It´s interesting, one of the things I find I am missing is singing.  Songs of gratitude arise from within... ¨mother I feel you under my feet, mother I feel your heart beat.¨  I feel such deep gratitude and awe that i have arrived here, in this place of realizing the blooming of a long-ago planted seed, the hints of this journey that beckoned me here.

In the airport, in Lima, I heard within the words of a song I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh, I have arrived, I am home, in the here and in the now... how else to arrive in the place that has held my deepest heart-prayer intentions for so long... I have found it is hard to hold on to those roots that keep me grounded in my heart, in my prayer, as we scurry from place to place trying to find and reserve bus tickets and hostals... learning future and past tense, and sometimes now I am out of the now... and when I communicate in spanish on the phone to a hostal owner or bus company and they understand I am so excited! And I think of my friend Indi´s daughter Sunny, who is about 15 months old.... and how her entire being screws up in joy when mom or dad understands her signs for cookie, or  milk, or ladybug...

In nearly four weeks we have done quite a lot of gathering of experiences... several days in  Lima getting adjusted to traffic in a city where Jesus, Mary, and the horn guide all of the drivers!  I often have to contains my little gasps and ohs in the continuous near misses... We sampled the national drink, pisco sour, made of white brandy, limons (Peruvian limes), egg white, ice, and a splash of cinnamon--tastes like a margarita but different). We found the Whole Foods of Peru, which we already knew but was confirmed one Friday night when we sampled cheese, crackers, ravioli.... 

In Lima we did also get to see the Huaca Pucllana ruins of the the Lima culture... cermonial structures which rise in vast contrast to the modern buildings... and only a fraction of what once was there. The ruins were used for rituals, and then later burial gorunds. What stood out to me was the explanation that the lima people had worshipped the moon and the sea... and I wonder what our female guide thinkst about that?

we visited an ashram-eco-community north of Lima, called Eco-Truly, with temple towers shaped like the V of a necklace hanging, only inverted.  Very lovely to look at.  We shared the beach with hundreds of drunken locals one weekend, got sick from the lovely vegetarian food-- yogurt and fruit, salads, and ended up having to lead our own yoga sessions (somehow the where, when, if got mistranslated).... but still quite nice, muy tranquilo, and a welcome break from Lima. On our Monday morning there, the beach was almost deserted, and we got to expolre  beach caves and watch the crabs scurry from the waves, and a group of men fishing on the shores...

We next found ourselves in Paracas... a hot sunny litle beach town just south of Pisco, which was destroyed in the earthquake... we were surpised how many gringos we met didn´t know that about Picso in advance. Paracas was lovely, beach breezes and views.  We visited the islas Ballestas, which are a major locale for guano harvesting (!), and as you could imagine, coated in birds including Humboldt penguins.  And sea lions, just now birthing their babies!  We also visited the Parracas reserve, an immense vast desert that drops off in cliffs to the ocean, and a peaceful swimming beach, (as long as you don´t step on any anenomes, as happened to one of the Polish Canadian women we met there).  peaceful, calm swimming, only small waves...I was so delighted in the visitor museum to find the literature about conservation and also in a the mirror you find ¨the most dangerous animal...¨¨ to the environment.

Then a long ride through the desert to Nasca, site of the Nasca lines, about which many theories exist, created by pre'incan peoples, giant shapes of a hummingbird, a monkey, many more, and can only seen by plane.  We chose not the to ride the planes for many economic, ecological, and heath-reasons... but continued on a bus up into the dry mountains, into Peru´s second biggest city, Arequipa, population 1 million...

A note about the buses... perhaps it was best we drove at night, because we were on a winding mountain road and passing on the left.  We were treated to three (!) movies: the departed, Troy, and the Gladiator.  The scenery outside was amazing, high above nearly deserted beaches with giant crashing waves.  But once dark, and not wanting to read for the curvy roads, there´s not much choice... while the first movie is a mafia-flick, the next two epic batles-to-the-death... I never expected to watch so many movies in Peru, never mind violent ones.... And I never thought I´d eat so much bread!

