After blissfully sleeping in our beds (or sleeping bags) everyone woke up at around 8:00pm and then left for breakfast. Like most Peruvian meals, this one was multiple courses and many exotic foods. One of these was a fruit that had a shell similar to that of an egg which's insides resembled a passionfruit whose seeds were replaced by tadpoles. Yet despite this it tasted very sweet and really good on yogurt. After the meal, we then completed some leadership activities, one where we all very unsuccessfully attempted jump-roping at the same time using the same rope. left for the Olantaytambo ruins where a native tour guide lead us through the mountainous ruins that were around the community. However, we quickly shamed ourselves as we couldn't walk up the stairs through the ruins for not even a minute without running out of breath forcing us to stop at almost every sledge of the ruins. But to be fair, the stairs were unusually tall; which was surprising considering that the Incas were known to be small. During this time, we learned many things about the Incan culture and their daily lives before the Spaniards invaded. While the ruins were very high off the ground, thankfully everyone survived to make into the plaza where we converted dollars to soles and then after had lunch at a local restaurant. We then proceeded to take a short break and then talked about being leaders for an hour or so. After this we then left to experience a religious ceremony of the Inca. On the walk, we met a street dog who we named Cleo who followed us the entire time and even participated for some time in the ceremony. We also were introduced to a parasite that lived in cactuses which had valuable purple blood that was used in many dyes... or also as warpaint or even temporary hair dye. In the ceremony, many foods and items were buried in a hole in the earth along with wine representing males and fermented corn juice (I think that's what it was) for the females. They stated that Incans believed that men and women were equal which is why all the women and men would both pour their respective liquids into the hole. We also pasted together four leaves using llama fat and then remembered our ancestors and then put that also in the hole. This ceremony was primarily to honor the Earth and also our ancestors. The ceremony ended with everyone hugging each other and then the hole being covered up. After the ceremony, during our walk back Cleo returned to us and proceeded to try and bravely attempted to sacrifice his life for us to protect from a taxi (we weren't even in the road or close to the taxi). Thankfully Cleo wasn't hit by the car and we were able to continue our walk where we went to the same restaurant, that we ate lunch at. However, this time they served us Peruvian pizza which had onions and tomatoes on it. Lots of chugging tea and sugar commenced before we left and returned to the hotel. Also on the way back we saw Cleo but he had basically forgotten who we were and immediately left after we walked past a vendor.
-Written by: Spencer
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The morning began at midnight, with the gang surviving a potentially harrowing flight in which a bird got shredded into the turbine, causing a two hour delay before we took off. After escaping unscathed, we were ravenously hungry, however we believed all of the airport restaurants to be closed, because some random guy told us they closed at 10:30. LIAR!! So, we all flocked to the nearest source of food; Hudson News Stand, and feasted on the delicious treats it had to offer, including beef jerky, Pringles, and chocolate. However, after we had bought everything, we saw an OPEN Dunkin Donuts. It had breakfast sandwiches served all day, and tempting coffee. (We refrained). We boarded the plane to Lima at promptly 1:30 in the morning. The flight was very long, but most of us slept. They even served us meals at 4:00! Our flight to Cuzco went smoothly, and we were greeted immediately by our dear friends, Johan and Adela. They were lovely people, and we took a bus to a beautiful courtyard buffet in the largest city in the sacred Incan valley. And it was AMAZING. At the end of lunch, we were treated to a Peruvian national drink made from purple corn, Chicha Morada. Everyone was blown away by its superior flavour and texture. After our meal, we got to meet an alpaca named Paco and a llama named Bebido. They were kind creatures, and we took several humorous photos with them. A short while later, we arrived at The Full Moon Hotel in Ollantaytambo, a cozy, peaceful lodge surrounded by terraced cliffs and Incan ruins. There were even some friendly neighborhood dogs to welcome us, but of course we refrained from petting them. The beds were a gorgeous sight after our long travel day, but we did not stop to rest. We played some icebreaker bonding games, including a Hula Hoop game that we had some difficulties with. We then proceeded to write down our fears and concerns for the trip as well as goals and values. We focused on ways to prevent the concerns from happening. By the time that was over, it was time for dinner, and we retreated to a fabulous restaurant in the heart of town, where many of us tried our first alpaca (Sorry, Paco). After a hot glass of mint tea to wash our meal down, we headed back home to recap the day and talk about the excitement to come.
Written by Maeve and Genevieve :) |