Dias 14 y 15 y 16 y 17

It's been a while so here's a recap of the past week:

Thursday: Woke up, went to school, came back, volunteered, came back, did homework, went to sleep.

Friday: Woke up, went to school, came back, volunteered, came back, did homework, went to sleep.

Saturday:

On Saturday (07.24.10) We got up mad early to go look at more rocks. First we stopped at Pikillacta, which started when we found out that these:



giant rock figures that used to be part of a giant canal system. We apparently weren't supposed to be climbing on these, but we did anyway, and I got this:



which is a shot of the canal on the top of whatever it was.



Pikillacta is the location of the ruins of a Pre-Incan empire known as the Wari Empire.



I was really bored and felt really sick here, so it was a definite snoozefest. After way too much time there, we left for:



Tipon is another arqueological site that is famous for its fountains and typical Incan architecture.



While we were here, we arranged to have some time with:



a shaman who did a special ceremony for us and told our futures. There was a lot of coca leaves, weird smelling oil, and a few playing cards. I got a Jack of Clubs, and he asked me if anyone had said goodbye to me and that they loved me, and I said yes. And then he went on to someone else. I'm not really sure what that means, so I'll just take it as a sign of good things to come.

Afterwards we went to lunch at La Hacienda de Tio Juan, where Tio Juan actually came riding up the hill on his black horse and gave everyone shots of anise liquor. There was also a trampoline, hammocks, and a volleyball net, which is the equivalence of Peruvian heaven.

We had the option of getting our fortunes told by another shaman, but I headed back to the hostal instead and got some rest.

Sunday: our FREE day

Sunday was the first free day we had since we've been in Peru. Basically, I slept in, then went shopping. It was a great day.

More blah blah to blah,

Victoria

Dias 11 y 12 y 13

On Monday (07.19.10) I began my volunteer work at the Clinic. In Peru a clinica is essentially a private hospital, while a hospital is a public hospital. We had the options of working in the clinic, the girls' school next door, or around the clinic doing maintenance or cooking or other stuff. I decided to work at the clinic, because I would get to work with children with physical and mental handicaps. When you walk into the clinic, there's the pharmacy to the left, and then some other stuff on the right that I wasn't paying attention to because the floors are really slippery. You walk through the clinic and down a ramp into the children's ward.

I asked how many children lived at the clinic, and one of the nurses said that there were forty children. Almost all of these children are confined to wheelchairs; a good majority of them have mental disabilities as well. Most of their parents don't visit, because in Peru, having a disability is considered socially unacceptable.

Our job as volunteers is basically to play with the children until 4:00 PM, which is their dinner time. On Monday, I took a little girl named Mayelin outside, and we played with a pelotita (small ball; it was a ball that you would ordinarily find in a ball pit) for two hours. She couldn't get enough of throwing it and then chasing it in her wheelchair. Then we picked some flowers (which technically we weren't supposed to do, but who is going to tell this three year old child that she can't have the yellow flower), and picked off all of the petals.

There aren't enough nurses to help all of the children, and even though there are about eight volunteers there, the ratio of helpers to children isn't enough to give each child the attention he needs. Most of them stay inside, while the lucky few are taken outside for a few hours by some strange American kids.

During dinner time, all of the children crowd around tables and eat. Most of them need help eating, so it takes a while for everyone to get fed. Afterwards, around five, everyone is put to bed.

It's hard to believe that most of these children don't know or see their parents. They live in this place with forty other kids that they may or may not like, eating food they may or may not like, and only knowing the nurses that take care of them but can't possibly give them the attention they deserve, to no fault of their own.

It was difficult the first day to get acquainted with their schedule and rules and customs. But I was looking forward to go back the next day.

However, a monster virus hit our entire hostal, including me and my roommate. My poor roommate was sick all night, but I didn't get hit until the morning. I went to school for an hour and then came back and slept almost all day. There were six other people in our hostal who were sick and a few others in the other hostal. Luckily most people are feeling better today, but I missed out on three hours of volunteer service that I need to make up later.

Today was much better for most people. Class was fine, and then I went to volunteer at the clinic again. Today I worked with a little girl named Nazareth, who couldn't walk, but decided it would be great fun to collect all of the broken balls in the park and put them all together, while I carried her to and from the designated ball area. We did this for almost two hours, and then it was time for dinner.

She really liked my dinosaur bracelets that I was wearing, so I gave them to her and told her she could keep them para siempre. She told me that I was her amiga, and then she blew me a kiss. Tomorrow I'll be wearing my hippopotamus bracelet, just in case she likes that one too.

