Day 2 at Huilloc

As we boarded the bus today on our way up the dirt road, we decided to take a different approach than yesterday. Once in Huilloc, I first met a boy who sweetly followed me around. I gave him a box of crayons and told him they were for him to take home. After a hug and a tickle he gave me an adorable smile!This second day Kim, Gordon and I took the suitcases and gathered with Carlos from Lima Tours and went from class to class. The Eagle Scout project of the young man in our ward, Brady Pope, was a complete success. After getting permission from the principal, Carlos took the chalkboard, bag, box of chalk, and eraser and showed the children exactly what it was and what it was intended for. Once he would say that the chalkboard was for them to take home and practice their math and writing, many of them cheered out loud from happiness. What a joy it was to be a part of passing out the bags and chalkboards, etc. Each child received the intended set of bag and board and eraser. We also saw them taking them home as intended. When we first started handing them out, we handed out maybe a dozen (outside of class). The sweetest, and most dainty little girl pulled out the board and chalk and wrote Juana. It was so sweet. I took a picture of it and then the other children started to write their names on the board and I took their pictures as well. Who knew they had a Bruce Lee and a Van Dam at their school. Goes to show that even children in Huilloc have a sense of humor. With the distribution complete and the Utah State group complete in their projects, the children all gathered around in the field in front of the school and sang the Peruvian national anthem. One little girl performed a poem, very sweet. We went to each class again, this time passing out candy. Crazy. Like any other kid in the world, candy is always a hit.

Two groups of boys performed songs. All in all it was a very touching experience. The Director of the school had previously asked for a donation to take the children on a field trip so we ponied up some cash and expressed our thanks for allowing us to participate in their school. We were also treated to potatoes that were just cooked and a very hot sauce. Tired from the day, we boarded the bus and on the way down we picked up 5 kids to take them down the road a few kilometers. These people live in a nice but harsh climate. Weather is beautiful. Sun is powerful. Air is thin.

Back to Yucay:
We were so happy to hook up with Erwin and his family. We joined them in a local bus (small van) to Urubamba to watch Megan in her dance class. We figured that since Kate was back in Utah going to dance at the same time, it might be a sweet irony. After dance we walked the streets of True Urubamba. No tourists. This is the place the tour companies keep you away from. All I can say is that it was a treat. Sights, smells, and sounds of true Peru. We stopped at the church building and met the branch president. What a beautiful church building.

Since Kim's bag is again a now show she broke down and purchased 5 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. 40 soles. About 14 dollars. Crazy. We hope that the bag will be in the Lima airport when we arrive there on Friday. Todays experience is what we are normally used to. Being able to see the true face of a country and people. The people here are humble and happy. We asked Irwin, Yolanda, Megan and Moroni to join us for dinner. It was fun to spend time with them. Ben made a paper airplane for Megan then Irwin showed us a cool transformer that he made from his paper placemat. Ben was impressed!
On the way back to Yucay from Urubamba we boarded a small van (a "Combi" they are called after the VW of the 70's) that seemed already full but Irwin assured us we could fit. After his family and the three of us got in there were 24 people in there. True Peru. The ride costs half a soles. That's less than 20 cents. Hasta everyone.

Day 1 at Huilloc

This morning the bus arrived with the Utah State group (a group of about 30 undergraduate business students and their faculty leaders) and we packed on our four suitcases and headed to Ollantaytambo and out a gravel road not frequented by tour buses. We saw a few hiking groups but the cows and native dressed women driving the small herds outnumbered the tourist hikers. After climbing to 12,000 feet we entered the little community of Huilloc.
Traditionally dressed children ran along side of our bus eager to greet us. They didn't dress up for us - this is how they dress every day. The children swarmed the first man off the bus because be offered some children his tic tacs. The boys quickly assisted with transporting our four bags filled with school and medical supplies to the designated room.We divided into groups to do four projects. Dad and I were in the agricultural group which consisted of clearing rocks from a field to prepare for planting an orchard. All was fine until it became a battle against nature as to whether or not we would be able to remove an enormous rock buried in the dirt. An hour later man prevailed and we rolled it to the side. The field was just adjacent to the trout farm tanks which were sadly still drained. Hopefully the next time around they get stocked they will learn to keep them viable.

