Episode 69: Experience Adventures by Disney Peru - Part I

On this week's episode, Krystle and Julie welcome back Jacob and Lindsay to the show to talk all about their latest Adventures by Disney trip to Peru. They had so many phenomenal stories that we have split the episode into two parts. They take us inside their unforgettable vacation filled with culture, history, and lifelong friendships. From the bustling streets of Lima, Peru’s vibrant capital city, to awe-inspiring Incan ruins, this adventure was as educational as it was life-changing.

They share the thrill of white water rafting in Peru’s breathtaking landscapes, and the moving personal stories they heard from a talented Peruvian ceramics maker and dedicated salt miners in Maras. Each moment was a chance to connect deeply with the people and traditions that make Peru so unique.

This episode is a celebration of how travel with Adventures by Disney blends luxury, storytelling, and cultural immersion. Discover why Peru should be on your bucket list if you’re seeking a journey that is enriching, family-friendly, and profoundly memorable. 

Check out their ABD Greece episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wanderlust-wishes/id1749012067?i=1000702830283

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Wanderlust and Wishes, the
podcast where we explore theworld one destination at a time.
I'm Julie.
And I'm Crystal.
As travel agents withFantastical Vacations, we are
here to share our passion fortravel and help you turn your
wanderlust into reality.
From hidden gems to bucket listadventures, join us as we dive
into the sights, sounds, andstories of our favorite

(00:20):
destinations.
So grab your passport, pack yourbags, and let's embark on this
journey together.
So let's get started.

UNKNOWN (00:30):
Bye.

SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to episode 69 ofWanderlust and Wishes.
Today, we're super excited towelcome back Lindsay and Jacob
to talk about their Adventuresby Disney trip to Peru.
Hey, everybody.

SPEAKER_03 (00:47):
Welcome back.
Thanks for having us back.

SPEAKER_00 (00:50):
Hey.
We recorded an episode a couplemonths ago, episode 46, and we
talked about their Adventure byDisney trip to Greece.
And they kind of caught the buga little bit.
We'll let them talk more aboutthat in detail.
And we're able to go to Peruusing Adventures by Disney as
well.
Just as a reminder, Adventuresby Disney is a guided group

(01:14):
travel experience using Disney'ssignature level of service.
The tours are largelyall-inclusive.
They handle all the logisticslike transportation and meals,
and they are led byDisney-trained adventure guides
who provide VIP access, culturalinsights, and concert services,
allowing all of the travelers tohave a seamless and memorable

(01:34):
experience without the stress ofplanning.
All right, let's jump in.
So you went to Greece.
First of all, what made you wantto do another ABD?
Well, I guess I should sayquickly, ABD just stands for
Adventures by Disney, justbecause that's a mouthful.
So sorry.
Continue.

SPEAKER_03 (01:51):
Yeah.
So when we were in Greece, ourguide there, Chris, whom we love
and still talk to some.

SPEAKER_02 (01:57):
Shout out to Chris.

SPEAKER_03 (01:58):
Yeah.
So we were talking about likewhat all different places we
want to go next, you know, andwe been looking at South Africa.
There's a couple of differentones that we were looking at.
Egypt, but Peru had never beenon our radar at all.
And so we were talking to himabout it because he's done a ton
of it.
He's done all over the world.
He's done stuff with companiesbesides Disney.

(02:18):
So he's done it with like, is itDiscovery Channel or National
Geographic?
National Geographic.
So he's done it with all thesedifferent companies and stuff.
He still says Disney's the best,but he said Peru was one of his
absolute favorite destinations.
And it's super, I don't want tosay under the radar, but he He
just had a lot of great thingsto say about it.
He's like, you've got to do it.
And he also said there's a smallto decent chance that if we did

(02:39):
that, that he might be giving itto her.
So that put it on our radar.
It didn't mean this is whatwe're going to do.
But the reason we wanted to doanother ABD is because the first
one just went so well.
The relationships that we madeon it, I think that's some of
the difference is we maderelationships and friendships
that are still lasting to thisday.
And that was over a year ago,July of last year.

(03:00):
So over a year ago, we stillhave some of those friendships
and talk to them.
Lindsay's a lot better at itthan I am.
I'm a terrible friend, I think,but.

SPEAKER_02 (03:08):
That's not true.

SPEAKER_03 (03:09):
Lindsay keeps up with

SPEAKER_02 (03:10):
people.
I'm just louder, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (03:12):
So that's kind of why we wanted to do another one
is the first one was amazing andit pretty much checked all the
boxes for us.
And we thought, let's just do itagain.
And then the reason exactly whywe picked Peru was we just kept
pulling up every time theyreleased the schedule for new
trips and what the prices were.
And this time Peru hit duringthe time frame that we wanted to

(03:33):
and it was really discounted soit was it was way less than we
were expecting and way less thansome of the other ones and we're
like well since it's on our listand I think that might be how we
choose our trips going forwardis let's just look at each time
and maybe make it a little bitof a mystery of where we're
going next year and just pickthe one that has the best price
point for us and it worked outreally well for us

SPEAKER_02 (03:52):
and we also we want to take the kids when they get
older probably 20 27 28 and thatstart including them in these
trips and we felt like Peruwould potentially South Africa
would definitely be somewhere wewant to take them and so we
thought Peru may be somewhereit's a little more intensive and
outdoorsy and things like thatthat the kids may not want to do
until they're older you know sowe were trying to kind of come

(04:13):
up with ones that will work forus just as a couple and if that
makes sense without the kids fora little while so it hit that
bucket too.

SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
Did you for this trip we know that you did kind
of look at other things the lasttime around but for this time
around did you look at any othertouring companies or did you
just stick with Adventures byDisney?

SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
This time we just stuck with Adventures by Disney.
Last time I was trying to getJacob on a trip that was Disney
adjacent.
I remember he's kind of Disneyadjacent.
He likes it, but he doesn't wantto go to the parks every year.
And so once we saw how good itwas going to be, we actually
spoke with a lot of our newfriends in Greece on the AVD
about other companies.
They've been on a couple others,but it's kind of hands down that

(04:53):
if you can afford Avengers byDisney, it's the right way to
go.
And they also have their loyaltyprogram.
Once you've gone on one and youget a little more merch for the
second game, one and third andthings like that you get to book
a little earlier it's just likeanything else we love to have a
company we're loyal to to getthose perks that are involved in
that so I'm not opposed at allto another company but I'm not

(05:14):
I'm really not searching orseeking out anything different
at this point we probably arejust Adventures by Disney
loyalists so you

SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
sold Jacob on the Disney

SPEAKER_02 (05:23):
oh yeah oh yeah

SPEAKER_03 (05:25):
yeah I could see us doing Adventures by Disney for
the next like three to fourtrips like that and then maybe
after we have you know four orfive under our belts looking at
somewhere like Talk or NationalGeographic or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 (05:36):
Yeah, well, Talk has, they have more itineraries
to each, to different countries.
So as long as the itinerary forthe country works with Adventure
by Disney, it'll probably beeasy for us to do that.
But they just have more options,I guess, with some of the other
companies.
I don't really know why.
I think it's just because Disneyis so tailored that they try to
squeeze every bit of VIPexperience into that one tour.

(05:58):
So that, I mean, that wouldpotentially, we're not, again,
we're not opposed, just thatmight, that might sway it just a
little bit or just maybe to getanother experience.

SPEAKER_03 (06:06):
I guess for me, it would be like when we run
through most of the itinerariesand locations with Adventures by
Disney, not that we go tired ofit and not that there's not
enough, but I could see at somepoint being like, ah, we've done
six or seven of these.
We've seen most of the placesthat we want to see.
There's

SPEAKER_02 (06:20):
40 places.
40 destinations.