In Arequipa, elevation 7,500 feet things began to feel a lilttle more like home!  The buildings in Arequipa are made of sillar, white volcanic stone.  We began seeing more women in traditional dress.  We took a Spanish class and practiced our past tense!  We visited a ¨traditioanal¨food restaurant for papas al huancaina... potates with cheese and a spicy sauce... and a vegetarian stuffed pepper with more cheese and potatoes... this time of Arequipa was our time of Bread and Decadence, when we found the daily bread of backpacker continental breakfasts... and restaurants like Lakshmivan and a Morrocan restaurant with real chai!.. Boulder-like meals at a fraction of the price!  And it was in that restaurant, when a group of young men played the pan flutes and drummed tradtional songs, I felt my heart open.

From Arequipa, we did a whirld-wind 2 day tour of Colca Canyon, which in some places is deeper than the Grand Canyon... beautiful terraced walls of quinoa, habas (fava beans), kiwicha (amaranth), papas and maiz.  Truly the ultimate beauty of that trip was the second day, arising early to be at El Cruz del Condor, looking into the depths of the canyon, seeing mists and clouds rise, and then there is a magnificent black soaring bird... circling up overhead on the warm drafts... the majestic condor, 9 foot wingspan, who rides up on the thermals daily,  flying from the canyone to the sea, to feed...

Puno is where Peru  really came to life for me. the first place that has felt completely and excitinglly foreign, on the first night we arrived, with a big central market, stalls of women with vegetables, cheese, and a giant area of slabs of meat, pig heads...shops selling dinner for 1 or 2 soles (35-70 cents), women with bowler hats and braids carrying their babies on their backs in brightly colored homemade blankets. 

And that first night, we hadn´t expected it, but the Virign of the Candelaria festival had already begun.  We saw many bands walking through the streets, some playing pan flutes wearing traditional ponchos and hats, others wearing jeans and heels and moving to the music of a marching band, some people drinking pisco (Peruvian brandy).  Fireworks going off all night, welcoming the groups of people to Puno, who came in from the countryside for this gathering.   Again, it is when the pan flute troupe passes me that I feel tears begin to form...

The Virgin of the Candelaria is a celebration of Puno´s patron saint, a gathering that lasts February 2-18... the largest festival in the folklore capital of the world!  The celebration is a mixture of Catholicism and traditional Aymara and Quechua culture.  And it took me days to realize, of course, the syncretism that this is also the time of the Carnival, which is different from the Carnival in Brazil. 

Carnival in Peru is a celebration of the harvest, and of Pachamama. It seems to be celebrated all over the country, but especially in areas with a high indigenous population.  In the celebrations that we have witnessed,  people come together dressed in traditional costumes while parading through town playing music and dancing.  It is highly contageous fun! (In the cities it also includes a fair bit of drinking, and hitting other people with water balloons,  shaving cream, and silly string... quite a mixture of the new and the old!)  

The first official day of the Virgin de la Candelaria festival was the actual procession of the Virgin... The saint was carried through the town while a military (!) band played behind her.  She was brought to the plaza de armas, and placed in front of the cathedral.  Fireworks were set off in the crowd, people threw flowers and confetti.  The priests spoke for quite a bit, and unfortunately my Spanish didn´t allow me to understand much of the words he spoke... then many people offered huge bouquets to the saint.  Afterwards, a traditional music group from Puno (with drums and pan flutes) was brought to the stage and honored.  Soon after, the saint was removed from the platform, and the procession around town continued, as it began to rain.  

The second day of the festival, we started the morning with a trip to the local market with Jenny, the Peruvian owner of our hostal.  Jenny explained to me that she really feels the music of the pan flutes, as it is the wind of the mountains.  That explanation resonates with my emotional response to the music! We had a wonderful time at the market, sampling new fruits, herbs and grains.  We bought a giant pod fruit called Nacay, which was longer than my arm!  The fruit inside is white, with inedbile seeds... one of these days I when I am up to speed on writing I will work on my photo-computer skills!  (Which actually seems difficult with slow old computers and I have yet to take a picture...)   We also found stalls in the market that have blenders and juicers, and got to have carrot-beet-apple juice!  Hooray!  

This second day of the festival was devoted to a dance competion, with 84 different dance groups competing!  It reminded me of  a pow-wow, with many variations on several traditional dances.  The costumes were all beautiful and rainbow colored. The music and dancing spilled out of the stadium and into the street, around town... The festival mellows out during the week, but next weekend things will pick up again.  

