So we landed this morning in Cusco at about 7 AM. There were *BING* four flights to *BING* Cusco within 20 minutes of each other. Really? Really. After eating the most delicious stick of chocolate ever as an in-flight snack, we landed and Steve's grandpa, hereafter referred to as "Abuelo" (or Edgar) drove us the hour up and over the mountain down into the Sacred Valley to his house, Quinta la Ponderosa (after the Bonanza ranch since Abuelo LOVES Westerns). We napped in the courtyard for an hour and then had a breakfast of cake, bread, butter, and hot chocolate. What a country! Here I am at the ranch. After breakfast, we took naps until about 1 PM since we were so exhausted from not sleeping all day.
Then Abuelo drove us back up the valley where we stopped for some choklo con queso which is pretty much mutantly ginormous corn served with a small wedge of cheese. Delish!
This was of course the start of about a bazillion rides in the back of a car sandwiched between Tom and Jonny. Oh Tomas, oh Jonawhatevertheespanolisforyourname. I have such fond memories of being stuck in the middle with you both. Good, good times. 16 MVP points awarded to both for entertaining me. We gave Abuelo's caretaker's daughter a ride up into the mountains. She was so cute (as are ALL Peruvian children) and I gave her the rest of my choklo. I'm not sure if she wanted it but she was nice enough to take it. In Cusco, we went over to the Plaza de Armas where the Spanish removed people's arms, hence "de-Armas" right? Well, they did chop off a few heads here. Here's the Cathedral.
In this plaza, the Incas would import white sand from the beaches (days and days away) and fill the entire courtyard so that they could host beach volleyball tournaments . . . or just fill it with gold statues as well, I don't remember which one and my Spanish isn't very good. After the plaza, we needed to find a bank (questionable), get bus tickets to Machu Picchu (MP), pick up our train tickets to MP, and entrance tickets to MP. Um, I have found that in Peru, why do something once when you can break it down into 18 complicated steps. After we sorted that out, we went back to tour the Cathedral. Inside the Cathedral are about a bazillion altars to a bazillion virgin Mary's all done in cedarwood intricately carved and covered in silver or gold. Wowzahs. Here's the sun setting in the Plaza and we're on our way to see some stones that are fit together without mortar.
These people did intricate masonry with no mortar or apparently an appreciation for rectangles. Here is a 12-sided stone in the side of a building. Interesante!
Then it was off to dinner. I don't know if I can type enough about how delicious and amazing Peruvian food is. It is in the top of world cuisines. Amazing. I even had potato salad . . . and you know how I feel about that stuff. This was incredible. We also had chicha morada (sp? words?) which is a blue corn juice. In the country, women chew the corn and spit it into a cup, let it ferment, and then drink it. I'm hoping that's not what we had. It didn't taste like it had already been tasted, so I'm sure it was the sanitary version. We also had roasted chicken (pollo al brasa?) and fries. Yummy yummy! Then, it was back home to sleep again!
So we landed this morning in Cusco at about 7 AM. There were *BING* four flights to *BING* Cusco within 20 minutes of each other. Really? Really. After eating the most delicious stick of chocolate ever as an in-flight snack, we landed and Steve's grandpa, hereafter referred to as "Abuelo" (or Edgar) drove us the hour up and over the mountain down into the Sacred Valley to his house, Quinta la Ponderosa (after the Bonanza ranch since Abuelo LOVES Westerns). We napped in the courtyard for an hour and then had a breakfast of cake, bread, butter, and hot chocolate. What a country! Here I am at the ranch. After breakfast, we took naps until about 1 PM since we were so exhausted from not sleeping all day. 
Then Abuelo drove us back up the valley where we stopped for some choklo con queso which is pretty much mutantly ginormous corn served with a small wedge of cheese. Delish! 
This was of course the start of about a bazillion rides in the back of a car sandwiched between Tom and Jonny. Oh Tomas, oh Jonawhatevertheespanolisforyourname. I have such fond memories of being stuck in the middle with you both. Good, good times. 16 MVP points awarded to both for entertaining me. We gave Abuelo's caretaker's daughter a ride up into the mountains. She was so cute (as are ALL Peruvian children) and I gave her the rest of my choklo. I'm not sure if she wanted it but she was nice enough to take it. In Cusco, we went over to the Plaza de Armas where the Spanish removed people's arms, hence "de-Armas" right? Well, they did chop off a few heads here. Here's the Cathedral. 
In this plaza, the Incas would import white sand from the beaches (days and days away) and fill the entire courtyard so that they could host beach volleyball tournaments . . . or just fill it with gold statues as well, I don't remember which one and my Spanish isn't very good. After the plaza, we needed to find a bank (questionable), get bus tickets to Machu Picchu (MP), pick up our train tickets to MP, and entrance tickets to MP. Um, I have found that in Peru, why do something once when you can break it down into 18 complicated steps. After we sorted that out, we went back to tour the Cathedral. Inside the Cathedral are about a bazillion altars to a bazillion virgin Mary's all done in cedarwood intricately carved and covered in silver or gold. Wowzahs. Here's the sun setting in the Plaza and we're on our way to see some stones that are fit together without mortar. 
These people did intricate masonry with no mortar or apparently an appreciation for rectangles. Here is a 12-sided stone in the side of a building. Interesante! 
Then it was off to dinner. I don't know if I can type enough about how delicious and amazing Peruvian food is. It is in the top of world cuisines. Amazing. I even had potato salad . . . and you know how I feel about that stuff. This was incredible. We also had chicha morada (sp? words?) which is a blue corn juice. In the country, women chew the corn and spit it into a cup, let it ferment, and then drink it. I'm hoping that's not what we had. It didn't taste like it had already been tasted, so I'm sure it was the sanitary version. We also had roasted chicken (pollo al brasa?) and fries. Yummy yummy! Then, it was back home to sleep again! 
No comments:
Post a Comment