One of the Utah State groups did testing of the children, taking their weight, height and pricking their fingers for anemia testing.
Three volunteer doctors came with our group and went through our supplies. Many of the supplies will be stored for a few months until a new medical building is completed later this summer. We reassured the doctor that we wanted the items to be used whether in Huilloc or at clinic in need in Cusco. The doctor from Cusco was very grateful and eager to plan how he could return to help when the village's new clinic is done and the rest is needed in Cuzco since the villagers didn't know what to do with many items. Once Kim explained that the vitamins were for the children and villagers to take each day, the principal started distributing the vitamins.
It turns out there are several teachers and Kim enjoyed offering the school supplies to the first grade teacher. She said via a translator that she was glad to take as much as we had. Kim was about to help her cut the laminated alphabet cards on the classroom wall when a doctor came to ask her to help sort out items in the supply room. It turned out that of the 800 lbs of items that we'd sent last month with another tour group plus other donations brought by other groups there were some that they didn't know what to do with. For example math flash cards and bubbles. It was fun to show the doctors what to do with flash cards and the technical expertise required to blow bubbles.
It was decided by the Utah State group after lunch break to leave early (1pm) which was very disappointing but we will go back tomorrow and hopefully get a little more time with the people. There were already a dozen kids walking around with their chalkboard backpacks donated by an Eagle Scout in our ward. It was nice to see them being used.

Bad news: Itinarary change. A Puno bus strike is currently under way. This means we miss our leg to Lake Titicaca. Disappointing. After communication with Pan American, the three of us deliberated our options. We will stay in Yucay (Sacred Valley) another night, then another day in Cusco.
Kim's bag a no show again but we're hopeful that with a second faxed letter and passports we'll prevail in getting the bag. She is still such a good sport. She broke down and bought a t-shirt this evening. Adiós

Machu Picchu

The sun is going down. We are sitting on the train waiting to leave from Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo) to go back to Ollayantaytambo and I'm writing while they sleep. We are all exhausted.
Our early morning began around 5am, with a light breakfast at our hotel Sonesta Posada del Inca Yucay. We were eager because last night I asked someone at the front desk if they were familiar with the church. They said yes, and that Irwin would be working breakfast. When we found him I could tell he was all smiles, evident he had been told we were looking forward to meet him. He is married and has two children - Moroni (almost 3) and Megan (8).(train is going now)We brought him a box of crayons, several church books in Spanish, and about 25 of my neck ties. He was more than happy to accept and distribute among the branch in Yucay. When we were about to leave, he asked us if we would come to his house this evening and meet his family. Of course! So we are on our way home to meet him at the hotel.
The voyage:
We left the Ollantaytambo train station on the Hyrum Bingham train at 7:50 on the dot. Started our decent down the valley along the river, then marveled at the scenery. It's like God himself carved this river valley. A 1 1/2 hour ride, you slowly leave the high altitude and see the climate change in the flora / fauna then before you know it you are in sub-tropical rain forest. Thick and lush as French Guiana. The sun shining and warm air. After arriving at Aguas Calientes we took the 25 min bus ride up the switch backs to the entrance of the park. Then you see it. Machu PicchuProbably the most beautiful man made thing set in front of the most beautiful natural scenery I've ever seen. Truly awe inspiring. Something spiritual. Something no imagineer at Disneyland would have ever dreamt of. Sacred. Our tour guide Percy took control of the group and led us through the beginning of the tour. I was leg shaking anxious to ask him advice about the possibility of Waynapicchu.(background here)...Waynapicchu is the enormous peak in the background of every picture you see of Machu Picchu. I had read that the park only issues 400 permits per day to climb it to the top, that it's a very strenuous climb, and the view is unprecedented. I told kim on a few occasions how I wanted to climb it.(back to Percy)...I said we wanted to climb, and he had the three of us leave the group and pointed the way and told us what to do. At the hike checkpoint there was a line with ticket holders, waiting their turn to hit he peak. Remember only 400 a day... But if there are "no shows" they take stand-by of which We were the first three. We waited 45+ mins. I was committed to leave and see the rest of he site, as it seemed a lot of people showed up. I asked Kim to leave twice (I'm impatient) she wouldn't let us. We got in. All three of us. Yes all three of us hit the summit.




