Ollantaytambo

On Saturday Afernoon we went to Ollantaytambo, a small village in the Urubamba River Valley up river from Aguas Calientes. This was the site of a major Inca City where the Incas resisted the Spanish for a number of years before leaving it deserted. The Incas were a Bronze Age civilisation so were no match for the Spanish with their horses, wagons and (especially) cannons. The Fortress here is another spectacular example of Inca engineering with huge granite blocks quarried on the mountain on the opposite side of the river and dragged down one mountain and up the next, before being finished to perfection by very skilled stone masons.




One of the interesting things we´ve noticed here is the syncretism of the locals. For example they put charms on their roofs that include both the symbols of the Inca deities and the cross. They spill a little of their wine on the ground as an offering to the earth mother then cross themselves to thank God for their food.

Aguas Calientes

On Saturday we spent the morning at Aguas Calientes and the base of Machu Picchu Mountain where there´s an archeological museum and botanic garden. There weren´t many flowers in bloom but the museum was fascinating, showing the history of the discovery of the site and some of the artifacts found there. Mind you, most of the artifacts are now at Yale University despite efforts by Peru to recover them.

In Aguas Calientes we spent quite a while browsing the market stalls looking for bargain souvenirs (which Chris loved of course!) then caught the train to Ollantaytambo. There we stayed at one of the most beautiful hotels we've sen, with beautiful gardens grown on rich alluvial soil.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is an Inca City built high in the Andes during the 15th & 16th centuries. It sits atop a tall mountain surrounded by even taller ones. Fortunately we were able to take a bus up the mountain.
It was mainly built as a temple site for the worship of the Inca deities, mainly the sun, the moon the condor and water. It was rediscovered in 1915 by a Yale Professor and has since undergone much cleaning up and restoration. We walked up to the site from the bus station, up amny steep steps wit ha guide to show us around. then after a buffet lunch on site Julie and I walked up the Inca trail to what's called the sun gate. A long and very steep walk! but the views were worth it.

Cusco

Last night after a light meal we went to the 'Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo', a centre set up to preserve the native arts of music and dance. We watched a number of local folk dances to lively Peruvian music and were even given the opportunity to dance ourselves if we wanted, but none of us wanted to.

Today we had a tour of the locval region, visiting a number of archeological sites where we saw again the amazing Inca construction techniques with huge stones cut to fit perfectly together without the need for mortar. We went to the Santo Domingo church which was built on top of the Qoricancha temple - to show the natives that our God is greater than theirs. Unfortunately the church has been knocked down several times by earthquakes while the Inca walls have remained standing firm. So much for object lessons!

The Incas joined their stones by using keying pieces or by cutting grooves in the tops of the stones that were filled with bronze once the stones were in place. They also used angles in the walls to provide bracing in the case of earthquakes.
Every where we go we're inundated with local women and children selling their wares or offering to let you take their picture with Llamas or Alpacas or even babies tied in a shawl on their back.



Tomorrow it's off to Machu Picchu so there won't be an update for a few days as we can only take a small amount of luggage on the train.

Cusco

We're now in Cusco a town inland from Lima in Peru. This is the main jumping off place for Machu Picchu so the place is crawling with tourists and there are souvenir shops every few metres with a range of quality goods. These are especially Alpaca knitwear and jewellery, but also wood crafts, ceramics, musical instruments.
The old town is a hive of narrow streets with buildings that are often built on the foundations of Inca buildings. The Incas built their buildings with rocks shaped to fit by master masons and no mortar. Apparently when earthquakes have rocked this area the Inca foundations have remained firm while the Spanish bricks and mortar have fallen apart.
One of the issues here is that Cusco is at 3,400m above sea level so the air is fairly thin. So we've been taking altitude sickness pills and on our arrival were offered Coca tea, a local drink that's supposed to relieve the effects of altitude. We haven't been badly affected but we are breathing more heavily than normal, especially when exercising.

Antofagasta

This was our last morning in Antofagasta before flying out to Lima (via Santiago naturally despite it being 2 hours in the wrong direction!) so Bron took us for a drive south to the Escondida Copper processing plant where BHP Billiton has a display centre. Also a beach where they occasionally come for a swim and a picnic. The landscape is so barren yet has a certain beauty that some of us can admire. Vultures cruised the sky looking for food and pelicans flew in formation as we drove along the coast.



In the afternoon we flew to Santiago and are now waiting for our flight to Lima.

