Before catching our flight to Lima, we took some time to set goals for the trip. Out of this conversation came the following hopes. More to come tomorrow from Peru!
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"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Lao Tzu
Today after a long journey, we finally arrived in Peru. In Cusco, Peru we met with one of our guides, Johan. He gave us a quick tour of Cusco and then we had lunch in Urubamba and met up with our other guides, Javier and Adela. Urubamba is the neighboring town of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is the town we will spend most of out time in and where our host families reside. We arrived at our host community at mid afternoon and rested. Everyone then gathered in the yard to do team building exercises. For dinner, we ate at a local Peruvian restaurant and all tried Inka Coke. With our stomachs full, we lay in our beds excited for the journeys soon to come! Saludos, Kate and Rhys Today we visited the archaeological site of Ollantaytambo, met our host families, and participated in a Despacho ceremony with a local Quechua shaman. This evening, after gathering together as a group for our daily ANCHOR meeting, students were so excited to get back to their host families we ran out of time to have a student-led blog before dinner. Students will return as Bloggers tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy these photos from today!
Saludos, Matt and Kate This morning we woke up and had breakfast with our host family. For examples, some of us had banana pancakes and others had an egg sandwich. After spending part of the morning with our host families, we met as a group to start our journey for the day. Our first stop was the Awamaki Weaving Cooperative. At Awamaki we learned about women empowerment and fair trade. Then we went home and had lunch with our host families. Some of us had soup, eggs and rice, beef and rice, or chicken and rice. We found out that lunch is the biggest meal of the day and the families serve you lots and lots of food. After lunch we came together again and visited Sacred Valley Health. At sacred valley we learned that communication is important and that access to health care is empowerment. We also had some free time where we shopped in the plaza. We bought flutes that are hand made, bracelets, necklaces, scarfs, and other unique things. Then the bloggers had hot chocolate and wrote about they day. At the end of the day we went home to have dinner, showers, and head to bed.
Ps. Some of us got to watch the Super Bowl last night and it was very very boring and the Rams should have won. Saludos, Javi, Lucca and Rhys Today we had the opportunity to work with our two NGOs: Awamaki and Ayni Wasi. Kate, Margaret, Eddie and Rhys went to work with Awamaki. We had extra time before we met with Awamaki so we went on a short hike to the ruins. We learned that the Incans placed the bricks in a specific way to let temperatures change throughout the building, acting as a 1,000 year old refrigerator. Meanwhile, at Ayni Wasi, we learned how to fix different injuries. We learned how to stabilize someone with a c-spine injury, we learned how to stabilize different fractures, different ways to carry people, and we learned about high altitude sickness, hypothermia, hyperthermia, and being struck by lightning. We were taught by Quechua women who are trained as wilderness safety leaders in their communities. Then we joined back together to eat lunch with our homestays. After lunch we went back to our NGO’S. At Awamaki we helped finish an advertising sign. To make the sign we had to trace their logo at the top and write the rest underneath it in both English and Spanish. At Ayni Wasi we practiced our learning into action by going to to some ruins, and acting out different wilderness rescue scenarios. In the evening, both groups met back up to play an intense game of soccer at the local high school field.
Tonight we are looking forward to having dinner with our homestays and then tomorrow we are going hiking and camping near Patacancha. We may not be able to update the blog until we get back on Thursday. Saludos, Emily and Margaret We have had a busy 2 days! Yesterday we visited Patacancha, a small Andean village located high in the mountains (over 14,000 feet!). When we arrived, the locals greeted us with flowers, traditional dress costumes, and dancing! Next, they showed us how they spun sheep and alpaca wool into yarn. They also showed us the various dies that they use to color the yarn. Next, they gave us lessons on weaving and showed us how to create our own bracelets! Afterwards, we had a sopa de quinoa, y pollo con verduras. After lunch, we descended the mountain and hiked up to our camping spot at Pumamarka. The ruins at Pumamarka actually predate the Inca empire! We had a snack with a group of llamas at the ruins and looked at the amazing view across the valley. After that, we went to our camp site and played games before dinner. We found out that Peruvian games typically involve getting hurt! After surviving the games, we sat down for yet another variation of soup, chicken, and rice. After dinner we laid down around the campfire and stared up at thousands of amazing stars. It rained during the night, but luckily we stayed pretty dry in our tents. The next morning, we had breakfast, packed up our tents, and started the hike down to Ollantaytambo. Along the way we passed more ruins, amazing views, and the occasional pig or cow. After a couple of hours, we arrived back in town and spent the afternoon with our home-stays. Tomorrow, we will go on an exciting journey to Machu Picchu, one of the 7 old wonders of the world!
Saludos, Eddie and Trevor Today we had an incredible day! After eating breakfast with our host families, we met in the park in Ollantaytambo and walked to the train. We took the train called Inka Rail for about an hour and a half to Aguas Caliente. The train had windows on the roof and it followed a river through the jungle. After the train we had to take a bus up a long road that led almost to the top of the mountain. Finally we were in Machu Picchu! I noticed that Machu Picchu was very well preserved compared to all the other ruins. It was an incredible location and its is indeed as amazing as it looks on pictures. We had an amazing tour, it was so much fun. It's incredible the size of the rocks that they had to carry up to build the city!! After we stamped our passports with the Manchu Picchu stamp, we went down to town where we had dinner. It was a delicious buffet. We had trout, chicken, pork, pasta, quinoa and the most delicious jello for dessert. After dinner we had time to explore the market. Finally we boarded the train to come back to Ollantaytambo. After a long day, we are all so tired, but we saw one of the 7 wonders of the world!
Tomorrow we leave and I am very sad because it has been so much fun here in Peru! Saludos, Cami and Diego Today was our last day in Ollantaytambo. The morning started with waking up at whatever time we wanted, and then we ate our last breakfast with our homestays and packed up. Then we took our belongings and homestay parents to the Full Moon Lodge (the hotel we stayed at on our first day in town). We eventually all got there with our homestay families, and after a few pictures, we all stood around in a circle. We shared our thoughts and appreciations both in Spanish and English. Then, we sat around a table while food was being brought out. Pork, chicken, Cuy (guinea pig!), salads, and other foods were set down on the table. We sat around with our homestay families and ate and talked. It was nice seeing everyone getting in their final conversations with their homestays. After we were finished, we all said our final goodbyes to our homestay families and then gathered in the hotel. We went over our final ANCHOR. As we got into the van to transport to the airport, you could tell we were all going to miss Peru. We said goodbye to Adela and started off to the airport. When we got there (after a long argument on whether swimming was a real sport or not) we said goodbye to our wonderful guides, Javier and Johan. We entered the airport, checked our bags, and left for home.
Saludos, Riley and Henry |