Returning to our hotel near Machu Picchu,  we had the opportunity to watch demonstrations on how to make pisco sours and ceviche.

Pisco is the national drink of Peru.  It is a type of brandy and must be made in one of five Peruvian cities to be “official.”

The pisco sour recipe is: 3 oz of pisco, 1 oz simple syrup, 1 egg white, 1 oz lime juice. Pour over ice cubes and shake for one minute. Add drops of bitters 

We also had a cooking demonstration for ceviche – a  classic dish in Peru.  As there is no chance I will ever make a raw fish dish, I didn’t write down the recipe!  Randy can order it in a restaurant if it sounds good to him!

We both tried the ceviche and it was good, but I am still not planning to ever make it.

We had lunch at the hotel before leaving.  I asked about the butter because, each time we had been served butter, it tasted very different than I expected.  I was wondering if it was made from a different milk source.  The difference was that they added passion fruit.  To me, and our friend Annie, it tasted so horrible that we talked about that butter for the rest of the trip!

We had a return train ride down the mountain.  It was so loud that it was the low point of the entire trip for several of us.  It was was loud because it is a train and most people were joyfully chatting over other people chatting about our time in Machu Picchu. Oh, and the adjacent car had a private band playing. I don’t tolerate loud anything very well – says the former kindergarten teacher!   Randy loaned me his noise canceling earbuds to diminish as much as possible.  Our friend Gary put in ear plugs for the duration. I will follow his example going forward and always carry ear plugs with me!  

The train ride was followed by a much quieter bus ride back to Cusco.

Our accommodation in Cusco was a historic hotel. The Palacio Del Inka  was built by the Inca and occupied over time by Incan and Spanish aristocracy.   The hotel offered a tour which I intended to take, but in the end, didn’t work out.

At this point, we had to decide if we were going to begin taking our medication to prevent malaria infection when we were in the Amazon.  Protocol is to to take the pills before, during and after potential exposure.

Over the course of the last few days, whether people were going to take malaria meds or not had come up in numerous conversations. The retired pharmacist in our group had opted not to take them. It seemed it was split about 50-50.  Enrique said that was typical.

Randy and I had watched a Nova presentation on malaria as part of our trip preparation.  We learned: 

Malaria, bourn by mosquitos, is the biggest killer of humanity.  There are 2090 species of mosquitos but much fewer transmit malaria.  It was once considered a tropical disease but is now world wide.  

The American Revolution was impacted by malaria and eight US presidents had malaria including George Washington. 

The use of DDT destroyed mosquito populations, and in 1951 the US was declared malaria free.

Malaria became a poor country, po0r people’s disease.  There are 200,000,000 cases world wide each year with 600,000 deaths annually.   Eighty percent of the deaths are children under five.

Bed netting treated with insecticide is the most used tool to avoid malaria, but that strategy is losing effectiveness.

An effective vaccine has been elusive and 142 attempts have been made.  Malaria is a very complex parasite. 

The University of Oxford – a premier institution for developing vaccines including Covid 19, has spent 13 years working on a vaccine called R-21. Its intention is to promote antibodies attacking malaria parasites.

Most vaccines in the world are made in Pune, India. An Indian family business took Oxford’s vaccine into trial status giving it to children in Africa. It showed  77 percent efficacy. In 2022, the vaccine went into large scale trials, with 500,000 children,  and the results are promising.

Since the medical recommendation we received was to take the medication, we did, for a while.

We took our malaria pill on September 19, 2024.

Next Up: Our day in Cusco