Dias 25, 26, 27, y 28

On Monday (08.02.10) I started my second week of quechua class. This class was probably the best thing I could have taken. Our professor Dany was the coolest guy in all of Peru (and also the tallest). And considering we only had eight days of class, we learned a pretty impressive amount of quechua. Here's a sample of what we learned:

Nuqa kusi kashni. = Yo estoy feliz. = I am happy.
Nuqa khumpay wasiyta rishani. = Estoy iendo a mi casa con mi amigo. = I am going to my house with my friend.
Tiburunta unuta waytan. = El tiburon nada en el agua. = The shark swims in the water.
Qan manan kawitaypichu puñushan. = No estas durmiendo en mi cama. = You are not sleeping in my bed.
¿Qanchu ukukukuna tusunki? = ¿Tu bailas con los osos? = You dance with the bears?
Chaykunaqa ukukukunan. = Estos son mis osos. = Those are my bears.

And my personal favorite:

Qhawaykachachikapushawasqankichisraqmi.

which is one word that in spanish means:

Hasta hoy soy la critica de todos ustedes.

and in english:

Until today, I was the critic of all of you.

The picture at the top is a sign for a cafe in Ollantaytambo. When we went there, I hadn't taken my quechua class, so I didn't know what Inti Killa meant. I pronounced it in-tea kill-ah, and decided if I were ever a rapper, it would be my rap name. Later, I realized that Inti in quechua means sol/sun and Killa means luna/moon. Also, on my way to school today I saw a street name that was something something Puputi, which means something something bellybutton. It's definitely interesting to be able to pick up on a lot of little words here and there and understand what's happening.

It's also interesting learning a new language in another language. I was nervious that taking quechua wouldn't help my spanish skills that much, but I was wrong. Learning quechua in spanish has helped to reinforce my spanish skills and vocabulary, as well as my comprehension skills. I'm more comfortable speaking in spanish and asking questions, and I find myself searching for the right words less and getting my point across better.

It's an interesting language, and it has a lot of uses in Peru. Yesterday I was volunteering at the orphanage and while most of the girls were watching a movie, a few were in the back coloring with us. One of the girls wouldn't answer us when we spoke to her and never said anything otherwise. It wasn't until later that one of the girls told us that she didn't speak any spanish, only quechua. A few of us then put together enough of our quechua knowledge to ask her if she spoke spanish (¿Qanchu quichuata rimanki?), if she wanted to learn spanish (¿Qanchu munanki españul yachayta?) and I wrote her a note that said good morning (Allin p'unchay) and drew her a big sun with a smile face. It must be so hard for her being new in an orphanage where not many people speak fluent quechua, or quechua in general.

In other news, I handed in my final paper Monday night and did my presentation on Tuesday at 5:00 PM. It was the most awkward thing of my life. My presentation was on Inca architecture, with the main point being rocks. I figured that if I had to do this presentation that was only supposed to originally be 5 minutes then got bumped to 15 or 20, I was going to make everyone watching me suffer by choosing the most boring topic as possible.

All in all, it was actually very interesting, minus the page I wrote about quarries. When I walked into the room for my presentation, I wasn't expecting the three teachers from the Academia to be wearing caps and gowns, and I accidentally burst out laughing. I did my presentation, they asked me some questions, and then they handed me a certificate that said I graduated. Then I put on a cap and gown and took a picture with it, which was also really weird, and then I left. So that was interesting or something.

It was just nice to be done. There were three days of presentations for everyone from Rutgers, either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I got mine out of the way earlier rather than later so I had the rest of the week to finish my volunteer hours and study for my exam at the end of the week.

I took some pictures with the girls from the orphanage, so I'll upload them when I get a chance. I'm also bringing home all my pictures and letters from them. As of now, I'm finished with my hours, but I might pop back in to say goodbye before I leave.

As a special treat (you're welcome) here's a picture of me from Machu Picchu looking like I'm walking down the stairway to my death:



More entries to come,

Victoria

Dias 23 y 24

On Saturday (07.31.10)we left our hostal at 8:00 AM to go to Aguas Calientes. In order to get there, we took about a two hour bus ride to Ollantaytambo, where we went a few weekends ago. From there we took the IncaRail train to Aguas Calientes. There is really no other way to get to Aguas Calientes other than the train.




