A solitary peak, rising from the valley like a soldier’s spear.
Underwater light, reflecting off of and clarifying the coral on the ocean floor.
Granite blocks littering a field like a giant’s toys.
Temples built in honor of gods long gone, still showing the majesty of their creation.
Trails, like snail paths, winding slowly up the mountains before disappearing into the crook between peaks.
Tiny crabs on a black sand beach, dancing across the sand like so many leaves in the wind.
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| Our amazing sand castle in Puerto Lopez. |
We lazed around on the beach in Puerto Lopez for nearly a week, spending Thanksgiving there. We built a sand castle. We made friends with Lola, a town dog who dug up a crab for our amusement and then decided to be our protectress. We took a day trip out to Isla de la Plata, or Island of Silver, also known as the ‘poor man’s Galápagos’ because you can see many of the same animals there for a fraction of the price. We saw lots of blue-footed boobies (and yes, as you can imagine, we had fun with the name!) and black, fork-tailed frigate birds. For a highlight, we went snorkeling for my first time, and I learned once again that fear and reason rarely keep company. (Even with a life jacket and one of the lifesaver rings, I still hyperventilated for 5 minutes or so before Tyler and the guide were able to calm me down enough to put on the snorkel mask. It took another five before I could put my head underwater!) But it was beautiful! We swam with the fish and got some awesome pictures of the turtles, courtesy of Tyler’s waterproof camera. I even managed not to throw up once on our hour-long boat trip out to the island and back.
It was a wonderful place to relax, enjoy the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and even to see truly pristine beaches. A few miles away from town is a national park, with a gorgeous untouched virgin beach, Los Frailes. The black sand is soft and smooth underfoot, and the only things moving besides the waves are all the tiny little crabs making snowballs out of sand. We loved it.
But all that relaxing meant that we were in poor shape to tackle our last adventure, which was my dream vacation up until we reached Ecuador:
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| Machu Picchu, from the guardhouse overlooking the city. |
Machu Picchu.
You know what it is, you’ve heard the stories, you’ve seen the traditional picture showing the city with the mountain behind it. But there are a few things that surprised me when we arrived.
To begin, did you know it’s in the middle of the JUNGLE?!? In order to get there from Cuzco (we took the lazy man’s route, not knowing if there was space to hike the Inca Trail or not), you can either take the hour-long train, or an hour-and-a-half taxi drive to Ollantaytambo. From there to Aguas Calientes, the cheap option is a six-hour van ride followed by a two-hour hike, or you can choose the expensive option, which is the two-hour train. There are no roads into Aguas Calientes, as it is surrounded by steep mountains and river on all sides, with barely enough room for the train. From Aguas Calientes, which is a happy, quaint little tourist trap at the base of the mountain Machu Picchu, you can hike the two hours uphill to the gates, or take the half-hour bus ride at $12 per person.
So, recap: if you go the cheap backpacker’s route, it takes a whopping eleven and a half hours, four of those hiking, to get to Machu Picchu. Even if you take the full-ride, fastest route, it still takes three and a half hours at best. This place is HARD to get to. For those of you who remember when we went to Mindo, it’s a similar climate: cool and damp.
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| One of the resident landscapers. |
The city rises out of the jungle like the halo around a dark-haired Virgin Mary. You know in the classic picture, how you see all the perfectly manicured green lawns around the buildings? It’s kept that way by the resident gardeners, commonly known as llamas. There’s about fifty of them who wander around all day, munching on the grass. Where the city ends, the jungle begins, and even one switchback’s distance from the city makes it invisible. But where the city is, there’s only pale rock and bright grass.
Learning about the city’s history made me remember Emperor’s New Groove. You know the scene where Kuzco tells Pacha about Kuzcotopia, and how it’s going to go right in the middle of Pacha’s land, only to decide on a different hilltop by the end? I think the real story must have been that Emperor Pachacutec (or Pachacute, or Pachacuti) simply made a deal to allow the farmers to keep farming, around the retreat he built for himself and his favorite 500 people. This way, they were only partially dependent on goods from Cuzco, and they lived at the height of engineering style. It felt like wandering through an open-air castle, as our guide described different aspects of the city and the genius involved in planning. They sanded down the rocks in order to have them fit together like gloves; and when they couldn't do that, they worked around the existing rocks, as was the case with the Temple of the Condor.
It is amazing, and perfectly breathtaking. Though it left me with more questions than answers, to me, it was a testament to the brilliance of the human mind when you take away all the toys we have become dependent on. They didn’t have computers to calculate exact numbers, or sanders to quickly grind the stone down; they didn’t even have the wheel. But without all that, they managed to build a sanctuary which is still puzzling us even today.
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| Simple yet beautiful nativity from Perú. |
I am amazed at what we can accomplish when we have the motivation. From building a city in the clouds to delving into the depths of the sea, there seems to be nowhere we can’t go, and nothing we can’t do if we only get out of our own way. And as I look at these glorious places in my mind’s eye, I’m reminded of the most glorious places I’ve never seen: a quiet little stable room, where Jesus Christ was born. As we celebrate Christmas this weekend, I invite you to consider the power of hope in your life, and what you hope to accomplish. Everything is possible, from addiction recovery to achieving our dreams, because of what began in that calm, quiet moment in a stable. Merry Christmas to you, and may all your wishes for this season come true
For more photos related to Puerto Lopez, Guayaquil, and Lima click here.
For more photos related to Machu Picchu click here.