SPEAKER_03 (06:21):
I know there's 40.
We're not

SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
going to do all 40.
We might.
We might.
We're still young.

SPEAKER_03 (06:27):
Yeah.
But anyways, I could see afterwe've done several and hit like
most of our highlights lookingat another company but right now
I don't really feel a need to toswitch it up

SPEAKER_02 (06:36):
see he's so loyal now

SPEAKER_03 (06:39):
it's good

SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
it's really good

SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
okay so let's start walking through your itinerary
where did you go what stood outsome of your favorite moments
some of those things we startedin

SPEAKER_02 (06:50):
Lima so that's what's kind of like crazy about
Peru is that you fly into Limaand you have a night in Lima we
stayed at the Westin which wasjust beautiful it had our room
was high up and it had a likethe floor to ceiling windows all
around that had just views ofthe entire city.
So that was fabulous.
But then the next day you havelike, you have that whole day in

(07:11):
Lima, but it's not, it's notwith the tour guides.
And then the next day you flystraight to Cusco.
When we looked at the itinerary,I thought it was kind of weird.
But once we got there, werealized that Lima is really
just to walk around and look atthe wonder of it all.
You know, look at all the, youknow, you're looking at
mountains on one side and beachon the other side.
And then there's not reallytours.
It's really just wander untilyou happen upon something really

(07:32):
neat.
So like we went to, it was likea fountain of magic, I think is
what it's called.
And it celebrated, it had aworld of color from Disneyland
type fountain experience of justthe history of Peru.
We happened upon a, it was aTayama festival and it was just
like a love festival with allthese flowers and graffiti.
And like they had this wholetunnel with neon graffiti.

(07:54):
I mean, just things you justwander around and see.
And that was kind of cool.
Just, we found this park thatwas just completely dedicated to
cats.
I mean, I'm talking like cattrees And there's like houses
for cats everywhere.
And there's people are feedingthem and doing these things.
I mean, you know, it's justwandering around, just getting a
feel for the country.
It was, that was really neat forus just to kind of happen upon
stuff as we went.

(08:14):
And the guides, we met them thatmorning.
They kind of told you where itwas safer, where it was more
exciting, things like that.
So we got that information fromthem.
So that was kind of our firstday in Lima.

SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
I will say like when we were in Lima, one of the
things that we wanted to do,because I had a coworker that
went before us and they had a,he did some experience there and
he did not do ABD, but.
He should have.
And he did an experience wherehe had to swim with sea lions
and stuff.
And we tried to do that, but theweather was not right.

SPEAKER_02 (08:40):
It was a little bit late in the day.
And we

SPEAKER_03 (08:41):
would have had to go on the first thing.
We would have had to schedulethat before we even got there.
I kind of wish we had gotten todo that, but we didn't.
But again, like she said, thehotel that we stayed at was
amazing.
I think that might be one of thebest city-type hotels that I've
ever stayed in.
It was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
And the breakfast was so good.
I mean, it had differentPeruvian options, but also your
American options.
I mean, you could have made abreakfast lunch or dinner out of
that breakfast you know and itwas included in the tour so that
was really really good

SPEAKER_03 (09:08):
yeah so after after day one that was just the first
day early early in the morning ithink it was like six it was
rough

SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
yeah

SPEAKER_03 (09:15):
we flew to cusco and so that was you know they took
us to the airport with ourluggage and then they took us to
the luggage station helped us doour bags and then just walked us
through each step of the way inthe airport obviously you're in
a foreign country english is notthe first language so There's a
little bit of difficulty there,but the guides are with you the
whole time and it makes it soeasy.

(09:36):
And then like where to go towait for the airport.
They just held our hand thewhole way through that process,
made it really easy.
And we got on the plane, went toCusco, drove all the way to our
hotel there, which was alsoamazing.
I think that day, all we did waswe had like the welcome dinner
that night.

SPEAKER_02 (09:53):
No, we went to that.
We had that catered lunch.
We went straight off the plane,remember?
Well, we had, so they give youtime to adjust to the altitude.
And so- Like as soon as we gotthere early in the morning, so
our hotel wasn't, I guess itwasn't ready, but we had a lunch
at, it's called the Center forTraditional Textiles of Cusco.

(10:13):
And so we get there and we go tothis little area and they had
this whole picnic set up for us.
And there's hors d'oeuvres,there was ceviche and guacamole.
There's these things called,they're like beet chips in which
I'm not a beet person, but thesewere so good with the guacamole
and the ceviche.
It was just a really goodcombination.
And then we had, I mean, Wetalked about this.

(10:33):
This is the same in Greece.
Every single meal, it's likeappetizers before the
appetizers, then appetizers, andthen an entree, and then a
dessert before the dessert, andthen another dessert.
It's just like crazy amounts offood every time, or at least
most times we've been andeveryone we've spoken to about
it.
So that meal was really good.
But they were also giving usspecific, what was that tea that
they kept giving us?
Coca tea.
Coca tea.

(10:53):
And it's supposed to help withaltitude sickness and nausea and
things like that.
But I mean, you could feel it.
You don't want to like bend overreally fast because you kind of
get dizzy a couple of the kidswith us had to get some oxygen
just to just to kind of pep themback up just because it's rough
and kids are not going to justbe still so they were still
running crazy and just trying tofeel a little better but they

(11:16):
they had all anything we neededas far as acclimating to the
altitude and so that was reallyhelpful

SPEAKER_03 (11:21):
for some sweet little llamas there you have to
pet them and feed

SPEAKER_02 (11:24):
them alpacas yeah

SPEAKER_03 (11:25):
that's what uh that's what i'm here for them
for

SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
oh yeah any animal situation jacob still like he's
so sad with the sea lions but wegot some alpacas the next day so
We saw a weaving demonstration.
So they showed us, I mean,whenever they make their
products, I mean, they, theyobviously shave the alpacas or
the llamas.
And then they, I mean, they spinthe wool and they dye it
themselves and they separate itout and make it into, I mean,
they do everything from start tofinish until you get a finished

(11:48):
product.
And we were watchingdemonstration.
They were like putting ponchoson us and hats that they had
made, you know, just to kids.
It was a little bit cooler upthere.
A lot of people think, littlepeople thought when we went that
we was going to be hot when wewere there, but it was
technically the end of theirwinter.
So it was, It was verycomfortable, you know, like high
60s, you know, high 40s atnight, things like that.
But so they were just making usreal comfortable.

(12:10):
And all of this stuff was soexpensive for us as far as just
getting souvenirs.
But you understand why, becausethe amount of...
Yes, I mean, there was oneblanket they showed us that took
10 or 11 women to make.
It took them three months forall of them to make it together.
Like, of course, it's going tobe thousands of dollars.
I mean, think about the time andvalue of that.
So that was just really neat.

(12:30):
And they were explaining howthey...
just how they're trying topreserve the dignified labor and
the authenticity of the wool andthe different, because you can
get everything made, syntheticsand all that stuff that are not
real.
They call it, they say it'seither baby alpaca or maybe
alpaca.
I guess that's like theirversion of like pleather, you
know.
So they were kind of showing usthe differences and how you can

(12:52):
tell what's authentic and what'snot.
So that was a really coolexperience.
And that was a good, you know,just a good welcome to Peru type
deal before we got to go to ourhotel.

SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
Okay, so then we went to And this was like you're
going through and you know it'snot the most prestigious area
like you can tell like there'snot a ton of money besides
tourism and stuff and so you'regoing through there and I'm like
where is this hotel going to beyou know and I because I don't
want to be judgmental oranything but I look around and I

(13:22):
see I'm like what was this hotelgoing to be like you know
because I'm like there's there'snot there's no like even two
story buildings or anything it'sall I don't say complete poverty
but it's pretty low.
and so we're driving around andthen they take us to this like
private almost like golf clubresort type entrance and they
bring it back there and it isone of the most beautiful like

(13:45):
landscape picturesque likeplaces I've ever seen in my life
it's like a big

SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
it's a lot like driving into the poly like how
it's you know there's all of asudden there's just like
greenery and everything the vibekind of changes and there's
water and it's just really itreally it's just like getting to
a different resort that'sinclusive you know what I mean
it's it's just very different Imean it's definitely built for

(14:09):
tourists

SPEAKER_01 (14:10):
yeah for sure

SPEAKER_00 (14:11):
a lot when you go to like Mexico or the Dominican or
something like going from theairport it's just yes it's like
yeah it's a lot like where arewe at and then all of a sudden
there's like the gates and thelush yeah it's real protected

SPEAKER_02 (14:23):
and there's there's a there's just like baby alpacas
there's a whole little farm areaof them so we got to and they
had water areas and just there'sjust that was really funny
that's a big deal for themthey're really really proud of
their animals in.

SPEAKER_03 (14:33):
No, so they have these two alpacas on property
that are taken care of.
And so sometimes they'reoutside.
And then this little thing, whenwe came back in that night,
these little baby alpacas, theybrought them inside with their
little sweaters and stuff by thebig fireplace in the lobby.
And they were just waiting foryou to pet them and hang out
with them.
And so every day, every morning,every night when we come back,

(14:56):
just me and we'll go pet thoselittle alpacas and tell them,
hey, like little mascots.
I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 (15:00):
Yeah, that was really cool.

SPEAKER_03 (15:01):
But that night was the night that we had the big

SPEAKER_02 (15:03):
that's our biggest dinner

SPEAKER_03 (15:05):
traditional feast that they made so they took us
out to like a kind of like alittle barbecue picnic type area

SPEAKER_02 (15:11):
oh yeah it had like string lights up and had tables
out and they had heaters for usand a little bar area and a
buffet I mean it was fabulous itwas at the hotel

SPEAKER_03 (15:19):
at the hotel right and then they they dug this big
pit like we didn't watch themdig it it was already pre-dug
but they had this pit that wasalready dug and they had been
cooking stones like big stoneslike maybe the the size of your
head, like pretty big stones.
They've been cooking it for likeeight hours all day long.
And what they did is when we gotthere, they took all the stones

(15:41):
out, they took all the fire andmaterials underneath it that was
heating the stones up.
And then that's what they madethe base plate for the fire and
cooking of the food.
So they put like a tray downwith some aluminum foil covering
it up.
And then they just startedputting different layers of food
down and putting the stones ontop of them.
So they did put like some sortof wash...

(16:02):
over the stones when they werehot before they dumped it on
everything.
But they would take like layerof chicken, a layer of beef, a
layer of potatoes.
They love their potatoes.
That's where potatoes came from,in case you didn't know, is
Peru.

SPEAKER_02 (16:15):
Like every vegetable came from Peru.
Is there telling us differentones?
It was like, where do you thinkthis is from?
It was Peru, always Peru.

SPEAKER_03 (16:21):
Yeah.
So a lot of cuisine culturethere and origin stories for
food.
But so they would just do layerafter layer, put the rocks down
and then they're like, allright.
And then they covered it all up.
They put dirt on top of it.
like on top of this whole tarpto keep all the heat in.
And then they said, this isgoing to cook for like 45
minutes to an hour.
We're going to take you to thistraditional show.
And they put on like a play forus.

(16:42):
It was kind of similar to thewater show that we saw where it
showed the history of Peru andkind of what some of their proud
cultural heritages is.
And that was really interesting.
It's not really our cup of tea,but.

SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Well, it's all in Spanish.
I mean, it's hard to follow agood bit of it, but you can tell
there's just a lot of spiritinvolved and a lot of excitement
for them.
And they're just, Peruvians arevery proud of their culture and
it comes through.
And our guides, of course, wehad one American guide and then
we had one Peruvian guide.
So he was able to tell us whatwas going on and the history of

(17:17):
it all.
And it was really, really coolto see that.
And why don't you tell them whatyou tried, what meat that you
tried that came out of the pit?

SPEAKER_03 (17:24):
Yeah.
So one of the, I don't know ifthey would be a delicacy, but
one of the common foods thatthey ate in Peru is guinea pig.
So they had a whole guinea pig.

SPEAKER_02 (17:34):
It had a face.
Like it had a face when they putit in there.

SPEAKER_03 (17:36):
Yeah.
They put it in there and theycooked it and then they pulled
it out and they're like, youwant to try a guinea pig?
And I said, sure.

SPEAKER_01 (17:41):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (17:41):
And so I ate that and it was, it was different.
I didn't feel like a need to goback for seconds or thirds.
Like I don't think that would bethe primal meat that I choose.

SPEAKER_00 (17:51):
Oh, I don't know how you did that.
Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 (17:53):
He made me try a little bit.
It was real fatty.
It wasn't.
I'm not really a big meat personanyway.
So that was rough.

SPEAKER_00 (18:01):
I was almost going to guess that because I I know
someone who lived in Peru for acouple of years and they said
that

SPEAKER_02 (18:05):
they were offered guinea pig.
It's a whole thing.
I mean, it's on menu everywhere.
You

SPEAKER_03 (18:10):
walk down the street and there's like guinea pigs in
a cage.

SPEAKER_02 (18:12):
Yeah.
It's not

SPEAKER_03 (18:14):
to sell as a pet.

SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
No, it's not a pet.
It is food.

SPEAKER_03 (18:17):
So that was day two.
Again, they had the most amazingbreakfast in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 (18:22):
Yeah, this breakfast wasn't as good as the Lima
breakfast, but it was really,really, really good.
But they had like Peruvian hotchocolate, which was so good.
I got that every morning.
That was so good.
And then the Was it the pancake?
Yeah, they

SPEAKER_03 (18:34):
had pancakes that were amazing.
And again, I didn't realize thisuntil the next to last day that
we were there, but they'rereally better than Cracker
Barrel pancakes, okay?

SPEAKER_02 (18:44):
That's the level.
That's your baseline.

SPEAKER_03 (18:47):
They were really good, though.
But we had that breakfast.
So the next day, that was theday that we took a whitewater
raft trip down the UrabambaRiver.
And Lindsay was a littlenervous, kind of excited.

SPEAKER_02 (18:59):
Yes, because I've never been whitewater rafting,
and I'm not an outdoorsy person.
And I was just, you know, youhear about people just getting
smacked off a raft and gettinghurt, you know, and I was not
trying to get wet.
It was cold.
I have a lot of reservationsabout outdoor activities.
So Peru was already out of mycomfort zone.

SPEAKER_03 (19:14):
Yeah.
But they gave us wetsuits and weeach had, I think there were
like four or five of us in araft and we had like a guide
specifically to us.
We

SPEAKER_02 (19:22):
had water shoes, jackets, helmets.
I mean, they had said, hey, Igot us completely set up.
We didn't have to bring any ofthat.

SPEAKER_03 (19:27):
Yeah.
And I mean, when it comes to theriver, it was not, it wasn't a
very heavy thing.
like fast river.
I've been on, when I wentwhitewater, I couldn't tell you
where I went, but when I've doneit before, it was a little bit
rougher than this.
So this was like an ease intoit.
Like the kids that were therewent with us.
They were like 10 maybe.

SPEAKER_02 (19:43):
Yeah.
Eight to 12 ish.

