Meanwhile in Sahuarita

Aaron and I had a wonderful week, but our kids would tell you that theirs was way better. They had the time of their lives. When Grumpa picked us up from the airport, he said, "Well. We might have undone a few years worth of your good parenting, but know that we had a great time." I'm happy to report that the kids did not revert to savages and that Casa Johnson feels even more like home to them (if that is even possible- it already did feel like our second home). 

We were gone over Labor Day, so there were 4 school days. Mimi and Grumpa navigated school drop off and pick up and rides to primary activities and gymnastics/ballet with seeming ease. They played with homemade play dough, did a 1,000 piece puzzle (the start of a puzzle era), played games, and so much more. Even with all that time, they are still saying all the things they wanted to do but didn't have time for. We are told that we should leave town more often- and we will seriously consider it knowing that they are in such good hands!

I was worried about leaving 1 year old Felix, but he did great! He gave Grumpa lots of exercise chasing him around the house and endlessly facilitating his up and downs. He loved the crib Mimi set up for him in her closet with the skylights blacked out, and the little pink cat he had to sleep in. He seems to have a strong preference for the two books she read to him for goodnight books now, and is quite happy taking naps over there these days. 

Felix was napping when I got to the house to pick him up after we got back. I was so excited to squeeze him that I went in to get him when he made the first noise over the monitor. He definitely wasn't actually awake until I walked in, which might have contributed to the best snuggles ever. He wouldn't take his head off my chest for a solid half hour. It was so sweet. 

An Elliot slider chart for Breezy to show how she's feeling, based on something from the video game "Stardew Valley" that they are currently obsessed with. It's theoretically helpful in knowing when to avoid physically touching Breezy, although in practice Isaac has a very hard time ever not snuggling with her. After playing Stardew Valley a lot with Breezy, they banned together to buy a copy for our house with their own money. 

Eternal thanks for the sleepover week!

Peru! Rainbow Mountain

The tour group had a bit of a mutiny after Humantay lake. Pretty much everyone in the other tour van decided that they didn't want to do the planned day trip to Rainbow Mountain the following day. Some people had been hit hard by altitude/car sickness, and another day starting at 5am with a 3 hour van ride up a really high mountain was less appealing. Most people in that van had done a tour of the jungle before meeting up for the Cuzco tour and some were scheduled to go to Lake Titicaca afterwards, and they hadn't had a day to catch up and rest yet. They stayed behind to go to church, and one of the tour guides stayed with them to show them some closer places afterwards. 

Those of us that stuck with the original itinerary were dubbed by the tour guide to be the "Chosen Inca Warriors" and felt entitled to making gentle jabs about how the other group was too tired after being carried on horses to the top of Humantay while we had hiked it. 

Rainbow Mountain, aka 7-Color Mountain, aka Vinicunca, was significantly higher elevation that anywhere I have ever been before. It's as high in elevation as Mt Everest Base Camp! 

 

There wasn't much vegetation this high up- just lots of grass being happily munched on by herd after herd of alpacas. Keep in mind that it is the end of winter for them- I'm guessing it gets greener at other times of the year. The roads were a lot better than the ones to Humantay. We were told that is because the roads to Humantay are government owned, while Vinicunca is private property. 

The base camp was small, but had shockingly good Wi-Fi thanks to Starlink! 

Our guides were worried that if we did the hike on foot, it would take too long because some of us had flights to catch later that night. The solution: Mountain Motorcycles! One of our friends, Amber, had gotten pretty carsick on the drive up. Probably because she was turned around backwards talking to me in the car. Sorry! Apparently she has a history of fainting when she's feeling nauseous, which is quite a concern while riding on a motorcycle. We took some time to settle her with coca tea and solid ground, then had a chat with her driver about driving slowly and stopping right away if she tapped him. Luckily the ride up was fainting free. I thought it was fun tearing it up on these mountain trails. 

It was COLD up there. Around 30 degrees. 

The Chosen Inca Warriors!

