MrSeamon.com

Peru Photos

Written by Josh Seamon
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
If you want to download a Peru picture: 1) Find the picture you want to download in the Peru Collection. 2) Go to the photo's individual page.. (Here is one.) 3) Click on the "All Sizes" button directly above the upper left corner of the photo. 4) Select the photo size you want to view/download. Your choices should be square, thumbnail, small, medium, original. 5) Click on "Download the _____ size" link located directly below the words "Available Sizes" Feel free to download as many photos as you want this way. Once you have the files you can bring them to any photo printing location and make your own prints. The largest photo size I uploaded to Flickr should make decent 4x6 and 5x7 prints. Prints larger than that should come out okay, but they won't be too sharp. In order to help people easily purchase prints, I created an online store of the Peru Pictures right here. I uploaded the highest quality versions of each picture that I have to that gallery, so the prints will be as good as possible. You won't be able to download the files from that gallery, but the site will handle all sorts of photo and merchandise orders. When you're looking in a gallery look for the "Buy" button in the upper right. Click on it and go from there. Let me know if you have any questions,

Photos

Written by Josh Seamon
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Photos from the Peru 2009 trip can be found right here. I will be uploading more photos in the coming weeks.

3/4 and 3/5: A map and a journey

Written by Josh Seamon
Friday, 06 March 2009
Hello everyone, Pre-Columbian Art. Peruvian beef medallions. 6am sprints in Miami. Back in the USA. 3/4 - 3/5 It took me more than a week, but I finally figured out that an added bonus to getting up early was that I'd get a very warm shower. After a bit more packing and sorting, I blasted out the latest email update and relaxed over another breakfast of toast, jam, tea, and juice. I watched the cars go by on the busy morning streets and knew I would miss Cuzco. I headed out into the city to complete a few errands and by 9:30 we were all gathered up in the lobby for our morning check in. After going over our plans for the day, and putting our bags in storage, we headed north west, through the main square and a couple blocks north to the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art (MAP). As was the case for 99% of our tour, the sun was out and there was no rain. (It CAN rain while the sun is out in Peru.) By 9:50 we were in the MAP and the kids were set off to move at their own pace through the museum. The MAP is rated as one of the top 10 museums in the country, and after 10 minutes of being in the place, it was clear as to why. The place is fabulously arranged with gorgeous pieces from all over Peru. Pottery, stone work, gold, silver, and wood work was spread across around 10 rooms centered around a two story courtyard. At around 10:15 everyone had made it through and was lounging in the central courtyard soaking in the sun. At 10:45 Karen and I went back tot he main square to meet up with Nevers for our lunch. Nevers was under the impression that it was going to be just the three of us at lunch. We walked him back to the MAP courtyward where we surprised him with a whole-group lunch at the MAP Cafe. Now, I know the name of the place sounds a little... touristy, but it is rated as the best place to eat in all of Cuzco. The entire restaurant is one glass room in the central MAP courtyard. We feasted on incredible dishes like shrimp ceviche, goat cheese salads, pesto stuff Peruvian chicken, beef medallions in red wine kinwa reduction, and creamy soup. We downed some more Inca cola, and then topped off the meal with a chocolate cake we had ordered for Nevers. During the meal we gave Nevers three gifts: A cropped picture of our entire group laying on a hill, signed by everyone -- a t-shirt labeled "Super Nevers" signed by all of us -- and a picture of all of us at Machu Picchu with our twop 12 Nevers moments written on the back. It was a fantastic party. By 1pm we were stuffed past capacity and on or way back to the hotel. Back at the hotel the kids were set free for an hour to do last minute errands. At 2:30 our two busses showed up (one for our gear and one for us) and by 2:40 we were on our way to the airport. At the airport we joined the fray and after dealing with some "fresh" (as Nevers put it) airline counter attendants, we had our boarding passes and we cleared security. By 5pm we were int he air over Cuzco and by 7:20 we were comfortable seated in the Lima airport food court. The kids were then set off for an hour to food up, in what was a very America mall-like area. At around 9pm we checked into our flight and had an extended goodbye session with Nevers. Many hugs later we headed up the escalator and through security to our gate. The flight from Lima to Cuzco ended up taking off about 40 minutes late. The flight itself was smooth and one that I don't remember much of. I fell asleep about 10 minutes into the flight and woke up about 15 minutes before landing. In Miami we got off and begin our trip through the America ringer, aka the American border. We made our way briskly to customs and while the kids cleared the line, Karen and I attempted to stay behind and wait for all of them to get clear. Some of the (many) agents let us stay, and others were quite grumpy with some teachers waiting for their kids. (Grrr). I ended up taking the first group down the escalator to the baggage claim where soon after all but one of the kids appeared. The last one didn't do her customs form in pen (whoa!) so she had to do it again which kicked her to the back of the line. It actually didn't slow us down since our luggage was the last to appear. With everyone's bags in to we made it through the last customs gate and threw our bags at the security scanner station.... then began our run. It was 7:00pm and our flight was boardign at 7:05. We started our run which took us about 1/2 a mile through the airport. I guess we were lucky we had some high altitude training in the previous week. We made it to the plane with about 5 minutes to spare and crashed in our seats. Soon after we were in the air over Florida and I finished up devouring my pulp fiction book. I then balanced the trip bills and crashed for the remainder of the flight. About 10 minutes after landing in Boston we were at the baggae claim. Very soon after we had all of our bags and by a little after 11am we met up with our bus and were headed north on 93. We stopped briefly for food in NH by a little before 3pm we were cruising up the hill back onto the St. Johnsbury Academy campus. The kids unloaded from the bus and scattered. Karen and I did a last check and then did the same. And so ends Peru 2009 :) More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. A few notes: - Over the next couple weeks I will be balancing the trip budget. From my early projections it looks like each trip participant will receive a small refund. - I'll be posting many more pictures and videos in the coming weeks. - I'd love to get a copy of everyone's pictures to add to the online gallery. You can bring your memory card to SV21 any time. (You can also bring me burned CDs and DVDs.) - How many of your would be interested in a trip hooded sweatshirt? (Logo on the front with everyone's name on the back.) Let me know. - Josh
Last Updated ( Friday, 06 March 2009 )