SPEAKER_03 (19:46):
Yeah.
And they had no issue with themdoing it all.
So it wasn't super, it wasn'tlike dangerous anything and it
was, but it was enough of it togive you that thrill.
But let me tell you, this is oneof my, I think this is one of my
favorite experiences justbecause you're going down this
river at like, I think we're at9,000 feet.
And so you're looking around.
So you're literally in thisvalley going down this river.

(20:08):
And everywhere, both sides thatyou look on, it's just mountains
everywhere.
And it's one of the mostbeautiful scenes that I've just
ever seen, just going down thisriver in the middle of the
valley.
You can see these mountains toboth sides of us, all around us,
just completely surrounded.
And to me, this is where it kindof gives you the awe of how

(20:28):
small that we are in the worldthat God created.
And it's just...
It was just breathtaking.
I can't tell you how amazing itwas just to be in that.
It was pretty profound.

SPEAKER_02 (20:39):
And this is what I think people are talking about
when they say Peru is sobeautiful.
I think that's what it isbecause we also could see a
glacier off in the distance.
And just to see that it wassnow-capped, you know, it was
really neat.
And you'll see just wildlife.
You'll see deer over here orlike there's dogs everywhere.
They're kind of around the area.
But then there's like, there'sjust birds coming.
There are ducks.
I mean, it's just from my firstwhitewater rafting experience,

(21:02):
it's...
It's a pretty high level.
I don't think it's going to besomething that's easily beat for
this because we would kind ofjust go for a little while and
our guide, we had a couple extraguides on this one, but they
would tell us all about this iswhat you're looking at or this
is the farm.
We went by a lot of farmlandsand he'd be like, this is where
they're growing this or that orthe history of Peru.
And then all of a sudden you'relike, okay, let's raft.

(21:22):
Let's go.
We're going down, blah, blah,blah.
And then we'd go, we'd kind ofcoast a little longer and we
learned so much and we got tohave the experience.
So it was about an hour and ahalf.
We real sunny so we had to keepsunscreen on but it was just
kind of out of this world andnobody would fell in there's no
issue but they did give us likea safety training on what
happened what to do if you didfall in

SPEAKER_03 (21:41):
yeah

SPEAKER_02 (21:42):
it was gorgeous

SPEAKER_03 (21:43):
and like the whole way down the river to like our
guide just love talking aboutPeru and we went through like
politics we went throughreligion we went through like
just agriculture there were somany questions that we had and
he was just he was there for itand it was fun just to be able
to talk to him about his homecountry the pride that he had in
it and you know he wasn't afraidto go into like some of the

(22:04):
touchy subjects of apparentlythere's a lot of drama with
their election because it wasclose to election time I guess
every country has that but yeahjust telling us a little bit
about how Peruvian politicsworks get a little politics in
the middle of the whitewaterraft route but but yeah that
water it was freezing cold I gotsoaked

SPEAKER_02 (22:20):
they the boys in the front so we didn't have to get
wet

SPEAKER_03 (22:24):
they had a fun time just I think I got the most
anybody because maybe it'sbecause I run my mouth too much
it was just they if there wasany I to just get me drenched.
He put me in it.
But afterwards, it was amazing.
And you think it's really,really cold and stuff, but
because you're so high up withthe altitude and stuff, like
when you get in the sun, it's abig difference.

(22:45):
And so literally when we got offthe raft and we pulled the raft
up out of the water, there werelike tents set up where we could
go change.
And I just stripped down to myswimsuit and I just laid out on
the grass for a little bitbecause it just felt so amazing.
You know, this is the middle ofwinter or I guess the end of
winter.
And I'm up there like in almostnothing, just soaking in the

(23:05):
sun.
It was, it was a good moment.
And then when we did that, theyhad another, like, this was like
a snack thing.
I don't think it was like afull.

SPEAKER_02 (23:12):
Yeah.
So they, they made sure you atelike frequent intervals because
they, they didn't want to haveany kind of altitude issues.
So after we got back fromwhitewater rafting, there was a
very heavy snacks and it waslike chicken salad sandwiches
and brownies and they had citychicken, hot chocolate.
I mean, they had, it was areally good spread for just food
for us.
They wanted us because we were,it was going to be a little wild

(23:32):
before we ate dinner.
So they wanted us to make surewe had a good, or maybe it was a
while for lunch.
I don't know.
It was a while for lunch.
So they just, I mean, theyreally take care of you to make
sure that you have everythingyou need and that nobody's
looking for food, you know?
And it's not just like a proteinbar.
It's like, it's like a spread offood that the, that the company,
the whitewater rafting people,they just provided.
And it was fabulous.
They had, and then we had like,we were all wearing our

(23:54):
swimsuits under our gear.
So we had, they had places forus to go change and we had a
bathroom and all that kind ofstuff.
So everything is just, I mean,you feel very VIP.
You They're just taking care ofyou.
It's like you just have like ateam of people taking care of
you the whole time.
So it was neat.

SPEAKER_03 (24:08):
So after whitewater rafting, we went to Alantitambo.
I don't know if I said thatright.
Probably not.
Rudy would be ashamed of me.

SPEAKER_02 (24:15):
Rudy was our guide from Peru.
He was fabulous.

SPEAKER_03 (24:17):
Yeah.
But this was one of the ancientIncan temples that they started
to build.
And they actually didn't quitefinish it because the
conquistadors, the Spanish, camebefore they could finish it.
But what's crazy is, you know,they have this In Peru, I think
the picture that you kind ofthink of when you see some of
the Incan ruins and stuff likethat is like the step system

(24:40):
where they, you know, how theydid their farming where they
would build like a bunch ofsteps where they would cut in
because it's in the mountain.
They would cut into the groundand then they would make a layer
maybe 10 feet wide or somethingthat they would grow their crops
on and then they would build itup and then make another layer.
And so you have all these stepseverywhere built up and that's
where they did a lot of theirfarming and stuff.
So they had this big thing thatwe climbed to the very top of.

(25:01):
It

SPEAKER_02 (25:01):
was like 200 120 steps or something.
Yeah.
But they were big.

SPEAKER_03 (25:04):
And it was, I'm going to say, and this was, I
think this got up to maybe10,000.
I

SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
think it was 11.

SPEAKER_03 (25:08):
11,000 feet.
And it was pretty humiliating.
And I felt like I was crazy outof shape, but there was a high
school soccer player with us.
Like that was his thing.
He

SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
was like 15.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (25:19):
He just made the club team go.
Yeah, go Sean.
Yeah, go Sean.
And so he was a little out ofbreath too.
So I looked over, I was like,okay, I'm not this old and
dying.
You

SPEAKER_02 (25:28):
don't realize how much the altitude is going to
affect you.
I mean, so Rudy would take usabout 10 steps and then he would
stop to talk to us and thatwould give us time to catch our
breath so I mean they're verystrategic about how we do it and
it was very much optional youdidn't have to go all the way up
and if you at any point feltkind of blah you could just go
on right back down I mean theyreally took care of you as far
as that because we had peoplethat were I mean we had one man

(25:49):
that was 80 years old and he wasdoing it you know so they really
do make it it's accessible ifyou want to do all the
activities it's definitely

SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
doable

SPEAKER_02 (25:57):
but it's a whole new ball game when you're trying to
climb in that altitude it's just

SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
very different that's very smart of them the,
you know, to take you just a fewsteps at a time, you know, and
mix it in so that you're stillgetting the experience, but
you're not, they're not tryingto take you up a hundred steps
at a time at that altitude andeverybody's passing out.
And

SPEAKER_02 (26:13):
you're learning a lot.
So it's like they're stoppingyou for your own safety, but it
feels like you're just stoppingto learn.
Right.
So it's really well, really welldone.

