Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu was AMAZING!!!

I admit it was a bit exhausting getting there...an overnight flight through Lima to Cusco including a 5 hour layover where we tried to doze a bit in the airport chapel (not fun esp. with a baby), a 30 minute bus ride to the train station, a 3 hour train ride to the town of Aguas Calientes (but through beautiful scenery), a 20 minute bus ride up switchbacks, then finally we were there!

This great ancient Inca city is just as incredible in person as it is in pictures. Actually, it's more incredible because you can see so many mountains surrounding it. Not only were we up high (Machu Picchu is actually lower elevation than Quito though), but we could see WAY down the steep mountains to the valley and river below! And we could also see snow-peaked mountains in the distance. The ruins are so impressive! It's just so amazing that the Incas really built this great, enormous city of huge stones on the top of a mountain. It's still a huge mystery exactly how they did it.

When we got there we went on a two hour guided tour, then we had the rest of the afternoon to explore on our own. People are free to just explore and wander at their leisure. There are so many places to sit and relax too, pretty much the perfect place to do so. The weather was perfect and sunny for us. While exploring we came across several llamas as well as a Viscacha, which is in the chinchilla family. It was a cute little thing, it looked like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.

The following day we went back to explore a little more before we had to take the train back to Cusco. Josh and his dad decided to hike Huayna Picchu, the peak you see in all the famous pictures. Only 400 people are permitted to hike it each day (that seems like a lot, but there are so many more people that visit each day) so they had to catch a bus at 4:30am to ensure they had a ticket to climb it. They were able to see the sun rise behind the mountains and they said it was cool to see the sun rays hitting all the peaks then everything started to glow. The hike was pretty steap uphill, but at the top they had awesome views of Machu Picchu, and I like the way it looks from the different perspective.

After the boys hiked Huayna Picchu, Josh's mom and I hiked all the way up to Inti Punku, or the Sun Gate. It's up on the mountain next to Machu Picchu, about 45 minute hike along the Inca Trail from Machu Picchu. Again, more great views. You can see Huayna Picchu behind my head in the picture.

This really was the experience of a lifetime!! And how lucky is this kid, he's not even a year and had already been to Machu Picchu! Too bad he won't remember it. Next time Josh and I go, we plan to hike the Inca Trail to it! What an awesome 4 day hike that would be!!!!

Sacred Valley

Day 2 was a tour of the Urubamba Valley, or Sacred Valley of the Incas. We drove through breathtaking valleys behind Cusco (or to the north of, not quite sure the direction) and saw incredible landscapes and villages.

We went to the village of Pisac where there is a large market. Since we were getting tired of markets after being in Otavalo, we chose to hike a little. If we had had several hours, we could have hikes all the ways to the top of the mountain to see all the ruins. Be we got some amazing views and Owen was able to play for a while.

We drove down the valley a ways to Urubamba, where we ate a delicious buffet lunch at a beautiful hacienda that overlooked a river. Owen had a great time chasing the black lab there and climbing the steps.

After lunch we drove to the Inca village and fortress of Ollantaytambo. It was a main Incan city, with lots and lots of terraces. Across from it is a mountain with Incan storehouses built on it. This mountain also has two faces in it. One is said to be natural (the one in the middle near the storehouses), and the other is said to be hand carved (it's on the left outer edge...hard to see in this picture).

The last stop of the day was the Chincero market. Again, there were amazing views from here! We just could not get over the beauty of all the moutains. We learned about the natural method for freezy-drying potatoes that Peruvians in the Andes use: they spread the potatoes on the ground where they'd lay out overnight in the intense cold, then they'd stomp on them to smash them and help remove excess water before laying them out in the sun to dry.

Cusco, Peru

Our last big trip before we go back home was to Machu Picchu!!! We figured that since we're so close to Peru we had better go. (Even though it probably would have been cheaper flying from the USA than from Ecuador, believe it or not. We've discovered flights from Quito can be expensive. To get to Brazil from Quito it's cheaper to first fly to Miami! But anyway...)

Machu Picchu is a place we've dreamed of going for several years now, and it's one of those places that is a must-see before you die, so it was totally worth it. We saw so many incredible things and I think we have around 700 pictures, so I'll have to break up the posts and choose just my favorite pics.

First: Cusco, Peru.

To get to Machu Pichu you must go through Cusco. We flew there via Lima. Our first day we took a tour around Cusco. It's situated in the Andes Mountains, about 1,000 feet higher than Quito. It's much drier which means it's dustier and browner than Quito, and it gets really cold at night. It was also quite touristy where we were, which was a big turn-off to us. People come at you at from all directions trying to sell you things or trying to get you to take a picture with them (people want pictures of the locals in their traditional outfits), and people from restaurants shove menus in your face to compete for business. But I guess tourism is probably their biggest insdustry.

First stop was the Plaza de Armas to see the Cathedral of Cusco. It's HUGE, but we couldn't take any pictures inside (it's the church on the left).

