Mounain Biking

We got to mountain bike in the rainforest. It was so fun!

The views were incredible. There were wildflowers, monkeys, and birds.

I stopped to fix my tire, and this old woman and her dog came out of her shack to see what was going on.

Traffic jam in the jungle.

Rainforest

We went to Manu Ecological Reserve. It took 9 hours. On an old bus. On a one-lane, curvy mountain road. It's kind of shocking we made it.

On a short hike we got to see Peru's national bird, the Cock-of-the-Rock. They are striking red birds with a large bump between its nose and forehead.

Manu is a protected area, and you have to go there with a guide because not only are there lots of plant species and wildlife, but there are still some Amazonian tribes living deep in the jungle.

We stayed in this cabin the first night.

Local Cuisine

There's always lots of fresh fruit at the markets. I tried grenadia (passion fruit). You peel it like an orange to reveal the soft, fuzzy womb. Then, brek that open to discover an explosion of tasty goo and tiny seeds.

Ashley and Laura (or Lowra as pronounced in Espanol) enjoyed the peruvian desert, pancake topped with bananas and honey.

How about some alpaca on a stick? It's supposed to taste like beef, only chewier.

As you can see, Peru is not really the place for vegetarians.

Peruvian Drinks

Coca tea tastes like someone went out to your backyard, grabbed a handful of leaves off a bush, and stuck it in hot water. Regardless, it is loved by all Peruvians who not only enjoy the taste but also the energizing effect and help with altitude sickness. In fact, they often take a couple coca leaves and chew them on the side of their mouth like chewing tobacco. I prefer the Coca Candy.

I spent a lot of time testing the local beer, Cusquena. It costs 6 soles (about $2.00).

We each got a free Pisco Sour at one restaurant and being the only alcoholic drinker of the group, I was forced to take them all. They are made with Pisco, lime juice, sugar, water, ice, and an egg white. It is all mixed in a blender until frothy, and then they put a sprinkle of cinnamon on the top. They sound gross, but are a nice light, fruity drink.

Cuy

Would you like some guinea pig?

Cuy is a popular and inexpensive source of protein for Peruvians. They love it!

I watched in fascination as this woman ate the last morsels of neck while holding the remaining head.

The most disturbing part is at some restaurants you can select your guinea pig which is living a quite comfortable life in Guinea World.

One of my guides, Raoul, said his child had a hamster for a pet. I asked, "If you eat guinea pigs, why don't you eat hamsters?" He said, "They are too small!" Of course.

Banos

This is what a typical Central or South American toilet looks like. I don't know why they go to the trouble of removing the toilet seat. You can tell there was one there to begin with. There is about a 10% chance of there actually being any toilet paper, so it is best to travel with a roll in your bag at all times.

Surprisingly, we came across this "hole in the ground" style toilet. That was a first for me.

In Peru, I felt something like never before - tall!

I was able to enjoy the luxury of being able to see over the tops of peoples' heads in a crowd.

Peruvians

The Peruvians give their children more freedom. It is not unusual to see very young children year old wandering the streets alone. This little girl's mother was busy working in the nearby textile market, so she was sitting contentedly by herself.

I met these brothers while mountain biking through a small village. When I took their picture, they wanted to see their image on my camera.

These children were playing in the town square in Santa Teresa. The mother of the little girl I am holding told me (only half jokingly) that I could take her to America.

In general, the adult Peruvians are shy and are wary of foreigners, but I found that if I said hello and introduced myself, they were friendly and willing to talk. The Peruvian women have the hardest lives of all because the men expect them to have several children, raise the children with no help from the man, take care of the house, and help with chores. The women always carry their babies on their backs in blankets.

I fell in love with Peruvian music which is upbeat and lively. The musicians always play the traditional instruments: the charango (a tiny madolin), zomponas (pipes), and a drum made with alpaca skin. My favorite songs are El Condor pasa and Amor Indio.

Cuzco

We stayed at Inkarri Hostel, just a few blocks from the main square. I liked it because it was cute, had internet, and free breakfast. Althought the breakfast was always the same thing: a tiny cup of orange juice, hard circular bread with jam, eggs, a tiny cup of good coffee, and a typical peruvian concoction of fruit, liquid yogurt, with cereal like Sugar Smacks on the top. We didn't have heat and warm showers were sometimes available.

They try to incorporate relics from the past into their modern spaces. This wooden railing in 300 years old.

Women weaving and alpacas or llamas are a common sight on the streets. Alpacas look just like llamas, but they have longer, thicker fur.

The first things I noticed in Cuzco were all the dogs. There must have been 85 dogs on the 15 minute drive to our hostel. Everyone had a watch dog, and there are lots of street dogs too. The Peruvians love their dogs, but they do not have the luxury of treating them like Americans. The dogs sleep outside; they feed them scraps of leftover food because dog food is too expensive, and sometimes they hit them.

Cusco

We flew to Peru on LAN. We all lined up at the airport terminal, only to find not a plane, but several buses, which drove us out to the plane on the tarmac. Then, we had 5 hours before our flight to Cuzco, so I found a deserted gate with comfy seats, and I slept for a few hours. When I awoke, there were about 50 people waiting for their plane. I really liked the quaint city of Cuzco. It has cobblestone streets, lots of nightlife, and its fairly safe. It's set at 10,000 feet in elevation, so it takes a few days to acclimate.

Many of the women in Cuzco and surrounding villages wore the traditional clothing I had seen in pictures. It was always the same: slip on shoes, leggings, pleated skirt, sweater, hat, and blanket tied around the back like a backpack. I got to hold this baby alpaca. It's fur was sooo soft.

When the Catholics arrived, they destroyed much of the Inca's religious sites, but they also left some treasures. Some of the streets, like this narrow one, were actually made by the Incas.

This Catholic church was built over a huge Inca temple.

The Catwalk

Logs of Fun

This trail was crazy fun. It was constantly up and down, and there were lots of downed trees to navigate and times when we had to find the trail. The best part was crossing Whitewater Creek 60 times.

At first we tried to hop across on rocks or trees.

After about five crossing, we decided to switch to our water shoes. Tahoe was really impressive; he was usually the first one across.

Though the dirt has eroded away, this pine tree is still clinging on.

Backpacking the Gila Wilderness

Tahoe led the way through a patch of yellow columbines.

The river was absolutely raging. It's created completely by springs.

This is called a pleasing fungus beetle. They eat mushrooms, but all we saw them doing was trying to mate.

This is Traci's horribly deformed ankle after she slid on a cliff and twisted it.

Camping along the creek

We had three campsites along the way, but this was my favorite because it was wide and open with plenty of room for Tahoe to explore.

I think these two really missed each other.

We didn't see much wildlife, only a snake and a squirrel, but we decided to play it safe and hang our food. It was my awesome throw that got the rope up there - on the first try!

Though we didn't see any bears, we saw signs of bear including scat and these tree scratches.