3/3: Riding through a eucalyptus forest

Written by Josh Seamon
Wednesday, 04 March 2009
Hello everyone, Horses. Inca ruins. Bright sun. A warm breeze. We started off the day with no wake up call. We thought that by this time the kids could wake up on their own, and that they would like the freedom to wake up late and coast into breakfast. Kinda like during school, right? At 9am I headed out to run some errands and by 9:45 we were all gathered in the lobby for our group check in. A passport check, some reminders, and a few jokes later, we were packed into a couple cars and on our way to the horseback riding facility. Our 20 minutes ride took us up into the hills near Saqsawaman. We unloaded from the cars into a very bright, breezy day. From where we unloaded we could see the back end of the Saqsawaman ruins, the ones we first explored when we arrived in Cuzco -- the ones we had passed during transport several time since. The man who coordinated the riding met us and walked us up a hill to the horse holding area. In about 10 minutes we were all on horses and riding up the trail. We were divided into two groups of 7. I was in the front group enjoying the incredibly scenic walk up the mountain on my rather calm horse. (All of the horses were really calm.) Each group was accompanied by 2-4 guides who walked next to us, giving us directions and prodding the horses along when necessary. Our initial climb up the narrow path had us facing away from the view. When we got to the top of the trail and turned.... WOW! I found myself looking over the entire Cuzco valley, from the back of a horse! What a feeling. We moved over grassy, muddy, and rocky trails, across flat, steep, and curvy paths, all the time moving at a nice, slow comfortable rate. I saw the other group start up about 100 yards back as we turned across a field. With the help of our guides we crossed a road and then turned right into a eucalyptus forest! What a totally surreal experience. At this point I was leading the way as I had figured out how to get my hose to trot. Through the trees we could see rolling green hills and the houses on the upper slopes of Cuzco. Part way into the forest, our second group passed behind us into the open green hills. We continues to meander through the trees and emerges about 20 minutes later. The other group was a couple hundred yards in front of us. They had dismounted and let their horses roam for food and water. We caught up, got off our horses and enjoyed the expansive view. It turned out the other group had managed to pass us by trotting in the open trail. Everyone was having a wonderful time. Our stopping point put us at the base of a large archaeological site, the Temple of the Moon. We hiked to the top where we had a 360 degree view of the area. Wow. Once we were all on top, a guide met us and gave us a 20 minute tour of the site. We learned about many carvings and then went inside the large rock facility, into a very old fertility temple. Outside the solid rock structure we saw some of the ruins that has been unearthed and then walked back around to the front to gather up our horses. Some horses had wandered a little ways away, but soon we were all headed back to where we started, this time along a different trail. The ride back was as amazing as the ride to the ruins. Ms. Alexander was riding a horse that was followed by it's 1 year old foal. Way too cute! We crossed a couple fields, the eucalyptus forest, some mud, some rocks and more green grass. Back at the horse corral we gave back our horses and walked down to the meeting site. What an experience! 15 minutes later our cars arrived and we packed back in. We were dropped off in the main square at around 1pm and after a quick check in everyone was set off into the city for lunch. Karen, a few kids, and I went to the same Cafe we went to yesterday and enjoyed another round of juice and grilled sandwiches. Karen and I then went off to do a few errands but immediately ran into Nevers so we went to a cafe and and relaxed for a while. After talking for a long while Karen and I headed back to the hotel. On the way we picked up a couple large Cuzco city flags and by 3 we made it back to the hotel. I packed a bit and then rested for a while. At 5pm we had a group check in and then all the kids were set to pack up as much as they could. From 5:15 to 5:45 I did rounds checking on the packing and found that it was going quite well. At 7pm we were all gathered for our walk to dinner, about 6 blocks away at the fancy castle-like restaurant with all the artwork that we had eaten at last week. By a little after 7:30 we were seated and all talking about how much fun we had had on the trip. We had a great avocado and vinaigrette starter, followed by a main course of either Peruvian beef and potatoes, pasta, chicken, or a veggie omelet. After dinner we had a nice dessert of fruit ice cream while a band started playing. After a very animate dance performance we walked home and made it back by 8:45. At 9:30 we had a group check in to go over the plans for the next day. By 10:45 everyone was in their rooms and by shortly after 11pm I was sleeping. It's now a little after 7am on Wednesday, 3/4. The wake up call went out a few minutes ago and by 8:30 all of the kids will be downstairs with all of their bags. At 8:45 we're walked to the Precolumbian art museum and then at 11 we are going to have very fancy lunch. After lunch we are gathering up at 2:30 for our bus ride to the Cuzco airport -- the first step in our journey home that will end when we arrive back in St. Johnsbury around 3:30pm tomorrow afternoon. More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. Cya soon, - Josh