The train tracks followed:



the Urubamba River all the way to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is about 2000 less feet above sea level than Cusco, and right on the border of the jungle, so it was very warm (for Peru, around 75 or 80 degrees), humid, and there were a alot of mosquitoes. Also, it was much easier to breathe.

The town of Aguas Calientes is very small and mostly for tourists. It is, however, known for its hot spring baths, which I'll get to later.

So once we got off the train, we put our stuff in our beautiful hotel. My room had:



a balcony that overlooked the river, as well as hot water and a fantastic bed, so I was happy. After we put our things about, we went to a buffet lunch and then had the rest of the afternoon off. We were all supposed to hike to the giant waterfall, but our tour guide said it was too late and that we'd be walking in the dark. A small group of people still went, though, and they had plenty of time, so I don't know what Roger was talking about.

Instead, a group of us went to check out the aguas calientes. It was ten soles to get in, and I found out that I couldn't move past the locker room area, because my bathing suit was still in the hotel. But it was okay, because I waited for the rest of the people to come back out and got some really nice pictures anyway.



Afterwards, we decided to Happy Hour hop before we had to wake up at 4:45 AM for Machu Picchu. At our bar, I got a Machu Picchu, which is grenadine, orange juice and something, and some terrible mint thing all in layers. It was just as beautiful as the scenery.




We got on the bus that drives up the mountain to Machu Picchu at around 6:00 AM. The ride was only about 15 or 20 minutes, which meant we made it in time to see the sunrise over the mountain onto Machu Picchu.







A larger group went with our usual guide Roger, but a few other people and I went with a new guide, Felix, who was amazing. He knew all the secrets spots at Machu Picchu as well as the history of each of the sites. While the other group essentially left Machu Picchu immediately to climb either Huayna Picchu or the actual mountain Machu Picchu, both of which overlook the ruins, we got a really great tour of the ruins, which I preferred. He also spoke in English, so I could really understand what everything was.

When we first got to Machu Picchu I literally had no words. Everyone expects it to be amazing, but you can't really appreciate how huge the ruins are, or how perfectly constructed and maintained they were, or the height of the mountain, until you're actually there. I got some amazing pictures, but they cannot do Machu Picchu justice. It is a place you really have to see for yourself, and I hope one day I can go back.




Machu Picchu is divided into two sectors: the agricultural sector and the urban sector. The agricultural sector was home to all of the terraces, which is where the farming and cultivating occurred. The urban sector is full of temples, houses, and plazas.

Hirum Bingham is known for rediscovering Machu Picchu in 1911. There is some controversy as to if he was really the first person to find it, but he was the one who really brought Machu Picchu to the rest of the world. The 100th anniversary of his excavation is next year.

After our tour, we had some free time to explore, so we climbed up a thousand bajillion stairs to the watch tower, where some lovely alpaca were waiting for me. It was almost as good as climbing the mountain to overlook the ruins, because you could get some really nice views. Afterwards, we laid out on one of the terraces. Around noon, we left back for Aguas Calientes.

The most amazing thing about Machu Picchu is that every time you turn a corner around a ruin and look out over the mountains, it never gets any less spectacular. Even when there are hundreds of tourists in your way and it's 80 degrees and a small child is hitting you with his stick (which actually happened to me, thanks), you could stay there forever and keep thinking it's incredible.



Afterwards, we went back to Aguas Calientes, got lunch and then got back on the train to Ollantaytambo. We got back to Cusco around 7:30 PM, where I had to immediately finish writing my final paper for class. It was on Inca architecture, and for my slide show, I used all of my own pictures. While I was at Machu Picchu, I got some interesting photos of the rock work, so that was nice.

If I were having a miserable time on this trip, the 36 hours we spent in Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu would have salvaged the whole thing. I recommend if there is ever a chance that you take the opportunity to see it for yourself.

More entries to come,

Victoria

Dias 18, 19, 20, 21, y 22

Monday (07.26.10) was the start of my third week in Cusco. This means that I finished my first class (some grammar) and moved onto my new class, Quechua!

