Condor! Condor! Condor!

COWabunga Beach. Those small brown and white spots would be cows hanging out in the lake

Five AM wake-up calls are no fun! Watching the majestic condor glide across the Colca Canyon IS fun! So we found ourselves driving across the Colca Valley bright and early learning about the impressive terrace farming that Andeans used to take advantage of every bit of water they could gather from the mountains and natural springs. We made it to the Canyon around 8:30, and as we are getting out of the van and heading to the edge, people start screaming Condor! Condor! Condor! Liz and Spencer made it just in time to glance at the beautiful bird gliding past them. Kathy and Mary weren’t fast enough, so we spent the next hour waiting for another one. It didn’t come. We were able to see a few gliding deep in the valley (deep as in 1,000 feet away), but thanks to the telephoto lens, we can see a speck. What do ya think?

Can you see the speck? It's towards the middle. Condor! Condor! Condor!

The rest of our day consisted of driving across the National Reserve and the Altiplano (high plain) to Puno, a new region in southern Peru. The trip was stressful as we went from 14,000 ft to 16,000 then back down to 12,000 then up to 14,000. Our bodies and brains are WORN OUT. We were lucky though to have another day of observing vicuñas, alpaca, llamas, lake birds, flamingos, and many other fauna. We stopped once again at the middle-of-nowhere tea shop, only to find an alpaca standing at the outdoor tables. It had knocked over the sugar and was having a party for itself. This was the second time we had seen this.

This llama was causing some problems...made for some good pictures though.

Our hotel is at the edge of Puno city and on the bank of Lake Titicaca: an idyllic view. However, Liz is having major altitude and cinus issues and had to have an oxygen tank brought into her room. Thanks, Coty, for the Z-pak. MacLucker Misadventure Numero Cinco. The three of us remaining went to the restaurant downstairs for dinner, but Kathy couldn’t stand the smell so she left Mary and Spencer to a nice dinner by themselves. We were exhausted, so we took the night off and SLEPT! Well, Mary tried to sleep until she and Kathy woke up to the sound and smell of boiling water in her CPap (sleeping machine). Turns out sterile water DOES NOT work with these machines. No moisture for Mary at night! MacLucker Misadventure Numero Seis.

Flat Lands to Mountains High

Today we traveled to Colca Valley, a distance of about 120 miles in total but we scaled up to 16,000 feet in altitude. Much of the day consisted of beautiful scenic views of the Salinas-Aguada Biancas National Reserve, which is a protected zone for the four camelids of Peru: the llama, alpaca, vicuña, and guanaco. We mostly saw vicuña, the petit of the four that are very graceful, short-haired, with a reddish coat, and alpaca, the shorter, softer version of a llama. Alpaca and baby alpaca wool are the popular, super soft fabrics used in many Peruvian fabrics; vicuña is the cashmere of the camelids, costing $1,000 or more for a scarf – we’ll be sticking to alpaca.

Alpaca grazing in the lowlands of the Salinas-Aguadas Biancas National Reserve

Zona de Vicunas! A sweater with their wool can go for thousands of dollars!

About an hour into our drive today Spencer and Kathy started hearing an odd noise coming from the back of the car. It sounded like a flat tire…bathump bathump bathump…but the car wasn’t driving any differently. Finally the sound was so loud that our faithful driver, Alfonso, pulled over. Sure enough, a flat tire. MacLucker Misadventure Numero Tres. We spent the next hour hanging out on the side of the road, in the Andean plains, massive semis flying by us, searching for rocks to make the car jack tall enough to get the tire off.

The rest of the day went swimmingly. We took a midmorning tea break at a middle-of-nowhere rest stop, enjoying a triple tea with coca leaves (not cocaine) and other medicinal herbs to help us with the altitude. And the shopping continued! At about midday we reached the highest drivable point in the area, at 16,000 feet, where the Andeans place rock structures as submission and respect to the apus. This spot is considered very religious as it is so close to the gods. Liz, of course, made her own rock structure for the apus with the hope of them guiding us through a safe trip.

We had lunch in Chivay, the largest town in the Colca Valley, enjoying a wonderful buffet of Peruvian cuisine: rocoto relleno, alpaca saltado (PETA, sorry, but we had to try it), different soups, vegetables, MASSIVE corn on the cob (the kernels are as big as a nickel!), and river trout. Spencer also introduced us to chicha morada (a refreshing drink made from purple corn). We spent the next hour or so shopping in the local market, as Mary was given a “medicinal” cure for her pained feet…we’ll see if it works. We experienced the meat (they leave nothing to your imagination) and produce market, with an incredible variety of fruits and veggies (there are hundreds of varieties of corn and thousands of potatoes-Peruvians will proudly remind you that the potato was first domesticated in Peru).

A little shake of this, a little drop of that, and a bag scoop from the herbs and Mary was runnin' up the mountain!

