Bonus: Grandparents' Day and Padre Hurtado

I almost forgot!  The first Friday in August we celebrated Grandparents' Day for the preschool and kindergarten students.  Yours truly was asked to dress as a grandpa and read a story.  It was a blast!  Check out our school website for more pictures of Papa Noah and lots of adorable kids.

 We also went on a great retreat with 7th grade to the Padre Alberto Hurtado (now Saint Alberto Hurtado) to learn about serving the poor.  This guy was awesome.  He said that a small fire can light thousands of giant fires and that if we can all be small fires the whole world will shine bright.

 The students made sandwiches and we handed them out to homeless people around the complex.  It reminded me of the project we did in my stats class in Florida.  Very cool to see.

 Ok, I think that's everything I forgot.  Until next time!

Reese, Race, Roads, and Riding

Hey everyone!  Thanks for your patience on this post, that blog-a-day business a couple weeks ago needed some digestion.

After our Peru/Bolivia trip a friend of mine from Notre Dame came down for a visit.  Marisa and I both majored in math and she's now working for ND Admissions.  She was looking to travel somewhere far away before all her school visits start and Chile fit the bill!  Right off the plane we went salsa dancing at Maestra Vida.

We headed out to the coast for the weekend.  We stayed at my usual hostel, La Valija, right over Color Cafe.  Delicious hot chocolate and a little ultimate tic-tac-toe.
 

On Saturday we went to Los Molles which is still definitely in the running for my favorite place in Chile.  The coastline is just so incredible.

That's where I'm going to live when I retire.  Marisa said the house reminds her of the one perched on the cliff in Paradise Falls in the movie "Up".

Can you think of a perfect song for sitting and watching waves crash against rocks?  I'd suggest John Butler's guitar instrumental "Ocean".

On Tuesday Reese came to school with me to see all my little angels.  She read a book to the kindergarten kids and we danced the cha-cha slide with the 7th graders.  It was great!

She left on Wednesday and my life began to return to normal after what seemed like a month of bouncing all over the place.  Then Saturday evening a friend said he needed a partner for the "Three Mountains" race which is exactly what it sounds like.  We started at Valle Nevado, crossed over to La Parva, and finished at the base of El Colorado.  Some injuries and mixed ability levels held us back a bit but it was awesome to see all three resorts in an hour!

Later that day I met up with the American teachers we've been hanging out with to ride at El Colorado.  Ciara grew up in Colorado so she's been riding her whole life.  She's actually going to be filling in at my school for some of the preschool English classes as well until she goes home to get married in December.

After another week and a half of school and another trip up the valley with a group of friends to El Colorado, we had a much-needed long weekend (for those keeping track at home, this was last weekend, the 15th-18th of August).  I wanted to see some more variety in the Andes so I rented a car and drove up these dirt road switchbacks to find a backcountry snowboarding experience.

I had originally rented a 4WD Suzuki something-or-another but mistakenly made the reservation in Santiago, Dominican Republic.  Oops.  Luckily they had this little compact Kia.  Not really made for traversing these rock-covered switchbacks but boy was it ever a champ.  I would never have considered driving a Kia until this trip.  4 times over this road and not a scratch!

Ski Arpa is a very special place.  They have 2 snow cats (the things they use to groom ski runs) that take you to one of two drop-off points from which you can ski pretty much in any direction down the best snow of your life.  It's like a big playground.

That's Aconcagua in the background, the highest mountain in the Andes and the "thickest spot on Earth".  Everest wins because they measure from sea level, but if you went down to the base of the crust this guy would come out on top.

This was one of the exciting moments of day 1: the Monjas Chute.  2 meters at its narrowest, there wasn't a lot of room for error.  Check out the untouched snow!

Day 2 brought a fun chute called Entrance Exam.  You have to be there to appreciate the scope of these runs.  For scale, you can see a tiny skier in the middle or this picture.  The total run was over 1000 vertical feet.  What a blast.

You can see some of our group on the right here hiking to the top of Cornisas.  This was our last run of day 1 dropping into that face on the left.

I hope to make it back to Arpa on a perfect powder day in the future.  I'm certain it would be the best day of my snowboarding career.

I also found some paved switchbacks near the town of Los Andes.  I drove up to Portillo, right on the Argentinian border, for one day.  This place is unique.  Most skiers are there for a week of all-inclusive skiing.  I've never seen more gringos in one place in Chile!  Most people were families coming down for summer break from the states.

The setting here is spectacular.  There is a glacial lake at the base of the valley colored a brilliant blue.  Supposedly an Inca princess fell to her death during a hunting ceremony and was lowered into the lake in white linen.  The mountains remain ever white like the linen and the lake blue to match her eyes.

I found some fantastic tight chutes here too.  The snow coverage was pretty light in some places, the rocks did a number on my base, but it was totally worth it.  I found some of the best snow I've seen in Chile here.  Lots of walking and traversing was required, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

The on-mountain restaurant Tio Bob's is something of a legend.  Helicopters from the surrounding heliski operations drop their patrons here for lunch and the views definitely merit the trip.

