Election Night in Peru

Most of you know by now that Tito and I are Obama-Biden supporters so I just wanted to take a few moments out to celebrate on this blog the amazing victory we were able to watch on election night.

We scheduled a tour to Machu Picchu back in September and so we started that tour November 2nd with 9 other amazing people. Most of our new friends were from the states, but we also met two Aussie´s and a friend from England. We carefully skirted around the issue of politics on our trek and soon found that we were all Obama supporters and started sharing stories and tales and comments on how the election campaigns were going and also how the state of the US is and has been affecting all of our lives and those around us.

We camped the first two nights after walking through the countryside of the Sacred Valley of the Incas and meeting local children and families. Amazing people who live off the land, the three rules they live by are 1. Don´t Lie 2. Don´t Steal and 3. Don´t be Lazy. Kids walk 2 hours to and from school, learn two languages Quechua and Spanish, and help with the potato farming and textile making. Such a different life than the one we all lead! The third night we were scheduled to stay in a hostel which just happened to be election night. And then the 5th we would get up early to take the train to Machu Picchu. (we´ll do pictures later)

Our hostel happened to have CNN International and so we were able to watch the entire thing! As I sat there next to Tito, we were surrounded by other interested people from the Netherlands, Spain, England, Australia, and Peru - truly a worldwide crowd... lots of questions about the states, how the election works, laughing at the ¨Voter Alerts¨ and bells and whistles that CNN kept showing. Everyone was curious to see if Americans would vote for who they felt would be the best candidate. The world, it seemed was hoping for Obama. People are interested because we have an impact on the world stage. The economy is affecting every person we have met from all different countries. And, WOW, I finally felt PROUD of our country and most of all I was excited and INSPIRED and HOPEFUL instead of hopeless. At 11 PM Peruvian time, we saw the projection and by the time my head hit the pillow at 12 AM I was also able to hear both McCain and Obama´s speeches. Both very good, McCain is truly an honorable man. Obama is truly an inspiring leader.

The other interesting thing that happened was that there was a Strike in Peru the same day of the election. In this amazing country, the farmers are losing their rights and the government has not been listening to them. Setting up road blocks to Machu Picchu was a way they could stand in solidarity against those taking their rights. It only lasted 24 hours, and hopefully their voices were heard. We are truly lucky to be from the United States and we love the freedom we are able to have, we both value that deeply. It was even more apparent on that, the eve of a new type of leadership for our country.

We met an older gentleman from Colorado the following morning at breakfast and he hadn´t heard the news. When we told him, he got a big grin across his face and said, now when I am here in another country I can walk with my head tall again! The spirits of our group of 12 people were very high! On top of this amazing change for our country we were also headed to MACHU PICCHU! It was truly an amazing day...

For those of you who are as excited as we are about this change, WE DID IT let´s celebrate! And for those who aren´t as excited about the prospects of this change, I implore you to keep an open mind and continue to voice your opinions so we can all work together to make some positive changes in our country and in this world.

The climate of Peru and the travelers we have come across is so strong we are excited about coming home in March... we have got a lot of work to do! Ahhhh, we can finally relax and spend less time focusing on politics. And you all know, regardless of any differences in our politics, we love all of you ;)

I just wanted to add, that we just found out that on this election night, we lost an amazing woman named Michelle Kamerzel. Mrs. Kamerzel was a close friend of my family and the mother of my dear friend Brian. Mrs. Kamerzel was a teacher in our hometown, a kind and generous woman and we will miss her greatly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brian and his family in this tough time.