Peru!!

We recently took advantage of our close proximity and made our way to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu! Located in southern Peru, this amazing ancient site was a definitely a "must see" while here in South America.

To get there we had to fly to Cusco, Peru via the capitol city of Lima. We had been told Cusco was a nice city but we weren't expecting too much other then a place to stop on our journey to Machu Picchu. Fortunately, we were thrilled to discover that Cusco was an amazing site to be seen as well! We loved this colonial little mountain town located at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level (Quito is only 9,000 ft). It has a very quaint, old, European feel and was loaded with tourists from all over the world. Being in a tourist town has both pros and cons as it feels crowded but the tourism and hospitality industry is eager to please. Tons of people spoke english, the service was great, and we found longed for American places like Starbucks to enjoy!

 

 

   

 

We had an amazing dinner one night with our friends Graham and Judy who happened to be visiting Cusco/Machu Picchu at the same time as us. We ate some delicious Peruvian food including ceviche, alpaca, quinoa (Peru is the birthplace of this odd little grain) and their local drink the Pisco Sour. While asking our waiter more about Pisco, he offered to let us try it in the many flavors they serve, so off we went to do some shots!

 

The Pisco Sour is on the left, and the many other infused flavors are on the right including ginger, apricot, fig, tree tomato and jalapeno. Spencer and Graham tried them all. It was a ton of fun!

 

The next day we headed out for a bus tour of the Sacred Valley which leads to Machu Picchu. It is a beautiful valley that is dotted with small villages and lots of Incan sites similar to, but much smaller than, Machu Picchu.

 

  

 

  

  

Cool Peruvian mountain woman just chilling out. And another carrying her baby in the traditional style, slung over her back in a blanket. These cool women don't do strollers!

 

Eventually, we had to get onto a train to take us the rest of the way to Aguas Calientas, the town that sits in the foothills of the mountain that Machu Picchu sits atop. 

We had a low key night preparing for our visit early the next morning. Machu Picchu sits 1,200 feet above the town and Spencer decided to join Graham and Judy for the steep hike up at 5:00 am. I took the bus.

As expected, it is one of the New 7 Wonders of the world after all, Machu Picchu was AMAZING and AWESOME in every sense of the words. You don't see anything until you are almost in it, which is how it stayed so protected and untouched by the Spaniards that conquered the Incas 500 years ago. Once you round that last corner it renders you almost speechless in its magnificence and the shock that it is a city that was created on the peak of a mountain. The Incas were not lazy people!

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

It's hard to describe how cool Machu Picchu was. And, unfortunately, I don't feel like these pictures do it justice. It was truly awesome. Overall, we had a great time in Peru!

It's the Little Things

Living in a developing nation we do not have access to many many things. This can be very frustrating at times but is also teaching us amazing lessons we will take with us for life about living with less and appreciating what you have. Also, we often have the fun experience of finding little things that make life more exciting.

Recently, for example, our favorite little tienda (and only organic store we've found in the city) has started to sell a yummy Greek Yogurt. The typical Ecuadorian yogurt is overly sweet and liquid-y and generally unsatisfying. So, since discovering this little gem I have been incredibly excited! It's creamy and delicious and soooooo satisfying.

It's the little things that make my day!!

Feeling lucky to Live in Such an Amazing Place

Ecuador is a fascinating place to live. The diversity of the landscape is amazing. One can travel from the coast to the mountains to the jungle in a matter of hours. It's like no place I've ever seen. Additionally, Ecuador contains everything from the most modern and metropolitan cities to jungle tribes that speak their own languages and have never seen a 'gringo' or even a car. Fascinating. In fact, last weekend I a read a great book, Savages, about one of the most primitive tribes remaining in Ecuador, the Huaorani. It's crazy to realize that some of the most remote and primitive people on this planet live within a few hours of where I am right now.

I took this photo yesterday while walking Maia behind our house. A beautiful day in the Andes.

Unfortunately, Ecuador is in danger of being irreversibly changed by those more interested in stripping it of it's natural resources than preserving it as a treasure for the whole world. In an effort to curb this tragedy the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is attempting an innovative initiative called the Yasuni Project. The Yasuni is a small area of virgin forest that Correa is trying hard to preserve untouched for future generations.

I found this great video from National Geographic about the Yasuni area.  Please take a moment to follow this link, which I dont know how to embed in my blog.