After our time in Puno. we had the opportunity to take a boat tour on Lake Titicaca--the highest navigable lake in the world.  Our first stop was the Uros islands, which are made entirely of reeds!  The Uros people began living here to get away from war with either other idigenous groups or the Splaniards. About once a month, the people add a whole new layer of reeds to the top of the island.  The islands need to be tied to stakes, or they would float away!  They move continually with the waves... the Uros people make their houses and traditioanl boats out of the reeds as well! 

The moment we arrived on the island, a little girl around age 2 latched onto my finger and gave me a personal tour of the island.  I wasn´t sure if she was talking to me in Aymara, Spanish, or her own personal baby language... but she did show me her house, the women selling goods, a boat with newly gathered reeds.  Oh yes, I remembered, I am here to connect with the children!  I felt so blessed so have this so sweet connection with her, beyond words, just seeing her pure joy at sharing her little world with me... We got to take a short ride on a reed boat, to a neighboring island...

After Uros, we continued on to the island of Amanti, which is quite beautiful with its terraced hills. We were greeted by the women of our host families, all dressed ornately in their traditional attire and knitting as they waited!  Tourism is one of the main livelihoods of the islanders, including farming, fishing, and stone work... so many families have extra rooms for tourists! There are no cars on the islands, which makes it quite lovely and very tranquillo!  We walked up and up the hill... having started at about 12,500 feet already!    Soon after our arrival, we were treated to a meal of quinoa soup, potatoes, rice, and fried Inca cheese.  We also got cups of steaming hot muñia tea, an herb that grew right outside Nancy´s door. It turned out that Nancy, who I mistook for a daughter of the family, was actually the mother of an 11-year old. 

Our group of  tourists all gathered together to hike up to the Pacha Tata (father earth) temple.  Though we could not enter the temple itself, the views from the top are incredible, and we got to watch the sun set over the lake!  The neighboring hill top has a temple to Pacha Mama (mother earth), and every year in January there is a festival where all 8 of the island´s communities climb to the temples to give offerings--4 communities at each temple!  Our guide explained that in the Inca tradition, there is empahasis placed on balance and duality.  Though many words in Ayamara and Quechua are different, Mama Cocha is the mother lake in both languages... 

After our wonderful hike, we returned to our host family´s small stone kitchen--with both a small gas stove and traditional stone oven--for a meal of potato soup, rice, pasta, and cheese, followed by coca tea.  We didn´t expect to eat grains like rice and pasta, but we had been told to bring gifts like rice, sugar, and milk... which it seams are now incorporated into the islanders´ diet, along with the traditional quinoa, amaranth, corn, and beans...  

After dinner we were dressed in the traditional clothing that I earlier had been coveting, and taken to the community center, to  dance while a band of 4-5 boys, who seemed around age 10, played flutes and drums for us!  Our 10-year old host Elisabetta, pulled us into dance after dance, circling and arm swinging.  We were sleeping, but didn´t want to leave the fiesta early.. but when we saw Elisabetta dozing on an older lady´s shoulder, we knew it was time to go...Elisabetta also helps run the family store and can knit like her mother.

The biggest treat of the night, however, came when leaving the fiesta, and seeing the millions of stars overhead, with their light reflecting on the lake.  In the distance, a lightening storm crackled on the far side of the lake, somewhere presumably over Bolivia.   These, our first real stars of Peru--after big city lights and coastal fogs...

In the morning, after a somewhat non-traditional breakfast of pancakes ... we headed back down the hill to the boat.  A warm, sunny day, so welcome in this rainy season of Peru!  We headed to Taquille, another island nearby.  We learned about the traditional clothing of the islanders... the men actually do most of the sewing!  We also got to see many symbollic work... one weaving showing all the important events of a couple´s marriage, that is traditionally given to a man by his wife after 20 years of marriage... 

They were celebrating carnival here, with musical parades to brightly decorated homes all over the island.  One courtyard we saw was decorated with the traditionally woven bags in which people carry their coca leaves... Town hall was closed, so the leaders could participate in the festivities! 