The rainbow mountain definitely stole the show, but I thought the sweeping views of the whole mountain range were simply stunning. We were up so high at a summit, but there were even taller summits all around us. 

Aaron is wearing a hat, his hood, then another hat on top, and I had my hat tassels tied under my chin. Fashion is quickly compromised when desert dwellers are whisked to the top of a frigid mountain.

We decided it was worth it to pay for a photoshoot with the adorable alpacas. They are SO FLUFFY. 

After the motorcycle back to basecamp followed by a van ride back to a lunch buffet followed by more driving back to Cuzco, we had enough time to savor a light dinner (with more ice cream, we were warm enough for it then) before heading to the Cuzco airport. Our flight to Lima was uneventful... but then our Lima to Houston flight was cancelled due to a maintenance issue. By then it was past midnight and we had been up since before 5am. We scrambled desperately to try and switch to a flight on another airline that some of our group was taking later that night, but were unsuccessful. We slept in this place called "Sleepover" in the Lima Airport that is essentially tiny bed lockers for about 6 hours. Our friend Kelsy was on the same cancelled flight. The next morning, we managed to cobble together an itinerary home using multiple airlines. It was stressful because the first leg left really soon, and we weren't sure if the second leg was going to be full or not. Long story short, we managed to get home only 12 hours later than our original plan. 

This trip was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. It really felt like the trip of a lifetime. I loved the history, the food, and the wide scope of things we were able to see and do. It was also fun being with a big group of people and getting to know some of the people better. I'm really grateful that Aaron and I managed to dodge all the altitude and carsickness. This trip was an absolute blast!

Peru! Humantay Lake

The next day of the tour took us to the nacho refuge. Those poor, abandoned nachos really needed our help.

Just kidding, it was Humantay Lake! We had an early start with a 5am pick up. We snoozed in the van for an hour and a half, stopped for a breakfast buffet, then drove on up some rather sketchy unpaved switchbacks. Driving was consistently sketchy- in the cities, things like traffic lights seemed to be more suggestion than law. The most aggressive driver gets to go first. The roads in the rural area tended to be the appropriate width for one vehicle, even though traffic going in both directions drove on them. I frequently felt like we were about to be side swiped. There were some insane moments when our driver and the driver of a bus coming the other way would slow down, roll down their windows, and pop the rearview mirrors in so that they could scrape by each other. This usually happened on switchbacks up steep mountains just to notch up the adrenaline a little bit. 

Back to Humantay Lake: the weather was definitely working against us this day. We were high up in elevation and literally in a cloud that rained on us off and on. This place is a destination in and of itself, but also a starting point for some people who do multi-day hikes to Machu Picchu. There are horses there to port the supplies for the backpackers, and also to transport tourists up to the lake. Our guide was halfway through his sentence encouraging us to rent horses when a guy from another group got dumped onto the rocky ground when his horse spooked right in front of us. The guide said, "... Nevermind, I said nothing. Let's hike!" The half of our group in the other van was behind us and missed the horse dump, so most of them decided to take the horses up. 

There's our people on their majestic horses!

Actually, they were very small and slow plodding horses. But they were faster than the rest of us slow, plodding humans! The hike looked like it should be easy, but the altitude was killer. We had to take it slow and stop to catch our breath frequently. 

I was quite enchanted by all the dainty raindrop-covered plants

We finally got to the lake... and it was completely covered by a cloud. 

The ground level cloud cleared up for a short time, so we could see the far side and a bit of the glacier! I've seen pictures online, and the lake is far more colorful when sun shining on it. Oh well. 

It really looks like he's about to hike over the edge into cloudy oblivion!

After a 3 hour drive back to Cuzco, we enjoyed some empanadas and ice cream for desert. It was always pretty cold outside, but the ice cream at this place was SO GOOD that we went there three different times. They had really unique homemade flavors that I loved. 

Peru! Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu has been on the top of the list of places we wanted to see for both me and Aaron ever since we were dating. Being there in person was definitely the highlight of the trip for us. It's bigger in real life than any picture is able to capture. 