Key Facts and Project Goals:

• Yasuni: One of the most bio-diverse spots on Earth
• One hectare in Yasuni contains more tree species than are native to the whole of North America
• Ecuador indefinitely foregoes extraction of 846 mill. barrels of oil and more than US$ 7.2 bill. in income
• Avoidance of 407 million metric tons of CO² emissions due to non-extraction and burning of oil
• Avoidance of 800 million metric tons of CO² from avoided deforestation
• 78% of Ecuadorian citizens support the Yasuni Initiative
• The Yasuni ITT Trust Fund administered by UNDP was established in August 2010

Correa has proposed to the global community that they contribute funding to Ecuador so that they may protect this land and the people who depend on it in perpetuity without having to ravage it for resources and the needed funds that come along with them. It's a tough sell and support has been slow going so far, but I have to applaud Correa for his efforts and I hope he is able to fulfill the goals of this admirable initiative. Ecuador is a treasure for the whole world, and I hope people take some time to recognize it.

Random Photos

Last weekend we went to Banos for the night had a great time as always drinking craft beer (the only good beer in the whole country!) and doing a little shopping. My fabulous friend Judy introduced me to Tagua, a plant based ivory substitute that the local artisans can turn into a number of beautiful objects. I love it!

The shop had this on display to show how this ugly looking plan can be carved down into any number of beautiful objects and jewelry. Very cool!

 

Posing in the streets of Banos.

Very pretty flower in Quito.

 

The storms here are amazing and roll in incredibly fast. It's a cool thing to sit and watch.

 

Walking the streets in Quito can be a dangerous undertaking for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that nothing here is flat or smooth. Not only are there hills everywhere, as you can see from these pictures (I hope) the sidewalks are full of steps as each house has regraded their portion to accommodate their driveway. You must look down when walking here and I have not seen a single stroller in the whole country!

Finally, we enjoyed a party at Spencer's boss Eddie's house last week. Here are some friends.

Portrait De Maia

I can't believe I've forgotten to post this until now. Back in January, my friend Kate did this amazing portrait of Maia based on a picture I took of her shortly after we arrived.  I LOVE IT!!

 

How great is that! If you're interested in commissioning her for a piece, let me know and I'll connect you. She's fabulous!

Girls Beach Weekend

Last weekend I was invited by some of friends to join them for a long beach weekend in Same, Ecuador. "Beach Weekend?! - Hells yeah!" I said. We headed out of the city on Wednesday afternoon, trying to get ahead of the Easter weekend beach traffic. Our plan was to spend the night in Mindo, 2 hours outside the city and then leave early on Thursday morning for the next four hour leg to the beach. We were planning a nice dinner and evening in this cute town surrounded by the cloud forest.


Well, as often happens here, the best laid plans are foiled by the power of Ecuador's natural environment. About 15 minutes from Mindo we were stopped by a landslide! Unfortunately, with no alternate roads in the Andes, we had to just sit and wait patiently for the road crews to clear the massive mound of mud from our path. We made the most of our 3 hours of waiting and the time just flew by (not really, but we tried).

       

Laura, Mireille, and Donna waiting patiently.   

Another beautiful morning in Mindo. 

Fortunately, the rest of the ride to Same was wonderfully uneventful and we arrived smoothly by lunchtime in our beach paradise. 

  

 

 

 

Same is a tiny little beach community with a few restaurants and bars. Just enough to keep us fed and entertained, but not so many places that it has become too large. It was perfect!

Dinner on our final night with Laura, Mireille, Alissa, Amy, Laura and me.

 

Laura loved the local babies.

I loved the 15 day old puppies in residence at our rental house.

Massive amazing fruit market we discovered on the way back to Quito.

And the best part about this 5 day excursion with the ladies: the total cost for the entire trip including lodging and food was around $170.00! 

I Found my Element

The power of my networking skills has finally netted me a great connection here! Through my book club I met a great girl on Wednesday who runs the Ecuador chapter of an international non-profit called Freedom From Hunger. The timing could not have been more perfect, because she invited me to an event that her organization was coordinating yesterday with youth from all around the country called AIM Youth.


They came to Quito to compete for a chance to attend an international conference in Istanbul. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for these kids as some of them had never even been to Quito, let alone on an international trip.

The subject of the competition is finance and centers around the long term goal of teaching these youth to develop the skills they need to save money, use their local bank and generally plan for their futures. A skill that American youth have innately built into their life through long term trust of the banking system and adult role models throughout their lives that use and benefit from these systems. But, Ecuador is a very different place with a tumultuous history that includes banks that have not always been so trustworthy and generations of poverty that is an incredibly difficult cycle to break. So, it is important and difficult to reach this generation to help develop this skill and teach them that they can safely look towards their long term future in partnership with the cooperatives in their community. Teaching these kids to fish, as they say. Very cool!

I am so excited to have connected with this organization and I can't wait to see how I can contribute next. Working with non-profits and these types of programs is right in my wheel-house and I got really excited about the event yesterday (probably a little too excited, I may be weird). This was so much more fulfilling than subbing at Spencer's school which I had done the previous day for a fourth grade class. I can now say with absolute certainty that I did not miss my calling as a primary school teacher. Those kids are crazy!

What a difference a day makes!