint... Last resort... The headphones. And he still didn't really get it. We listened to a guided meditation but there was this beeping that just would not quiet down. We tried to focus but there were quite the amount of distractions. Once we got off the plane we waited for about 45 minutes to go through customs and obviously made another contact.  Off to baggage claim where we threw our packs on. It was so neat, their security dogs are small beagles which specialize in sniffing for fruit and agriculture. What do you know, the dog sat right in front of Ali and would not move so the guy searched Ali's bag and found almondes (almonds). Ali got her almonds back, we walked out and Oscar was waiting with a sign. The car ride was great, we both spoke Spanish. Now we are at this B & B and the owners are on vacation until tomorrow so the whole house is ours. Tomorrow Chica is coming to make us breakfast at 8:30 so off to bed we go. Lots of love.