Well tres cuye fans...all good things must come to an end...and so we say good-bye Peru. As the Von Trapp family says, so long farewell. Today we wrapped up loose ends, i.e. buying every last souvenier in Lima and had a wonderful seafood lunch from the famous chef Gaston (for the true blog followers, you will remember we ate at his other restaurant in Cusco, Chica). One of our taxi trips today involved another near death experience. Our taxi driver felt compelled to make an immediate 180 turn to start a fight with a fellow taxi driver who gave him an ugly inka look. Bea refused to translate the verbal interaction between the drivers as she knew Abuelita would threaten to kick her out if she repeated those words. Peg and Lisa continued to sweat profusely as they were waiting for guns to pull out. We drove ALL around town looking for the coveted world cup stickers....good thing we love our esposos Brian and Diego, but sorry we didn't find any :( We hit pirated software town. Any one want to learn 26 languages for 3 dolla? Peg got her Rosetta Stone level 1, 2 and 3 to learn spanish (little late don't ya think?) for a steal. She is nervous though about smuggling these items into the USA....seriously, she asked Tia Gla if she would go to jail and she said, "i don't think so." Hmmmmm....For some reason, Abuelita kept asking us all day if we wanted a hair cut. We tried to explain to her that Lisa is just missing her Chi, but doesn't seem to translate well. Really, i think she called the corner salon and made us appointments. Poor abuelita, she's probably just ready for us to leave. We spent the last 2 hours weighing suitcases and transferring items back and forth. You would think we are returning with the same amount of suitcases.....but no, remember we are traveling with the Castro mafia. Who knows what's in these "extra" suitcases. You know it is bad when they include a certified letter from the government giving us "permission" us to take these items. We will all try to keep a straight face when they ask, "Has anyone handled this suitcase other than yourself?".......is that what you had said? We will truely miss all the familia and are so grateful for EVERYTHING they did for us while we were here.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day 9- Vamos a la casa...oh o o o o
Well tres cuye fans...all good things must come to an end...and so we say good-bye Peru. As the Von Trapp family says, so long farewell. Today we wrapped up loose ends, i.e. buying every last souvenier in Lima and had a wonderful seafood lunch from the famous chef Gaston (for the true blog followers, you will remember we ate at his other restaurant in Cusco, Chica). One of our taxi trips today involved another near death experience. Our taxi driver felt compelled to make an immediate 180 turn to start a fight with a fellow taxi driver who gave him an ugly inka look. Bea refused to translate the verbal interaction between the drivers as she knew Abuelita would threaten to kick her out if she repeated those words. Peg and Lisa continued to sweat profusely as they were waiting for guns to pull out. We drove ALL around town looking for the coveted world cup stickers....good thing we love our esposos Brian and Diego, but sorry we didn't find any :( We hit pirated software town. Any one want to learn 26 languages for 3 dolla? Peg got her Rosetta Stone level 1, 2 and 3 to learn spanish (little late don't ya think?) for a steal. She is nervous though about smuggling these items into the USA....seriously, she asked Tia Gla if she would go to jail and she said, "i don't think so." Hmmmmm....For some reason, Abuelita kept asking us all day if we wanted a hair cut. We tried to explain to her that Lisa is just missing her Chi, but doesn't seem to translate well. Really, i think she called the corner salon and made us appointments. Poor abuelita, she's probably just ready for us to leave. We spent the last 2 hours weighing suitcases and transferring items back and forth. You would think we are returning with the same amount of suitcases.....but no, remember we are traveling with the Castro mafia. Who knows what's in these "extra" suitcases. You know it is bad when they include a certified letter from the government giving us "permission" us to take these items. We will all try to keep a straight face when they ask, "Has anyone handled this suitcase other than yourself?".......is that what you had said? We will truely miss all the familia and are so grateful for EVERYTHING they did for us while we were here.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Day 8- Don't blame it on the Pisco
We slept in today with one main objective for the day: Tia Rosa’s bday/our farewell party….so the day started about 1pm. Tio Jaime invited us to his private handmade bar on the 3rd floor. We each tried a chilcano, made with pisco, lime, and siete-up….went down way too smooth. They then presented us with gifts and told us we are now a part of the family and always have a place to stay when we return to
Tomorrow is our last day in
Peruvian facts of the day…
1. Did you know you can make a right turn when in the farthest left lane on a 3 lane street? Well, you can in
2. Peruvians really know how to throw a party and have a high tolerance for Pisco. Bea has a big family (kind of like the big fat "Peruvian" wedding) and we witnessed how important family is.
3. Did you know it is the 40th anniversary of Tia Gla’s neighborhood? People have been celebrating since we arrived on Day 1 with parades, fireworks (took awhile to determine this was not gunshots), and more fiestas.
Points up to date…
Lisa earned a point for public humiliation for dancing on the stage at the Sheraton. Bea is trying to gain a point for her performance with her uncle tonight, but you can’t earn a point from a family member.
So we are at: Lisa 5, Peg 4, Bea 3.5.Only 24 hours left, time to step up our games!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day 7- Repentance
We arrived last night from our night out to find that Abuelita had erected a shrine of Mary in the living room while we were out. She is stil upset that Bea keeps teaching us evil via the pisco sour and we can now repent our sins at the shrine. Actually, we find it very comforting. We could use all the help we can get. She should have done this for us on the first day. We needed to send a prayer to the saint that watches over cameras.
