Peru Day 3

Our whole trip was scheduled so that we could be there to observe the annual Inti Raymi festival of the sun. This is an ancient festival where the high priest and Inca king make offerings to the sun god of corn, potatoes and a llama in order to bless their harvest for the next year. This festival has been held on the same date for hundreds of years. The local people covered the hills surrounding the stadium as they couldn't afford to purchase seats but gathered to watch their sacred ceremony. I felt sad that they couldn't be closer since it was in fact their religious ceremony and had more personal meaning for them. After the festival, we visited their statue of Christ above the city of Cusco. The population in this part of Peru is 80% catholic yet they have merged Christianity with their old religion by believing that the Catholic God created their mother earth, gods of the sun, wind, water, etc and therefore those Gods still live and influence their lives as well.

Peru Day 1 and 2

I took my first group to Peru in June. We had a group of 19 and 16 of us got to hike the Inca Trail into Machu Picchu. After 26 long hours of flying we arrived in Cusco, where we had a few days to acclimate before we started the trail. We spent our first day wandering around Cusco and getting a feel for the city. They were getting ready for the Inti Raymi festival in a few days so there were lots of dancers and musicians practicing. On day 2, we went to see the salt mines in Maras. Each salt pool is owned by one family and provides most of their income. The pools are fed by a salty spring that runs through an ancient salt deposit in the mountain before it exits the mountain. They've built tiny canals they can use to direct it to their springs. After the pools are filled with about 6 inches of water, it takes 4 days to evaporate to where the salt can be harvested. Next we had lunch by Andean lake where I had the first trout I've ever liked, fresh from the lake, and met our first llama.  We were there during potato harvest, so they also taught us about how they dry potatoes to preserve them. Once preserved, they are good for 20 years! Finally we visited the agricultural terraces of Moray. The Incas could grow all different kinds of crop here since the temperature drops by 5* C between each 3 terraces. This is where the domesticated corn as well as thousands of varieties of potatoes.

Random Spring Happenings

Even though we had a wet, colder spring this year, we still got outside on family outings and field trips and did some fun things.

Paddleboats and swimming at Morgan Lake

Park field trip

Field trip to the Baker Valley Interpretive Center

Opening night at the drive in

Swan Lake Recital Jun 19

This was Sydney's last recital with La Grande School of Ballet. She will be switching to a different dance school next year. She had a good time and learned a lot, but now we are moving forward with tap and new to her, jazz class. Since she is mostly interested in musical theater, this is the direction she wanted to focus on.