I haven't done any sightseeing or taken many photos in the past few days, so here's an alpaca for your time:



More entries to come,

Victoria

Dias 9 y 10

As a first piece of good news, I found one outlet and one position for my computer that will allow it to charge and be happy. I can't move it for the next three weeks, but I think I'll make that sacrifice.


On Saturday (07.17.10) we all woke up to leave the hostal at 8:45 AM for a city tour. We first stopped at Qorikancha, which means Temple of the Sun. In its prime, it was the most important temple in the Incan Empire. The church of Santo Domingo was built on top of the ruins after the Spanish conquered the Incans. Now it is a museum and beneath the lawn in front of it is an arqueological site.



This is a view from La Av. del Sol. When you walk inside, there are displays explaining the historical aspects of the Incan temple, while there are giant oil paintings describing biblical scenes. There's also a large:



courtyard in the middle. When you walk out to the balcony, it overlooks the whole city.



And here's a group picture. We're all pretty cute.



Afterwards, we took a tour of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo in La Plaza de Armas. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but the outside is pretty nice:



The Cathedral was built on top of an Incan palace that the Spanish destroyed when they arrived in Cusco in the 16th century. Inside there are some amazing altars and artwork, but photography was strictly prohibida, so I'll leave that up to your imagination.

Afterwards, we took a bus up the mountain to



Saqsaywaman.

Saqsaywaman is an arqueological site with ruins that date back to between 900 and 1200 AD. They are thought to be built by the Killke people, who occupied Cusco before the Inca people.

When you climb up:



the ruins, you can get a pretty amazing view of the city:



On the other side of the giant field of ruins, there are these giant rocks that are smooth enough to:



slide down. This little kid really had the hang of it, because he kept licking his palms to help slow himself down, and he was really flying (face first into gravel at the bottom).

Also at Saqsaywaman are these complex underground tunnels that are pitch black, really tight, and have jagged rock walls. They connect to other sites around Cusco.

Afterwards we went to Qenqo, another arqueological site that is though to have been an cerememonial ampitheater. You can walk through the stones like hallways.



It rained a little while we were there, and we were all really exhausted, so we didn't spend a huge amount of time there.

Instead, we headed off to Tampumachay, a where there was the ceremonial worshipping of water.



We basically walked up a giant hill to these stone aqueducts and canals. At this point all we wanted to do was go home and eat lunch, so we got back on the bus and headed back toward the hostal around 1:30 or 2:00 PM.

The next day, we woke up bright and early to head to the Pisac ruins (in Pisac), which is located in the Sacred Valley along the Urubamba River. Along the way, we stopped at a llama farm, where we saw:



real llamas/alpacas and:



fake llamas/alpacas.

They told us the difference between the two, but it was in Spanish so I didn't really get it, and was more importantly feeding the giant monsters.

Then we drove to the ruins where we first saw:



the terraces.

These terraces were designed to be used to grow a variety of different crops at different altitudes. The heartier crops were on the higher terraces in the colder weather, and other crops were near the bottom in the warmer temperatures.

Then we climbed up the hillside through the ruins.



We didn't have too much time there, because we had to go to the GREATEST RESTAURANT EVER. It was a tourist restaurant in the middle of no where; an oasis in the Andes if you will. The food in Peru can pretty much be boiled down to rice, potatoes, and corn. If you're looking for a salad, this isn't the place to find it. While all of the food here is delicious, it was fabulous to be able to get fresh green vegetables and really great salmon that wasn't fried.

After eating as much as we possibly could, we headed off to Ollantaytambo.



Ollantaytambo was once a the estate of an Incan emperor, and is now a famous arqueological site. When you arrive, you have to walk up:



levels and levels of terraces.

When you walk to the top of them, you can turn around and look out towards:



the town and surrounding mountains. One of the mountains has:



a face(profile) carved into it. This is the face of Viracocha, the most important Incan god, creator of all. He looks out over the ruins.

Once we got to the top of the terraces, we walked along the mountain to the other side and back down to the ground.



Because of some awful bus traffic, we couldn't leave Ollantaytambo. Instead, we checked out a house that makes chicha, a corn beverage, this time alcoholic. It was pretty gross. Then because we still couldn't leave, we went down to the river. Then when our bus was finally able to come get us, we cheered at all the tourist buses until we were picked up and left for back home.

All I all, the Incas really liked to stack big rocks on top of even bigger rocks. If you can't get enough of that, this is the place to be.

More entries to come,

Victoria

Quick Announcement

Dear Mom,

I've been trying to communicate with you for a couple days, but I've been having some problems.

