Now this is what you would call a diaper?

After spending actual Christmas touring Macchu Picchu, we celebrated a mini-Christmas and opened presents on New Years' day.

The funniest (and most worrisome) part about it was Ken's confusion over baby's presents. We heard questions such as "so the baby wears this?" and "why is there a hippo head attached?" 

At least he seemed to enjoy them almost as much as his own. 

Adios!

Our final day in Peru. En route to the airport we stopped by one last site to see the chullpas at Sillustani. Chullpas are funeral towers built by the pre-Inca civilization Aymara, typically used by noble families. Since this was at the highest elevation of the entire trip, Wendy and I sat it out at the base of the hill while the boys made their final trek to the top. And since it would take Ken years (if ever) to blog about this, I figured I would throw up some pictures and he can answer any questions you all have. 

As a whole, the trip was a fabulous baby-moon. 

12,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Our final destination in Peru was Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.

Note to pregnant women: high altitude is a buzz-kill. Avoid if you can. 

On this lake there are about 40 man-made islands cut from totora reeds found growing in certain parts of the lake, where indigenous people have lived since before the Incas. 

The particular ones we visited are called the Uros Islands a few miles off of the Peruvian coast.

The roots of the reeds are cut from the bottom of the lake and are very similar to cork, providing the base onto which fresh reeds are piled every week or so. Huts are built (out of reeds) on top of the fresh reeds and the people live and cook and fish off of the little islands. 

(a model of an island, including the roots)

The islands are small, usually just five or six families, and can be cut and rearranged however they want. So if a family disobeys some of the island's laws, they can just be cut off of the island and sent to join another one. 

We got to see some bartering

and try on their clothes

**and yes, bugs did cross my mind, but we escaped uninfested**

and ride in a reed boat.

We also made a stop at the Taquile Islands, which were one of the last parts of the Inca Empire to be conquered by the Spanish. 

And which were beautiful.

Baby's first boat ride in the womb.

Extras

Just a few fun things we did in Peru that didn't involve ruins or sightseeing or a tour of some sort. 

We saw and petted alpacas and llamas...

and tried some of their not-so-tasty and rather chewy meat.

Guinea pig, or cuy, like those found running around this guinea pig farm,

was much tastier.

In fact, Ken and Matto got to try some kidneys, seen here,

and were so kind as to rearrange its little bones into a skeleton when they were finished. 

We saw some impressively bad traffic jams

and strangely dressed animals

and Wendy and I partook of some much-needed oxygen while at altitude. 

And here's one more picture of Ken and an alpaca that didn't particularly like him. For kicks. 

Pièce de Résistance

And here we have it. The sole reason we went all the way to Peru. I think it was pretty worth it, don't you?

(I could not for the life of me find a picture where Ken was actually smiling with Macchu Picchu. Perhaps it was the precipice right behind us)

I lied. Here's one.

We spend two days exploring the world wonder. The first day was hot and sunny, the second cloudy with some intermittent rain. We also had a guide the first day who took us around and did a fabulous job explaining the different ruins and the history of the place, and then we were able to just wander around by ourselves the second. 

I don't know how to post the pictures to give them enough justice--the surrounding mountains and the greenery and the ruins all make for such a picturesque place, it's difficult to adequately describe all that we saw. 

Nestled in the mountains, I can't imagine more beautiful surroundings.

Or more practical--because it is so high and was so well-covered by foliage, the conquistadors couldn't find the site and, therefore, never had a chance to destroy it. 

And the ruins themselves were, of course, amazing.

We saw llamas, the natural grass cutters of the ruins...

squeezed through some tight spaces...

and successfully avoided falling off the mountain. 

Not bad for baby's first World Heritage Site and New World Wonder from the womb. 

Ruins, Ruins, and more Ruins

Our time in Cusco, over a couple of days, was spent driving around the countryside checking out the numerous ruins on virtually every hilltop. To try and avoid having them all blend together, I thought I would group them into collages.

The Cathedral and Santo Domingo Monastery: in the main part of Cusco. The Monastery was originally an Inca temple, covered in gold leaf and with an entire golden corn field outside, before the Spaniards converted it into a monastery. 

Sacsayhuaman: a ceremonial complex on the outskirts of Cusco. The stones are some of the largest used in the Americas by any prehispanic culture and are cut so precisely that no mortar was used. When Pope John Paul visited Peru in 1985, he spoke at this site, and tens of thousands of people gathered here to hear him. 

Amphitheater of Kenko and Red Fortress of Puca Pucara: other nearby ruins. The fortress was used by the military in the (ultimately futile) defense of Cusco. 

Ollantaytambo: According to our very informed tour guide, Ollantaytambo is really the most impressive and important example of Inca architecture, but is outshone by Macchu Picchu because of how well Macchu Picchu was preserved. Ollantaytambo had some of the most important temples and terraces of the Inca empire and was one of the best Inca defenses until it was abandoned and later destroyed by the invading conquistadors. It also has one of the earliest known representations of the Inca cross.

Due to its height and many, many stairs, Wendy and I elected to hang out in the lower ruins while the boys climbed to the top. 

Terraces: The Incas are known for their terraces, an engineering feat that allowed them to grow food on the sides of mountains. They prevented soil erosion, kept the crops from freezing, and were so solidly built that they easily withstood the severe earthquakes Peru suffered several years ago. These are some of the terraces in Urubamba Valley, but there were literally hundreds of terraces on mountains all over Peru. 

Cliff Mummies: nearby the above terraces were the remains of graves built into the sides of cliffs, where they would place their mummies and any other burial wares in small pockets of rock and cover the outside with clay. Due to excavation and looting, you can now see the lovely holes in the rocks where the mummies used to be. 

And there you have it. Cusco and its surrounding ruins in a nutshell. Not bad for two days of sightseeing.

Sans Luggage in Lima

Our trip began a bit unfortunately, with the loss of all of our luggage, and its remaining lost for several days. Ken was partially hoping they would never show up, and then our pictures would look like we had done all of our sightseeing on the same day. 

For our first escapade around Lima, we visited the Larco museum, a former hacienda that was converted into a museum by an archaeologist, complete with its own erotic art gallery (which we refrained from taking pictures of--unlike a couple of our braver friends). 

Most impressive was the storage room, where thousands of pristine ceramics were being held behind glass because there were just too many to display! 

And while Lima might be a rather unattractive city thanks to its habit of leaving its buildings unfinished, it did have some lovely plazas. 

And some colorful slums!

And some colorful dances...

one of which I was a part of!

And although we did get sick of the same clothes and same buffets after a couple days, all's well that end's well, and since our bags met us at the airport on our way out of Lima, we were able to change out of our three-day clothes and climb into the thin air of Cusco.