Gramma Barbie Goes Global

Some small terraces in the background. The tour vans all stop so these ladies can make money, but they tell the tourists it is so we can see the terraces be.ow as an example of what we will see further up the valley.

This is the dance of love. In it the boys wear skirts to disguise themselves so the parents do not know that their girls are dancing with boys.

We headed out early and stopped at the square in one of the villages to watch some dancing. This young lady was collecting for the dancing and agreed to pose for me…for a sole. In many areas they make money from posing for pictures and she was dressed up a little more than usual because of the dancing, but the regular clothing is, for the most part, traditional. Only the people working where they need a uniform do not dress traditionally on this area.

Our guide told us that we were high enough that there was a spot where the water freezes…sure enough, around a couple of more corners we found icicles! The air did not seem cold, though.

These are the smallest of the camelids found in Peru. There are around three thousand of them in the national park we drove through. There were a.so lots of llamas and some alpacas. The vacunas are not ever domesticated like the others.

Each year in August these animals are rounded up and sheared for their ‘fiber’. The fibre of the vacuna is very expensive and very fine.

People come here to pile rocks and make wishes because it is so high that the gods will see and hear them. Across the road there are literally thousands of rock cairns of all different sizes. They go for as far as the eye can see and in this part of Peru, that is almost forever.

This is our guide to the Colca Canyon showing us the correct method to chew coca leaves….we had stopped at a store where most of us bought a small package of coca leaves for 3 soles ( about $1.15). She wanted to make sure we were all okay since we would be traveling up to 16,000 feet. It was funny watching her detailed demonstration. There is a technique. First you take 5 to 6 leaves and put a small bit of licta on them (it comes in the bag and is a solid grey matter that you crumble a bit off of) then fold the leaves over the licta to make a small compact package. Insert in mouth and chew for 5 to 7 minutes and spit out. Your tongue will be ever so slightly numb afterwards, but you will avoid soroche (altitude sickness). Every hotel after I left sea level has also has a large pot of coca tea available at all times.

There were dorms, but full fledged nuns had their own houses, thus private bedrooms. Sometimes they had a student who lived with them. Sometimes a girl would be sent to the convent for schooling from the age of 6 until they turned 12 at which time they could stay as novices or return to their families.

The Mother Superior had superior lodgings with a beautiful garden. They held elections every 7 years for this position.