1. I cannot send emails from MSN anymore. MSN won't even let me sign into the browser, so I've been using Internet Explorer when I can.
2. I can't get onto Facebook to send you any emails in facebook form, because it won't load past my homepage. It's been hit or miss at best, so I've been taking what I can.
3. My AC adapter is broken, and my computer won't charge or recognize that my charger is even plugged into my computer.
4. I only have 42 minutes of battery left on my laptop from trying to troubleshoot and find solutions, so this may be the last time I can communicate.
5. If I can fix all these things, I'll send you an email soon and update all my things.

Love,

Victoria

Dias 7 y 8

Yesterday (07.15.10) we left for Paucartambo at 8:30 AM. Paucartambo is a small pueblo in the mountains inhabited mostly by Quechuas, only about 70 miles North East of Cusco. Every year in Paucartambo they celebrate the Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen, which lasts for a week and involves elaborate costumes, dancing, and a lot of drinking. Because the town is so remote and located in the middle of the Andes, it normally takes about four hours to get there.

As we drove out of Cusco, the scenary from the bus window morphed from a bustling town to secluded mountain landscapes.



I only realized in the above picture that there was a huge fire in the middle of my shot when I uploaded my photos to my computer.



We found out shortly after we left that the road we intended to take to Paucartambo was closed, because part of the mountain fell and blocked the road. Instead, we would take a different route that would take six hours instead of four. While we were driving, we passed over the river and through the towns of San Salvador and Pisco.



We kept moving forward until we stopped in another smaller town:



so people could use the facilities. I use this term loosely, because the facilities were really a small hole in the ground in a shed. Still, the view was impressive, so we took some pictures and then went on our way.



The journey was essentially driving up and over a couple:



monstrous mountains. We finally descended into a valley and over:



the river into the town of Paucartambo.



We drove and found:



Hostal, our hostal. It turns out it had an actual name, but we didn't know what it was until we had already left Paucartambo.

After we got settled in our rooms, we headed toward La Plaza de Armas (yes, there is one in Paucartambo, too) where the dancing had already commenced.



During the festival, there are fifteen different dances that procede through the town. The dancers are selected by the families that organize each dance. There were tons of different dancers wearing terrifying masks and hitting people with bags and sticks and fake blood. Different dances had different costumes and different meanings. They headed in a procession from the Plaza toward:



the church.

On one of the balconies:



these dudes, more formally known as Qollas, were waiting above the crowd, spilling beer over everyone's heads and sticking their tongues out. They also gave that alpaca with them a lot of beer.



We followed the procession of the Qhapac Negro inside the church, before heading back out to the plaza and towards Hostal.

We headed back to Hostal for dinner, and then went back out into the Plaza for more dancing and copious drinking. We went to one of the houses of the dancers where the dancers from the dance of the abogados (lawyers), who dance with gavels and books. They performed their dance for us, and let us dance with them all night. My roommate and I got to dance with the head honcho of the lawyers during their performance. Everyone was very jovial and very drunk, and we all had a fantastic night in Paucartambo. When they finished their dance, the lawyers headed back to dance more in the Plaza, and we went back to Hostal for an hour before we headed to:



Tres Cruces.

At Tres Cruces, the Andes meet the Amazon. This is a mountain where many people have come to watch the sunrise for years. We left for Tres Cruces at 1:30 AM and arrived at 3:30 AM. Then, we waited in the bus until 5:30 AM for the sun to rise and shine.



















Once the sun came up, we went back to our bus, which was stuck in the mud and had to be pushed out. Then we left Tres Cruces, got back to Hostal around 8:30 AM and had breakfast. We had the option to go back to la Plaza for more dancing and puree of frog, but instead I went to sleep until 12:30 PM, when I got up for lunch. Soon after, we packed up and left Paucartambo and took the four hour journey home through mountains with roads like Mario Kart tracks. Some of the roads were so narrow that if a car came in our opposite direction, we would have to reverse to find a space big enough to pass each other.

Please notice that in this picture:



the edge of the road is that bit of gravel in the bottom left corner. The only thing beyond that is your impending doom. I was still pretty impressed that our large tour bus could make the sharp turns and big inclines. It's also really amazing to think the people that live in the mountains along these roads stay in the mountains for their wholes lives.



We got back to Cusco around 6:30 PM. The whole two days were absolutely amazing, and our group really bonded. Tomorrow at 8:45 AM we're leaving for a tour of the city, and then Sunday we're going on another adventure.

Next time, I'll make sure my camera battery is charged enough so I won't have to limit how many pictures I take.

More entries to come,

Victoria