The treat of this day was getting to swim twice in Lake Titicaca, once near the port, and once when the boat pulled over to let us jump in! The water was quite cold, like a mountain lake in Coloradol... definitely refreshing on this hot and sunny day.   After our return to Puno, Wade and I were pulled into a Carnival dance by the people dancing in the streets...and then got to share in the fun of being sprayed extensively with shaving cream... apparently this tradition is strong also in Cusco, the long'ago capital of the Incan Empire.  We have been advised to wear our raincoats there, even when it´s not raining...

Jenny, our ever gracious host, packed us a mango, some chocolate, and oreos for the bus ride to Cusco!

On our bus trip from Puno to Cusco, through the country-side of terraced fields, flocks of sheep and llamas, we also saw many signs of solidarity painted on the sides of houses and walls... socialismo, Che Guevara, the rainbow Cusco flag, a proud Incan figure, repeated over and again.

We arrived in Cusco to a strike.  The government wants to privitize Machu Picchu, and the other Incan ruins in the Sacred Valley that are popular for tourists.  In the morning, there had been a big march in the street, and many stores were closed.  The taxis were not running, though we did get a ride for double the price, the cab driver risking getting his windshield pelted with rocks for our $1.75 fare...

The strike, though a hot topic of conversation, didn´t do much to ebb the flow and hum of tourism in this, the former Incan capital city, where it is hard to walk 5 steps without an offer of a sweater, a massage, a trek to Machu Picchu.  Where it is possible to have any number of sacred medicine journeys, with people who may or may not be trained shamans.  Where little boys who call themselves Pablo Picasso try to sell you postcards they say they painted...

This city is beautiful, as well, with numerous cathedrals where sometimes you can see the Incan walls poking through, the bones upon which the Spanish built their empire.  Not far from town are numerous Incan ruins, the closest, Saqsaywaman, a site where Pizzaro´s troops slaughtered a number of Incans in battle. 

The ruins are enormous, a mere fraction of their initial size--with their proximity to the city, many giant stones were removed during colonial times.  This ceremonial site became a fortress out of need.  The site is still living, though, as women in traditional dress cross the paths on the way home to the hills above town, and cows, sheep, llamas, and crops all share the surrounding land.

While we are visiting the ruins, a thunderstorm crashes in overhead, and we take shelter in one of several caves.  We meet a Frenchman who is walking the former Incan territory--from Colombia to Chile... with a llama and a dog, and his new Peruvian friends.  They explain to us the proper way to receive a coca offering (the sacred plant of the Incas and other indigenous peoples, good for altitude sickness, preventing hunger and thirst, and giving a lift of energy).  You receive the offering in both cupped hands,  and give 3 leaves to PachaMama.  If you ever lose your way on the trail, you can place 3 leaves on the trail, and she will help you find your way.  It really works, exclaim our new friends!

On the way home from the ruins, we find one of our favorite treats--choclo con queso, ears of corn with giant yellow kernals, and a slab of salty Incan cheese.  The cheese is sold in market in enormous wheels decorated like wedding cakes, the corn is pulled off the ear by hand.  A bit further down the road, we find another treat, indicated by a red plastic bag hanging outside a house: chicha!  Homemade corn beer, which tastes like fermented corn.  Inside, a family of women in traditional dress are finishing their giant cups: great-grandmother, grandmother, daughter with a baby on her back.  The oldest woman is apparently telling the youngest to drink up in Quechua, she chugs the last of her drink and the ladies depart.

Another favorite treat appears at the store Chocolate, which was closed the first few days of our visit.  We drink big mugs of steaming liquid chocolate, made by melting chocolate squares, and nibble delectable squares of dark chocolate.

We chose to go hiking to some other ruins the morning of Carnival.  After our experience in Puno, we expect it to last all day.  When we arrive in the Plaza de Armas around 3, just 2 bands are still marching and dancing, all the while people are pouring water on them from
2nd story balconies, and spraying shaving cream in the streets.  Quite a party!

In Cusco, we find a favorite vegetarian restaurant El Arbol (the tree) where we get our fill of veggies and even real chai!  After our third meal there, I find a small postcard there for the World Peace and Prayer day in Japan... a sign to me that I was meant to find them!

The faeiries i found in Cusco were on a mural in a hostal, made of the owner´s grandchildren.  That morning I had the thought that my prayers are coming true, and there i found the fairies (my alter-ego being the rainbow sparkle fairy)... I later learned that Kia, the woman who started Casa de Milagros where we will be volunteering, delivered one of those babies!  Truly we are all connected...