SPEAKER_03 (26:21):
Yeah.
And so we got to go to the topof that.
And it's, it was like a verystrategic point because at this
mountain that we went to the topof for this, you could see like
three valleys all connectinginto one right there so when
you're talking about like seeinganybody coming or going or being
able to signal each

SPEAKER_01 (26:38):
other

SPEAKER_03 (26:39):
for defense like it was a really strategic point and
then at the top they were goingto build their temple so that
when the sun rose in a certainway you know it would it would
like hit the light on the templea certain way and denote a
special I guess like offering orworship of the gods so that was
kind of cool at the bottom Idon't know if you know this but
I'm famous I was in a play so weput on our own play, Peruvian

(27:04):
play.
Apparently it's a very commonplay that they put on there.

SPEAKER_02 (27:07):
It just explains that like the warrior, it
explains some of the history ofPeru.
So we got to volunteer forroles.
One of the warriors, his namewas Tupac.
So Jacob took on that role as agang, which was very...
I don't

SPEAKER_03 (27:18):
think it was the same Tupac that they...

SPEAKER_02 (27:19):
It's not the same Tupac, but I mean, all of us
understood the reference.
That was really funny.
That was a good bonding momentfor everybody that was playing
in the play.
You know, they try toincorporate youth and they, I
mean, our guides drug a wholebag full of costume up there so
we could change into thecostumes and do this play.
You know, they just do all thethings to make it fun.
And of course, all the kids werein that.
They just needed a couple adultvolunteers.

(27:42):
So that was really cute and fun.

SPEAKER_03 (27:44):
Yeah,

SPEAKER_02 (27:44):
I enjoyed it.
Good work, Jacob.

SPEAKER_03 (27:47):
Famous Peruvian artist, Jacob

SPEAKER_02 (27:49):
Young.
That's

SPEAKER_03 (27:51):
Jacob.
That's Tupac.
So after that was when they...
So the really cool thing aboutthis, again, this is the Disney
difference, and I think wetalked a little bit about it in
Athens or in the Greece trip,when When we went to tour this
place, we went earlier in themorning.
It was still before lunch.
And by the time that we left, Ibet it had doubled in the crowd

(28:12):
intensity.

SPEAKER_02 (28:12):
Oh, yeah.
You're having to wait to go up.

SPEAKER_03 (28:14):
And again, this is what they do.
They know the crowds.
They know when we're supposed togo, which one it matters to go
early or not.
And by the time we were leaving,it was difficult to stay with
our group.
It got so crowded.
But when we first got there, Imean, you could tell there were
people there, but you wouldn'tsay this is a huge tourist
attraction based on the crowdsuntil after we left.
So good job to ABD by getting usthrough there.

(28:35):
And then our bus came and pickedus up and took us down to this
fancy hotel where we had lunch.
Again, I think that was anoutdoor lunch again.

SPEAKER_02 (28:45):
Yeah, most of them were outdoors, which is really,
really neat.

SPEAKER_03 (28:49):
This is where I got introduced to Inca Cola.
So in Peru, they have Inca Cola,which is pretty famous.
And I didn't really know what itwas.
It's yellow.

SPEAKER_02 (28:57):
It's like

SPEAKER_03 (28:58):
bright yellow.

SPEAKER_02 (28:59):
It looks like very dehydrated pee, honestly.
It just has that look.
You know what I'm talking about?
That bright yellow.
It's what color it

SPEAKER_03 (29:07):
is.
Yeah.
So you look at it and you'relike, yeah, I don't know about
that.
But, you know, I was like, allright, I want to finally do it.
And so I got some and it tastesvery similar to like a cream
soda.
It was a really good drink.
I would recommend if you go tryout the Inca Cola.
It's cool.
But they don't really sell itmany places.
So

SPEAKER_02 (29:22):
it's kind of a local thing.
They always make, ABD alwaysmake sure that you can sample
the things that are well knownin the country you're in.
So they would always have stuffbrought in for us, which was
neat

SPEAKER_03 (29:32):
yeah and every one of these little like lunch stops
and stuff not only did they havethat there was always like a
little alcoholic refresher thatyou could grab too so that's fun
to taste a little bit of thelocal drinks and stuff like that

SPEAKER_02 (29:44):
and just a side note too when we were at this place I
mean there are like there arebathrooms there it wasn't like
Greece where we had they carriedmoney for us to go to the
bathroom it was just there'sbetter bathrooms but it was like
it was difficult and they neverhad toilet paper and ABD I mean
they carried toilet paper for usaround like to make sure that we
were able to go to the bathroomand they would show us where to
stop and That's important withthese ruin, the sites that we
went to over the ruins, becauseit takes a while to get through

(30:07):
them if you do them right.
And you need to go to thebathroom at some point, you
know, you need to eat at somepoint.
And they really took care ofevery little detail.
And that kind of reminded me ofGreece, because I remember they
would always stop us at theright place and give us our
money to go to the bathroom.
So that was just a little asideabout how, just how much they
think about ahead of time.

SPEAKER_03 (30:22):
Yeah, that was just really fun because the guides
eat with you, sit with you.
And I mean, I guess we haven'treally talked about how good of
friends at this point we'vealready been.
oh

SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
yeah yeah

SPEAKER_03 (30:33):
at this point like you already know people's names
you already know like a lotabout them because you spent
three or four days with them andit's just

SPEAKER_02 (30:39):
and all your meals you know think about how much
you get to know like we you wantto have lunch it's like you get
to know somebody in an hour butwe're having all of our meals
and doing all of our stuff andriding in the cars and vans and
buses with all these people so

SPEAKER_03 (30:50):
yeah so we made again really good friends let's
see actually just got to go eatlunch with them in California I
guess it was this week

SPEAKER_01 (30:56):
yeah

SPEAKER_03 (30:57):
so reunited a little bit they're trying to get us to
come out to Oregon I don't knowif we're going to commit to that
Lindsay's already sold but I'mstill I would love to see them I
would love to see them but

SPEAKER_02 (31:06):
so yeah that was a fun part funny part of the when
we the very first day there wasa girl her name is Nellie now I
know that now but she was liketaking videos of all the food
and like just you know takingpictures and stuff and we like
we as travel agents we do thatwith everything we eat
everything we touch we'revideoing it or taking pictures
especially you Crystal lookingat you so she was taking videos

(31:26):
of everything and so was I andlike you know I'm very much like
we know everything ABD is goingto take your picture 1,000 times
a day.
So I'm like, I got my haircurled, my makeup on, you know,
she was all like done up.
And I was like, that's my bestfriend.
She's going to be my best friendin Peru.
And it's so true.
Nelly's my new best friend inPeru.
So kind of like we met Melissalast year in Greece and we're
still good friends with her.
Well, now Nelly, I just like,they live in Los Angeles.

(31:48):
So when I was at Disneyland thispast week, I went and met him
for lunch.
You just meet people and you getto know them.
And especially with ones withkids.
I mean, that was a big thing.
This is about the time wherewe're all like, we have to go on
our next ABD together.
We have to all be friendsforever.
you know it's their third orfourth day the middle of the
trip that's when we start sothat's what he's talking about
we start getting all and westart loving everybody you

SPEAKER_03 (32:09):
start getting your inside jokes oh yeah like that
kind of stuff with everybodyit's fun you get to know some of
their personality andcharacteristics so that night we
went back to the hotel fordinner I want to say like one of
the distinctive ones about thisone compared to the Greece trip
is this one was way moreinclusive like there were not
many nights that they're likealright just go out on the town

(32:29):
and here's a couple ofrestaurants that you can go to.

SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
That's because of the city, the way the city is.