3/2: Now we know Cuzco

Written by Josh Seamon
Tuesday, 03 March 2009
Hello everyone, Quiet and calm, busy and frantic. I love this city. I started off my morning rather early after going to bed very early on Sunday. After sending out the email update, uploading a bunch of pictures, catching up on my world news (Not so uplifting! Sub 7,000 Dow? Nice.), and relaxing over yet another solid breakfast (Peruvian tea is wonderful), Nevers, Karen, and I met up for our foray into Cuzco refund excitement. We walked north east from the hotel about 12 blocks to the main train station. Along the way we noticed how the whole city was rather quite and there wasn't very much traffic. It was also raining which Nevers explained would slow down any protests since lots of people would have to transport themselves into the city from the surrounding areas. By 7:30 we made it to the very quiet train station and took a number. There was about 20 other people in the whole station and it looked like they were pretty much all tourists. About 2 minutes later we were at an agent and with the info Never had gathered and put down on paper for us, Karen was able to explain the situation and the refund process began. The agent collected our passports and said we could sit down. It would only take 10 minutes he said. In the next 50 minutes of waiting we say our passports lap us around the station twice, he another great conversation with Nevers, and a very fun (re: terrifying) conversation with an American (?) businessman who thought that the local subsistence farmers would see the long term benefits of globalization once they "just saw the big picture". Very sensitive man. After receiving our full refund (yay!), we headed back towards the city center to the bus ticketing agent and then the Machu Picchu ticketing agent. Both encounters were pretty much the same: no refunds are ever possible. Nevers explained that since the bus and Machu Picchu ticket agents are government run, they can't bend policy, and have very rigid policies to begin with. Nevers is going to try a few crafty tour guide tricks to see if he can get us any sort of refund on the tickets, but it doesn't look likely. Through the whole process Nevers has been utterly amazing. He has gone far, far beyond the call of duty in assisting us. After being shot down on refunds two and three, we headed to the hotel. Back at the hotel I rested for a bit and then at 11am Karen and I went out to check on the city. We found everything to be calm, soaked in some time in a cafe over looking the square, and then headed back to the hotel for our noon group meeting. At the meeting Karen and I explained that the city was calm and that everyone would be set out for an afternoon of free time in the city. We went over our game plan for the next couple days and then set out. Karen and I headed north to the square to scope out a possible last day lunch location, which turned out to be perfect. We then had a very nice lunch of grilled sandwiches and big glasses of fruit juice smoothies. Yum! On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a local artisans market and found the large Cuzco flag I had been looking for. We made it back to the hotel at 2pm where I went off to relax, read, and zone out. At 5pm we checked in with the group who had had a wonderful time exploring the city. We're now all very comfortable with the atmosphere of the city and the kids had been exploring far and wide. After our 3213123123th passport check, everyone was sent out into the city again. I headed out to do a little wandering of my own. I took pictures, enjoyed some time in a cafe, and watched the sun go down from a second story balcony. Back at the hotel we all met up for our 8pm dinner of beef, alpaca, curry veggies, or chicken. I scarfed down more tea and then we did the final head count on tomorrow's activity -- horse back riding! Nevers has arranged a wonderful morning/early afternoon excursion for us that we are all very excited about. By 9:15 we were all done with dinner and by 11 everyone was fast asleep. It's currently 7:45am on Tuesday, 3/3. We're going to meet up in a couple hours to take a bus to the riding facility. After that we'll be enjoying our last full day in the city. What a wonderful trip it's been! More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. - Josh
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 March 2009 )

2/27, 2/28, and 3/1: Casa de Milagros and Soccer

Written by Josh Seamon
Monday, 02 March 2009
Hello everyone, So, it turns out that going to bed really early doesn't mean I get to sleep in... it means I get to wake up early, enjoy early morning Cuzco, and type out another update :) The past three days have been glorious. 2/27 We had restful morning after our 8am wake up call. After another great hotel breakfast of juice, tea, and lots of cereal, we all gathered at 9:45. The bus showed up right before 10am and we all packed in. One thing that was great was that Nevers and Santos decided to come with us to make sure the transfer want smoothly. They have been so helpful that it was great to have them along. We took off a couple minutes after 10 and followed the road up past Saqsawaman and Pucapucara. We continues on into the Sacred Valley, through Pisac, and along the Urabamba river. At around noon we passed into the center of Calca, crossed the river, and worked our way a mile back along the other side to the drive way of the Casa de Milagros. The road was bumpy and we had some fun dodging some cows and corn. Nevers and Santos were again a huge help. At a little after 12:15 we made it to the Casa! We drove up the long drive way bordered by high clay brick walls and got our first full view of the Casa de Milagros. The compound consists of a front courtyard and house, along with 6 other building, most of which are interconnected. We drove up to the main gate and were immediately greeted by Marie, the woman who coordinates the orphanage. After a warm greeting, Nevers and Santos headed back to Cuzco with the bus and Marie led us into the Casa. What a place! Out the front we got a full view of gorgeous mountains the the very high Urabamba river. The inner courtyard was alive with flowers and tall palm trees. Marie led us through the sun room and into the main courtyard which is surrounded by the sleeping quarters for the children. We met our first children, most of whom were cleaning. The first one we say came right up to Karen and gave her a big hug! We walked to the back of the courtyard and into the main dining area where the kids dropped all of their gear. Marie then showed Karen and I sleeping arrangements (very comfortable!) and we returned for the kids. After the kids were settled, we returned to the dining area where Marie met us to start the tour. We saw all of the kids rooms, the play ground, soccer field, two gardens, green house, and dining hall. We learned that the 31 children and 8 adults lived together as one family. All of the children have no living parents except for 3 and that one girl is autistic and has a 24 hour caretaker. The children are not put up for adoption and instead live in the house until they are old enough to go out on their own. The place has been running for 9 years and the oldest child is 19 and is going to culinary university in Cuzco. All of the children that have come to live in the Casa still live there. On the tour we also met the house dogs Charlie, Jack, Blue, and Figo. After the tour we all gathered for a wonderful lunch of veggie soup.Then the kids were set off to interact with the children. I sat down in the main dining area and started folding cranes with the origami paper I brought with me. Soon I had a band of 10 small children learning how to fold and asking for different animals. Marie's 4 year old daughter Lily acted as my translator (too cute!) and I managed to only make a fool out of myself (in a good way) 9 or 10 times. Soon a few older children joined in and I taught them how to fold cranes. They memorized the process in about 5 minutes! Soon they were teaching other kids how to fold. It was wonderful :) Toward the beginning of my folding escapade Rahel and Eimile took off with Marie and some kids for the local market. Rahel was very excited to use her Spanish and Eimile was over the top excited to see another market. As I was folding Devon setup finger painting. In about 10 second she had a very animate gaggle of children having way too much fun with paint. The highlight was definitely when Lily and Esmerelda decided that it would be more fun to paint Devon's arms! What a sight. At this time I found out that a bunch of STJ kids had brought out the discs I had packed with me. I went to the front courtyard and watched as they threw back and forth with a big group of kids, saying the names of the people they were throwing to. Great stuff! I went back inside and continued to fold cranes with three kids around the age of 11. Our goal was to get to 100 and we managed to get to around 60 before things slowed down a bit. The kids continued to fold cranes and I started making pieces to construct one of the big stars that sits on the center of the round table in my classroom. At around 5pm I finished the star and Karen along with several STJ kids went with the entire Casa to a nondenominational church service. Around this time Rahel and Eimile came back from the market and reported that they had a wonderful time! About 15 minutes later I was well into stringing all of the cranes onto some thread (my pantomime of needle and thread is amazing) when I looked up and realized EVERYONE had gone to service... well, except me, a few STJ kids, 4 women cooking dinner, and Marie's oldest daughter Alexis. I talked with Alexis for a long while after I finished the 60-piece star and crane threading. She told me what it was like living as an American Teen in rural Peru -- how much she liked in and how she was not going to go back to the states. Interior design school in Cuzco or Italy for her! :) Everyone came back from services in a big flood and started sorting through all of the school supplies -- a mixture of stuff we had brought and that they had already. As Karen mentioned our timing could not have been better. School was starting on 3/2. We covered composition books, sharpened a couple hundred pencils, and were all school-supplied out by 8. At 8:15 we had a really fun dinner of peach jelly topped with Kinwa grains. Yum! I sat at a table with all Casa kids and stumbled through some explanations of where I was from and how I spoke Mandarin Chinese, not Spanish, which wasn't particularly helpful ;) After dinner we stayed in the dining area and socialized for a while. Jarret bonded with the little ones who were quickly climbing all over him. We listened to more American Pop music (which was almost always playing in the background -- yes, very surreal), as well as some guitar played by the kids. We then all met up at 8:45 for our group meeting and by 9pm were all fast asleep. 2/28 My alarm went off at 6am and I had the full intention of getting up before 6:30 to lead a small walk before our group meeting at 7. I ended up fully conscious at 6:45 to the irk of Eimile and crew, but shortly after our 7am meeting where we talked about just going with the flow of the day, Karen, Eimile, Rahel, and I went off for a walk. Charlie the very friendly German Shepherd led the way along the road next to the river, beside massive fields of corn. We soaked in the sun and made it 1.5 miles down the road to the bridge. We lounged on the bridge a bit and then headed back. Back at the Casa we all met up for breakfast in the dining hall which consisted of a hot thick cup of juice and raisin and banana pancakes. Yum yum. While eating breakfast Karen and I thought of calling Nevers, and then 3 minutes later Marie came in with her cell saying that Nevers had left a message. We called back and found out about the regional shutdown scheduled to start at midnight on Sunday. As Karen explained in her last email, these shut downs are good at stopping all trains, so our trip back to Machu Picchu would almost certainly not happen. Nevers told us that he was getting everything arranged for our return and then we gathered up the kids and told them the news. They were disappointed, but understood that this is something that we had no control over. Also, Cuzco is such a great place that all of them were happy about being able to spend more time in the city. Karen and I then went back to Marie's to make a few more calls and then we decided that we wanted to hike the mountain behind the Casa, to the Inca ruins on top... right by the waterfall coming down behind the Casa. Yah, that's right, there's a 1,500 foot waterfall behind the Casa Nice. Marie and her husband Allan arranged for one of the older children to be our guide. 30 minutes later Karen, Emile, Jarret, Seb and I, along with Evan (our guide) and 3 younger children around the age of 8, started up the climb. The first 500 yard was a narrow path through dense, fragrant, and wild growth. Lots of herb trees, cacti, and flowers. Next we met up with a dirt road switch back that had been recently carved into the mountain. After a km or so of rather gradual switchback road, we turned to the more steep switch back trail, and things got a bit tougher. The trail was fine, but at this point the altitude was slowing us down a bit. By us I mean the Americans. The Peruvian children were running, bouncing, and jumping all over the place :) After about 2 hours we had made the ~2,000 vertical climb to the top. At this point we were at about 11,000 feet. We walked on a trail around the edge of the peak and sat down to rest at the edge of a grassy hill. We devoured some oranges and took in the BRILLIANT sunny view of the valley. The small kids bounced around in a tree and we saw and heard a hawk diving into the valley. After a bit more resting we turned to walk up the hill, none too quickly. We walked through a group of cows, crested the hill, and got our first view of the ruins! They were beautiful and stretched out over a hundred yard of very green grass. There was a small waterfall over to the right and we headed in that direction. On the way we saw an alpaca -- who made some fun sounds, as well as the Incas house. Close to the waterfall the small kids found one, then two, then three walking stick insects. Neat. We made it to the shady waterfall which was just about the most perfect place for a picnic I have ever seen. At the waterfall we saw a giant hummingbird! It was about 9 inches long! We then turned around and walked across the ruins toward the guard tower. After a fun set of steps, we reached the location and sat down to rest. We hydrated, took in the view, and I checked our international cell phone on a lark to see if it got reception. It sure did! I tried placing a call, thought it failed, but then the call connected. From 11,000 feet in the Peruvian wilderness I talked for about 30 seconds with my 9 year old brother in western, MA. Nice. While we rested at the turret, I walked 100 yards around the corner and saw more Inca terracing, some of which was being used for farming. Wow. We then gathered up and started the hike down which was much easier than coming up. About 10 minutes down, at the place where we chowed down on the oranges, Evan gave a shout and pointed -- Out over the valley, several hundred yards away was soaring Condor!! We had a decent view of it for about a minute before it disappeared around a ridge. Wow, what luck! We continued down and cruised down the steep trail switchbacks that slowed us down o much on the way up. We rested for a bit before the trail turned to dense brush and right around that time it started to rain. Soon after Karen gave a call and we all turned and looked down to see a perfect rainbow in the valley. Another WOW moment indeed. We continued down the dense brush path and I managed to have to pull another cactus thorn from my leg. No pain, just a strange weirdness to having to pull one out at all. We made it back to the Casa by 3:30 (we started at 10am), ate a huge late lunch of meat, potatoes, rice, and salad, and by 3:45 I was out. I awoke briefly at 5pm as the other STJ kids came back from their walk to town, then went back to sleep until 5:45. At 6pm we had our group meeting and at 7:35 the dinner horn was blown. We gathered up in the dining area and had a great time socializing with the kids. There was lots of laughing, guitar playing, and general goofiness. The kids played tears in heaven on the guitar and we had a great veggie soup for dinner. We met up at 9pm for our group meeting and soon after we very much asleep. 3/1 Most of us woke up for a bit at 2am to Charlie barking, but were soon back asleep. We all met up at 7am for our morning group meeting. All the kids were then sent off to pack for our return trip to Cuzco. Breakfast was at 8:15 and consisted of a very tasty bowl of milk, fruit, yogurt, and Kinwa grain. We also had another round of hot, juice based tea. The morning was a bit rainy so we stayed inside and under roof ledges. We did some more socializing and I played fetch the rock with Charlie. This was not a new game. He really did fetch rocks. Seriously. At 9:15 our bus arrived and we said our goodbyes. It was really quite sad and we didn't like leaving. Marie said we should definitely come back next year and that the kids loved having us. We told her we would certainly try. We loaded up the bus with our kids plus a couple of the Casa workers who needed a lift to the next town. Our trip out over the river was smooth and after dropping off the two workers we were on the road back to Cuzco. Karen and the driver went back in forth learning Engligh/Spanish phrases. We passed by Pisac and some Inca sites we had seen before. For most of the trip is was raining and the clouds were very scenic over the mountains. We made it back to the city by 11am and it was sunny! Nevers greeted us at the hotel and the kids were sent upstairs to get cleaned up. 30 minutes later we were all gathered downstairs for our check in. The kids were then sent out into the city to find lunch on their own. Karen, Nevers, and I went out to do some errands and eat lunch. We ended up eating at a nearby cafe with Santos. Some great fresh fruit juice and some grilled chicken sandwiches later the sun was fully out and we were back at the hotel. After resting for a bit, I joined the group down in the lobby at 1:45. We all had our red jerseys on and Karen and I gathered up every one's passports to leave at the hotel. Right at 2pm our group -- 12 STJ kids, me, Karen, Nevers, Santos, and 4 of Santos' friends headed out to the stadium. The walk took us about 20 minutes and we got some great cheers from passing cars -- they like our group all wearing the local jerseys. We made it to the stadium and lined up in a crowd to go in as a group. We had to chug our water since they didn't allow any to be brought in, and 3 minutes later we crested the walkway and were inside the huge stadium -- which was already almost full. Nevers and his crew led us through the crowd and we found great seats. The whole place was concrete steps so everyone was packed in. Lots of people in our group bought fun hats and some snacks. The sun was out but we were in the shade. The opposing team (Lima) came out onto the field to see the conditions at around 2:20 and there was a bunch of whistling (booing). At around 2:45 Cuzco come out to warm up and at 3:15 the teams came out for their official introduction. Once end of the stadium was filled with Lima fans and the other 80% Cuzco fans. Everyone was really loud and the super fans at the ends of the stadium never stopped jumping, setting off loud explosions, and holding up road flares. It was pretty neat. There was also a chain link fence topped with barbed wire around the field, along with lot of police on the edge of the field. Everything was definitely just a show of force as nothing violent happened during the entire game... well, some of the players threw some nasty elbows. The game started and our whole group got right into it. Cuzco scored about 20 minutes in off of a penalty kick, and played a great first half. Cuzco didn't play so well in the second half and with less than 10 seconds left gave up a penalty kick to Lima... who scored to tie the game with no time left. The Lima fans were pretty happy. The game ended in a tie but Cuzco definitely felt like they lost. We then waited for about 10 minutes for the stadium to clear a bit then waded though some large crowds out onto the street. The walk back was smooth and by 6pm we were back into the hotel. We had another great hotel dinner (alpaca, chicken, and veggies with garlic) and Karen and I talked with Nevers. At 8pm I headed up for dinner and Karen took over the night check in. It's now a little before 5am on Monday, 3/2. In a couple hours Karen, Nevers, and I will be going to the train station to get a refund for our tickets. We'll then scope out the city to see how shut down it is, which will dictate what we'll be able to do today. Lots more pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. Cheers, - Josh
Last Updated ( Monday, 02 March 2009 )