One of my favorite connections in Cusco was with the woman from whom I bought my scarf.  I am from the campo, the country, senorita, she told me.  My mother did not learn to speak Spanish, she only speaks Quechua.  She learned instead to weave, to cook.  This woman proceeded to explain to me how she spins the wool from sheep.  When we didn´t recognize the word for sheep, she baaaa´d for us.  (We might not learn the word for sheep, for how fun it is to have people baaa in explanation....) She told me the names of the plants for the natural dyes, and the process to make them. I was honored to buy my scarf after this, in green, somehow everything on this trip is green for me...

After buying my scarf, we visited our friend Cathy, who is an anthropologist from Iowa, writing a book on the people of a small town she has studied for 21 years.  Cathy showed us photos of the natural dye-making process.  She showed us photos of the women from her town, and explained that they make their own clothes out of synthetics--they can get a tighter weave--and save the alpaca garmets for the market-wares.  Cathy also explained that what we see as ¨traditional clothing¨is new since the time of conquest, when the Spaniards mandated that the natives adopt Spanish peasant dress.  She also said that I was wrong when I thought that the people here acquaint the Virgin Mary with Pachamama.  In her village, at least, the people have told her that Mary taught them the ¨civilized¨ ways and practices.

We had heard talk of another strike in Cusco, this one perhpas to last indefinitely, at least of the rail to Cusco and the airport.  We felt ready to get out of this town with its deep history of pride and conflict, marvelous beauty, spirituality, and spiritual materialism...

We left Cusco on a local bus, to head up the hills out of town, and drop down into the Sacred Valley.  The tall mountains are extremely lush and green, even though this rainy season is unusually dry... as the weather is changing in Lima, Puno, Denmark, we learn in many conversations.

Pisac is a small town known for its market.  Apparently, the Pisac market is the second-most visited tourist attraction in Peru!  We are so thankful we are visiting during the low season!  The market fills the Plaza de Armas, and spreads out into the surrounding streets.  We find one of the traditional ovens in which people bake empañadas, and also a chicheria on the outskirts of town.  The man of the family puts Wade next to him in a seat of honor, and proceeds to explain the process of making chicha.  We wish our Spanish was good enough to understand... We toast often, ¨¨salud¨¨ - health- and also teach the family ´cheers´´.

Yesterday we hiked to the ruins above Pisac, about a two hour hike passing an amazing waterfall, one of those days that starts cool, then is hot and sunny, later cool and raining, then hot... The ruins are vast, and amazing, with many parts that were residential, ceremonial, military, agricultural... there are still stone baths with running water that was channeled from above, and somehow the Incans made a tunnel through the mountain. 

We caught a cab down the mountain, and learned Peru was playing Argentina in a soccer tournament.  We caught part of the game, and were offered a ¨¨typical Peruvian drink¨¨, which seems to have been an alcohol made of sugar mixed with orange soda.  ¨¨it´s totaly natural¨¨ we are told, which is what the man told us also the other night about the chicha...

Today we had the privilige of meeting Ana, a friend of a friend who is Peruvian and has lived in the Sacred Valley 20 years. She and her husband set up the first hostal in the valley, and helped cut through the jungle to make the popular for tourists Inca Trail.  Sometimes she regrets this. That is how it is here, she says, the government has no money for conservation and the people do not think about the earth.  The eucalyptus trees have been imported, they are ubiquitous, and cause erosion.  She has run campaigns to save the ancient pisonay tree in Pisac´s square, and now is creating a healing center for women, where she and her partners will also work to help her local community´s alcoholics.  We have to work together, she says.  Ana, too, knows Kia, she used to teach English to the children at the orphanage.  We will soon know Kia as well... our next journey is to Casa de Milagros, a short bus and taxi trip away!

From Pisac, we headed to Casa de Milagros, where we will be volunteering for a month. The orphanage is home to 32 children, from one infant to the oldest boy who is 16, all but one are children from the campo, the countryside. The orphanage is across the river from a small town in the Sacred Valley, behind it the wall of the mountains rise, green and brown, with a trail to some spectacular ruins. The grounds have an organic farm, chickens, ducks, horses, cats, and dogs. It is beautiful and peaceful there. We met a few of the children on the first night, but then had to prepare for one more journey...