Next we went to the Coricancha Temple, or Temple of the Sun. It was a famous temple in the Incan times, and the surfaces used to all be covered in gold. At this temple you can see how perfect the Incan stonework was. Their stones were carved perfectly straight and smooth and fit together perfectly without the use of any cement or mortar, and they have STILL withstood fires and earthquakes after all these years!

Then we went to Sacsayhuamán (or Saqsaywaman), a walled fortress just outside of Cusco. The joke all the tour guides make is that it's pronounced "sexy woman." It is a pretty good way to remember it though. :)

This place is believed it was used by the Incans to protect the city of Cusco. The zigzagged outcrops are said to be the shape of the mouth of the puma. Here we could also get a good sense of the Inca's incredible stonework! All the stones are so smooth and fit together so perfectly, plus the edges are rounded and all the walls tilt inward slightly. These details may be part of why the walls have lasted so long.

We gave in and payed this woman to take a picture of her. Isn't she so cute with her llama and colorful clothing?! All the indigenous women wore bright colors like this.

Last stop for the day: Tambomachay, popular for its fountains. Our tour guide said if we washed our eyes in the water then our eyesight would be healed. Josh tried it, haha. I think I'd rather just get Lasik.

Around Otavalo

Last week we took Josh's parents to Otavalo and spent two nights there. The first day we took a tour to some of the surrounding communities where we saw locals making some of their crafts.

Our first stop was to a house right by San Pablo Lake where we saw this girl weaving mats made of reeds grown at the lake. It was incredible how fast she could weave! All the homes in the area all had bundles of reeds out to dry so they could make these mats. They are used for all sorts of things, and these are sometimes used as people's beds.


This is us in front of San Pablo Lake with Volcano Imbabura in the background.


We also visited the beautiful Peguche Waterfall, which we had been to twice before. Each time we have loved it just as much.

Our next stop was to see how some of their traditional instruments are made and played. This man showed us how they make a 6 tube whistle, then he demonstrated how to play this big horn. It would be used to call local villagers to celebrations or parties, but he said now they just use cell phones. ha ha!



We just loved this next couple!! They weave scarves and other things out of wool, and the man has been doing it for over 60 years! He is the last person to do everything by hand. He brushes the wool, spins his own yarn, makes his own natural dyes, and weaves everything by hand. To make one scarf it will take 5 days, whereas a machine can make 5 scarves a day. So even though he puts so much more time and efforts into his handicrafts, he is quite proud they are all handmade and says the quality is the very best.





We drove up the road from Otavalo a few miles to the town of Cotacachi, known for its many many leather markets. You can find just about anything made of leather here! I couldn´t help but buy a genuine leather purse for super cheap!


Last stop for the day...Cuicocha lake. It's a lake in a dormant volcano crater, with two islands in the middle. It was absolutely beautiful!! You can take a boat to the islands which we didn't have time for, and you can also hike all the way around, a 5 hour trip. It would have been so fun to do that! We also got incredible views of the surrounding mountain valley.


The following day was the famous huge Saturday market where we stocked up on our last souvenirs, and also saw the food markets and the big live animal market in the morning. It was lots of fun!

Ten Months Old

Owen is 10 months old. That means now he's been outside of me longer than he was inside of me! I enjoyed the pregnancy, but these past 10 months have been so much more fun!

Noteworthy things this month:

*His favorite sound to make is "ooh, ooh" while puckering his lips. He sounds like a monkey or an owl, and he does it all the time. It's pretty cute and funny.

*He's discovering how things work. He loves to try to buckle the straps on this high chair, he turns the toys on his walker from underneath and loves to watch them turn on top, and he knows which is the Power button on the radio/CD player.

*He loves to spin wheels...the wheels on his cars, the wheels on the stroller, the wheels on our ab-roller. He also loves to crawl around while pushing something with wheels in one hand.

*He will crawl around with toys hanging out of his mouth, like a little doggie carrying a bone or something.

*He tries to climb out of his little bath tub or throws things over the edge so he can reach out and grab them.

*He is finally starting to enjoy it when I read books to him (rather than just trying to chew the book) and will listen for maybe half the book before he loses interest.

*He likes having his teeth brushed.

*He likes to help open and close doors.

*He loves to play in his bedroom, even when all his toys are in the living room. Some of his favorite things to do in his bedroom are to pull out his nightlight, pull out all his diapers, and pull out all his baby wipes.

*He has a hard time sleeping anywhere but his bed and doesn't nap well if he's not in it. When we do put him down in his bed he usually falls asleep right away.

*He has an internal alarm clock in the morning because he wakes up at 6am without fail, every day, no matter what time he went to bed the night before.

*He laughs hysterically when he touches the whiskers on Josh's face.

*He has curls in his hair, even when we're not in humidity.

*New foods: cheese (he LOVES it!), chicken, white potato, lentils, ground beef, kiwi, watermelon, broccoli, fish, tomato sauce, turkey, sweet potatoes (thanks to grandma W. for bringing it to us) and even a taste of vanilla ice cream. :)

*He must always be playing with something in his hands while he eats solids, usually a plastic spoon or container. He also understands what the spoon is for and tries to scoop up food with it, but can't quite get it to his mouth yet.