Quick Update

Written by Josh Seamon
Monday, 02 March 2009
Hello everyone, a short note as we are running between a transfer back for the Casa de Milagros and this aftyernoon's soccer game...more later...Greetings from Cusco, where the sun is just emerging on what will be an afternoon filled with soccer at the central stadium along with an expected 42,000 people. The Lima-Cusco game is one of the biggest of the season, so it should be lively to say the least. We have just spent a wonderful three days at the Casa de Milagros. Our timing with the delivery of school suppies could not have been better as the children are just completing their summer vacation and will return to school on Monday. The dialect of "kid fun" translates well in any language and we had a grand time playing frisbee and soccer, hiking, doing oragami and playing the guitar. Jarret was the star of the show, with his gentle ways and ready smile, and was mobbed by kids wherever he went. We have had a remarkably smooth trip thus far but it appears that we may not be able to make it back to Machu Picchu for the hiking centered part of the trip. Nevers has let us know that there is a regional strike planned for tomorrow and for Wednesday. Political demonstrations like this are peaceful affairs in the urban centers but protestors have historically been effective in shutting down the transportation infrastructure especialy through the Sacred Valley and out to Macchu Picchu. No tourist has ever been hurt, but the goal is to shut off tourist-dollars and make the government really listen due to economic pressure. Unless we are sure that the strike will be called off, the sensible thing to do is to remain in Cusco and vist some of the dozens of historical and cultural sites within and immediately around the city. The real risk in traveling back to Aguas Calientes and to Machu Picchu is perhaps getting stuck there for a number of days until the government and the protestors come to some agreement, at which point we would have missed our flight back home. So...Cusco is a fabulous place to be 'stuck' instead, and there is plenty here both to do and to learn. More later...off to the soccer game. Love to all, we are all happy and healthy and thinking of you, -Karen

2/26: The Real Market

Written by Josh Seamon
Friday, 27 February 2009
Hello everyone, Sun, culture, and time to soak it all in. What more could we ask for? We had another chance to sleep in which was appreciated by everyone. After another nice breakfast in the hotel we gathered up at 9:45, had our morning check in, and then started walking the 8 blocks to the local (real) market. Going to this market was Nevers' idea and we were all really excited to see where the locals shopped. We were also joined by Santos, a local from Cuzco who has been helping guide us around the city. On the way to the market we stopped at a t-shirt vendor and picked up jerseys for the local soccer team. We'll be wearing them at the game on Sunday! About 5 minutes, and a little bit of rain later we were at the market. What a sight! The market is covered with a high ceiling and about a city block in size. It is filled with vendors of all types of food, food stands, as well as textiles and other local products. Santos took us to the middle where he showed us the food stands -- my favorite being the Cevicheria -- raw sea food cooked in lime. I still need to try it. We then were shown a few key points and then led out the back to the front of the train station that we'll be taking n 3/2 when we head back out to Machu Picchu. We set the train station as our meeting point and let the kids out for 2 hours of free time. Karen and I wandered the entire market, going down every row. We saw colorful juice smoothie rows, populated with massively large fruit as well as a bunch of sponge cake. We saw lots of cheese (15 soles a wheel! That's less than $5.) We ate some smoked vaka (cow) cheese and ran into some of our kids buying flowers amongst a sea of gladiolas. We turned around without them seeing us because we assumed the boys were buying the flowers for some of the gals on the trip. Karen and I then found a small vendor and sat down for some coffee and milk. Yum! As we were getting into our coffee, a bunch of our kids came up and gave us each a bouquet of flowers! How cute! We sat for a bit with the kids and talked about the market. We told them to go to the SE corner and walk... well, we didn't tell them what they would be seeing. They came back quite amused and a bit flustered after seeing every (and I mean every) part of cows, sheep, pigs, and other assorted animals on sale.(Don't worry, we kept the vegetarians away.) We chatted for a bit then wandered the market a bit more. At noon we met up outside the train station for check in (and out 1,000,000th passport check). The kids were then set out into the city to find lunch on their own and enjoy an entire afternoon of free time in Cuzco. Half the kids came back to the hotel to drop off stuff, and half went straight into the city. Back at the hotel a couple kids stayed to rest. Karen then took a few kids out to explore, and I took one to the bank. At this point we had all become quite comfortable with the city. Even though it is very busy and quite different than what we are all used to, it's feels almost perfectly comfortable by now. The people are polite, we have not been harassed at all -- well, there were the water balloons, but that was fun -- and it's been easy to get around. Nevers has kicked butt as a tour director and the weather has been amazing. Good stuff. After a successful bank run we headed back to the hotel. I rested for a bit, did some trip accounting, and watched Eimile, Rahel, and Devon glow in happiness over the guacamole they had made. I think Eimile at 67 pounds of her own creating. I then set off into the city to get some errands done and see as many sights as possible. My errands went well (my ability to pantomime Spanish is getting better) and I ended up going to the Contemporary Art Museum first. Colorful modern art, some statues, and another bright courtyard made for a great time. Just as I was leaving I ran into Karen and her group of kids who were hitting up their third museum. Taking their recommendation I went to the underground museum at Qoricancka. I saw very old relics including several mummies in the fetal position (to be reborn), and a bunch of skulls with circular pieces missing (Trepanning). Next I walked back to the main square where I saw another gorgeous cathedral. At that point it was about 6pm and I turned to head back to the hotel. I ran into Karen's group again and we walked together back south east. Back at the hotel I rested for a bit and then met up with the group for the 7pm check in. We went over how every one's day went, and talked about the upcoming days. The kids were then set off to pack for the three days at the orphanage. At 7:45 we met up for dinner in the hotel. We had more Chicha (purple corn juice) and a tasty chicken with mushroom sauce dish. Karen and I talked to Nevers for a while and by 9pm dinner was done. The kids were set off to their rooms to be social and to finish up their packing. I crashed in my room and watched pieces of dubbed and/or subbed movies. At 10:45 I did room check and soon after I was sleeping. It is now a little after 8am on Friday, 2/27. After catching some breakfast I'll be running a few more errands and then meeting up with the kids at 9:45 for our 10am departure for Casa de Milagros. We are so excited about spending time at the orphanage. I won't have internet access while at Casa de Milagros, so the next update will come sometime after we get back to Cuzco on Sunday, 3/1. More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. Hope all is well, - Josh

2/25: Cuzco Free Time

Written by Josh Seamon
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Hello everyone, Note: If you're going to send me an email, please make sure "Peru" is in the subject. Another fabulous day has come and gone in Peru. We got to sleep in and enjoy a late breakfast, something that was appreciated by everyone. The late start gave everyone a chance to stock up on some supplies like bottled water, stamps, and postcards. This group sure knows how to write post cards! At 9:45 we gathered up in the lobby and after going over the plan for the day, Karen and I collected everyone's passports and ISIC cards for our task for the day. By 10am we were on the bus traveling up one of the sloped mountains surrounding Cuzco, on our way to a textile factory. The weather was cloudy yet warm and partly sunny. Again we avoided rain and soaked in all of the scenery on the climb up the edge of Cuzco. 20 minutes into our drive traffic came to a complete stop as a protest of several thousand farmers passed on the other side of the road. It was an educational site to see. We learned that the farmer were striking against several things, one of which was the low cost of their goods due to very cheap imports from other countries. They carried many flags and banners and were rather vocal as they headed down the slope to the city center. We were only stopped for 15 minutes and then were on our way. At around 10:30 we made it to the textile factory located high above Cuzco. Off to the side of the main lobby we were given a short tour of the jewelry construction and how they smooth out the gem stones. We then walked down into the large main area filled with lots and lots of local clothing made out of alpaca, baby alpaca, varcuna, llama, and several other kinds wool. We were told about how the clothing was made and how some of the clothing takes wool from many animals. Varcuna. for example, is only gathered at 200 grams a year per animal. The shawl we saw cost $900! Everyone then spread out around the factory and browsed the wonderful product. After everyone had stocked up on great gear, we went to the balcony over looking Cuzco. The sun was out and we could see for a long distance. We could see the stadium where the soccer game will be played, and into the city square that was mostly full of protesters. At noon we were back on the bus headed to lunch. Because of the protest we didn't want to go to the city center, so we stopped about 3 minutes from the factory at a restaurant with an amazing view. We had purple corn juice, large corn kernels, local cheese, and tea to start. The main dish was a choice of meat dishes and the veggies had sauteed vegetables. Another great meal! We then got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. About 5 blocks from the hotel one of the roads was blocked by a small band of protesters, buffered by some police. All of them were peacefully standing there with the protesters intermittently blowing some whistles. We had to go back a block where we unloaded and walked the rest of the way to the hotel. It was raining a little bit and the walk went quickly. At the hotel the kids were told to stay in the building while Karen, Nevers, and I checked out the square to see if the protest had ended. We found the square to be operating normally so we went back to the hotel and let the kids out for 4 hours of free time. Karen, Nevers, and I then headed out for some ticket purchasing fun. We needed four sets of tickets: train tickets to Aguas Calientes, bus tickets to Machu Picchu (from Aguas Calientes), entrance tickets to Machu Picchu, and tickets for the soccer game. First we walked to the bus ticketing desk, which we found wasn't going to be open until 3pm. Next we walked to the train station where we picked up our 14 train tickets. The next walk was going to be a haul, so we took a taxi to the Machu Picchu ticketing desk. At the desk we found that they didn't take credit cards or dollars. Fun. By this time it was 2:52 and they closed at 3. We dashed out, converted some dollars to Soles (The exchange rate has gotten better since we have arrived.) and made it back right at 3pm and got out tickets. Next we walked back to the bus station where we found they also didn't take CC and pretty much really wanted dollars. We got the tickets and then found out the soccer game tickets don't go on sale until Friday. This whole process was actually really fun. Nevers was a HUGE help and made everything go twice as fast as it would have if Karen and I didn't have him along. Nevers, Karen, and I then headed to a cafe for a nice round of juice, coffee, and cake. We talked about the city, travel, and life in the US. After an hour of socializing we headed back to the hotel. At 6pm we met back up with the kids who had had a wonderful time exploring the city. Some had rested the whole time and some had gone all over. We went over our plans for the next few days and the kids asked questions. At 7pm we headed off to the Andean grill in the center of the square. We got another great second story view of the square and had some yummy alpaca steaks for dinner. We were also serenaded by some more pan pipe based Peruvian live music. By 9pm we were back in the hotel for the night. The kids played cards and otherwise were enthusiastically social until 10:45 lights out. By 11pm all was calm and I drifted off to sleep while watching a dubbed movie. My Spanish has definitely improved from around 0 to a number considerably higher :) It's now 8:30am on Thursday, 2/26. The kids will be receiving their wakeup call around now and at 10am we will be walking to the main Cuzco market. Tomorrow morning we head out to the orphanage where we will not have any internet access. I will try to send out another update tonight, but there is a chance I won't get to it. If that's the case the next update will be sent out after we get back from the orphanage on Sunday, 3/1. More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. Hope all is well back home! - Josh

2/23 and 2/24: Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu

Written by Josh Seamon
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Hello again everyone, Another two perfect days have come and gone. Our luck with weather has been astounding! 2/23 We woke up nice and early with 2:30am wake up calls. The kids were great about getting up and bringing all of their gear down. We had to pack up our day packs with everything we needed for the two days because you aren't allowed to bring big packs on the train and also because it's nice not to have to carry everything around. We left our big bags in storage at the Cuzco hotel and got on the bus. We took the same route to Ollytaytambo, but this time in the pitch dark. Our driver, as usual, was amazing and we cruised through the barely awake neighborhoods. We got to see Cuzco from above at night which was gorgeous. Everyone slept a bit and in about 1.5 hours we were at the Ollytaytambo train station. At the station we bypassed the ticket line as Nevers had already purchased our tickets. We got right into the minimally long train boarding line and within 10 minutes we were all on the "backpacker train", the cheapest way to get to Aguas Calientes, the gateway city to Machu Picchu. (You can only get their by train unless you take the multi-day hike in.) While waiting for the train to leave it quickly became lighter outside and by the time we left, about 15 minutes later, we had a good pre-dawn view of the mountains. As the train cruised by we slept a bit and watched the scenery. About 1.5 hours later the train came into Aguas Calientes, right on the narrow main street.There are no roads in the city except the one the buses use to take people to Machu Picchu. (The buses were trained in.) We got off the train into bright, semi-clouded cool yet warm weather, waited about 5 minutes to gather up and then crossed the tracks to our hotel which was right there. After checking in at 9:20am, we dropped the gear we didn't need in the hotel storage, re-applied sun block, and walked 2 blocks up the street to the bus station. We queued up and 10 minutes later we were on the bus to Machu Picchu. The trip took us 8 km along the very strong river, across the river, and up a dramatic switchback. On the way up we saw "Baby Mountain", the peak we will be climbing when we come back out next week. On the way up the clouds and fog were burning away giving us a clear view of everything. About 15 minutes into the ride we rounded a corner and got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Wow. The bus stopped in the cobble stone parking lot, let us off and we met our guide Jose -- a local to Aguas Calientes. We saw the one and only (very expensive!) hotel right next to the entrance to Machu Picchu as we walked the 50 yards to the ticket gate. Jose took us through, we rounded the corner and we got our first full, sun filled view, of the city. Wow. The experience was completely surreal. The weather was perfect. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and there were clouds wasping through the valley. Jose immediately took up up to one of the higher points outside the city where we got our first of many wonderful group shots and saw the city from above, with Wayne Picchu in the background, the big peak in all the pictures, the one we're going to climb in the early AM when we return. Jose continued to give us a detailed tour and we walked along part of the Inca train and through the main gate to the city. We spent 2 hours with Jose touring the city, learning a tremendous among along the way and enjoying every second. We say many temples, the royal house, the condor burial site, the sun tether, and many carved stone -- a reflecting stone to observe the sun carved in the shape of the king's (Inca's) eye. While touring we also saw many cute lizards,many swallows, a hawk, and several extremely cute Chinchilla's. We ended our tour at the highest point in the city, the sun tether. We then headed back to the main entrance and took a 20 minute rest break in the shade overlooking the valley. We enjoyed some fabulous chocolate ice cream and Nevers gave us back our passports, which he had gotten stamped with the Machu Picchu stamp. The the kids had the option to explore on the own in small groups, or come with me and Karen to the Inca bridge. 4 kids came with me and Karen and we reentered the city. The city was getting more crowded and it was hard to imagine what it would be like in the busy season when 4,000+ people visit the site each day. Upon entering we found that the temperature was 84.6! Nice! We continued along the south edge of the city, passed the grave yard (that Hiram Bigham gutted, brought to Yale, and to this day Yale won't give back -- nice) and along an incredibly scenic path. In about 20 minutes we came to the small draw bridge that we could only take pictures of because the trail no longer goes across it. We walked back to the entrance and met up with the rest of the group. About 10 minutes later we were back on the bus, enjoying the view, and looking at the trail we might walk down when we return next week. By 1:10 we were back in Aguas Calientes. We went straight to lunch off the bus and enjoyed another VERY tasty buffet lunch. Karen, Nevers and I had a great conversation and the kids were very animate as well. One thing we talked about was an 8-day hike that takes you to all four of the Inca cities, three of which you can only get to by hiking. Those cities are not fully excavated and would be wonderful to visit. We then rolled ourselves up some steps back to the hotel where we picked up our bags out of storage and got into our rooms, which were again amazing. This time we had the added bonus of the very rushing river being across the street, about 50 yard from every one's windows. The sound was so soothing. We had two hours of rest time where most of everyone slept. We then met back up at 3 and headed out to the market where the kid were set loose and Karen and I checked out the hotel we'll be staying in next week when we return. The hotel looks great and the couple running it were extremely nice. They showed us the rooms and then Karen and I walked to main square and enjoyed a coffee on a second floor balcony. The view was stellar and it rained a bit. Several hours later we met back up with the kids and had 15 minutes of chill time in before heading out to dinner about 25 yards down the street from the hotel. We had another yummy buffet dinner and more great group conversations. I battled with Rahel over my knowledge of Friends and the other kids tried to stump us. We talked about the coming days and then headed back to the hotel at 8:30 for an hour of rest... before dancing! Nevers found a very small discotech that we walked to. It was just us and maybe five other people and we had a glorious time dancing for a couple hours. Even me, Karen, and Nevers danced for a bit. The kids had a great time and then we walked through the rain --the first that we really had while outside -- and got back to the hotel around 11:30. By midnight everyone was sound asleep. Oh, Jarret was definitely the all star dancer of then night! 2/24 We got to sleep in for a while, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed after such a long day the day before. We had breakfast at the hotel and then the kids set our for 3 hours of free time. Karen and I headed north along the train tracks to the path up Baby Mountain. We hiked about half way up the exhilarating path to scope it out for our second trip back next week. The path was fun then we headed back down to the main square where we had more great coffee and I picked up a couple t-shirts. We met back up with the kids at noon and went to lunch on the second floor of a place on main street. We had several options and I had a tasty trout dish and other had chicken or beef, along with lemonade, tea, and alvarado plates. After lunch the kids were given more time to explore and Karen, Nevers, and I checked out the ticketing agents we'll need to deal with on our return. It turns out that it'll be easier to buy everything in Cuzco, something we're going to do later today. We met back up with the kids at 4:15 and walked to the train station. About 30 minutes later we were on the train, already missing the charming town. Yes it was a huge tourist trap and there was lots of construction, but it was a gorgeous place, small and fun to explore, and the weather was great while we were there. The 5pm train took about 1.5 hours to reach Ollytaytambo. On the train the kids chatted and slept -- the same thing I did. I had a great conversation with some very animate Brazilians. We reached Ollytaytambo while it was dark and immediately connected with our bus driver. 1.5 hours later at 8:35 we were back in Cuzco at the same hotel. We all had the same rooms and our big packs were already in the rooms. We dropped our day packs and came downstairs for dinner at the hotel. We had a nice chicken dish and Nevers went over the details of the coming days with Karen and I. We all then went back to our rooms and everyone was asleep by 11pm. Today we're heading out to textile factory and then to enjoy our first real time exploring Cuzco. It's not raining and it looks like it's going to be another perfect day. More pictures have been uploaded to the Peru 2009 gallery. Adios! - Josh

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