We had heard talk of an impending strike, but the morning of our departure, we could see buses travelling down the valley, the strike wasn´t happening. Our first stop was the small town of Ollantaytambo... the traditional granary town of the Incan people... the town is actually designed like an ear of corn and supposedly the best corn in Peru is here! The ruins above town are spectacular, with some amazing water works.

Our group for Macchu Pichu was going to meet for dinner in Ollantaytambo, and our task was to find the Kusicollar Hospedaje and Cafe Mistico. We found Kusicollar Hospedaje, Mystic House Cafe, and Cafe Kusicollar... none of them the right place! We hadn´t expected the adventure to begin so early... after asking many people for directions, and wandering through the Old Inca part of town (with houses that have been inhabited since Incan times and canals that run down one side of the streets), we finally found the cafe! Only, the owner didn´t know our group was coming... she called Pepe, our trip leader, and got it all worked out... we arrived at 6:20, as he had told us to... knowing they would be late, and waiting as expected...

Our group of 18 (we had expected 12, at most) was quite international, with 2 Canadians, 5 Argentinians, 4 Chileans, 1 Bulgarian who lives in San Francisco, 1 Texan, 1 Japanese woman who has been living in Peru 6 months, 1 Britton, and our Peruvian guide... almost everyone spoke English, and we had many conversations in English and Spanish both...

Our Macchu Pichu trek was great, although a bit unorganized in seemingly typical Peruvian fashion... Our first day we started hiking from Santa Maria, a town in the high jungle. We stopped at an organic papaya and coffee farm for breakfast, and also had home-made honey-yum! We hiked through banana, papaya, coffee, avocado trees, and past coca plants... the mangos were the only fruits ripe for eating, just at the end of mango season. We spent the night at some hot springs which were only a little bit developped (there was a tienda to buy beer and snacks, and bathrooms). It poured rain all night, and one tent was missing a rain fly (luckily not ours!) The next day, we spent a lot of time over breakfast (avocados and bread, all 4 mornings), and got dropped off at the hydroelectric plant. From there, it was about a 2 hour walk to our hostel, walking all the time along the railroad tracks. (which are the local trail, we saw lots of locals and tourists both walking along them). The hostel is right off the Rio Urubamba, with lush grounds. Just across the tracks from the hostel was a huge, amazing waterfall, which was so big it made its own wind and drenched us in mist!

On Tuesday morning, we awoke around 5... the plan was to start walking early, but our group of 18 of course took awhile to get ready... after 1.5 hours walk we were at Macchu Pichu... it was beautiful, with mist blowing across and every few minutes parts would disappear and re-appear, making it always changing and adding to the mystical allure. Before entering Macchu Pichu, one member of our group led us all in a yoga session, which the staff watched with amusement, and the guards photographed...

We visited a bridge the Incans had built out of stone and wood along a ridge, the trail disappeared quickly along a cliff with a sheer face... the main ruins were quickly filling with tourists, so we headed up Waynu Pichu, the mountain behind the ruins. From the top, you get a perfect view of the ruins, which are laid out in the shape of a condor! From Huayna Pichu, we climbed down to the Temple of the Moon and the Grand Cavern. The trail was quite steep, with ladders down in places... The Temple of the Moon was my favorite part, a deep cave filled with white stone blocks and structures, I sat on one stone cut like a bench or altar and could feel all of the moonlight it has absorbed over the years, feeling the power of the energy...

The other ruins were impressive, with stones set up for astronomy and to reflect the sun´s light at the solstice in specific patterns... there was more than we could possibly see in one day. We might go back to visit again... Kia, who runs Casa de Milagros, recommended we visit with her friend, who is a shaman, and can explain the meaning of it all to us... We also were busy climbing and exploring the whole time, and didn´t get much of a chance to just sit and absorb the energy...

On the walk to Macchu Pichu, two of the dogs from our hostel accompanied us all the way to the front gate... at which point a guard shooed them away. Upon our return, 9 hours later, we saw the little dog had waited for us, somehow knew Wade and I were the last of our group to leave, and escorted us all the way back!  The hostel owner told us that her dogs like spending time with the tourists passing through...

