Closer to the Inca Trail

Quite a day. Mostly travel and eating, but those can be adventures all by themselves. Our Lima hotel saga ended well - everyone made the bus, everyone made the flight, everyone waited on the tarmac for the extra half-hour it took to muscle our way through the other flights. There were flights every 10 minutes for Cusco, perhaps because the thrill of landing in the tiny airport between the mountains is too good to miss.

Hotel Cusco Pardo

We finally reunited as a group in the Hotel Cusco Pardo, which perhaps means in Quechua, Hotel with Echoing Open Space Between All the Rooms So it Sounds Quite Loud. Maybe not, but that would be a good translation. Once we settled in we headed over for a traditional lunch across the street.

The lunch was kind of cool. The food was good, very good. A price fixe meal was available, but some students opted to order. And why not? One table split some alpaca, and a number of students sampled guinea pig. They call it "cuy" here, but I can tell a guinea pig when I see it. The guide told me, when asked, that cuy tasted like rabbit - but I don't know what rabbit tastes like. I think he said it tastes like chicken.

For the afternoon we were going to wait in the hotel till 5 pm and then hoof it to the Plaza de Armas for a dinner overlooking the main square. It is the season of processions, which is one of the exciting things to do here in Catholic Holy Week. Because of the lack of anything to do in the hotel, the students became overly excited. Noisy. Rambunctious. We decided it was a good time for some down time in their rooms. And then the rain started. Pouring down - it is the end of the monsoon season here. Our first choice was to NOT go to the square - too many people, too much rain. So we called it off, prepared to have the food delivered.

And then rain slowed. And we realized we had 52 kids for the next 2 hours that couldn't just stay in their rooms. So, executive choice - we headed out to the procession and dinner. It was all uphill, in the rain, through legions of people selling palm leaves (and children selling cigarettes). Did I mention it was uphill? That was tough. We neared the main procession and the guide realized we were NOT going to be able to cross it. People were packed in and, in general, wet. A quick about-face and return half a block, and then a loop around the downtown to approach another direction. A bit confusing, but since I was at the end of the line, I knew that everyone was ahead of me. Or so I thought.

Yesterday, in downtown Lima

After a confusing series of twists and turns we arrived at the cute little restaurant with a great view of the procession from a second-floor balcony. Just as we got settled, and thankful we made it through the assembled masses, the guide turns to me and says - "we don't have everyone." And with a lurch, I realized that, indeed, a part of our group had been separated from us.

The adults at the table jumped up and headed back out (leaving some behind for the kids who had made it). We split up and worked out way back the route we had taken. I felt sure that we would find our missing group, but I was sure they would be scared, cold, and wet. The closer I got to the hotel, the more convinced I was that I would find them there. And there they were! As I came in the door, they rushed up to fill me in on all the details. Turns out that this group had ended up going ahead of the main group, and when we turned to double back they had continued straight ahead into the procession. The local Cuscoans weren't the nicest apparently and were less than helpful. Then the Deal students did what Deal students do - they decided to return to the hotel. Just in time for us to find them.

We have decided to restructure some of our approach based on this series of events. Because we have been shuffled a bit from our original list in hotels, tours, and buses, it has been difficult to redefine our chaperone groups. Tomorrow we will reemphasize the need to be near the one who has you on their list, rather than being with the group in general. Tomorrow's activities are very controlled, but I think the Deal commitment to the chaperone groups has given the tour guides a sense of how serious we are - and they will respect this.

So now it is lights out, email on, and Kentucky beating Kansas in the national championship game. So much of what is seen in the US is seen overseas that it is easy to see how an international culture is being established and concretized. Tomorrow, we get up at the crack of dawn, get on some buses, then get to ride the train, and finally, a bus to the top of Machu Picchu. Everyone is very excited about this - although their excitement might be tempered at 4:45 in the morning. We'll see!