Peru - Day 5 - Victor and Ingrid's Wedding.

At last! We've finally come to the real reason we traveled to Peru in the first place - the wedding of our friends Victor and Ingrid. First, I want to say how very ultimately happy we are for the two of them. They are both wonderful people who I know will have a joyful life together.

Their wedding took place in Lima at the Iglesia de San Pedro. It is a beautiful church. Victor looked giddy as he waited for his bride, and when Ingrid walked down the aisle to the sound of an operatic choir, it just took my breath away.

The reception was also spectacular. We arrived at the Garden of the Museum of Art and were welcomed by a wonderful spread of appetizers and cocktails, huge bouquets of white flowers, and happy friends. Rafi was especially happy with the sushi bar. I liked the champagne myself.

And as you can see by the rest of photos, the party afterward was awesome! I danced until my feet (or side ache) could dance no more. We even tried to leave once, but we missed the bus, so back we went for two more hours of dancing!

Thank you, Linette and Arturo, for bringing your camera to the wedding!
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Around 3:00am we finally gathered ourselves and reluctantly headed back to the hotel. We showered quickly, grabbed our luggage, and headed off to the airport. Long story short, every flight (three) we had was delayed, but thanks to Rafi's great planning (he left ample time between flights in case of such an occurrence) we made it home around 1am the next morning. The flights were long, we were exhausted, but we were so happy to be home. I missed Mateo so much at nights that I actually would turn to the side table to check the non existent monitor next to me.

Thank you, Mima, for giving up your Spring Break to stay at our house with Mateo and the dogs and cat. Mateo obviously had a super time because the next morning he said "I don't want Mommy and Daddy. I want Mima." Ha!!

Peru - Day 4 and 5 - Lima.

Our check out was at 9am, so we scarfed down a quick breakfast, left for the airport, and flew back to Lima. After a quick hotel check in (Casa Andina Private Collection of Lima) the four of us, Linette, Arturo, Rafi, and I, had an interesting lunch at Fiesta. As my regular readers know, this year I am trying new foods. But I have to be honest. The only things on the appetizer plates I could handle were the corn and the dehydrated crab. I still don't have the gumption to try anything with tentacles.

The previous few days were so full that Rafi and I opted to just nap and lounge in our hotel room . When we woke up we were running late, but we got ready just in time to leave for Victor and Ingrid's welcome dinner. Alas, I have no photos of this, but it was held at Restaurant Huaca Pucllana. The food was delicious, and the room was really nice because it was essentially outdoors. There were some pre-Incan ruins there, too, which when lit up at night looked really amazing.

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After a good night's rest Rafi and I decided to do a little exploring in Lima. The one place I had been dying to visit in Lima was the Convent of San Francisco. And it didn't disappoint. Rafi was excited to learn a lot of the cedar wood that was used in carvings originated in Panama. I was most impressed with the piles and piles of human bones. They were separated by type in various "cells." Each cell was four meters deep in bones, which I found astounding.

The Museum of the Inquisition highlighted the story and instruments of torture from the Spanish Inquisition. Men were hung by their wrists, held in stocks until their muscles cramped, strangled, stretched, and whipped. Women were water boarded. It was a very quick tour, but it ended in an interesting underground walk that showed some of the cells that people were kept in for six to eight days at a time.

Our walk back to the Plaza de Armas was hot and sweaty, but we were greeted by a real treat. Completely on accident we showed up right during the changing of the guards in front of the governor's palace. The Dragoon Guards march every day at 1pm around the entire square, accompanied by a marching band. The horses would "dance" sideways. We really enjoyed watching and listening and felt very lucky to be at the right place at the right time. Here are two small videos I took with my iPhone: Number one and Number two.

It took us a while, but we did finally find our tucked away lunch spot, Tanta. The service was slow, but wow, I had my favorite meal here. It was lomo saltado, and it was lomo delicious! And here I enjoyed my last Inca Kola.

Peru - Day 3 - Cusco Tour.

Though Cusco had been our home base for our other excursions, we didn't actually tour Cusco until the third day. That morning we were able to take it easy, as there had been rumor of a transportation strike. Whether or not that happened we couldn't tell. Either way, we walked to Jack's Cafe, which was definitely more of a gringo hangout. The food was marginal. I tell you, I had pancakes FOUR times while in Peru, and not one time were they really very edible. Thankfully the other food made up for it.

A while after our brunch we met our guide for our afternoon city tour. We started at the Temple of Qorikancha. The ruins of Qorikancha were really well preserved, its walls once covered in gold.

In Qorikancha the windows are all lined up. If you stand on this rock, you can see how precise the workmanship is.

When the Spanish took over the temple, they removed the gold and covered the walls with plaster and frescoes.
Here is the only remaining fresco.