When the lake freezes solid you can hike across it to get to the really good stuff on the other side.  Unfortunately it hasn't frozen in a few years.

Other than these little side trips life has gone on as usual.  The kids all seem to have Spring Fever and it's understandable--the weather has been gorgeous.  A couple more weeks of snowboarding I think then hopefully I'll get to try surfing.  Watch for pictures!

Machu Picchu

On Friday, we woke up early again to catch a bus up to Machu Picchu.  We met our guide, went in, and this was our first view of the city.

I was told by a very well-traveled priest that there are lots of places in the world that don't live up to the hype.  He said Machu Picchu is not one of those places--it will blow your mind.  You hit the nail on the head, Fr. Scully.  This place is special.

The whole group reunited in front of Machu Picchu.  Even though the city was discovered in 1911, it was just in the last 10 years they decided its primary function was a school for teaching all the different Inca knowledge from architecture to astronomy to agriculture.

The big peak on the right is called Waynapicchu.  More on that in a minute.  If you turn the picture counter-clockwise 90 degrees, can you see a face formed by the mountains?

My favorite features by far are those that use the natural rock of the mountain.  The Sun Room is a great example.  On the solstice, the sun shines directly through that window.  I also love the tight interlocking walls they build.  We learned in Tiwanaku how they used metal clamps to hold the rocks together--one of the techniques they stole from the Tiwanakus after their conquest.

Our tour guide Miguel with more cool structures, this time inside a house.  The cut-outs are shelves, probably for candles.

Another awesome use of natural rock.  The big pieces of granite sticking out of the ground are wings of a condor, with the head and beak at the bottom of the picture.  This room was used to collect and record all astronomical data which is fitting because the condor represents all things in the sky.

Halfway through the tour we were treated to a beautiful sunrise.  You could watch the colors of Machu Picchu itself change as the sun rose.

Those Inca people were clever.  This is a shallow bowl carved into a piece of granite.  When filled with water, it makes a great mirror.  See me upside-down at the top of the picture?  They used this to point out details in the constellations.

This isn't a great picture, but the rock on the right looks kind of like a head.  There is an obvious nose and eyes along with large earrings covering the side of the face.  This is the sacrificial temple located at one of the higher points.

This oddly carved rock is a compass.  The top of the diamond points directly north.  And do you see what shape the shadow makes?  It's a llama, one of the most central animals to Inca culture.  Once a year the shadow resembles a snake as well.  Genius.

400 people a day are allowed to enter and climb Waynapicchu, the large dome-shaped mountain in the background of every famous Machu Picchu picture.  It was about 45 minutes of climbing straight up.  The views were more than worth it.

There were some tight squeezes on the way up.

A birds eye view of Machu Picchu from the top of Waynapicchu.  Viewed directly from above the whole complex looks like a condor with its wings spread.  It amazes me that the Incas had the technology to pull off such intricate city planning.  Cusco is in the shape of a puma.

I would love to go back to Peru to see the mysterious Nazca lines, another amazing feat of planning that resulted in giant animals only visible from high in the sky.  How did they know what they were making?  And why make these giant drawings in the first place?

Pablo Neruda wrote a poem called the Ode to Machu Picchu.  Fr. Scully suggested we read it from the top of Waynapicchu.  As you wish!  We all read it while looking at the city.  It was very moving.

Waynapicchu itself has some impressive Inca architecture at the top.  The terraces are built into the very steep sides.  Their function is to create farmable land and prevent erosion.

The Incas were very good at many things, but we decided that something they could have worked on was building steps.  The descent from Waynapicchu had to be done sideways.

The granite rock in the foreground of this picture is carved to resemble the mountains in the background.  Similar to the mirrors used for looking at the stars, having a small scale model of the mountains made their study easier.  Brilliant.

Exit Signs at Machu Picchu: almost as prevalent as the human being.  I tried to post pictures here that are as people-less as possible, but they were everywhere.  Geologists are a little worried about the amount of daily traffic.  The city is sliding at 1 cm a month and a giant slide is a possibility.

The exit was tough to find.  They have lots of things roped off so there's only one way out and a mistake (which we made) could require walking back over several staircases to get out.

I imagine someday all of Machu Picchu will crumble like this, but it's been beautifully maintained.  The Spanish missed it in their conquest and Inca descendants kept it a secret until Harem Bingham stumbled across it in 1911.  He was looking for a different site but a local boy showed him Machu Picchu for a fee that wasn't much for Bingham and was several months pay for the boy.  There is still controversy between Yale (Bingham's university) and Peru because several artifacts were taken to be studied for "18 months" in 1911 and still have not been returned.  Oops.

After our excellent morning at Machu Picchu our trip home began with a train ride out of Aguas Calientes.  Our company had waited too long to book the correct train so we had to go with plan B.  We were supposed to meet a bus at the train station but it was 3 hours late.  This caused Ryan, Laura and me to miss our bus back to La Paz which caused us to miss our flight back to Santiago.  Ugh.  Thankfully Jon and Barry just had to make it back to Cusco sometime that night and Sarah was on a different train so they all made it back no problem.