No words or pictures can do justice to the vista.Gordon takes the honor of being the oldest person on June 15, 2009 to summit. Almost 68 years old. I tell you he was an inspiration to everybody who crossed our path. I give him the iron man award. This hike was straight up for 1 hour 20 mins, much less the depleted oxygen level. I am so impressed and proud of him. The rest of the afternoon people all over would recognize him and make some great comment after hearing he made it to he top.The site Machu Picchu is extraordinarily preserved - mostly to the credit that the Spaniards never knew it existed. Then in 1911, "locals" took Hyrum Bingham to it. He was looking for the lost Inca city. Bingham gets credit for the "discovery" of something abandoned, but not lost to the local Inca. It claimed a full issue of National Geographic in 1913. Now it's one of the new 7 wonders of the world.
We climbed all over the city. From the astronomical observatory to the look out point. I washed my face, neck, and arms in one of the sacred fountains. It's an architectural marvel. Stones that appear to be a dozen of tons each, carved stacked and smoothed. There is no definitive / unanimous purpose that historians agree is the purpose of Machu Picchu. Something certain is there is a spiritual feeling within the walls. Since we skipped out on the tour, we were able to climb. We also missed our tour included lunch at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary right there on the mountain. Nobody cared. We were all three tickled to miss lunch to take part of this special climb.(it's now 10:00, we just came back from Irwin's home)...On the walk back to the train, kim pulled out a big ziplock bag of candy we brought and would stop and give handfuls to the children spread through the streets and market. Cutest kids you've ever seen with the cutest reactions you've ever seen. In the taxi back from the train station we asked our driver Benturo if we could stop at a market in Urubamba. We were expecting that Erwin would be waiting for us and we really wanted to come to his home with a few bags of fresh produce. To thank our driver, we asked him to pick something out also. He bagged some apples and we also got him a big wedge of cheese.
As expected, Erwin was waiting there at Sonesta Posada and we all walked with him to his home a few blocks away. When we arrived, his wife Yolanda and children Megan and Moroni were waiting to start family home evening. We handed over the bags and a beautiful bouquet of flowers and she melted. We sang "because I have been given much" in Spanish, and Erwin gave a short lesson. We all bore testimony - they in Spanish, us in English. Erwin asked me to chose the closing song. We sang "I am a child of God". Three year old Moroni knew every word.
Megan has Barbie and Mickey Mouse posters and princess stickers. Moroni had puppy dog slippers. Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals. Modest home, well kept, and clean children. The presence of the gospel was certainly in their home. Moroni invited Kim twice to his birthday party this month. They showed us their photo album of their trip to the temple and Megan's baptism. We were all happy to feel the sweet spirit in their little home. What a special family.Although there are many single members of the church, they are the only LDS family in the Sacred Valley. How fortuitous that he happened to be working just outside our room (literally 20 feet away). They were happy to have us in their home and join them for their home evening. Both Erwin and Yolanda are artists and Yolanda sells their paintings to vendors in town who in turn sell them on the street to tourists. We bought two beautiful paintings from them. Impressed by the children' sweet spirit and Moroni's "future missionary" tag, Gordon made a very kind and generous donation to their already started missionary fund - literally in their piggy banks. They have to send Megan to Urubamba for school because the local school in Yucay is catholic and they won't take Megan because they are Mormon.
Though we don't speak the same language we could understand they were saying that --although we don't speak the same language, we are brothers and sisters in the gospel and share a common language of love of the gospel and brotherly love.What a special experiance to be invited to the modest home of a local member and see the commitment to the gospel.
Update on kim's bag: sorry. Nothing yet. LAN sent the bag to cusco then back to Lima. The front desk wrote an authorization in Spanish for yada yada yada the bag should fly back to cusco tomorrow. Kim is still a good sport.
Hasta

A Good Sport

Kim is a good sport. After showering just now she smiled and said "hmm, what should I wear today?? Hilarious. She should be back on track tonight when her bag hopefully arrives.