We ended our LONG day at the Colca Lodge and Spa, with a beautiful landscape of the Colca river and surrounding hills. Dinner was wonderful, and to end the night Liz and Spencer went down to the natural hot springs to relax. The springs were along the river bank and so it was pitch black besides a few ground lights. They made it to the first “tub” with a sign that said “Cuidado (careful!) 80°C”. As Spencer was explaining that this equaled 180°F, Liz stuck her foot in. Liz is now nursing a mildly burned foot. MacLucker Misadventure Numero Cuatro. They continued to the next two pools only to find two couples taking up the springs, so they ended up at the last tub that was luke warm at best. Oh well, the stars were beautiful.

And the Journey Begins!

Talk about a long, exciting, busy, and exhausting first day in Peru! Mary, Liz, and Kathy landed in Lima at 11:30 last night, but thanks to the Lima airport’s wonderful engineers and logistics specialists it took them TWO hours to get through immigrations, baggage claim, and customs (and this was WITH Mary in a wheelchair going to the front-ish of the line). MacLucker Misadventure Numero Uno. Spencer misjudged the 40 minutes he thought it would take them to get through the airport and so spent 1.5 hours hanging out in the hotel waiting for them. Luckily the hotel is closer to the airport than the parking lot is! LIM was a madhouse! However, it was wonderful for the family to be reunited again.

Bright and early, with about 4.5 hours under our belt, we began the long journey (across the street) back to the airport for our flight to Arequipa. We arrived two hours before our flight and the line for LAN (Peru’s major airline) was about three hours long. As Spencer describes, this is typical and it’s obvious that LAN does not employ any engineers to combat their efficiency issues. Once again, thanks to Meme’s two knees we made it into a shorter line and were able to just make it through security and to our gate in time to board the bus for the airplane across the tarmac. 2 hours later we are taking off from Lima (an hour and a half of sitting on the tarmac and 30 minutes of further “maintenance checks”). MacLucker Misadventure Numero Dos.

Spencer spent the flight next to a couple who were experiencing their first flight, which we discovered from the crying that ensued as soon as we took off…that was fun and entertaining. A short hour later, we landed in Peru’s “White City”. Still in the “coastal” desert of southwestern Peru, Arequipa is the first step at 7,600ft in our altitudinal climb up to eventually 16,000 feet over the next two days!

Our guide for the next few days is Eduardo, who is from Arequipa and obviously brilliant. He hasn’t stopped giving us information about everything about Arequipa and Peru: fascinating! He showed us beautiful views of the desert oasis that is much of Arequipa. They have perfected the terrace system of farming utilizing the rich volcanic soil from the mountains above and the natural springs throughout the area.

Our first site in Peru! The oasis of Arequipa and terraced farming

We toured the beautiful Santa Catalina Monastery, which is no longer used but a great representation of Arequipa’s history and the traditional life of a cloistered nun in pre-20th century Peru. Mary was terrified of the idea of being cloistered and subjected to full days of inward thought and prayer and decided she would’ve run away; Liz fell in love with the beautiful rose garden that they still maintain; Kathy was impressed with their massive community kitchen that had all shapes and sizes of baking pans; and Spencer enjoyed every bit of his chicken, bacon, and spinach pita prepared by some of the current nuns. Nothing surprising here.

Santa Catalina Monastery...walking down Toledo street (all the roads are named after Spanish towns)

Our next stop was to see Juanita, the preserved corpse of a young Incan girl who was sacrificed over 500 years ago at the top of a mountain near Arequipa, Mt. Ampato. We received a wonderful lesson on pre-colonial culture and Incan traditions in the area and were able to see the body (through two glass panes and some icicles) of Juanita. The young girl was used as a sacrifice to the apus (mountain gods) at the peak of over 20,000 feet. Mary is still feeling horrible for poor Juanita.

Spencer in front of the Cathedral of Arequipa in the Plaza de Armas
There was a Christmas festival with many different children's groups singing Christmas songs

We ended our long day with some shopping in the alpaca markets (we each got a baby alpaca sweater-PETA, don’t worry, no animals were killed in the making of our sweaters) and a wonderful first Peruvian meal at Chicha, a restaurant of Gastón Acurio (famous Peruvian chef). Mary had the typical dish, Aji de Gallina (chicken strips with yellow pepper sauce); Liz enjoyed chicharrones (fried pork); and they all tried some mazamorra, a typical Peruvian dessert often made from purple corn. Happily informed, clothed, and fed, we finally got a full night of sleep.

5 days and counting

Well, Friday's flight to Lima is quickly approaching with sooooo much to complete before we board that plane! Liz has a full 4 days of Finals to administer to close up first semester, clothes to carefully select and pack, manicure/pedicure, dogs to the spa, etc. Mary has payroll to complete, last weekends retreat to close out, packing,etc. Kathy has been preparing for months, probably already packed, knows more about Peru than native Peruvians including learning functional Spanish. After working all week and working and volunteering every weekend for the past month, Friday's flight is much anticipated and well deserved. So, strap in, listen up, and keep your eyes and hearts prepared for what promises to be another journey filled with adventures and misadventures with our usual antics, humor, and memories to emblazon your spirit with fun and frolic. Mary, Liz, and Kathy will connect with Spencer in Lima and then....our 2 week extravaganza begins!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned....