in the desert

Hello Everyone!

Since our last update, we've spent our time in the desert of Southern Peru. Our first stop was in Nazca, which is famous for the mysterious lines and figures drawn in the desert just outside of the city. These gigantic figures and lines (the figures are often greater than 200m long, and the lines can go on for miles) can be best seen from the air. They were constructed by the Nazca people (a Pre-Incan culture) from 900 BC - 600 AD but their purpose is still unknown. There are many theories out there regarding their existence/function such as: the lines being used as celestial calenders, offerings to the gods, paths leading to sources of water or even for communication with extra-terrestrials! We were curious enough about the lines and what they would look like that we hopped into a tiny 4-seater plane and took a 30 minute (and extremely nauseating) flight over the lines.

The Plane: 4 Passengers and 2 Pilots

The view from the plane on the way to the lines - sandy and rocky mountains with irrigated valleys

A few of the figures from the air:

The "frog" or set of hands with 9 fingers. You can see the lookout tower just off the highway (a 10m tower) and the highway for scale. They built the highway before they discovered some of the lines - it goes right through one.

The "Astronaut" or "Owl" on the side of a mountain

The spider (in the center) and a bunch of lines

We also went and saw a movie and planetarium show about the Nazca lines. They had a telescope setup on the full moon as well as Jupiter with its 4 moons! Very cool!

After Nazca, we headed north towards Ica, to Hacachina, a little desert oasis. Although the oasis itself was extremely touristy, the surrounding sand dunes were stunning and mesmerizing. We took a dune buggy tour where you go flying over the dunes at full speed (its like real-life Mariocart!) and then you stop a few times to go sand boarding! Shaina's dream come true - snowboarding in a t-shirt and shorts! it was awesome! The sand slows you down a lot more than snow, but it was loads of fun and we are excited to do it again in Chile.

This is Huacachina - a real desert oasis!

Beautiful sand dunes as far as the eye can see

Shaina and Marsh with our sandboards at the top of one of the dunes

From Huacachina, we took an overnight bus (12 hrs) south to the city of Arequipa in Southern Peru. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru with a population just less 1 million. In Arequipa, we have been taking Spanish classes again (only for 1 week this time) and staying with a Peruvian family. The Spanish is coming along well - we can understand pretty much everything when conversing with a local, and our speaking is becoming more grammatically correct with each day. The home-stay (which was set up through the spanish school) is also going well. We live with a mother and her four sons (ages 12 through 23) and being surrounded by spanish forces us to practice!

After our spanish is done, we will head to the Colca Canyon (about a 6 hr bus into the mountains) to see the world's second deepest canyon (its more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon!) and hopefully we'll see some condors.

Hope everyone is doing well at home. We miss you all!

Love Marsh & Shaina

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

Hola amigos!

We just finished an epic journey on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu! It was an unforgettable experience. We did the 4-day / 3-night trek along the original trail used and built by the Incas.

The three of us (Shaina, Marshall and Barry) met the rest of our group at 5:30am Friday morning in Cuzco. There were 15 of us tourists, plus 2 guides. From there we took the bus to the Sacred Valley, back to the town of Ollantaytambo for breakfast, and then to the start of the Inca Trail. Here we met up with the rest of our team: 13 porters (they’re called chaskis or runners), a chef and assistant chef (his son), a waiter, and a coordinator! It was a big group, but very well organized.

The start of the trail was a bit too touristy and populated for our liking; however, once we were about halfway through the first day, we were more isolated and spaced out between other trekking groups. The scenery throughout the trek was absolutely stunning. The Andes in the Sacred Valley are so beautiful and mesmerizing, we could have walked forever! Our guide was outstanding. He had a real passion for his country and culture, and that made our whole experience so much richer. We stopped at 7 Inca archaeological sites along the way, where he taught us all about the Incas and their exceptional ways. This also gave us a nice break from hiking!

Every day we would wake up to a cup of hot tea at our tent and a bowl of hot water for washing. Then we ate a huge hot breakfast with everyone in the communal tent. We would do a small warm up and a few stretches and then we were off on the trail. We would hike all morning (sometimes stopping at ruins). The chaskis/runners would zoom past us on the trail, each carrying 25 kg on the backs! It was very humbling. The crew would have a huge family style lunch ready when we arrived at our lunch spot! Lunch was always a delicious soup, followed by at least 3 or 4 other dishes (and always a special gluten-free version for Shaina). It was incredible! We were definitely not roughing it! After lunch we would hike to our camp site, where again the chaskis would be waiting with our tents set up, and hot teas and a snack for ‘happy hour’ until dinner was ready. It was by far the best camping food we’ve ever had!

The hiking itself was a good mix of challenging sections and easier parts. It was also at a lower elevation than we’d been trekking at in Huaraz and Ecuador, so the altitude wasn't a problem. The trail is built of stones, with steep stairs in many sections (both up and down).

A brief overview of the trek: Day 1 was a fairly gradual ascent of 14 km. Day 2 was by far the hardest day, we climbed 16 km and 2 steep mountain passes. Day 3 was about 10 km, all downhill. Day 4 we got up at 3:45am (that’s right!) so that the chaskis could make the local train back to the start of the trail. We waited in line at a check point that opened at 5:30am; and then it was a short 6 km walk to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu! Arriving at Machu Picchu the way the Incas built it – through the Sun Gate - was such a rewarding experience. We stepped through the rock walls of the Sun Gate with an outstanding view of (nearly empty) Machu Picchu. Our guide gave us a 2-hour tour of the archaeological site and then had about 2 hours afterwards on our own. From there we headed into the town of Aguas Calientes for a final farewell lunch and take the train+bus back to Cusco. This was definitely a highlight of our trip and an experience we’ll never forget!

Introductions of the group: the chaskis (runners or porters) in blue, the coordinator, the chefs, the guides and the tourists

Andean peaks in the clouds at our first camp

Our sweet rain ponchos about halfway up the second mountain pass on rainy Day 2

It may look like holes in a rock, but it's actually the Southern Cross constellation! Many of the archaeological sites we saw on the Inca Trail were used as astronomical observatories. The Incas would use a pool of water to look at the reflection of the stars and then carve the constellations into large rocks. So cool!

Us at the impressive ruins of Intipata on Day 3 with an amazing view of the Sacred Valley and Urubamba River. We had just seen a toucan in the jungle before arriving here, while three baby condors were soaring in this valley!

The Winay Wayna ruins (meaning 'Forever Young') - there is a palace in the lower section and a temple at the top (you can just see the corner of it in this picture). These terraces were used for gardens, as they are narrower than the agricultural terraces. This was the most spectacular place along the Inca Trail. From inside the ruins, you have a majestic view of the valley and the Veronica Glacier (below).

The moon rising over the Veronica Glacier at sunset on Day 3 at Winay Wayna ruins. We then had a special traditional ceremony offering thanks to Pachamama (mother earth) and making 3 wishes.

Our first glimpse of Machu Picchu as we entered the Sun Gate (Intipunku) just after sunrise on Day 4.

Marsh, Shaina and Barry at Machu Picchu

Looking up at the Sun Temple (the only curved tower and finest stonework) in Machu Picchu. The rocks are perfectly fit together like Lego - no mortar - in special and religious places (like Temples or for the royal Inca family). In the more common and urban areas, they used a mortar made from clay, hair of people and llamas, straw, etc. and then covered the walls with llama fat to protect from the rain.

A great view of Machu Picchu from the top terraces. This was taken from the trail to the Inca Bridge. The big peak behind the city is Wayna Picchu, which has a trail up but we didn't have tickets to climb up.

After a night of celebrating back in Cusco, we visited the gorgeous ruins of Sacsayhuaman (sounds likes ‘sexy woman’) and had to say bye to Barry as he headed back into the Sacred Valley for a few days before flying home.

The walls at Sacsayhuaman are some of the Incas most impressive stonework. The rocks are HUGE and carved with such perfection. There are even built in drainage tunnels within the walls. Although 80% of the site was destroyed by the Spaniards, you can still see parts of the 3 levels of zig-zagged walls. The city of Cuzco was built in the shape of a puma, with Sacsayhuaman as the head, and the zig-zag structures were the teeth.

A view of the three levels of zig-zagged walls

That is a big arse rock!

Before leaving Cuzco, we watched a heated Peru vs. Chile soccer game (a qualifying game for the 2014 world cup) at a restaurant, which they unfortunately lost. Then we took the night bus to Nazca where we're spending a couple days checking out the Nazca lines... but that's for the next post!

Hope everyone is doing well! Send us some updates J

xoxo

Marsh and Shaina

Huaraz, Lima, and the Sacred Valley

Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since our last update so we have lots to tell! Last time we wrote we were about to embark on a 4 day trek through the Cordillera Blanca (the highest and most scenic mountain range in Peru). The trek was amazing and it was a great trial run for the Inca Trail (which we start tomorrow!) as it was similar in time (4 days) and distance (about 43km).

On day one, we woke up early and made our way to the tour company office for 6:30am where we met the other 4 tourists we would be trekking with, as well as our Peruvian guide. We all hopped in a van along with our gear and made the 6 hour drive to the trailhead. The drive was beautiful as we climbed to 4800 meters above sea level (masl) before descending to 3700 masl at the trail head. The 6 hours went by quickly as we stopped at a few scenic spots along the way.

Us at a lake on the way to the trail-head

We began walking around 1pm and day one of the trek was fairly easy. The walk was relatively short (about 4 hrs) and flat, and we had the luxury of donkeys carrying all of our heavy gear (tents, food, etc). We arrived at our campsite about an hour before dark and set up camp while our guide cooked us a delish dinner (chicken-pumpkin-carrot soup and Peruvian chicken stirfry).

Day two was another shorter day as we walked from 8:30am until just before noon. However, we made some gains in altitude going from 3700 masl to the second campsite at 4400 masl. The second campsite had some breathtaking views and we spent the afternoon relaxing and getting used to the altitude in preparation for making a pass at 4750 masl the next day. We also spent the afternoon putting out a grass fire that had started about 50 meters from our campsite! We noticed some smoke coming from the other side of the trekking path and went to check it out.... and we found a full blown grass fire! So the 8 of us combined our efforts: some people retrieving water and some people trying to smother the fire and 20 minutes later we had prevented a potentially devastating fire! (Our theory is that the fire started from the cigarette butt of a group of hikers going the opposite direction that had passed about an hour before).

Campsite #2

The firefighters after the fire was extinguished!

Unlike day 1 and 2 of the trek, day 3 was a serious challenge! Our group decided that instead of breaking up the remaining 30km of the hike into two days of walking, that we would tackle the entire distance on day three so that we could enjoy the final day relaxing in some local hot springs. So we started walking around 8:15 heading straight up to the mountain pass at 4750 masl where the views were amazing!

Us at the top of the mountain!

We then proceeded down into the valley for a LONG way and some beautiful scenery. Along the way we passed the Paramount mountain (the mountain they use as their logo in movies)! Unfortunately the peak was covered in cloud. When we finally made it to the end of the trail it was sunset and we were exhausted! However, the long walk on day three was well worth the early morning trip on day 4 to the natural hot springs in the mountains which eased all of our muscle aches. After the hot springs it was back into a van and back to Huaraz where we killed some time with our new friends from the trek, until taking the night bus to Lima at 10:30pm.

We arrived in Lima at 5:00am and took a taxi to the MARRIOTT HOTEL! After sleeping for 3 nights in a tent and one night on a bus, the luxury hotel almost brought tears of joy!

The Marriott Hotel in Lima

We spent our two days in Lima enjoying the luxury of the hotel (breakfast in bed, gym & steam room, etc) and eating some great food (Lima is renowned for its cuisine....especially ceviche). On Sunday, we left Lima on a flight for Cuzco (we had found a flight for $15 more than the bus ride costs and saved ourselves from a 20hr bus ride!). Cuzco is pretty touristy as it is the home base for everyone going to see Machu Picchu. So we met up with our friend Barry (from Shaina's work) and headed into the Sacred Valley for 3 days. First stop was Pisac where we spent an afternoon shopping for Alpaca (amazingly soft wool) products. The next morning we explored some Incan ruins just outside of town.

One of the stalls filled with Alpaca at the Pisac Market

Marsh walking in the Incan Ruins

We then headed to Ollantaytambo to check out more ruins and enjoy the scenery in the sacred valley before heading back to Cuzco this morning. Tomorrow morning we head out on our trek on the Inca Trail ending at Machu Picchu on Monday! We are very excited!

Hi to everyone at home! We miss you all!

Love Marsh & Shaina

On to the next one (Peru)

Hello everyone!

Last time we wrote we had just left the farm and made the 14hr trip to Cuenca. That was last weekend but it already feels like a long time ago. We had a busy week and spent lots of time on buses (but managed to see some pretty cool places too!).

We spent two days in Cuenca. The first day we spent getting used to civilization again by walking around the beautiful colonial city and indulging in some excellent food.

Shaina polishing off her delish breakfast omlette

A typical street view in the old part of town

On day two in Cuenca we headed to the nearby Cajas National Park (elevation 3900 masl). It was very cold and wet but a very cool place to see. We went on a beautiful 4 hour trek through mountains, around lakes, and through a cool forest.

Marsh at a lookout at the beginning of the hike

Shaina in the woods

After returning from the national park tired and wet, we went for an amazing dinner at a Spanish tapas restaurant in town. The next morning we said farewell to Cuenca and we were back on the road to Vilcabamba (a small village in the mountains of southern Ecuador). The trip was another 8-9 hours on the bus but we loved Vilcabamba the moment we arrived. We had made a reservation at a hostel based on the recommendation of a friend we met at the farm and it was amazing! It was resort living at backpacking prices! The place had awesome views, great food, a swimming pool and spa!

View from the hostel's dining area - town of Vilcabamba in the distance (2km)

We had two days in live in luxury in Vilcabamba. On day 1, we went for a 4 hour trek to a nearby waterfall. The first half of the trek was along a river to the waterfall, while the second half was along a mountain ridge overlooking the valley of Vilcabamba. It was a great day!

Us at the waterfall

The valley of Vilcabamba on the way back

Day 2 in Vilcabamba, we relaxed (with 75 minute massages for $18!) in preparation for our farewell to Ecuador and for our legendary journey that was to begin that evening. Starting in Vilcabamba we took a 1.5 hr bus to Loja. In Loja we met up with a friend from the farm for dinner and then got on an overnight bus from Loja across the Peruvian border to Piura (9hrs). In Piura we quickly grabbed some food and Peruvian money (Soles) and jumped on the bus again heading south to Chuclayo (3hrs). In Chuclayo we at a quick lunch and had an hour to kill with some errands before taking yet another bus to Trujillo (4.5 hrs). We arrived in Trujillo at 7:30pm exhausted after nearly 24 hours of busing ....but we are crazy and tried to jump on the 9pm overnight bus to Huaraz....but it was sold out. So we were stuck in Trujillo for a day and had to take the night bus the following day. To kill the day in Trujillo we visited the nearby Chan Chan ruins (the captial of a pre-Incan society). They were nice but we're hoping to be more impressed by Machu Picchu :)

Shaina at the Chan Chan Ruins

Last night we took the night bus from Trujillo to Huaraz where we are now. Huaraz is a city of 90,000 people close to the Cordillera Blanca (the highest mountain range in Peru). We will be here for the next 4 days in order to do a 4-day trek through these stunning mountains (with a guide). It should be a good practice run for Machu Picchu. After the trek, we head to Lima where we will recover in Luxury at the Marriot Hotel for two nights (thank you Schulich A-Team!) before flying to Cuzco on Oct 2 for our Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu adventure with our friend Barry!

Hope everyone at home is good!

Love Marsh & Shaina

on the road again

hola chicos!

Well, we've graduated from farm school! Our last week was good - the boss was away so everyone slacked off a bit hahaha. Shaina had a fun and challenging time as a teacher (not looking like my next career path!). For our last day, we got to go horse back riding to the only virgin forest in the community, and saw some howler monkeys. It was Marsh's first time on a horse! it was a great way to end our stay at the farm. We stopped to talk to the lady who makes all the ceramic plates and bowls for the farm and compared techniques. It was sad to leave the farm and say bye to everyone but we're excited to be back on the road!

Shaina with Taz (AKA Hector) - the newest addition to the farm

A culebrero - the Finca Rio Muchacho bird - it grooms its tail feathers to look like this

Shaina a little nervous getting on her horse

Marsh riding like a pro through the river

Marsh saying bye to the farm boys (and Hector)

Yesterday (Saturday) we had a long travel day. We left the farm at 7:30am and went through Bahia to Guayaquil to Cuenca in 14 hours!

We'll be in Cuenca for a couple days and then heading south to Vilcabamba before crossing the border into Peru. We'll post something before crossing.

Ciao!

M&S

Life on the Farm - Week 3

Hola amigos!

We had a great week 3 at the farm! Last weekend, before going back to the farm, we went paragliding! Paragliding is when you take off from a cliff or mountain and fly around catching lifts of wind coming off the cliffs in order to stay in the air. We each did a tandem flight with a guide. It feels just like flying! You catch the same lifts as the birds flying with you. Very cool! We were each in the air for 15-20 minutes. We took off from a cliff just behind Canoa and landed right on the beach. This weekend in Canoa there is a paragliding competition! Each paraglider has a GPS and has to pass certain points during the flight and the person who does it the fastest wins. There is also a long distance race today. There were more than 40 kites in the sky!

Marsh geared up and getting ready to take off paragliding

Marsh in flight

Shaina landing on the beach

At the farm this week, ‘Profesora Shaina’ (AKA Senorita Shena, Shaila, Jaina, Jena, Yana, etc.) was busy at the school. There are four classrooms at the school: one for the preschool and grade 1s; one for the grade 2s; one for the grade 3 and 4s; and one for the grade 5,6,7s. Mondays and Fridays I teach the older classes for an hour each and Wednesdays I teach the younger kids for an hour. It was really fun! It’s challenging at times to keep their attention for longer than 5 min J and we usually play a game towards the end of the class. The older kids know a bit of English, especially the kids who live at the farm with us, but the younger ones don’t know any. They started learning numbers (1-12) and colours and we are working up to fruits and animals, days of the week, months, and bigger numbers. I taught the older kids some simple verbs as well. They are adorable and fairly well behaved. We played red light - green light (with the addition of yellow, pink and blue lights) and charades and read stories. One of the new interns is also helping out. Next week the regular teacher of the oldest kids is away, so I might be there full time (school is from 8:30am – 12:00pm only).

Teaching the younger kids at the Rio Muchacho school

Marsh’s mornings were busy in the garden and around the farm. He was in charge of the tree nursery, a very important job, as well as feeding and cleaning the ‘cuys’ (guinea pigs). Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Marsh was running an intensive English play time at the farm for the older school kids. Unfortunately not many of the kids showed up, as transportation is a big issue for them. So next week, Marsh will probably come to the school to run the program there, instead of at the farm.

For our cultural afternoon this week, we went back to the giant strangle fig tree to climb it and then cooled off with a swim in the river.

Other farm news, the other pregnant pig had her piglets this week – only 4 babies. The first pig had 16, so they gave some of hers to the second one, to even out the milk and hopefully more will survive. So far about 4 or 5 have died but the rest seem to be doing well. They also let another female out to breed – so in 2 months and 21 days there will be more piglets! There is also a newborn colt!

The new baby colt

There are now about 12 of us at the farm – volunteers and interns, so chores and dishes are shared among more of us, which is nice. We can’t believe that this week will be our last week at the farm! It went so fast and we will be sad to leave. They are starting some great community projects through the school kids, which would be great to be a part of. Hopefully we can stay in contact with them and see how things work out.

Shaina grinding corn into cornmeal on the bicycle grinder

Our plan going forward is to head from the farm to Cuenca (another colonial city in the southern Ecuadorian Andes) for a few days and then move on to Peru working south to Cusco by October 5 for our Machu Picchu trek.

Ciao!

xoxo M&S

Life on the Farm - Week 2

Hello everyone!

We now have two weeks at the farm under our belt and consider ourselves wiley veterans! We are now experts at scooping animal poop into buckets!

Marsh shoveling cow poop!

Shaina shoveling pig poop!

Marsh carrying the grass to feed the cows and horses

But seriously, we have settled into the routine of the farm and we are generally enjoying the work. Aside from our daily chores (poop scooping & feeding the animals) and garden work (weeding, planting, watering, hoeing, etc) this week we helped out with various construction projects on the farm. We helped build bamboo furniture, repair one of the farm’s fences, and Marsh helped with some cementing work while Shaina helped replace the roof over the pig pens!

Most of the people at the farm (volunteers and people taking a course in permaculture) finished their stay on Friday, so next week at the farm will be a lot quieter. We will be two of only three volunteers still on the farm so our workload will be going up! In addition to the farm work we are getting involved at the local school starting this week. Shaina will be teaching English for 2 hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, while Marsh will be doing afternoon activities with the kids (phys ed and the like) on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons!

Other notables from the farm last week were:

1) One of the pigs had babies! She started giving birth Saturday morning just before we left for this weekend. There were 3 piglets when we left but there will likely be as many as 16 when we return! A second mom was due any minute as well.

2) We saw a huge spider just outside our room! (luckily it didn't venture inside!)

3) We got to eat some of the chickens for dinner one night (population control never tasted so good!).

This weekend we enjoyed our time off. Shaina went on a candy/chocolate/milk shake binge and Marsh got a haircut in town and it cost a whopping $2.50.

Today (Sunday) we will relax on the beach, do some lesson planning, and maybe some surfing before heading back to the farm for week #3 of 4.

Hope everyone at home is doing well and we will check in again next weekend!

Having fun and dreaming of Burlington Ribfest,

Love Marsh & Shaina