So, the our Saturday consisted of a bus to Puno then a collectivo (a van like the one pictured) to the Bolivian border crossing (which we almost missed since they close at 7:30 p.m.) then a collectivo to La Paz.  All the while I was wrestling to find an internet connection to reschedule our flight.

Luckily Sky was wonderful to us and managed to get us out on a LAN flight on Sunday evening that got us back in time to catch some sleep and get to work on Monday morning.  We were able to go to mass in a beautiful cathedral in La Paz and see the markets one more time before heading to the airport.  We were pretty stressed those couple days but only had a few out-of-pocket expenses and were only a day late.  It definitely could have been worse.

And, one more time, the Edina grads together above Machu Picchu.  It was so great to see Jon and Barry, we had a great time.  Thanks so much for coming, guys!  I look forward to some great skiing and worldly adventures in the future.

After working a couple days back at school, a friend from Notre Dame came to visit for a week.  We took a trip out to the coast, she came to school for a day, and we spent some time with my host family.  To read about our time together and everything else that's been happening the last few weeks, come back soon!

The Salkantay Trail

On Monday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to begin our trek to Machu Picchu--well, it was actually before the crack of dawn.  We waited for our guide Percy to pick us up and drive us to Mollepata, the trailhead.  Percy is a fun guy.  He's always smiling and knows absolutely everything about the religion, culture, and terrain on the Salkantay Trail.  He was a great guide and companion.

Percy reminded me a little bit of Mathildo from Ecuador in that he knew every plant we passed.  This one is called the "little shoe" and they use it to make a tea that is supposed to have contraceptive qualities.  At another point on the hike Percy told us that Peruvian families in the region have lots of kids because they don't have TV.  I wonder if it's because they think they're drinking contraceptive tea.

The food on the hike was incredible.  We had two chefs, brothers, who would have our meals waiting for us when we arrived to the lunch tents (usually halfway through the hike) and to camp.

They also set up our tents for us before we arrived.  All we had to do was unpack and repack each evening and morning.  They even brought us coca tea in the morning to drink in our tents.  They call it glamour camping, "glamping".

The first night a few of us went wandering around to try to see some sort of a sunset.  The sun was hiding behind the mountains so there wasn't much to see, but the scenery was beautiful just the same.

Day 2 was intense.  It was maybe 3 hours hiking switchbacks like these until we reached the highest point of the trail, over 4600 meters.  Our Dutch friend, Lisanna, opted to ride a horse up which may have been a good idea.  We felt the altitude again here, there just wasn't air to breathe.  But the views were incredible.

Mt. Salkantay, the namesake of the trek.  It was huge, and we felt like we were right up against it.  It's popular for climbers, apparently it's quite a challenge.

Barry snagged a picture with a loose sign that was floating around up there.  We also performed a ceremony in honor of Pachamama, Mother Earth, using coca leaves.  It was pretty cool.

The crew up at the top.  It was pretty cold up there.

Here are our awesome chefs, Luis and MIguel.  They have cooking on the trail down to an art.  We had an appetizer, soup, bread, a main course and a side with every meal along with dessert at dinner.

While we were waiting for lunch Laura tried to catch a pig.  I think Barry made some sort of a bet with her.  She wasn't having much luck.

Then Percy showed her how to lure the pig in using corn.  She had much better results.

We crossed some pretty cool bridges made of just mud and sticks.  It was fascinating watching lines of horses cross them as if they had no fear of falling in the water.  I feel like going across these things with four legs would be precarious.

We passed this three-tiered waterfall thing that made for a great photo spot.  The scenery changed dramatically after coming down from the snow.  All of a sudden we were in the jungle.

It's a little tough to read but the sign says "Rest Place Shopping Center".  Barry has his credit cards ready for some serious shopping.

On the third night we went to the hot springs of Santa Teresa.  It was wonderful to feel warm and clean again.

This fountain was pretty impressive but unfortunately the water is cold so we didn't spend much time in this pool.

On the morning of the fourth day we said goodbye to our chefs.  They did a great job!  We celebrated the night before with a few beers.  This camp is known for their bonfires and it was a lot of fun.

There was an option to zipline that morning so we all did it.  Here's a picture of what they call the "spider man".  The river bed is maybe 200 feet below.  More pictures of me, mom!  You're welcome.

Our last day of hiking was primarily along the railroad tracks.  We came across an Incan ceremonial site where Percy talked us through the purification process we needed to undergo to enter Machu Picchu.  It was fascinating and involved a lot of self-reflection.

We passed these amazing sandstone rocks that looked like dollops of ice cream.  Water does some amazing things to sandstone.

 

We arrived at Aguas Calientes in the early afternoon.  It's a cute little town with shops and restaurants all over the place and a river running right through it.  Mom, you'd love it.  It's right at the base of the switchbacks leading up to Machu Picchu and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't exist without the ruins.  We had some good food, said goodbye to Percy, and hit the sack early to prepare for our day at Machu Picchu.  Come back tomorrow to see pictures of the big day!