Quechua is the Native American language spoken mostly in the Andes mountain range of South America. It was also the language of the Inca people, and therefore many of the names of places in Cusco are actually in Quechua, not Spanish. There is still a large population that speaks Quechua today, especially in los campos. Many of the people who speak Quechua never learn to write it, because before the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Peru, there was no written alphabet. But in my class, I'm learning to speak quechua, as well as read and write it.

Our professor for our quechua class is Dany Vargas, the tallest Peruvian of all time. His height doesn't affect his ability to speak quechua, but it makes things more interesting for the people looking at him five hours a day.

Tuesday (07.27.10) was a typical day, which means we had class from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, volunteered from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and then worked or relaxed and did it all over the next day.

Wednesday (07.28.10) was Peruvian Independence Day, or Fiestas Patrias. Peruvian independence from Spain was won on July 28, 1821 by General Jose de San Martin. Peruvians celebrate independence day with two days of vacation, one in honor of independence and the other in honor of the armed forces.

On Wednesday, we had class in the morning. Our quechua class had to sing a song during a presentation in front of the whole school, so that was kind of lame. The song was called Valicha. It is a song that everyone in Cusco knows, so there's that. It's a very pretty song; I would have just preferred not to shout it to the Andes from the courtyard of our school.

On the brightside, I got a 95% on my quechua exam, so that was worth it.

Thursday (07.29.10) and Friday (07.30.10) we had vacation for the holiday, so I basically volunteered a lot of hours and did some shopping.

In the beginning of the week, I also started volunteering at the girls' orphanage next to our hostal rather than the clinic. We basically brought tons of crayons, paper, markers, sidewalk chalk, and coloring books for them. It was our jobs to occupy them during the afternoon.

A lot of the girls have families that don't visit, and some don't have any family at all. In some cases, the government mandates that the girls be placed in the home, because the conditions at home aren't fit for them to live there. It's really sad, because it's easy to see that the girls miss their families. One girl wrote a letter to her whole family and read it aloud to each of the volunteers there. She said she would give the letter to her family when they came on visiting day (which is every Thursday), but when I was there on Thursday, her family wasn't there. I was hoping that they had visited when I was in school before I got there, but the odds of that are probably slim.

In any case, the girls really like when we're there. They like when I sing Justin Bieber songs, and the theme song from Titanic, because apparently they are popular songs in Peru. They can't get enough of it, which is good for me, because that means they can't get tired of me.

I didn't have many things to take pictures of, so here's another llama for your time:




More blah blah to blah,

Victoria

Dias 14 y 15 y 16 y 17

It's been a while so here's a recap of the past week:

Thursday: Woke up, went to school, came back, volunteered, came back, did homework, went to sleep.

Friday: Woke up, went to school, came back, volunteered, came back, did homework, went to sleep.

Saturday:

On Saturday (07.24.10) We got up mad early to go look at more rocks. First we stopped at Pikillacta, which started when we found out that these:



giant rock figures that used to be part of a giant canal system. We apparently weren't supposed to be climbing on these, but we did anyway, and I got this:



which is a shot of the canal on the top of whatever it was.



Pikillacta is the location of the ruins of a Pre-Incan empire known as the Wari Empire.



I was really bored and felt really sick here, so it was a definite snoozefest. After way too much time there, we left for:



Tipon is another arqueological site that is famous for its fountains and typical Incan architecture.



While we were here, we arranged to have some time with:



a shaman who did a special ceremony for us and told our futures. There was a lot of coca leaves, weird smelling oil, and a few playing cards. I got a Jack of Clubs, and he asked me if anyone had said goodbye to me and that they loved me, and I said yes. And then he went on to someone else. I'm not really sure what that means, so I'll just take it as a sign of good things to come.

Afterwards we went to lunch at La Hacienda de Tio Juan, where Tio Juan actually came riding up the hill on his black horse and gave everyone shots of anise liquor. There was also a trampoline, hammocks, and a volleyball net, which is the equivalence of Peruvian heaven.