SPEAKER_03 (32:34):
Yeah, maybe so.
Maybe that's a lot of it.
But I think this one, like evensouvenirs and everything we
spent outside of what we alreadypaid for was like.

SPEAKER_02 (32:43):
I mean, maybe a couple hundred.
Maybe.
Because everything was inSolace.
So it was the conversion rate.
Like our normal meal, if we get,you know, drink, appetizer,
entree, dessert, it's probably alittle over a hundred for the
two of us, maybe more dependingwhere we are.
It was like$30,$40.
Like it was just a differentcurrency.
And Yeah, all of our meals werepretty much, like in Greece,

(33:04):
yes, there are kind ofdifferences, but Greece, there's
so many restaurants, there's somany things to do, you know, so
they kind of give you a lot offree time to explore.
That way you can tailor it towhat you want to do, which is
great for us.
But with Peru, it was like, weknow exactly what to do and
where to go.
Here's what to do, you know?
So we were together like all thetime.
And even at the same, thisnight, they were just like,
here's, we had, okay, so therewas a special adventures by

(33:25):
Disney menu at the restaurant atthe hotel, which all the food at
the hotel was fabulous, but youcould pick an appetizer, entree,
and dessert.
from this specific menu andeverything we got like we ate
with Nellie and you know herhusband's name is Young because
our last name is Young so thatwas a fun it was meant to be oh
yeah it was fun but we ate withthem we were just like we
messaged we had a whatsapp groupwhere we could all talk to each
other so we just messaged likeyou want to go eat with us and

(33:48):
so we all ordered somethingdifferent to try it and
everything we got was good Imean I don't really good yeah I
think between the four of useverything we got and that was
just the hotel restaurant that'snot always the case with hotel
restaurants that was a reallygood night and we just I mean we
just talked and hung out and ateand just I mean, it was a long
dinner, but it was as long asyou wanted to make it.
And a lot of people went to bedearly just because we had an
early morning.
But, you know, we're alwaystrying to do the most.

(34:08):
So we stayed up late all thetime, all the time.

SPEAKER_03 (34:10):
That was the night that the kids had their movie
night.
So all of the parents got to gohave a nice night.
They did this in Greece as well,where the guys would take the
kids.
They'd have a really fun, like,I think they made pizzas.

SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
Guess what movie they watched in Peru?
I was

SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
going to say, they better have watched Emperor's
New Groove.

SPEAKER_02 (34:27):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
Like in Greece, they watchedHercules.
And then, you know, it wasreally fun.
And all the pins were fromEmperor New Groove, kind of like
they were all from Hercules.
So, you know, you get the pinsat the end.
They were really cool.

SPEAKER_03 (34:39):
So the next morning we woke up and we went to these
ruins called Moray.
And it was, again, it had likethe same sort of like the step
thing that you could see, likethe circles.

SPEAKER_01 (34:50):
For

SPEAKER_03 (34:51):
the agriculture.
that this whole place was agiant agriculture laboratory.
So they would grow because itwas down kind of in the valley.
There's a mountain over there.
And the way they cut out intothis area, they could grow stuff

(35:15):
up high, down low, where it gota lot of sunlight, where it
didn't get a lot of sunlight.
And they said that's what theyused to determine which type of
corn, potato, like whatever cropwould grow better in what kind
of location so that they couldbe like, okay, this works better
at high altitude that this worksbetter with more sunlight and so
they use that to determine whatto grow like where to grow what

(35:36):
crops and so that's fascinatingto have some sort of agriculture
laboratory that long ago but wegot to walk down there see all
of that that was really reallyfascinating that was a little
bit chilly because it was up

SPEAKER_02 (35:47):
in yeah it started getting kind of cold

SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
yeah that was up in the up in the mountains again
really high and but that wasreally fun getting to see all of
that and just see like ancientcultures and how they did their
farming and stuff yeah just howthey thought like oh this is
where we need to grow this typeof potato.
Like, I don't know how theythought about that back then,
but somebody was pretty sharpfiguring it all out.
And then that afternoon we wentto a salt mine, like where they

(36:12):
did all of this local saltthing.
How do you want to say that?

SPEAKER_02 (36:17):
The salt pans.
I mean, they, that's where theymine the salt.
So they had, they had builtthese like salt bath things and
they just like the same thing.
It's not, Jacob kept makingjokes about like OSHA because he
was like, I mean, they justbuild it one on top of the other
and they just put themeverywhere.
And it's like, There's no likeregulation.
It's just like, get it done, youknow?
And it was just neat to see thatbecause you would see people out

(36:37):
there working.
I mean, you see these guys who'slike probably 13 to 14 year old
kids just like popping 120 bagof salt and just popping up the
mountain and dropping it off andcoming back down.
I mean, it's just differentfamilies own different baths or
I guess they're called baths,but they're just kind of like
off the mountain, but they justmine the salt all day.
And then there's booths, likeeach family owns booths that
they sell this different saltand the way that they put the

(36:58):
flavors into it and the way thatthey put the coloring into it.
to it and all that kind ofstuff.
The rain really determines likewhat their crop is going to be
that year.
And it's historically accuratejust because they've perfected
it for so long.
And these salt mines have beenin their families for so long.
So I mean, like that's what youdo and your kids do and their
kids do.
And it's just generationalbusinesses.
And it's just that's really,really cool.

SPEAKER_03 (37:20):
One of the things I thought that they did was was
really fascinating is like shesaid, each like section like and
you say sections because youlook at it and you can see how
it's kind of divided up likeit's a of these are probably
like maybe a small closet sizelike they're not really huge
some of them are a little bitbigger than that but each one of
these little sections offamilies own and what they did

(37:42):
to prevent all these familiesfrom fighting and price gouging
each other is they made thewhole salt mine a corporation
and so they set the prices soobviously if you set like a
booth up that Lindsay's talkingabout for tourism and stuff like
that sure you can set like yourown kind of prices but to the
commercial like selling of thesalt so that That one family
doesn't price gouge and thenthey all suffer because they're

(38:04):
competing in prices.
They set the price per, I guess,kilogram of salt and they sell
that to the corporation and thenthe corporation sells the salt.
So that way nobody's gettingscrewed over because, you know,
Billy down the road is sellinghis salt for 10 cents a kilogram
less than mine.
And so everybody's buying saltfrom him and then there's
infighting among the localcultures.

(38:26):
So they got rid of that andthat's how they solved that.
And I thought that was reallyintelligent way to do things.

SPEAKER_02 (38:31):
and that's that's something we really saw in Peru
like it's not like people aretrying to get a monopoly and
they're not trying to fightabout it you know they're trying
to figure out what'seconomically beneficial for
everyone and that that was justreally it's very different from
America and so it was reallynice to be in that culture and
in that just way of life just tokind of understand it all but I
will say I've got to get a shoutout to Jacob they let us all

(38:52):
pick up 120 pound 120 pound ofsalt like to see if we could
pick it up and I absolutelycould not pick it up but Jacob
just popped that thing right upso he's ready to go to the
mines, you know?

SPEAKER_03 (39:02):
I'm a grown man.
I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (39:04):
Didn't you do something like strength training
in Greece, too?
Oh,

SPEAKER_02 (39:09):
he did the run.
He won the, like, we went to theOlympic Park.
They all raced and he won.
I know, I know.
I'm so lucky to be married tothis man.
Yeah, good job.

