That's Interesting…

While we are always using the word inca for the whole people, inca is actually the title of the king only. Quechua is the name for the people (and their language).

All tourists wear zip-off pants, expensive hiking shoes and Peruvian hats. It is like a freaking uniform.

Toilet paper is a precious commodity. Being able to throw it down the toilet is ever more rare.

Most of the high desert countryside looks like Utah on the drive to Vegas. Brown hills. The only difference is that here they are covered with terraces and llamas. There are also a lot of areas with red soil like around St. George.

A lot of people beg, though not as many as I anticipated. It is especially hard to see the old women–so small, shriveled, and bent down. They carry the world in those heavy wraps on their back. The children that beg are dirty as can be and run around late at night. They are absolutely fascinated when David sets the timer on the camera sitting on our tripod and takes a picture without pushing the button.

Food is seriously the best I have ever eaten. I know I have said that before but I cannot repeat it enough times.

Most houses are unfinished because then they pay lower taxes. We were also told that if the house does get finished the house warming party costs more than the house.

If you take a picture of anyone in a traditional dress you have to pay.

If we can’t use the tripod, my job is to find a white cracker carrying a more expensive camera than us. David then explains his complicated and very specific photo vision and the unfortunate individual has to obey.

Most of the tourists here are Americans because it is the summer or “American season”. Europeans are more spread out throughout the year. Asians are apparently always in groups and constantly apprehensive of everything.

David’s ability to speak Spanish has made a lot of things much much easier. We can talk to random people and learn more about this incredible country.

Every city/town/village has a central plaza (square) usually called the “Plaza de Armas”.

The alcohol of choice is corn beer. When we were in the villages around Cusco they stuck out these poles with fabric/ plastic bag wrapped around them signifying the beer was ready.

I am addicted to chocolate ice cream bars called Sublime.

At 3 am we were picked up by a minibus for our colca canyon excursion. The first hour was uneventful as we rode on an asphalt road. The next two hours was like riding a possessed mustang which was still nothing in comparison with what the ride once we got onto the canyon road. We got off the bus looking like Shakers on a pilgrimage.
Colca Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The river features Category 5 rapids. The canyon is home to the Andean condor, and that is what we came for. The funny thing is that even my wildest imagination could think up the scene we saw; Nearly a dozen condors gliding through the valley hundreds of feet above the wild river across a clear blue sky. I just stared while my jaw dropped. It is such an awe inspiring creature; sacred to the Incas. None of our CGI creations can come even come close in beauty to what God put on this earth. On our ride back there was a condor stretching its wings on a rock by the side of the road. We all hopped out of the bus to take pics. When it took flight it was so close I thought I could touch it. It just circled around us. So crazy close.
BTW, if one of the condor couple dies, the other flies super high in the sky and commits suicide.

Coming back, we stopped for a fee minutes at a 15,000 pass; the highest point we will be at for the entire trip. David jumped out and ran to take pictures, while the guide told everyone to walk slowly and to not leave the bus if they didn’t feel well.

Interesting fact: although that area looks like the surface of Mars, there is a crazy plant that grows there; the yereta. The yareta is a plant that looks like a moss-covered rock, but is actually a plant with a hard shell that only grows to the size of 1 meter over centuries. It can only grow above 4,200 meters and can withstand tempuratures of up to -50 F!

Farther down the road we rode through a reservation of vicunas. Vicunas are from the same family as llamas and alpacas. All vicunas in Peru are owned by the goverment, are strictly protected and live only on reservations. Vicunas wool is the most expensive compared to alpaca and llama wool, and the trade is tightly controlled. During the Inca empire only the king, the Inca was allowed to wear vicuña wool. And only the most beautiful and specially chosen girls were allowed to touch the wool and weave for the Inca.