We had the option of getting our fortunes told by another shaman, but I headed back to the hostal instead and got some rest.

Sunday: our FREE day

Sunday was the first free day we had since we've been in Peru. Basically, I slept in, then went shopping. It was a great day.

More blah blah to blah,

Victoria

Dias 11 y 12 y 13

On Monday (07.19.10) I began my volunteer work at the Clinic. In Peru a clinica is essentially a private hospital, while a hospital is a public hospital. We had the options of working in the clinic, the girls' school next door, or around the clinic doing maintenance or cooking or other stuff. I decided to work at the clinic, because I would get to work with children with physical and mental handicaps. When you walk into the clinic, there's the pharmacy to the left, and then some other stuff on the right that I wasn't paying attention to because the floors are really slippery. You walk through the clinic and down a ramp into the children's ward.

I asked how many children lived at the clinic, and one of the nurses said that there were forty children. Almost all of these children are confined to wheelchairs; a good majority of them have mental disabilities as well. Most of their parents don't visit, because in Peru, having a disability is considered socially unacceptable.

Our job as volunteers is basically to play with the children until 4:00 PM, which is their dinner time. On Monday, I took a little girl named Mayelin outside, and we played with a pelotita (small ball; it was a ball that you would ordinarily find in a ball pit) for two hours. She couldn't get enough of throwing it and then chasing it in her wheelchair. Then we picked some flowers (which technically we weren't supposed to do, but who is going to tell this three year old child that she can't have the yellow flower), and picked off all of the petals.

There aren't enough nurses to help all of the children, and even though there are about eight volunteers there, the ratio of helpers to children isn't enough to give each child the attention he needs. Most of them stay inside, while the lucky few are taken outside for a few hours by some strange American kids.

During dinner time, all of the children crowd around tables and eat. Most of them need help eating, so it takes a while for everyone to get fed. Afterwards, around five, everyone is put to bed.

It's hard to believe that most of these children don't know or see their parents. They live in this place with forty other kids that they may or may not like, eating food they may or may not like, and only knowing the nurses that take care of them but can't possibly give them the attention they deserve, to no fault of their own.

It was difficult the first day to get acquainted with their schedule and rules and customs. But I was looking forward to go back the next day.

However, a monster virus hit our entire hostal, including me and my roommate. My poor roommate was sick all night, but I didn't get hit until the morning. I went to school for an hour and then came back and slept almost all day. There were six other people in our hostal who were sick and a few others in the other hostal. Luckily most people are feeling better today, but I missed out on three hours of volunteer service that I need to make up later.

Today was much better for most people. Class was fine, and then I went to volunteer at the clinic again. Today I worked with a little girl named Nazareth, who couldn't walk, but decided it would be great fun to collect all of the broken balls in the park and put them all together, while I carried her to and from the designated ball area. We did this for almost two hours, and then it was time for dinner.

She really liked my dinosaur bracelets that I was wearing, so I gave them to her and told her she could keep them para siempre. She told me that I was her amiga, and then she blew me a kiss. Tomorrow I'll be wearing my hippopotamus bracelet, just in case she likes that one too.

I haven't done any sightseeing or taken many photos in the past few days, so here's an alpaca for your time:



More entries to come,

Victoria

Dias 9 y 10

As a first piece of good news, I found one outlet and one position for my computer that will allow it to charge and be happy. I can't move it for the next three weeks, but I think I'll make that sacrifice.


On Saturday (07.17.10) we all woke up to leave the hostal at 8:45 AM for a city tour. We first stopped at Qorikancha, which means Temple of the Sun. In its prime, it was the most important temple in the Incan Empire. The church of Santo Domingo was built on top of the ruins after the Spanish conquered the Incans. Now it is a museum and beneath the lawn in front of it is an arqueological site.



This is a view from La Av. del Sol. When you walk inside, there are displays explaining the historical aspects of the Incan temple, while there are giant oil paintings describing biblical scenes. There's also a large:



courtyard in the middle. When you walk out to the balcony, it overlooks the whole city.



And here's a group picture. We're all pretty cute.



