"On the Trail"

The Journals from the Road

Dec 24, 2000: Sacred Valley Tour and Noche Buena! -- Cusco, Peru

Videos:
Through the ¨war-zone¨ plaza on Christmas eve.
Midnight Mass

Tad here.

Today Frank did some Christmas shopping and preparing, such as buying the traditional Christmas raisen and fruit bread, PANETON.

I decided to treat myself to the Sacred Valley Tour and become an official, guide-following, camera toting tourist. Right away I met some great people such as Koichi from Japan, Cory, a math teacher at an international school in Bolivia, and Peter and Jen, a couple from Sydney, Australia.

On the tour I learned that most of the remaining Inca sites were used as spiritual-astronomical centers. This is why most of them are at the top of hills. Only the priests and astronomers lived up there. The real community life went on below, along the fertile valley floors. We went to Pisac, the Pisac Market, Urubamba, Ollamtaytambo, and Chinchero with lunch in Urubamba.

One fun surprise to share... our friend Amy from Quito just happened to bump into me in the Plaza de Armas a few days ago. She had been following our journals but didn`t think she would connect with us. But sure enough, we were at the right place at the right time and we connected. Since then we have shared a few meals and many stories. It was great to see you again, Amy!! Best wishes!!!

Through the ¨war-zone¨ plaza on Christmas eve More Photos

After the tour Frank and I met with Sabina and Genaro to go to their house for Christmas dinner. I ran back to the internet cafe to get a copy of the Littlest Angel text, which my mom had emailed me. My grandad always reads the Bible and the Littlest Angel to our extended family and I thought I would share the tradition here in Cusco, with our adopted family.

We headed up the hill in a taxi and then climbed a number of stairs and a dirt path to their home. Frank and I got to meet all the kids: Lizbeth, Edith, and Genaro. Then I got out the Christmas lights I had bought and we did some quick decorating. We watched a Spanish dubbed version of HomeAlone2 (I think). Frank and I commented about how the violence in the movie was a really poor model for kids, especially when portrayed as funny and harmless.

Frank was getting pretty tired and decided not to go to the midnight mass. I propped my eyelids open and said I wanted to go. We took a taxi to the Plaza de Armas which looked and sounded more like a war-zone than a Christmas Eve scene, with fire-crackers and bottle-rockets exploding all over. We walked to the Cathedral and participated in the midnight mass. After mass we headed up the hill in a combi, once again crammed to overflowing with passengers.

About 1:30 am... we broke open the paneton that Frank had given to the family and sipped hot chocolate, a Christmas Eve combination.

Yesterday, I got a chance to call home and talk to all my family members and even Grammy Muff so with that tuckedin my memory I wasn`t missing home too much on Christmas Eve. It was certainly different than a Christmas Eve at home but very special.

Christmas Eve...Noche Buena,

TAD

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