It was another good week in Cusco, week 5. On Sunday, we were invited to visit some ruins “up the hill” from where we live with our friends from the States. There are actually several ruins in a small area, and we were able to catch 3 of them. Like I told my friend Justin, “you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting an Incan ruin”. They are everywhere!
We invited our neighbor Mel again. Our plan was to walk down the hill to San Blas and grab a taxi up to the first ruin. Mel suggested that we walk up the hill to catch a taxi instead. It seemed like a good idea for the first couple of minutes, but that’s a steep walk that seemed to go on forever! We did manage to hit a decent road and found taxis up there (and a tienda to buy water). Our friends from New Hampshire were waiting for us at Tambomachay when we arrived, however our friends from Canada were nowhere to be found. We waited 10 minutes and took off.
This place is knows as the “Baths of the Incas”, and the ruins are quite small, but interesting in their water features. We took a few photos and followed the boys up the hill. Perhaps the best thing about this place is there are almost no tourists around, and there are beautiful, approachable hills. It’s a great place to hang out for a day, picnic, and hike around. The views are great. Not long after we headed up the hill in earnest, the boys spotted a cave, so we had a goal. Just as we arrived at the cave, and got our lunches ready, we spotted our Canadian friends down the hill and shouted down to them. It was great luck that we were able to connect with them.
After Tambomachay, we grabbed a taxi and headed down the hill to another set of ruins, Pukapukara. These were slightly more impressive ruins, with a slightly better view. There was not much to do around there besides soak in the view and take a few pics. We did find a local sleeping beside the road when we walked out!
Next we headed to Saksaywaman (aka “Sexy Woman”), which is the closest to where we live. These are a really impressive set of ruins with great view of Cusco. We probably explored 15% of these ruins, and we got stuck at the “rock slides”. These are really smooth, wavy, steep rocks that are grooved. A couple of the grooves are perfect for sliding, and the kids had a blast here. We walked around a bit more, and decided to play soccer inside a huge amphitheater type area that we heard used to be flooded for holding water (like an ancient open air water tower). It was surreal running around on those hallowed grounds.
The rest of the week was spent adjusting to our new schedule. The kids both have to be dropped off to (separate) schools at about 7:45. So we get up around 6:30, get ready, and (at this point anyway), we split up. For the first week, Kim taxied Kane to school, and I walked Kat. Both kids did great, and we are so proud of them for doing this. There will be bumps in the road, but their spanish and appreciation for Peruvian culture will be better for it.
Kim and I appreciated some time without the kids, as weird as it felt after 8 months of 24/7 time with them. We continued with our Spanish schooling, and some fun “date times”, and also use one lesson to have lunch with Jimmy, our instructor. He took us to the industrial part of Cusco, to Cebiceria Kelly (his favorite place), and we had a feast (Kim and I split a 13 soles meal). This included fish soup, Ceviche, friend rice, a papa relleno (fried potato cake stuffed with fish), a baked sweet potato, and a piece of fried fish. We love it all except for the fried fish (and the sweet potato).
All in all a solid week, but most importantly, we made to transition from 2 hours of Spanish school to 6+ hours of regular school for the kids. It’s our new normal.
