Salkantay Part 3

This last part shows our arrival in Aguas Calientes.  In true Peruvian fashion, there was a parade to meet us as we came into town.  Ruben and I planned to hike another mountain overlooking Machu Picchu called Putukusi.  It started out really fabulously.  The secret stairs to the right of the train tracks were mysterious and alluring.  The path was gorgeous and different from what we'd been hiking for the last four days.  We even had a dog that decided to hike along with us (we had two but one left after we met the first obstacle).  Unfortunately this hike has a lot of straight up faces of the mountain/rock that require ladders to ascend, and the rains destroyed the ladders.  We climbed around the first broken one and Ruben climbed pretty high on the second set, but we decided even if we could get up, it would be pretty dangerous to come back down since the rocks are covered in slippery moss.  We'll have to go back another time when the ladders have been rebuilt.

Salkantay Part 2

After we reached the Salkantay Pass, we hiked downhill for the rest of the day to reach the bottom of the valley where our camp, Chullay is located.  It rained all afternoon, so we were walking in streams and mud for hours.  We got to skip the hardest part of the rain sitting in a tiny room, drinking hot cafe con leche and eating fresh guacamole, since Ruben talked to a lady who owns a tiny store out there in the midst of those amazing landscapes.  Toward the end of the day, we practically had to run to make it to camp before it was pitch black.  The moon wasn't shining very bright that night and we didn't have our flashlights with us.  It was an adventure.  The next day we were rewarded with sunshine and a beautiful walk in the jungle, as well as a fun ride in the back of a truck with a bunch of Peruvians, bags and luggage, and a baby cow.  We camped in Santa Teresa where it's nice and warm (jungle) and you can see all kinds of things growing like coffee, bananas, and passion fruit (tastey!).

Salkantay Part 1

Hey!  Last week I did the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu (we skipped the Machu Picchu part) with three of my friends from volunteering and my boyfriend Ruben as our guide.  It was an awesome hike packed with insanely amazing landscapes, some freezing rain in the highlands, and some gorgeous hot weather in the jungle.  The video was pretty long, so I had to split it into three parts to upload.  My parents might be the only people who actually finish watching it, but enjoy as much as you please!

Waaw is still going really well.  Our core team from the past couple of months is starting to break up as people go home or continue on their travels through South America, but we have a steady flow of great new people coming in as well, so the program should continue to function well.  Our Friday afternoon trips with the kids that have earned enough stars during the week for good behavior have been going well.  We took them to the Wanchaq market one day and let them pick out stuff to buy that would fit in each section of the food pyramid (we are studying nutrition in our activity time).  They loved having the chance to pick out the stuff and ask how much it cost, then pay for it with the money we gave them.  As we split into groups of six kids with two volunteers, my Belgian volunteer partner Eddy and I were asked by several of the women working in the market how many children we have.  Another week we took them to the small town of Orepesa, where all the bakeries are. They got to make some bread and see how the process works.  This week we took them to a dairy farm where they screamed and laughed and stood in awe of the cows, then tasted fresh milk that was still warm from the cow (they aren’t that big into pasteurization here).  Our kiddos are as enthusiastic and fun as ever.  I'll make a new video of them soon when I get enough pictures.