Aguas Calientes

This morning we left Cusco to travel to Aguas Calientes (hot springs). We got to the train station really early so we had time to explore Ollayantetambo which are more Incan Ruins that had military forts and temples (to both the water and sun god). We then took a train THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS, and sometimes literally inside of a mountain, to get to the Jungle. Unfortunately that was the peak of my day. Good thing I know that not every day is going to be a hit when you travel...and going to the hot springs was definitely not my cup of tea but I'm glad I tried it. Think of a crowded public pool on a 102 degree Fahrenheit day in LA, now make that pool lukewarm, cloudy, and smelly like rotten eggs and there you have Las Aguas Calientes. Yuck is right. So instead of a normal blog post, I'm going to write ten cool things I learned about in Peru! 

1. In Cusco the majority of police and security guards are women!! What's even better is that this is done intentionally by the city because they found that women are less likely to be corrupt or take bribes. Definitely don't want a female cop pulling you over in this town! Lol
2. Peru is within the top ten of gold rich countries in the world. Historically, gold held no monetary value, but rather was reserved for religious and ceremonial purposes. Seeds were actually the determinant of a person's wealth and status. Throughout the Ruins there are hidden storage places where people would guard their seeds and others would try to find them and rob them. Thus, when the Spaniards came and conquered the area and robbed the Peruvians of their gold, legend says that they laughed as them for failing to take anything of value since they left the seeds alone. 
3. The stars in Cusco are out of this world! I've never seen so many in my life before. Apparently it's because they look directly into the middle of the Milky Way. 
4. In Peru, the condor represents the world of the Gods and the puma represents the human world. You see images of them everywhere...murals, carved in stone, advertisements. 
5. Music from the mountains is very similar to Cumbia music, so Peru actually slightly adapted their local songs to have a stronger Cumbia beat but still hold their original notes and instruments. 
6. Peruvian horses are taught (and have also evolved to be able to produce) a special step so that their gait is actually 100% fluid, there's no up and down motion. This makes it easier for the riders to go up and down valleys in the mountains. Also these farmers are my horseback riding heros!! Watching them navigate cliffs without being unseated is something I don't think I'll ever forget, and I'm talking sharp leaps inside the  valleys.
7. There's a famous mountain called Rainbow Mountain where the soil color changes in stripes. It's completely natural, nothing grows there so it's only dirt, and courtesy of global warming it wasn't discovered too long ago when the ice permanently melted off the mountain. 
8. Pachamama is Mother Earth, so one of the names that you can be called by locals is Mamacha hahaha!
9. Peruvians have their own version of moonshine that's called Chicha. It's made from white corn and only sold out of homes. The way you know where to stop for chicha is if a house has a red plastic bag hanging near it's front (either like a flag or on the door). 
10. Apparently "guay" which means "cool" and "mona" which means "cute" and purely Spain Spanish words, so up until yesterday everyone I interacted with had no clue what I was saying when I got excited and said that the sight or the food or whatever was really cool. But what's worse is that "mona" in basic Spanish means "monkey" so all these mothers in Peru now think that I was calling their children monkeys!!! Whoops. 

I'm off to Machu Pichu tomorrow and I could not be more excited. Can't wait to tell you everything tomorrow! Wish me luck hiking Buena Pichu. 

Xoxo,

Aisha