Goodbye, Ayacucho!

It’s hard to believe that TWO months have already passed. It’s been quite a ride. Although I never actually did get to work in a health clinic, I don’t feel at all like my time in Peru was a waste. I danced in Carnaval, worked in a prison, drove all over Ayacucho in the back of a truck, learned to give shots, saw two babies being born, took part in Semana Santa, met amazing people (Peruvian and otherwise), and generally fell in love with Peru. I will be going back. There are just too many things that I didn’t get to see this time around (Machu Picchu included). Peru is a beautiful country; one of few, I think, where the culture of thousands of years ago survives to the present day; it’s a little like going back in time. So it’s safe to say that next on my travel list is…South America!

Also, if they’re reading this—and even if they’re not—I want to say a huge THANK YOU (!) to Rudy and Marisol for everything they did for me and the other volunteers; we couldn’t have asked for two better people at CCS!!

So I left Ayacucho in a bit of a fluster, seeing as the taxi that was supposed to take me to the bus station at 8:30 pm never arrived, it was pouring rain, and the only taxi that would stop for me was a MOTOTAXI. Ha. Me and my over-50-pound suitcase barely fit in the back of it, but I got in anyway, and a bit of traffic and stress later, I made it to the bus station five minutes before my bus left. Oh, the joys of traveling in a third world country.

When I arrived in Lima, I stashed my luggage and boarded a plane to Cusco. An hour later I was in this ancient Incan city, and I immediately knew it was well worth the money and travel time. The city is amazing. I spent the whole first day just walking around the city, visiting plazas, museums, and churches. A huge portion of the buildings (especially the neighborhood of San Blas) is a mix of Incan and Spanish Colonial architecture; the Colonial buildings are literally built on top of the Incan ruins.

Plaza de las Armas. That's THE cathedral on the right.

Cool architecture!

Santo Domingo church, built on Incan foundations.

The courtyard inside Santo Domingo

A street in San Blas. Prime example of Colonial buildings built on top of Incan ruins.

The famous 12-angle rock. How did they DO THIS?

I met a bunch of really cool people at my hostel (Hostel Pariwana, highly recommend it to anyone around my age), and we did a tour of the Sacred Valley the next day. Since some of the roads are still washed out from the floods in December, we had to take a round-about way to get there, which resulted in less daylight hours to see everything in, which in turn resulted in a bit of a rushed tour. But we were prepared for this, and had a great time anyways. We visited the Pisac ruins, as well as those at Ollantaytambo, and stopped in a little "weaving town", Chincheros on our way back. Like the Llama Trek, the scenery was breathtaking as well. 

The view atop the Pisac Ruins.

More Pisac.

Friends from my hostel

Ollantaytambo ruins

Across the valley. Those are Incan food storage buildings built into that hill.

These six (HUGE) stones mark the summer equinox.

View from the bus at sunset.

Dyed yarn and the natural substances that dyed them

So now, after another grueling travel day (which included not just one, but two five hour layovers), I’m in Los Angeles with my parents and Preston, getting ready for the second and definitely more adventurous leg of my (now our) trip. Hopefully from here on out, both Preston and I will be writing these Blogs, which from now will be coming from SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!