Sacred Valley

First off, we are almost ready to celebrate the finding of kim's bag. The bag has been found in Lima and is set to fly to Cusco tomorrow morning and has been coordinated to be sent to us here in Yucay pronounced (you-kai). It is supposed to be at the hotel by tomorrow 5pm. We'll update.
Sacred ValleyWaking to our first morning at 11,000 feet we were prepared for a full day of events. Kim and I slept through the wake-up call today but lucky for us Gordon paid it forward to us with a wake-up knock. Nice breakfast. Mini silver dollar pancakes, yogurt, juice, bread. I loved the papaya.
We were greeted by our day's tour director and a bus full of other travellers.For the record, yesterday the site Saqsayhuaman is the one pronounced "sexy woman" even now the next day it leaves an indellible impression of something great.Today we visited Pukapukara, Tambomachay, and Ollantaytambo, the last of which was situated in a beautiful valley. The only thing you can compare is the fjords in Norway, except there is an agricultural valley floor and steep mountain sides that have been terraced another 3,000 feet higher (reminds me of Croatia). By no stretch does it appear lush, but evidently the Inca learned over time what and how to grow, and where. The climate or "micro-climates" are vastly different from the valley floor up to the tops of these impressive mountains.Pisac market is bustling in the Pisac town square with literally hundreds of venders all selling their goods. Carvings, pottery, music, jewelry, and enough woven and knitted goods to make you join PETA. I found the goods to be generally just garbage (one man's garbage is another man's treasure). The kind of things you'd take home and eventually throw away a few months later. Kim disagrees a litle with me on that. I quickly realized the only way I was going to make it was to do it style a la Roger, and eat my way through. I found an alley way into a hidden smokey open arcade and found a little man with two kids, and a large woodfire brick oven. He spoke not a word of English, I not a word of Spanish, but we bonded over baking. I ended up eating 4 empanadas (cheese, onion, tomato), a slice of pineapple bread and a slice of apple bread. Good food. He had several cooked items on display - baked chicken, cui (guinea pig) and a couple of things on the ground that he was insistant that I would not enjoy, nor want. He could tell the disgust in my face (how dare he impune my tastebuds!!) all in good spirit. He pulled off a slice and hesitating, offered to me in the "put your tastebuds where your mouth is". When I showed my clear approval and enjoyment he pulled a large chunk off and gave it to me. It turned out to be oven baked / smoked lamb.His empanadas were so good I bought one and offered to the old lady down the alley concurrentyl dealing win Kim's professional browsing technique. She smiled so wide and eagerly accepted. On my trips back and forth to the baker I noticed all the locals were congregating there and buying/eating. Always a great sign of a good place.Ollantaytambo was a special place that was almost magical/spiritual. The whole complex was built so that looking from high, appears to have been built in the profile of a llama. This was the practice of the Inca generally - Cusco in the shape of a puma, machu picchu in the shape of a condor, there are others too...General impressions:Impressive terraced mountain sides.Adobe bricks drying in endless rows on the sides of the roads. Porters washing their blankets in the river. Dogs roaming but understanding traffic laws. Buses and buses everywhere. Llama, alpacas and traditionally clothed women at every corner wanting you to take a picture with them for money - in town, and every mile of the road and scenic stop.
After sightseeing and climbing, we were treated to a sumptuous buffet in a high class hacienda restaurant - called "Alahambra". All included in our day tour. The reastaurant gave me the impression of a place where high class wealthy travellers stay and eat. It reminded Kim of something in a remote African safari where you find some open air canvas covered upscale lodge with food and service you would never think is there.
Yucay. We packed the bags on the bus and are now in a hotel converted from an old monastary. I can't describe other than shangri la. Heaven. Pictures will not do it justice. The grounds, the room, the ambiance. "sacred valley" is a fitting description. We found the church building in town. Nice building.
Must get to sleep. We are up at 5am in the morning and off to machu picchu.
A couple of more impressions:Every single "artist" wanting you to look at their portfolio that they say they painted - it's funny, they all have the same paintings. Do they think I don't notice?Unreal vistas of the steep, high mountains, occasionally with a backdrop of the further distant taller snow capped peaks.The day-in day-out people in traditional clothes are totally "checked out" and completely non-engaging. The others are only engaging with incesant pleas to buy their wistle, knitted cap, or blanket. No doubt - both the result of an economy of tourists blazing through impoverished people.We were successful in finding some completely willing to engage and as a result were delightful.
Handing this over to Kim to write.Love you all. Ben (I'm tickled there is a WiFi spot here. Baffled, but tickled!!)
Willie-Mae Ballard - Los Cruces NMIn an effort to avoid car sickness I wanted to sit in the front of the bus when I entered there was only one seat left and as it turned out it was my luck because I had the pleasure of sitting next to Willie on the bus and getting to know her. Willie is 85 years old, a widow of two years, and retired Spanish teacher who's life's dream was to come to Machu Pichuu after reading about it in 5th grade! Her son has been asking for years "is there anywhere you'd like to go" and she said no because she felt it was "too much to ask" but eventually she shared her childhood dream and her son and daughter in law said "let's go!" Friday she hiked to the point of MP which was a new known record according to our tour guide. Today she hiked to top of Ollantayatambo which inspired all who watched. She told me of teaching on the Navajo reservation in her 60's, living in an "intentional community" in southern Georgia in her 20's where she met her husband of 54 years. She told of helping some black children go into town and buy them what they needed to attend school and how it resulted in much racial tension and how she learned how to plow fields by a black man. Both of which got her and the others banned from their baptist congregation in the 1940's. She was absolute delight and a powerful example of living your dreams at any age. She said we could be penpals.
Dr. Wolfgang Fischer of Munich.
While on our bus tour of the Sacred Valley we passed a LDS church building on the road through Urubamba and I even saw people standing outside wearing the pecuilar clothing of a white shirt and khakis. We realized that although nearly all of the people on our bus were returning to Cusco we would be staying in Yucay - the village only a mile of so from the church and that we'd be here for 3 nights. We started asking and quickly found out that a waiter at our hotel's restaurant is a Mormon and he works tomorrow morning. We are excited to possibly leave the 25+ ties and various Spanish church materials we brought from the Distribution Center with a local leader. If the lord wants it here I am sure he'll provide a way. Stay tuned.