SPEAKER_01 (39:20):
He's

SPEAKER_02 (39:21):
killing it in every country.
We're just winning contests leftand right.
I should let the next ABD guysknow.
No,

SPEAKER_03 (39:27):
it's too much pressure, you know?
I'd say I can't win them all,That

SPEAKER_02 (39:32):
was fun for the kids.
Everybody got to try to pick itup.
You know, they always try toincorporate.
You know, you're learning a lot,but they try to make it
interactive and fun.
And that's, you know, everybodydoesn't want to just sit and
learn about history.
I mean, we do, but everybodydoesn't, especially kids.
They really make it fun andinteractive for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 (39:45):
But when you talk about rough jobs, picking up
120-pound bags of sand andwalking them.
Or not sand, sorry.
Picking up 125-pound bags ofsalt and walking them up these
narrow walkways.
It's almost like a balance beam.
It's

SPEAKER_01 (40:00):
so small.
Oh,

SPEAKER_03 (40:00):
yeah.
And taking them to the top ofthe salt mine and then going
back down and doing that anddoing that like 30, 40 times a
day.
And they said they did like, Iwant to say 40 to 60 bags per
day.
And

SPEAKER_02 (40:09):
they're so strong.

SPEAKER_03 (40:10):
Yeah.
Like 15.

SPEAKER_02 (40:11):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (40:12):
So when I talk about like jobs, like people are
complaining about like my jobsucks.
I hate, I'm like, dude, gofreaking carry some salt bags in
a mine and tell me how bad yourjob sucks.

SPEAKER_02 (40:22):
Yeah.
I'm sure they sleep well atnight.
I know, but that's their family.
I mean, they do, that's whatthey do.
So it's just, it's just neat.
We like all, there's just somuch, like we were talking
about, everybody's just so proudof their culture.
And that's nice to be around.
It's really uplifting.

SPEAKER_03 (40:36):
Yeah.
So after the salt mines, we wentback to the hotel and

SPEAKER_02 (40:39):
then

SPEAKER_03 (40:40):
we had a choice.
Do we want to go do some moreactivities or just kind of chill
on our own?
So obviously, Lindsay and Isaid, let's

SPEAKER_02 (40:47):
do it.
Whatever we're doing, we'redoing it.

SPEAKER_03 (40:48):
And so some of us and our friends, we went to the
local food market.

SPEAKER_02 (40:53):
It's like a farmer's market.
I mean, it's like a giantfarmer's market.

SPEAKER_03 (40:56):
Yeah, they built this huge two-story building.
I was like, what did this usedto be?
And they're like, no, this iswhat they built it for.
It was this food market.
And I was like, okay.
And so we got to go to two orthree different stalls where our
guide, he told us about all thedifferent things that they're
selling, how it works, all thatkind of stuff.
It was super fascinating justlistening and seeing all the
different products.
And then at the end of it, hesaid, okay, so tonight for

(41:18):
dinner, this is what we're goingto do.
I'm going to give you each 20solas and then you are going to
go around the market and buyingredients for dinner tonight.

SPEAKER_02 (41:25):
And they called it Mickey money.
So whenever they give us money,they call it, here's some Mickey
money.

SPEAKER_03 (41:30):
Yeah.
I mean,

SPEAKER_02 (41:30):
Little

SPEAKER_03 (41:33):
Disney pet.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (42:00):
kind of neat how every day they're just
purchasing what they need sothat was kind of a cool concept
that's what we're trying to dois purchase what we need for
that meal and kind of showingwhat we're looking for so

SPEAKER_03 (42:09):
and you can like barter and haggle yeah and like
one of the coolest things thathe was talking about is like I
guess their attitude about itand stuff he's they know that
like when they sell you fourpounds of something maybe they
give you five because they havethat built into the price so
that you always feel like you'regetting a little bit extra or if
you come through and they noticelike you get breakfast sandwich

(42:30):
here every day before you go tothe bus stop and you don't get
one that day they're like heywhy are you not getting a
sandwich today and stuff likethat and you're like oh well i
forgot my money at home andthey're like here you can just
have one today and so likethat's some of what they do with
their culture to make sure thatyou i guess keep using them as
they give you a little bit extraand he's like it's all just a
trick because they charge youextra every four sandwiches

(42:51):
you're really paying for fiveit's built into the price but
that's what the way that theyconduct their business to make
everybody feel welcome and makemake them feel like they matter
and they care and it was prettyIt's pretty fascinating that
they use that kind of techniqueand stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (43:03):
And they do care.
I mean, they do.

SPEAKER_03 (43:05):
Yeah, they do care, but everybody's got to make
money.
I'm not trying to say theydon't.
So we got to go around and talkto all the different people.
And we're just like pointing atstuff.
Like, I don't even know whatthis vegetable or spice is.
I'm trying to talk with them inSpanish.
She says I'm good at Spanish.
I'm not.
As compared

SPEAKER_02 (43:21):
to the rest of the people on our trip, Jacob was
the better Spanish speaker.

SPEAKER_03 (43:24):
It's not saying much.
But

SPEAKER_02 (43:26):
we would just hold out some solos and just be like,
what can we get for this amountof money?
So they would like give a pointto stuff and show us.
It was just cool to interact,you know.

SPEAKER_03 (43:34):
Yeah.
And so you could barter andyou're like, no, no, no, five
solas, not seven.
And they'd be like, oh, okay,that's fine.
And so we went through this.
We spent a little bit of timedoing all of that.
And we all just had huge bagsand bags of food because 20
solas went a really long way,especially when you're at the
farmer's market buying rawmaterials.
Like it goes a really long way.
So we all had a ton of food.

(43:55):
And then afterwards, we gatheredup to leave and take all the
food.
And I'm thinking, because wewalked.
all the way from the hotel.
And I'm carrying all thesepotatoes and like, it's a lot.
I'm like, I don't want to walkwith this the rest of the trip
all the way back to the hotel.
And I'm like, I don't know.
I was like, whatever.
And so they're like, hey, wehave to admit, I know that we
should never do this, but welied to you.

(44:16):
And we're like, what is goingon?
They're like, this food isactually not for tonight.
Actually, what we're going to dois there is a lady over here
that walks all the way from thistown that's like maybe a day
away or something like that.
She's not in the best of healthShe's really elderly.
She

SPEAKER_02 (44:32):
has a whole family to take care of.

SPEAKER_03 (44:33):
But she has to walk in there every day to sell what
she can so that she can getenough food to take home and
stuff like that.
And so they told us this storyabout this lady.
And they're like, we're going togive all of this food to her.
And so you got 10 people, like200 solace, which is still not
that much.
I think that's like$50 or$60.

SPEAKER_02 (44:51):
That'll be a good week for her as far as food.

SPEAKER_03 (44:53):
But at least a week's worth of food.

SPEAKER_02 (44:55):
And so she could either sell the food or eat the
food that we bought.
And

SPEAKER_03 (44:58):
we

SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
got to meet her and take photos with her.
and talk to her.
I mean, she didn't speak verygood English, but it was really
humbling just to do that for herbecause our guide, Lauren, who's
our English guide, she had readit in a book, but I mean, I'll
just quote it to her, but shesaid that there's a difference
in being a traveler and atourist.
You know, a tourist is someonewho takes, but a traveler is
someone who gives back.

(45:19):
And so with ABD, they alwayswant to be travelers.
They always want to give back tothe countries that we go to and
to, you know, express theimportance of that.
And so that's something thatwe'll probably take with us into
our next trips You know, justnot to just be consuming the
culture, but also like give alittle bit back from ourselves.
And that's kind of how peopleand that's how that's how we're
going to get to know each other.
And it was a good team buildingexercise because we all got to,

(45:42):
you know, talk to each other andhaggle together and figure out
what would go with what.
And some of us were trying tomake just to get the most
outrageous stuff just to see howthey would cook it together.
So it was just a really coolexperience as far as the market
was.
I'm really glad we chose to gothere instead of relaxing at the
hotel because it was worth it.