This painting is the size of a wall in our house, if not larger. Painted by Miguel Cartagena, it depicts important stars and objects in the sky and how the Inca interpreted them. Unfortunately my angle was a little off, so I'll refer you to this photo to be able to see the llama, fox, and other figures as well as a more in depth explanation of the painting. If you click on the second picture you can see a close up of how the painting was made - with dots.

And here is Linette with a dog in a hat. Oh wait, that's a lamb, hehe.

The Cathedral of Santo Domingo was quite incredible, as it seemed to never end. Altars were all around us. It is known for having the "Black Christ"; however, the wooden figure is black from the smoke of candles in the past and is not related to the race of Jesus. I enjoyed most a huge painting of the last supper. On the plate before the apostles was a cuy (guinea pig), which was indicative that a local person had painted it.

The Plaza de Armas was very busy this afternoon, for the Cathedral of Santo Domingo was anticipating the arrival of a new statue of Don Bosco (St. John Bosco). Groups of students in traditional garb were there to perform dances and ceremonies welcoming the new addition. We didn't stay and watch, though, as we had one more excursion to do.

We drove out to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced similarly to "sexy woman") next. The ruins were great, but Rafi and I couldn't get over how lush the short green grass was!

Notice the "holes" in the rocks. These were where they put the ends of their support poles to assist in holding everything up.

Do you see the puma paw? The puma was a sacred animal in the Inca tradition, as was the snake and condor.

As our guide said more than once (more than ten times really), "notice the inclination of the walls. Why is this? This is because the Inca made it anti-seismic."

Tambomachay was really interesting, too. The waterways created by the Incas are still working today. Supposedly its source is an underground spring. It was once used as a place of bathing for people in high places.

This woman was nice, but that llama had an odor.

We did drive by two other places (Puca Pucara and Qenko), but at our request we did just that - drove by. By this point even I (the lover of all things tour and education related) was feeling quite exhausted.

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Four very tired people had dinner at Tunupa in Cusco. We enjoyed our food, but the show was the best. I nearly got the you-know-what scared out of me when a masked devil popped up right behind me. It only got worse when he drug me to the front "stage" and made me dance with him. Lots and lots of spinning on a full stomach. He was quite the comedian, though, as he kept making me "dip" him lower and lower - and I could barely hold him up! My cheeks were hurting afterward from laughing so hard.

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It was this night, in the wee hours of the day, that Rafi had his bout with altitude sickness. He looked yellow and felt cold to the touch. And then he started shaking. We turned on the oxygen machine and I consulted Dr. Google just in case, but after a while the shaking stopped, he felt better, and we both got some rest.

Peru - Day 2 - Pisaq.

Finally we arrived at Pisaq. The views were quite incredible. The hike itself was tiring itself, as the altitude is still quite high; but the effort was worth it.

Can you see the holes? The whole mountainside was full of them. They are graves. The Incas used to bury their dead in holes in the side of the mountain. The bodies would be in the fetal position, and they were entombed with the locally grown crops, flowers, silver, and fabrics and weavings. They are now empty, however, due to looters many many years ago. The Incas believed in Pachamama, or Mother Earth. I have tendencies to believe in this same way, so the idea of returning to the earth, in a mountainside, no less, is very romantic to me.

And here we are all with are hearts racing but smiles on our faces!

I ran up ahead so I could get a shot to show a bit of how our trail really was on the side of the mountain. It's too bad that cameras don't really capture true depths, or you'd be able to see how far down it really was to the bottom. I'm not sure how anyone could survive a fall from up there.

In the middle of this community area there is a large roundish rock with a small protrusion. It has a wall around it, signifying that it was special. Our guide Jose said that they probably believed it was a center point that the sun would revolve around, and that they used it as a sundial for the seasons.

I liked this cave. We had to duck and walk through in a single file.

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After this long day we were really ready to get back to our comfy beds at the hotel, Casa Andina Private Collection. This hotel was wonderful. The staff were always very helpful - and generous! All four of us were upgraded to suites at no charge. This really was one of the best beds I've ever slept in.

I really loved the ceilings, too.

This was our balcony and view. Fantastic.

After we got back to our rooms and refreshed ourselves, we had a nice dinner at Cicciolina. Rafi and I both had the gnocchi, and it was splendid. I also enjoyed a maracuya sour (like a pisco sour but made with passion fruit juice).

I believe it was this night that I had my only issue with altitude sickness. I had neglected to take my evening Sorojchi pill, and while I wasn't nauseous and had no headache, my heart was pounding so fast and so hard that it hurt. Once oxygen was brought to our room I felt better within a few minutes and quickly fell asleep.