Thursday, April 17, 2014

Whatever it Takes to Wrap Up Peru


Well ladies and gents, we are officially working women. We know we may have let some of you down (our sincerest apologies to the funemployment crew), but we have finally succumbed to "the man." Who is "the man" you ask? Have we become investment bankers? Lawyers? Been accepted to a prestigious graduate school? No, no, we are furthering our Princeton Education as organic farmers in Southern Chile earning the whopping salary of room and board. By room we mean a lovely tent cabin featuring one "bed" which is actually just two lawn chair mats pushed together with a sheet over them. We'd say it's the Ritz Carlton of tent cabins. Not that we have ever actually been to the Ritz Carlton, but Google tells us that it's pretty snazzy. On to board. We want to preface this with the fact that we don't actually know what board stands for. We think it means food because we get food here, but kids go to boarding school where they live. So then we think it's housing, but room and room doesn't make sense, does it? With that in mind, here's a peek into our dietary staples here on the farm: milk is powder, meat is soy, hotdogs are equivalent to prime rib, and we make our own bread. Pretty much fine dining. Now onto our work. Ya know, how we make the big bucks. We have carefully researched and began the construction of a permaculture pond. The intricacies of such a pond allow for a biological filtration system which promotes an entirely organic and flourishing ecosystem. We have also undertaken the responsibility of lead architects in the planning and design of an efficient storage system that is both visually pragmatic and satisfies a spectrum of natural disaster precautions and regulations. Talk about a resume builder! But seriously we are digging a huge hole and stacking fire wood. We made you stop for a second though and think "hey, are they actually doing something productive?" Didn't we? Because of these newfound responsibilities, we have had to put blogging on the back burner for a while. 

Let us take you back to January, which was a pretty sweet month. We started off in style, dune buggying through the Ica sand dunes and taking a 6 person mini plane ride over the Nazca Lines. Style points took a hit though when we took a boat around what people call the "poor man's" Galápagos Islands. Lets just say there's a reason it's the poor man's version; sure there are some penguins, pretty birds, even some seals, but the predominant sight here was bird poop. Lots and lots of bird poop everywhere. 


See that huge dune in the background? We sand boarded down that. Don't get too excited, thinking we were standing up like rockstars. We all went on our bellys


Sand Buggy. We rode in that. Quite fun actually. 


We can't talk about Nazca for too long because it really turns our tables. WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE LINES AND WHO DID THEM AND HOW?? There are literally huge drawings of birds, trees, dogs, this monkey, AN ALIEN... IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. No. Seriously.. okay blood pressure is rising, we need to move on. 


Poor Mans Galapagos. If you're wondering what is in that backpack Cheech is hugging.. It's our dog. We swear we are good mothers..

From our lovely tour of bird poop, we went to Lima. You could say we didn't quite take advantage of being in what is considered the food capital of the world. Though we were surrounded by top notch multinational cuisine, for god knows what reason, we ate at McDonalds, Chili's, and Dunkin Donuts. Once our fat kid cravings were satisfied, we did manage to make it to the best Shawarma spot of all time. Good job, Lima, good job. 

Next stop, Cusco to meet up with Alison's family. To ensure everyone is oriented, let us provide you with this short Meet and Greet. 

Ross Daddy - pictured sporting this fashionable tourist hat that he "will be wearing in the courtroom," Ross enjoys spending his free time at music festivals and watching the Yankees. 
Personal Quote: "There are two things I know.. The law and music"

Kath Momma - seen here being worshipped for her incredible conquest of Huayna Picchu, Kath is the voice of reason. Kath enjoys long walks on the Canadian shores of Lake Huron, everything Michigan Blue, and Easter. 
Personal Quote: "Hey, I'm chill"

Brother Nate - As his wardrobe may suggest, Nathan graduated from, and loves the University of Miami. Some know Nate as Mr. Nabatoff, Deloite Financial Consultant, while others simply know DJ DBT, Mr. Do Big Things. Though some may find it taxing, Nate enjoys the life of consultant by day and DJ by night

Brother Andrew - Andrew's a simple man. He likes cold ones, his dog, Dempsey, America, and all things Pitt. Pictured below, Andrew pays his respects to his Cold One City, of which he is self appointed captain. 
Personal Quote: "Even if it [cold ones [beers]] is microwaved! I'll still drink it"

Brother's girlfriend, Lindsey - Pictured flexing, Lindsey is a fitness fanatic and a foodie. If you're looking for a personal trainer or a delicious healthy meal, look no further. Given our new, fat bodies, we are pretty happy we can go back to Lindsey. Trust us, bigger is NOT better.. We're not talking muscle here 
Personal Quote: "Oh wow, look at that beautiful flower garden. Oh wait, it's a cemetery.."

 Brother's girlfriend's brother, Luke - Luke enjoys a trusted pair of Converse, a good lift with his bros, baseball, and a quality Instagram pic. Above all, Luke is a gentleman, who held Kathy's hand to help her climb up Huayna Picchu. Kathy has two sons who could have done it, but thank you Luke
Personal Quote: "I was never into eating glue." Context: none.  

Lance, the adopted black brother - A member of the family since '06, Lance is an avid traveller. On one particular adventure to the Great Wall of China, Lance was mistaken for Will Smith, and became an instant celebrity. 
Fun Fact: Lance lived in the Nabatoff basement for a year

Early, the adopted black brother's friend: Early, like Lance, has travelled the world. When given the chance to take a vacation from his day to day dealings as a government architect, Early jumps on the nearest flight 
Personal Quote: "Parishioners and Peruvians are two different things."

 So yeah, only immediate family made the trip. Explaining the Nabatioff "family" visit wouldn't do it justice, so we decided to just sum it up with pictures. Here goes nothing. 

Saqsaywaman (who knows how to actually spell it.. We just know it sounds like sexy woman). Noticeably missing from the photo are Cheech and Kath. They went on a little mother/not-quite daughter adventure. Aka they got lost. 


Coricancha. This was a cool Inca temple. Cheech is in this photo, but we should mention that a solid 10 minutes of this tour turned into Finding Cheech. 

Pinkayullna Inca Ruins. Noticeably missing: Claire, Ross, Kath and Lance. As you can see, it was a little difficult to get everyone in one place. 

Train to Machu Picchu! Noticeably missing: Alison. Someone has to take the picture. 

Hike up Huayna Picchu. See that small Asian second in line? Her name is Mindy and she hiked the entire way up to the top of Huayna Pichu with us. At the top she was gone before we knew it.. Talk about a hit and quit.




View from the top of Huayna Picchu. What a pretty sight.. Huay to go Incas! 

#Mindy #whyareyouhere. No wonder while hiking up someone stopped to ask, "what kind of group are you guys?" 

Does this need a caption? Kgood

Or this? No, but we need to say how cool this was. At the astronomical site of the Incas, we look over and see a double rainbow.. I mean, as learned astronomers, we would like to acknowledge this masterpiece made by the Incas and give them a gold star. Well done 
That's real life. Excuse me, what? Okay, fine.. Two gold stars.

Here we have the one and only photo taken of just the Nabatoff family. 

Hopefully these pictures and captions speak 1000 words. After Machu Picchu, and nearly three months in Peru, we finally left and headed to Chile. Unfortunately, given the fact that we are currently sitting in a bus terminal which served as our hostel last night, we have to go. Not to fear though, we will be checking in soon with our Chile Edition that covers February, March, and April as well as our brief stint in the employment world and trekking Patagonia.  Oh, and why we walked back and forth between the Chilean and Peruvian borders seven times before being admitted to Chile. Toodles