I took SO many pictures, but will try to limit it here. 

It just seemed different and amazingly new from every angle

Apparently that Andes bunny in the window is good luck!

Aaron was a good sport for my picture taking enthusiasm 

A nicely framed shot with Huayna Picchu in the background

It was awesome walking the ruins after days of being steeped in Inca history with a tour guide who patiently answered all my questions. I really love history. 

This is the Angel's Trumpet flower that was used to make the sedative tea for the human sacrifices.

Peru! Sacred Valley

 The next day of our tour took us through the Sacred Valley of the Incas towards Machu Picchu with stops at Chinchero, Ollantaytambo, and Aguas Calientes.

I had done a lot of research before this trip, but hadn't looked into the small town of Chinchero. The art center we stopped at there ended up being one of my highlights of the whole trip. 

We got out of the tour vans, not realizing that we were about to have the textile experience of a lifetime

They put a hand woven poncho and a Cantua flower necklace on each of us as we entered. 

We kind of thought this was just a shop we were stopping at, so we had fun trying on the silly hats before we were escorted into a back room.

In the back was a dirt floor workshop, complete with their own alpacas. They gave us a fascinating presentation on how they process and dye the wool. 

The table has the materials used to dye the wool hanging above.

They passed around this lumpy potato. It had nothing to do with dying wool, but I liked it. 

This lady did the whole presentation with her adorable 8 month old son tied to her back. We were all missing our kids and a little obsessed with him. 

She demonstrated scrubbing some wool with a grated soapy root, then showed us how she makes red dye from cochineal bugs. This was very exciting for me because I'd actually heard of cochineal before as they live on prickly pear cactus! Now I have a goal of making cochineal colored play dough. 

In the picture above, she's holding some of the bugs which she then smooshed and put on as lipstick. She put some more in a bowl, smushed up a bit, and poured boiling water on them. It was amazing how deep of a red color it turned the wool!

Chinchero also had some nice Incan ruins, complete with these crazy flagpoles that must have been made out of an entire tree each. 

Who doesn't love a good terrace? Keep in mind that we were there at the end of their winter. I assume this is nice and green during the summer.

We hopped back in the vans and drove a while further to Ollantaytambo, which is a very well preserved Incan town. I was impressed with the water flowing along almost all of the streets. 

No, we didn't eat here. Playing with the guinea pigs before eating them is an interesting business model.

Our guides took us to these really old houses that double as shops, although it was clear that the owners live there. Significantly, the floor was guinea pigs. 

You can zoom in and see the real human skull hanging out in the shelf to the right of this picture. Apparently it was common to keep skulls of your loved ones in your home. There were also mummified/skeletal animals used for decor mixed in with foods hung up to dry. The past was a very different place!

We had been on the hunt for lucuma ice cream since our food tour in Lima. I found some in Ollantaytambo right before we entered the archeological site... where there was sign saying "no ice cream allowed." We had to scarf this bad boy. Let the record show that the best Lucuma ice cream can be found at the Hot Ice in Cuzco. 

The ruins were AMAZING. The walls were built over a long period of time with varying construction styles. The lower terraces pre-dated the Incans and lacked the distinctive workmanship.

Here's a close up of the walls. Truly mind boggling. How did they do it??

We took the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, which is the town at the base of Machu Picchu. It's pretty standard to spend the night in Aguas Calientes before visiting Machu Picchu the next day. There was an... interesting? performance on the train where two actors lip synced to what I'm sure was a very poetic love story in Spanish, but the English translation was quite cheesy. 

I was amused to see my Swedish heritage represented in our hotel's "Sven Mapi" sign. 

We managed to break the front door of the hotel, which led to a group repair project

We found a place with empanadas for dinner, then wandered the town for a bit. We need to watch Paddington in Peru to further appreciate this picture at some point in the future. 

We found a potato museum in the back of a restaurant! I took their lovely informative brochure home as a souvenir.