Peru Summer 2018

June 9, 2018 I got to celebrate my birthday the best way possible: hiking up a mountain to see an incredible lake. The other girls and I woke up at 4 to get on a bus for Laguna Humantay. The bus was supposed to pick us up from a spot near our homestay, but after it never showed up. Jess called the guy we booked the tour through and he got a taxi to take us to the bus. While we were waiting, the alarm in the grocery store we were standing next to started going off. We were the only ones standing anywhere near it since it was so early in the morning, so we scooted over to the other side of the street. I promise we didn't do it (whatever it was). The bus ride was about 3 hours long, the last hour of which we were on a tiny, bumpy dirt road that hugged the edge of some cliffs. Those roads don't really bother anymore. I've gotten good at blindly trusting whatever stranger is driving our bus or taxi. When we arrived at the base of the trail, we had breakfast in the small ...

Raqchi June 4-8, 2018 Not much went on this week other than class and homework and the usual stuff. I did go on two field trips though, one to an Incan site called Raqchi and the other two the San Francisco Convent. At the convent, we went at night and were able to see the catacombs. The building flooded a while back, so the original bodies weren't in there, but they did put some of the washed up bones back in there. There was a cool inscription on the entrance "Lo que eres, fui. Lo que soy, serás" which means "What you are, I was. What I am, you will be." I don't know why, but I really liked that. We also got to see the coolest library I have ever witnessed (couldn't find any pictures since it was just opened recently). It was super old. The books were from around the 15th and 16th century if I remember correctly. In the building, we also saw what was apparently the 3rd largest painting in the world. It took up a whole wall. I wasn't able to t...

June 3, 2018 Machuuuuu Picchuuuuu. I was so excited I didn’t even mind waking up at 5 to get in line for the bus up the mountain. So far in Peru, the weather had been perfect. Every day had been sunny and in the 60s, so I guess that caught up with us on this day. It rained. All day. We intended to get to Machu Picchu early enough to see the sunrise, but it was so foggy you could hardly see past a few feet in front of you. Despite the weather and less-than-perfect view, Machu Picchu was incredible. Even now (and I’m writing this like 10 days later), it hasn’t hit me that I got to see THE Machu Picchu, one of the wonders of the world. Like wow. I feel so lucky. The bus ride took about 20 minutes. It was on a small winding road up a mountain with huge drop offs and not enough room for two cars to pass each other. Anyway, we made it there alive. The ticket for Machu Picchu allows for two entrances in one day. For our first entrance, we had a tour guide to show us around. For our s...

Ollantaytambo June 2, 2018 On Saturday, we visited Pisaq and Ollantaytambo, two Incan cities, on our way to Machu Picchu. A small bus picked up all the students at our homestays early in the morning and then we headed to Pisaq, which is about an hour outside of Cusco. We spent about two hours there, then ate lunch in Urubamba (I was so excited to get to go back there - Urubamba is my favorite town), then headed to Ollantaytambo, where we spent another two hours. Sacred Valley Sacred Valley Pisaq. We hiked to the top where the ruins are.  Pisaq Pisaq Pisaq Pisaq We made a stop at a market in one of the cities in the Sacred Valley. Mostly handmade stuff. A bunch of these birds were at the restaurant we ate at. I realized after I saw one here that I had kind of thought they were a myth, like a unicorn.  Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo Ollantatambo Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo ...