Damn, The Incans Were Smart, And Other Observations

Dana and I just got back from the trip that happens once in a lifetime.  You probably know the feeling.  It was just all over...cool. We knew it was a special thing as it was happening to us, and now we're sad it's over. Ima make this short and snappy, because it really is hard to encapsulate the experience in a blog post. So, dear friends, feast your eyes on this here, "Things I Learned Last Week: Peru Edition".

(And If you have Facebook, I'm having trouble making the photos appear on my feed, so here is a link, or you can go in through my photos tab, if interested): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.914537612192.2288059.6108414&type=3

1. Peruvian food is the shit. So is the Wire. Even people from England know it. 

2. Peruvian people know how to have a good time. "Hey it's Tuesday, let's have an impromptu dance party in the street. Oh, and also a zumba class."

3. Climbing/hiking/crawling/crying/breathing heavily/taking your body weight in Excedrin to Machu Picchu in 3.5 days is hard. 
It's 4215 meters, or 13,828 feet above sea level at the hike's highest point, to be exact.  Not for Joe Six Pack (hi, 2009!), that's ferdamnsho.

Despite this, we were the first group to the Sun Gate at 6am and the ladies (below) were the first 3 of 500 in Machu Picchu that morning. Boo ya, or something.

4. The Spanish were quite the marauders of indigenous people. 
Hmm sounds familiar. Can't quite place it...

Cuzco:This Dominican Cathedral was built on top of an Inca site...This monastery was build on top of the Temple of the Sun, the most important Incan temple.

5.  The Armada Roja is no joke. These amazing dudes carried our campsite on their backs each day, RUNNING through the mountains, many in SANDALS. "Respect, yo" —Omar Little

6. People have run the Inca Trail (45km/28mi). For Fun. As a Recreational Sport. Because they chose to. Like it's not compulsory.
Professional world class athletes marathoners ran it in 5 hours, 25 min.
Locals who live in the mountains ran it in 3 hours 45 min.

Guess I should put away my kg of ice cream I had delivered last night.

7. The Incans were smart, yo.
As most of you know, I am kind of a history dork (two of my favorite recent gifts were a Benjamin Franklin pendant and a 1790s recipe book.) So I won't go on and on in this post (but next time I see you, watch out!), but dude, these people had it goin' on. They had such a specific way of cutting stones (nuts, actually), that they can still, 600 years later, withstand a 8.0 earthquake. The buildings surrounding said ruins that were built in the last 20 years...collapsed immediately in a 1998 quake. Unreal.

     Ruins in Lima- withstand giant earthquakes           Really high up food repository- for preservation
                                                                                             and to keep it away from enemies.

8. It is easy, in 2012, to take bathrooms and showers for granted. Truth.