Thin Air

I have to admit the air is much thinner up here. All three of us have been fine but we definately feel it. We took a three hour tour which consisted of an old cathedral and several Inca ruins (they actually call them "archeological sites") which were impressive but at least for me it's more impressive considering the surroundings. This very high valley is such a beautiful setting. Walking the sites makes you truly appreciate the size and strength of the Inca.
The state of Cusco has been celebrating Corpus Christy so the cathedral contained temporary platforms of 15 patron saints set up on elaborate displays which are lifted up using long wooden planks on the shoulders of the specific city that has brought to the festival (I know, major run-on sentence) and displayed in parades. I'm sure very impressive if you're catholic. The church also has an original cross brought by Pizzaro.
The site we visited had impressive stone walls, the biggest of which is called something in Inca that when the natives say it, it sounds they are saying exactly "sexy woman" (very funny)
All the andean musicians play Simon & garfunkle on their wooden pan flutes. So when we left the restaurant tonight and were yet again accosted by dozens of venders, I just started singing "I'd rather be a hammer than a nail" at the top of my lungs. It threw them all way off guard. Still at our unwanted shopping impass I went on to "I'd rather be an alpaca than a llama" at which point they all can't help but laugh, leave, or think I'm crazy (or drunk?) all of which are suitable conclusions I'm ok with.
So far the only less positive thing I have to report is that the Cuscayan street peelers put Tijuana to shame. It's really too bad because it creates such chaos. Maybe it's just me, after all I'm like twice as tall as anyone here.
We are all pretty tired and will call it a night relatively early. Tomorrow we head to the Sacred Valley. Hasta

Arrival in Cusco, Peru

The plane left about 45 mins late because they said the weather was too bad in Cusco. Now that we're here, Idon't know why, the weather is beautiful. We flew over the most spectacular Andean peaks, tall and as sharp as a pencil point. The decent and landing was interesting. We approached the runway probably three times faster than normal. Probably because the air is so much thinner here at 13,000 feet. We are now about to get on a bus to see some sites. We had a nice lunch that included quinoa soup, yum! Also, we enjoyed live Andean musicians who came into the restaurant and played authentic Peruvian music for us. We bought one of their CD. Off we go to see the sites of Cusco.

