Peru Trip 2015 | Ollantaytambo (The Sacred Valley)

For the first half of our trip to Peru see the other posts in the series here:

Tacna: Part One
Tacna: Part Two 
Arica, Chile
Cuisine & Christmas Celebrations 

From Tacna we flew to Cusco.  We packed our things in two separate bags - one for a short trip traveling around and the other to stay in the hotel in Cusco.  [Kudos to my dad who spent many hours planning this all out so our trip would be a smooth as possible] After getting picked up at the airport, we arranged for our things to stay at the hotel, then proceeded to get in a van and drove through the mountains to Ollantaytambo.

Ollantaytambo is nestled in the valley of the Andes mountains and is known as the Sacred Valley.  It is also the site of a huge mountain side Incan fort. We arrived in the evening and settled in for the night resting by a fire place and drinking our Coca Tea to help us adjust to the altitude.

Now, I am a self proclaimed mountain girl.  I lived in the Appalachian mountains for 6 years of my life and definitely left a piece of my heart there.  When I saw these mountains I was utterly obsessed and in awe.  The Andes mountains made my sweet little blue ridge look like hills. I woke up early in the morning walked around with my camera in complete adoration of God's majestic creation.

We spent the day hiking up the fort and walking around a huge outdoor market at the base of the mountain.  The market was full of the most beautiful colorful woven textiles.  I think I bought one in every color for me and all my friends. It was so wonderful connecting with all the little pop up shop owners admiring their craft.

My favorite part of this day was hiking up the opposite side of the fort - there is a mountain with ruins on it.  I ended up wandering around higher than my family went and was completely alone. I sat on a rock that had the most amazing view of the valley and mountains and breathed in that moment.  I such peace and Gods presence after a hike with a mountain view.

At the end of our hiking adventures we headed to the train station.  We got on our train which was full of windows so we could really see the mountains all around us. This train took us to Aguas Calientes which is the little town at the base of Machu Picchu!

Up next in the Peru series:  The Gray family takes on Machu Picchu! 

Peru Trip 2015 | Cuisine & Christmas Celebrations

The first three posts of the Peru Trip 2015 Series are here:

Tacna: Part One
Tacna: Part Two 
Arica, Chile 

The next segment of our trip was full of exploration and celebration.  The tradition for the JVC's living in the house has been to celebrate the roommates who are leaving with a big party and then to welcome the new friends to Tacna with another.  All of the host families are involved and welcomed as well.  We had a lovely mass for the two roommates whose time in Peru was ending.  Then around Christmas there was another celebration - their kind of last hoorah with the community but then us the families who were visiting got a special taste of Tacna.

The weather was so lovely so my dad and I spent some time together wandering around the city.  I wanted some last minute shots because I knew we were leaving to head on more adventures around the country soon.

My sister arranged for us to go to a fun restaurant with some of her friends.  She had the restaurant cook us all sorts of traditional Peruvian cuisine.  I wish I remembered all of the names right now - but it's been a year.  The one I do know for sure we ate was cuy [guinea pig] !! It traditionally is served as a whole animal but in order to get us to actually eat it Emily had them prepare it fried so we couldn't tell what it was.  I thought it was very good, very chewy but I just couldn't get over the fact that I was eating a cute little guinea pig! And I peaked in the kitchen and saw them before cooked.  I know we are so distant from our food source in this day and age - things like that make me eat more veggies.  I like looking at a garden but not animals.

Christmas was very fun for us.  We got to go to a lovely mass, had dinner at Emily's host family's house, then celebrated at midnight with fireworks and the whole city.  It was so wonderful being welcomed in by so many people who love my sister and are there for her while she is so far away from home.  Language barrier aside I felt the love among all the people we interacted with.  They had nothing but positive affirmations to say about my sister and our family.

The day after Christmas we were on a plane heading to the Andes mountains!

Stay tuned for the next part of the trip: we head to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. 

Peru Trip 2015 | Arica, Chile

This is the third post in my Peru series, you can read the first two parts here:

Tacna: Part One 
Tacna: Part Two 

Y'all this was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean! One of the days we were in Tacna we drove over the border to Chile.  When I say drove I mean my whole family, all of Emily's roommates, and one of her roommates whole family piled into 3 cars we hired for the day.  We headed the 30 miles south to Chile having to stop halfway at the border, get out of the car - go through customs, which reminds me of airport security, get our passports stamped, then hop back in the car on the other side of this random building in the middle of no where that is set up like your typical rest stop and toll booth that are littered all over the north eastern states back in the US.

This day was so fun, well because beach day in December, I never get the chance to do that.  The water was freezing but I had to stick my toes in, it was the pacific ocean after all.

We walked along the beach for a little while stretching our legs before getting back in the car and driving up to the top of a cliff that over looked the city.  Up here there was a war memorial dedicated to the land that is now Chile.  Apparently Peru and Chile have fought back and forth over the land that is between Tacna and Arica before calling truce and settling on the current borders declaring such with memorials in both cities tall and proud.

We stopped at this fun beachside restaurant for lunch and ice cream before heading back to Peru and another fun customs adventure.  Funny story; apparently Chile is more expensive than Peru so people hop the border all the time but it ends up looking like everyone went on a crazy huge costco trip at border patrol.  You have to declare everything you buy and send it through a conveyer belt.  These customs workers must love staring at gigantic rolls of toilet paper all day long on their screens, ha! Imagine going on a shopping trip - loading your car - having to fully unload halfway - load back up - then unpack at home. Whew, that's dedication to a sale!

It was such a fun adventure, especially being able to get more stamps on my passport!

Up next in the series, trying Peruvian cuisine & Christmas celebrations!