Day 6- Groundhog day
So it’s the day after Machu and we all slept like babies… Well, one of us did. Lisa and Bea CANNOT wait to get back to their private room at Tia Gla’s. Someone please buy Peg a Breathe Right strip or something! Rene, how did you deal with this growing up; any suggestions would be helpful at this time.
We boarded a plane back to
Back in
We were on a mission to repeat night 1, the most memorable night in
We did not learn anything about
Points up to date…
Bea earned one for the basement invitation. Peg is still claiming points when random locals make any eye contact with her. Lisa is still looking for a Chi….
Peg 4, Lisa 4, Bea 3.5
Day 5 Ay yay yay
Another early morning for the tres cuyes, but oh was it worth it. We learned why
We had a 2 hour guided tour, followed by 2 hours of free time to explore. Our tour guide was great with the exception of his overwhelming saliva production. We almost prescribed him Robinol but found out it was just as safe to stand
Peruvian facts:
1.Do you know who discovered Machu Piccu? Well, turns out it was Racheal’s long lost relatives, Hiram Bingham; in 1911. Sure could have used the family discount; thanks for holding out on us Racheal.
2. Did you know all of the window openings are in trapezoidal shape to withstand earthquakes?
3. Did you know the Incas built the temples more precisely than the homes, and the rocks to fit like bricks?
Points to date…
Bea earned a point in the van with a
Peg again tried to claim unwitnessed points. Just because a train porter says hello (and winks, per Peg), unwitnessed points do not count. Neither does random politeness from the locals.
Lisa stayed with her current points, but is claiming if the damn Chi would work she would be scoring more (freaking curly hair).
So we are at Peg 4, Lisa 4, Bea 2.5
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 4 No mas fotos yet....
We woke up bright and early to catch our tour bus to Valle Sagrado, the Sacred Valley. We caught a taxi to the plaza, but running late as usual. Suddenly, Lisa and Peg see Bea running up the street. They thought she was just warming up before the Inca ruins climb, but we only wished. Tragedy Number 2 struck......please take a seat again....seriously. Bea left her camera IN THE TAXI (and please remember, now we have NO PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!). We didn´t have time to mourn our loss as our tour bus was about to depart. We left information with police officials...who seemed so concerned.
So we are back to Lisa at least having a camera. We might as well call this Day 1 :(
We entered the Andes Mountains with our first stop, a picturesque view of the valley. We took like 100 picture of this. Our tour guide, Marco Antonio AKA Marc Anthony kept things comical and entertaining. Throughout our tour, his phone would ring Lady Gaga´s Bad Romance...there is just something about climbing the Inca ruins with Lady Gaga in the background. Seroiusly, we saw some amazing sites that we were able to capture and hopefully share with you soon (we have strict rules now with regards to the camera and Lisa is no longer allowed to delete photos). All 3 of us made it to the top of the ruins thanks to our Coca tea. We ate corn with cheese from the cholitas and continued shopping...of course. We learned how alpaca yarn is made and dyed - this was right up Peg´s alley and she contributed to their yarn fund. We ended the night in the plaza eating at a great restaurant with Pisco Sours and Peruvian beer, Cusquena. Tomorrow´s plans include an early morning rise for Machu Picchu. Please pray for camera safety. Chuy enjoyed the Inka ruins, but did get a little winded. We warned him to keep drinking, but he´s stubborn as hell.
Peru Facts of the Day
1. Did you know the difference between an alpaca and a llama? The llama is bigger and the tail curls up.
2. Did you know there are 4000 different kinds of potatoes in the Sacred Valley alone and 400 different types of corn????
3. We saw over 600 terraces in the ruins of Pisac as well as 2 faces of Inka gods in the mountain side of Urubamba.
Time to catch up on points:
Lisa has 4 points with the help of the ¨oh my god¨ vendor
Peg has 4 points with the help of Marc Anthony inviting her to white water rafting on her next trip to Peru
Bea is still lagging behind, but did earn 0.5 points in the ice cream shop, even though Peg and Lisa claim it was a pity point.
Day 3 - Oh my God!!!!
So we are eating a lovely ice cream...SO YUMMY...and Lisa screams, "oh my god!" We think she is just reenacting her sunglass purchase experience, but we only wished....She was viewing our wonderful photos we had taken thus far (let me preface this by saying it was over 200 photos) and after one quick click, it was ALL OVER. Delete All? Ok. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Say it isn´t true. It was not time for jokes, we took a moment of mourning. Please a moment of silence. So, we are trying to put it behind us and thinking how we will duplicate some photo moments, but nothing was making us feel better. We decided to go home and nap it out. This turned into a 4 hour nap. Our house mom got worried and woke us up to eat something. We knew we had a long day ahead of us so we just went back to bed. Well...some of us did. Some of you may of heard of some earthquakes in Peru, no worries, that was just Peg´s nightly snoring. Lisa and Bea can´t wait to return to their private rooms in Lima. Signing off, las tres cuyes. P.S. Chuy is having a blast!!!