A short night's rest

That was a nice nap - what 4 hours? We just sat down on our flight to Cusco. Seats 3 A, B, & C. Lima is very overcast and much fog all over the city. Visability maybe 1000 feet. We drove along the coast this morning. Very beautiful. Reminds me a lot of the California coast. No sign of Kim's bag :-( I told her if she doesn't have any change of clothes that I wouldn't change either. We've only been seated 10 mins and kim has already checked out asleep.When we got into the lobby this morning we fully expected to see Gordon eating breakfast. Turns out he was asleep when I went up to his room to check on him! We totally made the taxi on time, the airport on time and all paid our $6.00 airport tax. Peru is a very dollarized country. US dollars used almost anywhere. They also pump gas in gallons not liters.
The streets of Lima reminded me a lot of the streets of Pointe a Pitre and Cayenne.
This is Peru winter season. No rain in the winter, only overcast and cold on the coast. Summer is the rainy season here. Counterintuitive.
We heard Cusco weather is bad from a man in line (Cusco is home to him) but we will see.Sayanora

We are in Lima!!

We are in Lima!! Wonderful flight but we landed one bag lighter. Yes, of all the bags they lost it had to be Kim's.We wasted away in baggage claim for near 1 1/2 hours. Claim checks, release forms etc. to try to send the bag to cusco if they find it not to mention the big name tag on it says "Roger Mantz" just to add another layer of confusion. We are sitting here in the hotel room now. Nice big rooms. We are on the 6th floor and Gordon is on the 10th. We are leaving the hotel in exactly four hours for our flight to cusco. Better than sleeping in an airport.Ciao.PS. Very active night life here in Lima. Quarter past 2am and the roads are still jamming and nightclubs just coming alive.

LAX to LIMA

The three of us are now together waiting here at gate 110 for our 1:30 flight to Lima. Kim has been carrying crutches all day (for Huilloq). Funny seeing people's reaction wondering why she is carrying them and not using them.

We're off to Peru

We've just boarded the plane on our first leg here in Salt Lake City on our way to Peru via LAX. We were up until 3am getting the last of the humanitarian supplies sorted and packed. We checked our allowed 4 suitcases (2 each) -- two weighed in at 50 lbs and two 51 lbs, so we just squeeked in the weight limit thanks to the curbside check-in guy. While on the Diamond shuttle we struck up a conversation with a rough looking and rough sounding gentleman and ended up having a delightful conversation. Rusty Haupt ended up being a wonderful start to a hopefully fruitful trip to Huilloq. The Diamond shuttle driver collects sewing machines for humanitarian efforts around the world. Who knows, maybe our paths will converge again sometime in the future for another cause besides getting us back to our car. PS - at 3 am after having completed packing the 4 suitcases of supplies we had identified two things we needed prior to leaving --earplugs and a power adapter. We ended up finding both of them hidden away in the outside pocket of one on the suitcases bound for Huilloq. Sounds corny, but it was like a small tender mercy given to us when too tired to leave the house. More to come... -Ben

Goggle Girl!

Our silly Madi found these goggles floating around the house (there is a lot of stuff like this floating around our house during the summer months it seems). She thought it was hilarious to see the world through them!

It's Great to be EIGHT!

Dylan was so excited for his baptism day--June 6, 2009. What a wonderful day!

It's Monkey Time!

Madi and Kate have a new favorite DVD--It's Monkey Time. It teaches them dances and songs about brushing their teeth, tying their shoes and more. They can't get enough of it! Madi's in the whining phase and says, "I can't do it" a lot but now I say, "what do the monkeys say?" and she says, "Help, please" instead! Yiipppeeee! It's available on Amazon.com (link here). Hope your monkeys like it as much as our monkeys!