Afterwards, we took a tour of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in La Plaza de Armas. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the outside is pretty nice:



The Cathedral was built on top of an Incan palace that the Spanish destroyed when they arrived in Cusco in the 16th century. Inside there are some amazing altars and artwork, but photography was strictly prohibida, so I'll leave that up to your imagination.

Afterwards, we took a bus up the mountain to



Saqsaywaman.

Saqsaywaman is an arqueological site with ruins that date back to between 900 and 1200 AD. They are thought to be built by the Killke people, who occupied Cusco before the Inca people.

When you climb up:



the ruins, you can get a pretty amazing view of the city:



On the other side of the giant field of ruins, there are these giant rocks that are smooth enough to:



slide down. This little kid really had the hang of it, because he kept licking his palms to help slow himself down, and he was really flying (face first into gravel at the bottom).

Also at Saqsaywaman are these complex underground tunnels that are pitch black, really tight, and have jagged rock walls. They connect to other sites around Cusco.

Afterwards we went to Qenqo, another arqueological site that is though to have been an cerememonial ampitheater. You can walk through the stones like hallways.



It rained a little while we were there, and we were all really exhausted, so we didn't spend a huge amount of time there.

Instead, we headed off to Tampumachay, a where there was the ceremonial worshipping of water.



We basically walked up a giant hill to these stone aqueducts and canals. At this point all we wanted to do was go home and eat lunch, so we got back on the bus and headed back toward the hostal around 1:30 or 2:00 PM.

The next day, we woke up bright and early to head to the Pisac ruins (in Pisac), which is located in the Sacred Valley along the Urubamba River. Along the way, we stopped at a llama farm, where we saw:



real llamas/alpacas and:



fake llamas/alpacas.

They told us the difference between the two, but it was in Spanish so I didn't really get it, and was more importantly feeding the giant monsters.

Then we drove to the ruins where we first saw:



the terraces.

These terraces were designed to be used to grow a variety of different crops at different altitudes. The heartier crops were on the higher terraces in the colder weather, and other crops were near the bottom in the warmer temperatures.

Then we climbed up the hillside through the ruins.



We didn't have too much time there, because we had to go to the GREATEST RESTAURANT EVER. It was a tourist restaurant in the middle of no where; an oasis in the Andes if you will. The food in Peru can pretty much be boiled down to rice, potatoes, and corn. If you're looking for a salad, this isn't the place to find it. While all of the food here is delicious, it was fabulous to be able to get fresh green vegetables and really great salmon that wasn't fried.

After eating as much as we possibly could, we headed off to Ollantaytambo.



Ollantaytambo was once a the estate of an Incan emperor, and is now a famous arqueological site. When you arrive, you have to walk up:



levels and levels of terraces.

When you walk to the top of them, you can turn around and look out towards:



the town and surrounding mountains. One of the mountains has:



a face(profile) carved into it. This is the face of Viracocha, the most important Incan god, creator of all. He looks out over the ruins.

Once we got to the top of the terraces, we walked along the mountain to the other side and back down to the ground.



Because of some awful bus traffic, we couldn't leave Ollantaytambo. Instead, we checked out a house that makes chicha, a corn beverage, this time alcoholic. It was pretty gross. Then because we still couldn't leave, we went down to the river. Then when our bus was finally able to come get us, we cheered at all the tourist buses until we were picked up and left for back home.

All I all, the Incas really liked to stack big rocks on top of even bigger rocks. If you can't get enough of that, this is the place to be.

More entries to come,

Victoria

Quick Announcement

Dear Mom,

I've been trying to communicate with you for a couple days, but I've been having some problems.

1. I cannot send emails from MSN anymore. MSN won't even let me sign into the browser, so I've been using Internet Explorer when I can.
2. I can't get onto Facebook to send you any emails in facebook form, because it won't load past my homepage. It's been hit or miss at best, so I've been taking what I can.
3. My AC adapter is broken, and my computer won't charge or recognize that my charger is even plugged into my computer.
4. I only have 42 minutes of battery left on my laptop from trying to troubleshoot and find solutions, so this may be the last time I can communicate.
5. If I can fix all these things, I'll send you an email soon and update all my things.

Love,

Victoria