Machu Picchu Trip

For our 10th anniversary, Jen and I took a trip to Peru.  Normally we wouldn't leave the country so soon after arriving, but we decided that the availability of Liz to watch the kids, a long weekend to minimize vacation time use, and our 10th anniversary justified it.  So we (actually mostly Jen, surprise, surprise) planned the trip, and we mostly forgot about it until it was upon us.  We figured we must be too accustomed to international travel when we took about 30 minutes to pack up everything we needed.

Anyway, we flew from Santiago to Lima, then missed our flight to Cuzco.  We were fortunate that there was another flight a bit later, and we arrived just an hour or so after our expected arrival.  There were people from our hotel waiting for us, which was particularly good since there was a general strike that day, and so taxi drivers weren't really working.  But we got checked in just fine, and went for a walk in lovely Cuzco.  The next day was spent seeing the sights, although most of them didn't allow photos of the interiors, forcing us to just enjoy them rather than trying to frame photos that most likely wouldn't turn out well anyway.

Cuzco town square at night.

The last part of the protest that night.

The main entrance to Cuzco cathedral

The front of the Jesuit church on the square

Some of the many people out enjoying the weather

After Cuzco we took a train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain housing Machu Picchu.  We wandered the town, had some food, bought lots of stuff, and attempted to scale a mountain using ladders.  We did not finish scaling the mountain, but we did have a good time there.

A shot from the train windows

The view from half way up the mountain

Me at the base of the first of many ladders

After our exhausting attempt at climbing, we had a nice dinner and went to bed early, ready to begin our ascent to Machu Picchu early the next morning.

We were waiting at the bus stop at 5:30 or so, but the line was so long already that we waited until around 6 before we were on a bus.  Apparently people start lining up around 4 to try to get up in time for the sunrise.  We didn't miss much, though, as the day started like this:

We headed straight for the other side, taking some time to enjoy the sights, but we really wanted to get a ticket to climb another mountain very nearby, from which spectacular views are possible.  We got tickets for the 10am entry, and then proceeded to explore the rest of the site before the hordes on the first train from Cuzco arrived.

Smiles in the fog

We made some lovely friends

The view from the entrance area

And the view from the mountain we climbed at 10, after the mists cleared

A glimpse of part of the path we climbed to get there, and the road the busses take up

to Machu Picchu proper

After our morning in Machu Picchu, we went back to town for lunch and a bit more shopping.  Yes, many of you will be getting a bit of Peru for Christmas.  Then we got on a train and went to Ollaytantambo, one of the ancient towns in the Sacred Valley.

We managed to get from the station to our hotel, had a nice dinner, and settled down for the night.  The next morning we headed to the fantastic fortress/religous complex on the edge of town.

The fortress is built into the side of the mountain

The ruins just blend into the modern town

We met a wonderful guard at the site who said he is a descendent

of the people who inhabited the city long ago.  He gave us a great

tour, and really made the visit worthwhile.

After Ollantaytambo we headed back to Santiago, where Liz and the kids were sleeping soundly.  We had a great trip, and look forward to another exciting excursion in 10 more years!

Spande Spanglish

People often ask how the kids are doing with Spanish. Truth is, it's a bit hard to tell. The kids--like most their age--aren't terribly revelatory when we ask how their days were or what they've learned. But their understanding of what their teachers are saying at school is increasing dramatically, Ellie knows most of her colors, and they both have figured out "Mira!" (Look!).

Sometimes, they ask excellent questions that show not only that they are understanding Spanish but thinking intelligently (or at least age-appropriately) about it.

For example:
--Ellie asked me the other day, "Why do people here use the letter C to say yes?"
--We had a great time at dinner tonight playing a game we made up called "Donde esta?" where asked the kids where various parts of their body were. Ellie knew a lot more than Ben, but we knew that they were both following and enjoying it when Ben said "Uno, dos, trasero!!" (one, two, butt!) and laughed uproariously. They say humor doesn't translate across languages, but I guess it does when you're three!

Unpack Fest 2008

We finally received all our things from Cambodia about 10 days ago. Who would have guessed that our possessions could have filled 164 boxes? Opening the boxes, my moving theory was confirmed: there is an inverse relationship between the level of development in the country you are packing out of and the care and amount of packing materials used for your stuff. Those Cambodian movers did a great job of protecting every $3 Crate and Barrel glass as if it were Haverford Crystal!

The big challenge for us has been trying to unpack while also entertaining the kids. Last weekend we hired some sitters. This weekend, as it is a long holiday weekend in Chile, everyone seemed to be away so we were more on our own. I decided to enlist the kids' help in unpacking, which went pretty much as you would expect...

At first the kids were very happy to use plastic cups to move the styrofoam peanuts to a garbage bag so we could reuse them as packing material later...

Then Ben decided it was really more fun to dump the peanuts on the table...

Then came the big discovery...it is so much more fun in the boxes than outside of them! Here Ben is pretending to be a "water monkey" in a tank of water at a zoo, "peeling" the water. I played a variety of zoo visitors who were amazed to discover that the water monkey could speak to them! That provided at least 30 minutes of entertainment...

By which point Ellie had discovered that packing paper was fun, too...

And Ben moved on to burying himself in peanuts and emerging happily from the deep...

Not the most efficient unpacking effort, but at least it kept the kids entertained while Mom and Dad worked!

Three Cheers for Liz

Nathan and I just got back from a fabulous five day visit to Peru, made spectacular by friendly Peruvians; ingenious Incans who constructed Machu Picchu; and Liz, who watched the kids for us while we were away.

Liz has been a huge hit with the kids. In fact, just this morning as we were eating breakfast and talking about how Liz would be leaving soon, Ben said: "Next time let's invite her for an even bigger playdate so she can stay much more longer!"

Photos of our trip and travel tips to Machu Picchu to come in the next few days (we hope).