SPEAKER_00 (45:58):
But not only were you helping her and her family.
family, you were also boostingthe local economy with your
Mickey money.
I

SPEAKER_02 (46:04):
know.

UNKNOWN (46:04):
Mickey was helping out.
That's amazing.
Yeah, I love that lesson.
Built in.

SPEAKER_00 (46:08):
I liked it a lot.

SPEAKER_03 (46:10):
Yeah, and it just like, out of nowhere, just like
stabbed you in the heart whatwe're doing and helping you be
better people too.
It was...

SPEAKER_02 (46:17):
Everybody was so moved.
It was really, really neat.
And then we got to telleverybody that didn't go, we're
like, it's what we did.
You go to the spa and we'regiving back.
And then we went over to aceramics, it was a studio, and
he's a very famous ceramicsartist in Peru and he's also
sold to like hotels all over theworld we got to meet him and
watch him work on some of hisceramics and pottery and paint

(46:40):
and he would just I mean we justkind of let him stand there and
tell us all about his pieces anddifferent things like that and
how he came over here with hiswife I had Peru with his wife
and they started the businesstogether and that was really
cool we just talked to him thatwas a really short I mean it was
about 30-45 minutes but that wasjust another that was another
one of the optional thing isjust to go meet that ceramics
maker I will say that thePeruvian like the The weaving

(47:01):
and the ceramics, it's notreally my taste.
I have a more modern taste, butit was just really impressive to
see it all.
And a lot of people we were withbought stuff just to have
something to take back.
But I mean, it was just really,really neat.
I will say that's the differencein Greece.
I wanted to buy a lot of thestuff in Greece because a lot of
it was just more my taste.
But the workmanship that goesinto the style in Peru was

(47:25):
really impressive.

SPEAKER_03 (47:25):
So Peru is great for our budget compared

SPEAKER_02 (47:27):
to Greece.
Yeah, it's been a lot less.
about a lot of salt though forlike everybody because it was so
it was all natural and it wasjust really it was just really
good quality salt and that's areally good easy thing to bring
to bring to people becauseeverybody uses salt

SPEAKER_03 (47:41):
and she talks about we bought a lot of salt it was
like ten dollars worth of salt

SPEAKER_02 (47:44):
but we got like ten packs you

SPEAKER_00 (47:46):
know like it was so much a

SPEAKER_03 (47:48):
lot but it was not very much money

SPEAKER_00 (47:49):
yeah I'm guessing the exchange rate was probably a
lot more in your favor in Peruthan it was I think it's like
four

SPEAKER_03 (47:54):
to one almost

SPEAKER_00 (47:55):
yeah

SPEAKER_02 (47:56):
it was really it was really really cool though it was
like when we got back to theairport port in Atlanta we were
like ugh why is this soexpensive

SPEAKER_03 (48:06):
that night we had a fun night after the ceramics and
the day out on the town we wentback and they had their head
bartender teach us how to makepisco sour so pisco is one of
the drinks there that's prettyfamous

SPEAKER_02 (48:18):
that's their like it's originated there and that's
their whole thing

SPEAKER_03 (48:22):
yeah so they talked to us about pisco the different
kinds of pisco and then how tomake an actual pisco sour and
then so he made us all piscosours there It was really good.
I loved it.
I'm a cocktail kind of guy.
They didn't have much bourbonthere in Peru, surprisingly.
So I tried to do a lot of thelocal stuff.
So Pisco Sour was where it was.

(48:42):
We got to do that.
That was pretty fun.
And then they cooked some ofthe, one of their chefs came out
and cooked different localcuisines right there in front of
us.
They made ceviche and somedifferent things right there in
front of us.
And then they got some of us togo out there and cook it as
well.
So that was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 (48:57):
And they explained everything they're making and
they gave you recipes foreverything and just to so we
would understand we would knowhow to make some traditional
peruvian meals but i just haveto take one second to talk about
tiger's milk the tiger's milk isthe marinade that they basically
use to cook the fish and theceviche and they were like does
anybody want to try tiger's milkand obviously we always want to

(49:19):
try everything jacob didn'tbecause he's allergic to seafood
so it's very seafoody but itasted this and this has to be
the most disgusting thing i'veever tasted it was just straight
up like tasted just like fishgoop and And a lot of people
loved it.
They were like, this is so good.
It was like sour and fishy andjust no.
And I will say that they have itat Epcot, the food and wine

(49:40):
festival, or you can try it.
Don't do that.
Do not try it.

SPEAKER_00 (49:44):
So what are, where does it originate?
Like, what is it?

SPEAKER_03 (49:46):
It's literally like when you make ceviche and stuff
like the, the seasoning and thefish after it's all together,
some of the liquid that comesfrom that, it's literally.

SPEAKER_02 (49:55):
It's like the liquid in the ceviche.
And people are like, this is sorefreshing.
I was like, I'm going to, it's,I kept being like, I feel like
I'm making out with a fish.
This is terrible.
And it's called like TigrisDeleche or something like that.
And it's just absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 (50:08):
It looks like milk because of like the, I guess how
it is, the white coloring frombetween the fish and the
different spices and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (50:16):
Yeah, don't eat that by yourself.
Just don't do it.
And the kids all went andlearned how to make pizzas.
So they were like throwing thepizzas up and like to put them
all together.
So whenever we had dinner, wecould eat what we cooked or we
could have pizza from the otherside because they brought us all
back together to eat.
So that was cool that Like, wegot to be part of the
demonstration, but then the kidsgot to come back.
And we had made really goodfriends with a lot of the kids,
too.
So we were happy to see them.

(50:36):
We had our friends, Seth andRebecca.
They have two kids, Ben andAlice.
And Alice was 10.
And she was, like, that kidwho's down for whatever.
You know, she's best friendswith everybody.
She's running around crazy.
She's so happy.
And she made this—we had severalof us.
She made us into a girl band.
She named it ABD, but it wasAlice's Band Divas.
So, like, the whole time we hadto take pictures of, like, our

(50:58):
band, like, our band outfits.
album covers it was really itwas like her mom Rebecca and
then me and Nellie and her andwe were like singing songs going
around to different places soshe was all hyped up from her
pizza making so we were justplaying and having a good time
after that and then we wentafter that to play a game it's
called Zappo and it's like it'skind of like if you like throw
these coins into these likethese different holes it's kind

(51:21):
of like I mean it's similar likebeer pong honestly I was going
to say is it beer pong yeah it'sa

SPEAKER_01 (51:26):
drinking game

SPEAKER_02 (51:27):
yeah there's like a frog you like try to get into
the frog's mouth so there wasone hour hotel and we had played
it earlier in the day so thatwas really fun just to go just
to go play and hang out withsome of our friends and that was
how we ended the night and to behonest it was only like 9 30 but
we were all like okay it's timeto go to bed you know we were
going to bed earlier because wewere getting up early to do
everything

SPEAKER_03 (51:44):
yeah the next day was you know big day the big day
we went to machu picchu so wehad to go to bed a little bit
early

SPEAKER_00 (51:51):
hey everyone crystal here sorry to leave you on the
edge of your seat for machupicchu but this episode was just
getting kind of long there wastwo Too many good things.
We didn't want to cut it down.
So hang with us and we're goingto do a part two, but you don't
have to wait until next week.
It'll just be a day or two.
With that, we're going to wrapup this episode and we'll be

(52:12):
back with part two soon.
Thanks for tuning in to anotherepisode of Wonderlust and
Wishes.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe and
leave us a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.

(52:35):
And remember, the world is fullof wonders waiting to be
explored.
Until next time, happy travels.
Bye for now.