Antofagasta

Antofagasta is a city of 350,000 people. Today we spent some time wandering through the centre of town on an unsuccessful search for souvenirs worth bringing home. Like most Chilean cities it has a very pleasant town square with a cathedral on one side and the post office on the other and lots of shops and offices circling it.



Chris then went with Bruce to inspect the Church building site where builders have just begun the second stage of building works.

Antofagasta

Today was Sunday so of course we went to church. 10am is an English language service with a handful of people who are either of English descent or are here in Antofagasta to work - usually connected in some way with the huge copper mines nearby. Bruce asked me to preach at this service, based on the last chapter of "Basic Christianity" by John Stott, which they've been following, so I hastily prepared a sermon on Saturday which was possibly too long but well received nonetheless (No comments thanks Kevin!).
The 11:30am service is in Spanish with around 70-80 people including a number of children and teenagers. The music is lively, with vocals led by Alexandra Hallyburton.

After church the Hallyburtons invited two of the women whose husbands were away to come to lunch. A very pleasant lunch and conversation - both women spoke English which was good for us.
A quick note on meal times: It seems that most Chileans have their main meal in the middle of the day (in today's example that meant 2:30pm). They then have a lighter tea in the evening some time between 7:30 and 10 depending on whether its a week night or weekend. So for us Aussies that's meant a bit of adjustment to our practice, though the Peters did take pity on us when we first arrived and cooked a full dinner for us that first night.



After lunch (around 5:30) we went for a long walk with the two girls along the beach front. There are 3 beaches that have had white sand shipped in to create a sandy beach instead of the local dirt beaches. Naturally these are packed with people when it's hot and even today there were plenty of people sitting on the sand or swimming in the not very warm water.

Antofagasta

Yes it sounds like something that Arnie Schwarzzenegger might say, but it's in fact a city in the north of Chile. It's set in one of the driest parts of the world in a moonscape of grey dirt set between mountains and sea in a strip a few kilometres wide. Once part of Bolivia it was taken over by Chile in the 19th century following a war. This is important because the latest James Bond movie has been filing here with uniforms that look a lot like Bolivia's much to the concern of some locals apparently.



The Hallyburtons live in a two storey house not too far from the sea, but then no-one is far from the sea in this narrow strip of land.

Valparaiso & Viña del Mar

Today we had a tour to Valparaiso & Viña del Mar. These are port and beach cities next to each other and about 90km from Santiago. On the way we passed copper mines, went under two mountain ranges through long tunnels and even managed to visit a winery.

Valparaiso is the older city of the two. Hills are lined with colourful houses and funicular railways climb the hills in a number of places along the escarpment.
Viña del Mar is a beach resort town with a beach lined with high rise apartments.







It also has an archaeological museum that has a statue from Easter Island at the front.

Concepcion

Our last night in Concepcion we took the family to a local Pizza place for gourmet pizzas. The Peters boys managed to consume more pizza than the adults combined - as might be expected. Chris played one last game of chess with Samuel (having played several over the previous evenings and this time Samuel won! Was he ever excited!

It was worth the loss just to see his enthusiasm!

Concepcion

Today Graeme had a meeting with the council and some other lay leaders of St John's to explore further the issue of joining formally with the church of San Juan. He asked me to join them at the start to do a short Bible study and to talk about our experience of merging St Theodore's and St Michael's. The meeting went well but they still need lots of prayer as they work through the various issues around joining the two different congregations together. Later we visited the Concepción University again to see a mural that portrays the history of Latin America from early days to today.

Concepcion

Chile, like so many countries, is a land of contrasting economic circumstances. Today the Peters took us for a drive, first to the Concepcion University, a beautiful campus surrounded by green lawns and modern buildings.





We then drove across the Bio Bio River to the nearby suburb of San Pedro where new and very expensive housing developments are sprouting up on the hills with gorgeous views over the river and sea. This is also an area where elite private schools are being built to service the upper middle class residents.







After that we drove to the township of Lota, about 30km sounth-west of Concepcion. Lota is a working class suburb that once housed workers from the local coal mine. The mine closed in 1965 and since then the level of unemployment has risen to record levels with the result that Lota is one of the poorest towns in the region. The houses are run down though very colourful, the roads are in poor condition and the local market is said to have the cheapest produce around. We had lunch in a local cafe where our two course meal cost about half what we'd paid for an iced coffee in Santiago last Thursday!


















Finally we drove to Wessex School where Benjamin, Samuel and Martin go to school. This is an English medium school to grade 7 then Spanish with some English classes. It's one of the better schools without being an elite private school. As you can see from the flags the English heritage is still valued here.