It took almost a day to return... starting with a walk along the tracks from the hostel to the hydroelectric plant, where we caught a van to the town of Santa Theresa, then another van to Santa Maria... we had to get out and walk across a part of the road that had been covered by a landslide that was still sliding to catch another van on the other side of the slide, and a third van to Ollantaytambo... Today we will return to Casa de Milagros, though we have again heard there is a strike and it might be hard to find a bus... once we are back, it is a 2k walk to town for email, and supplies... we are looking forward to settling into the tranquilo lifestyle and making connections with children and the land this next month!

On our return to Casa de Milagros, we did indeed encounter the paro, or stop!  It was a 2-day strike, again protesting the privitization of Macchu Pichu and other heritage sites.  When leaving the town of Ollantaytambo, it seemed we saw less tour buses than usual, but there was a combi van right in the plaza de armas heading to Urubamba.  There were rocks in the road, and at one point some kids yelled from their self-constructed dirt road block "señor, huelga!" (strike, mister!)  The bus station in Urubamba was obviously closed, but our driver said we could catch a combi to Calca on the other side of town.

We walked to the other side of town, the one traffic light in all of Urubamba, and maybe all of the Sacred Valley, where other people were waiting.  No combis were heading this way.  Most people seemed to be heading to Cusco, which is down a different road than Calca.  The taxi drivers were offering to take us to Calca for 50 soles, about $17.... finally we talked one down to 40 soles, then he talked to some other drivers, and said no, the road was blocked, he could¨not go to Calca.  We were wondering what to do, it was about 20k to Calca.. and then Casa de Milagros is still further out from Calca. After our Macchu Pichu adventure, we were ready for the adventure to end.  But, here we had another aventura... (A new adventure every day, has become our motto!)

 We finally found a taxi who offered to go for 20 soles, and were glad when a police officer got in the taxi as well. It offered a sense of security.... well, we made it maybe 1/3 of the way when we hit a giant roadblock of big rocks.  Get out and walk, follow the police officer, there will be cars on the other side, said the driver.  And he asked for 10 soles... we gave him about 7.

The police officer was walking fast, so we hurried to keep up.  There were lots of road blocks along the route, many small.  In one small town, the people had placed broken glass, giant tree stumps, even carts across the road.  An angry mob surrounded a truck that apparently had tried to pass a roadblock.  We hurried past, we only saw one other gringo on this walk, and yes, we were at times fearful of what could happen.

It was beautiful, too, seeing the towns and people and their animals, the clouds gathering above.  And inspiring... to think that the people united can create change!

It started to rain, and was getting dark, we were passing through small towns without hostels, not thinking about what was next except getting home!  Then the police officer passed us in a moto-taxi, get in!  He climbed up front with the driver, I sat in back with 3 kids, and Wade sat on the very back luggage rack!  They all got out in Calca, and we headed to Lamay.  There were still road blocks, and the driver hit one, getting a flat. He tried to drive on, but we soon got out to walk, in the cold and dark rainy night, to Lamay, across the bridge, and along the dirt road, where we finally made it to Casa de Milagros!  Aventura, indeed!

The kids and caretakers had all gone away to some hot springs, and the strike had prevented their return.  Kia was there, however, and we caught up on news and dinner, then to sleep!

The next day was our introduction to handwashing all of our dirty clothes, and I got to help in the kitchen, making a salad-- our first in Peru, hooray, all organic veggies from the garden.
The kids made it back late that night, they had had to drive through the roadblocks, and angry people slashed one of the cars´ tires!

Our next day we got to pick cauliflower leaves for the horses and weed the gardens.  We will be working alot in the gardens.  We also got to meet some sapos, toads, thanks to 2 little boys and were helped by a little boy and girl with the weeding.  What kind of  flower is that?  "A yellow one..."

We heard the strike closed the airport in Cusco and also the train to Macchu Pichu.  It may resume on Monday, if the government does not listen to the people.  We came to town today... It turns out the "big" town, Calca, is more like 5k from the orphanage... where we can visit the market and the internet. Lamay, is a 2k walk, but also has bus service to Calca.  We might also get to use the computers at Casa de Milagros, though the phones have been down awhile.... we are glad to be out of the strike area, but curious to learn what will happen!