Tipon and Cake

Today we went on a morning trek to Tipon in honor of Dana's birthday. Tipon is an ancient Incan archaeological site which is believed to be either used as a hang out for upper class, or an agricultural area, which I personally think is more likely. Tipon is known for its elaborate, and still working, system of aqueducts, likely used for irrigation. We left around 10am after saying good-morning to the kids and headed out on the hour-or-so long hike from Azul Wasi, including the 2km or so of the stairs of death (not the official name, it just fits well). The plan was to return around 1:30pm or so in time for the little kids to get back from school so we could have lunch with them and eat birthday cake!

Tipon. The terraced land is set with retaining walls typical of Inca architecture, stone on stone with no mortar; incredibly precise and  strong. The houses appear to have some kind of mortar, although that may be from the restoring process.

The hike up. We didn't take too many pictures of this part of the trip, mainly because it was so incredibly exhausting  that we didn't do much more than frantically gasp for air the whole time. This picture must have been a short rest. I may not look it, but I really am having fun, honestly.

At the top. These guys got to rest for a while while I ran back down the mountain to make sure Abby was ok. Abby is Jamie and Roxanna's daughter and it was Abby's second day in Cusco, not good for mountain climbing, she was short on oxygen and her fingers were swelling. Then I had the privilege of climbing the mountain again, hence the name of the stairs I mentioned earlier.

The walls all have conveniently placed stairs for ease of moving to the next level, it sort of reminds me of a video game,  but all the bad guys were cleared out centuries ago.

Beautiful Dana, I love it when she looks at me like that.

Most of the fountains and aqueducts still function as they did originally. Amazing.

The hiking group. Left to right: Me, Kaley, Dario, Dana, Gina, Matilda.

Apparently these holes were for communicating somehow, I don't really get it. Here everyone is trying to figure it out. I took the picture this time...

Ok, this was hilarious. Matilda was gracious enough to take a picture of Dana and I , and when she crouched down to get a better angle, this wonderfully sharp cactus needle entered into her behind. You can see here the little bit of blood on the point. It was really in there! Dana attempted to pull it out and this thing was really stuck, so I took a "stab" at it. I was counting to three to prepare her for the pull, but neither her nor Dana thought that was a good idea, so I got to the "point" and just yanked on it really hard and viola, Matilda had a new souvenir! She was pretty good about the whole thing.

Birthday cake! We finally got back to Azul Wasi around 2pm, just in time for the kids to get home, and they were super excited to chow down on these yummy tortas. 

The devouring. I don't think these kids eat very much cake very often. Some of them didn't seem sure how to really eat a cake, although reflecting back on how kids this age ate cake in Canada, it could just be the age. They seemed to start from the center of the cake, completely avoiding the frosting. Nevertheless, one way or another, most succeeded in inhaling their portion.

Julie with Nilo and Alfredo. Julie had been to Tipon before so she spent the morning with the older kids.

Blowing the candles. We had to light the candles like 7 times because it was so drafty in the comedor. Happy Birthday Dana!