*He has four teeth, including his 'fangs,' and two more on the way.

"ooh, ooh, ooh"

He finally takes a sippy cup, but this is the only one he'll take because he doesn't have to suck on it to get stuff out, he only needs to chew it.

Mindo

We are lucky enough to have Josh's parents visiting us in Ecuador!! We wanted to show them a little jungle so we took a trip to Mindo, in a cloud forest about 2 1/2 hours northwest from Quito. It was our first time out there as well, and we really wanted to go because it is a favorite among tourists. It's popular for its birdwatching, and people come from all over the world just to see the over 400 different bird species, including the rare Cock-of-the-rock and many many hummingbirds, that live in the area.

We stayed at the really cute lodge of Sachatamia, a few miles outside of Mindo. We had our own private cabins, and could see several bright and colorful hummingbirds right from the restaurant. Our favorites were the bright green and blue hummingbirds.

We walked through the beautiful thick jungle behind our lodge and saw a river, lots of flowers, lots of birds, and even a puma!!! As soon as it saw us though it ran off to be seen no more. We came across a big cable and rope, and Josh and Jack (his dad) couldn't resist taking a swing on it. They felt like Tarzan.

The next day we went into Mindo to ride the ziplines!! Josh had to stay behind with Owen, unfortunately. There were 13 different ziplines, and it was so fun! I was even brave enough to do the "superman" (hanging from the back with arms out) and the "bat" (hanging backwards upside-down). This zipline was the longest- 300 meters - and the three of us had to go together in order to have enough weight to get to the other side.


After the ziplines we went to a butterfly farm. We saw them in all stages of life, and we even saw one hatching out of its chrysalis! This blue butterfly was one of the biggest, and one of our favorites.

Owen enjoyed him self by going swimming. We even dunked his head all the way under for the first time! He didn't like it too much.

Owen's other favorite activity was playing in the rocks and eating the dirt. Is he such a boy or what!

My First Fondant

I've been thinking about Owen's first birthday cake already (yes, it's still a few months away but that's what happens when it's your firstborn and you have nothing better to do all day). Well, I've been considering a fondant cake because they always look SO nice and pretty! (I know Owen won't really care if it's 'pretty' or even halfway decent looking since he'll just want to smash and smear it anyway...I know the first cake is really just for me and the pictures).

Anway, I've never made fondant, I've never even had it before. So I thought I should probably practice making it before I made it for a special occasion, plus it would give me something to do. My sister Amy has gotten into cake decorating a little and she told me how *easy* marshmallow fondant is, so I found a recipe and went to work.

Let me just say, I hated nearly every part of making this cake!

I hated how sticky and impossible it was to knead.

I hated how it completely stuck to my hands, even though I covered every square inch with butter.

I didn't like how powdered sugar got everywhere as I made it.

I didn't like how hard and dry it was when I tried to knead it the next day.

I didn't like how hard it was to roll out.

I didn't like how it was completely stuck to the surface when I tried to pick it up after rolling it, despite putting tons of powdered sugar down, so I had to RE-roll it out.

I didn't like how it was nearly completely stuck to the surface when I rolled it the second time, despite putting both butter and powdered sugar down first.

I didn't like how my hands turned all blue when I mixed the coloring into the fondant.

I didn't like how bumpy it looked, when fondant is supposed to be smooth.

I didn't like how the fondant would hold any shape so the bow looks ridiculous.

I didn't like how long the whole process took.

I don't know, maybe I did something wrong.

Maybe it was because I used cheap, Ecuador brand marshmallows because that's all they have here.

Maybe it was because I added too much powdered sugar.

Maybe I should have used shortening instead of butter.

Maybe I shouldn't have added a little water to help soften it to knead the next day.

Maybe I should have rolled it on cornstarch instead of powdered sugar.

Maybe it was becuase I don't have a rolling pin here so I had to use a little toy baseball bat (embarrassing to admit, I know).
Maybe it would work better if I made it in the states.

Then, to top it all off, the fondant tasted horrible! And the cake mix I used was an Ecuador brand that was dry and not nearly as good as my favorite Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines.

So, unless I'm convinced otherwise, I think I'm through with fondant!!!

Guess that means Owen will be getting buttercream on his birthday cake.

Question of the Week

Do you ever go to the movies by yourself?

My Answer:

Nope. I never have. I don't think I ever would either.

To me, half the fun of going to the movies is to go with someone else so you can discuss it and talk about it afterwards. I'm definitely secure enough with myself now (probably not in high school) to go alone if I really wanted to, but it just wouldn't be as fun or worth the trip. If there's a movie I want to see and I can't get anyone to go with me, I'll just wait until it's on video to see it. Josh, on the other hand, has gone to the movies by himself several times. Usually it's to see movies I don't want to see. He really enjoys it as he really loves movies.