Where are Ron and Ellen?
Latin America, 10 November 2008 - 3 March 2009
Ron and Ellen (and llama) at Machu Picchu, Peru, December 2008
Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo
To see photos from Machu Picchu, click on the thumbnail at the left.
Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo
To see photos from Ollantaytambo, click on the thumbnail at the left.
14 December 2008
Cusco, PeruDear Family and Friends,
Today is our grandson Leo's 9th birthday -- we are sorry to miss the birthday party!
Last Monday we took the train (leaving at 6:50 am!) from Cusco to Machu Picchu. The train takes 4 hours, and it is quite a spectacular ride. First you spend 40 minutes doing switchbacks up the steep mountainsides to get out of Cusco, which is in a bowl surrounded by mountains, then you go through farmland, steep canyons, along the narrow Urubamba river valley, and finally into steep canyons again, with just enough space for the train tracks along the river, which at this point is crashing along over huge boulders. The train stops in Aguas Calientes (also called Machu Picchu Pueblo). When Ron was there in 1971 the only thing in Aguas Calientes was the hot springs. Now there is an entire town, with hotels and restaurants and shops, built up the side of the mountain -- all for the tourists who visit Machu Picchu. Since there are no roads into the area and the only way to get there is by train, there are no vehicles at all in the town, with the exception of the Mercedes-Benz bus fleet that ferries tourists from the bottom of the mountain to the top where the Machu Picchu ruins are. We agreed that the town reminded us of being on the boardwalk at the beach, as it composed solely of businesses for tourists.
Tuesday morning we got up early and took the bus up the mountain at 7:15 -- 25 minutes of switchbacks (passing through multiple biospheres) to get to the top. Your ticket allows multiple entrances during the day, so we had a chance to do a preview visit before meeting our tour group outside the entrance at a bit after 8. Machu Picchu is difficult to describe. It covers a huge area, is in a spectacular setting, with cloud forest mountain peaks rising all around, and it really does look like all the photos you have seen of it. Getting around on the 2 hour tour (excellent and knowledgeable guide) involved lots of climbing up and down irregular stone steps, but was definitely worth all the work. Since this is a place the Spanish never found, many of the buildings are relatively intact, although of course the thatched roofs and the stucco that once covered the stone walls (painted red and gold and ochre according to the archaeologists -- it must have been a beautiful sight) are long gone because of the weather. In the course of our day, we had fog, rain, and sun -- all of them multiple times. Whether or not the surrounding mountains are visible, or even the site itself, changes from moment to moment as the clouds blow in and out. There was a herd of llamas grazing on the grass of the terraces (no need for mowing!), including an incredibly cute baby llama, still at the very gangly awkward stage. We spent a good part of the day there, having brought our picnic of hard-boiled eggs and cheese and crackers and cookies, and took the bus back down to the town around 3:30, where we shared a pitcher of limeade and a piece of apple tart before taking the return train. We arrived back in Cusco around 9:30 pm. The switchbacks back down into Cusco gave us a wonderful view of the city and all its floodlit churches and plazas.
Wednesday we relaxed after our hard walking and climbing in the ruins. Laurie and Steven returned Wednesday afternoon from two days in Sipascancha, feeling more than ready to finish their work there and be done with this particular village. The more they talk to other people working in various villages, the more they realize that the frustrations they have been feeling seem to be Sipascancha-specific. They are now looking forward to doing follow-up with people in Soncco and C'orao (they are in C'orao this morning), both small villages where they built stoves in 2007, and in both of which, according to reports, people are using the stoves properly as they were built. They have had many discussions, with each other, with us, with Pave, and with other folks working in villages, and are eager to take the lessons learned and begin work after the holidays in Usi, the focus of their project for this trip. Laurie will maintain her relationship with her god-children in Sipascancha, and will continue to foster the relationship between the school there and North Branch School, but beyond that they will not be doing anything else.
On Thursday all four of us took the bus to Urubamba and then a collectivo (mini-bus) to Ollantaytambo, a small town where the last ruins we wanted to see are located. Laurie and Steven visited with friends who live there while Ron and I explored the ruins, built steeply up the side of the mountain (on the way down, Ron counted 325 steps!). Of all the sites we've visited, Ollantaytambo is the one where the current town, with the ancient wall surrounding it, is easily seen as a part of the ruins (fortress, temples) climbing the steep sides of the mountains around it. Wandering the very narrow streets of the town (many too narrow for vehicles), you see parts of Inca walls incorporated as part of existing buildings, and, as Steven pointed out, the basic structure of the town, including the stone channels with water rushing down from the river and the stone drainage gutters in the middle of the streets, is probably little different than it was 700 or more years ago.
In the last two days we've done a bit more wandering around Cusco, some final shopping, and last night had dinner with some new friends of Steven and Laurie, one a man from Cusco who runs a small NGO, and who was totally sympathetic to Steven's and Laurie's frustration with the legacy of big NGOs that come in and drop "gifts" on villages without any understanding of long-term need or any effort to educate people in use or sustainability. Later last night we went to hear a wonderful music group that Steven and Laurie had discovered when they were here last year -- traditional Andean music with new elements added.
This afternoon, after Steven and Laurie and Pave return from C'orao, we are all going to Pave's house for a farewell tea. Ellen's flight for home leaves early tomorrow morning, and Ron takes an overnight bus for La Paz, Bolivia, tomorrow night. So the next message will be an update from Ellen at home and Ron in Bolivia.
Love to all,
Ellen and Ron
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Last updated: 3 January 2009
