I was the lucky winner of being pulled aside to be checked by customs. He took one look at my stuffed pack and just asked me what was in it. I said that it was my dirty laundry, and he said, “I’ll take your word for it.” It is a good think that I’m not a cocaine smuggler! It was a long two days of traveling - I was pretty much sick of transportation by this point. It feels good to be home, but I already miss my toilet paper carrying days where “Donde esta el bano?” is a very scary [View Full Entry]

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Amie and I went on a city tour of Cuzco. We went to Sacsayhuaman , which is the Inca Temple of the Sun. Sacsayhuaman is Quechua for “satisfied falcon,” but many visitors pronounce it “sexy woman.” This site is famous for their Inti Rayni, which is the dance of the Incas. Tom Cruise and Madonna have been to Sascayhuaman! It was ironic that right next to an ancient temple of the Incas was a larger-than-life white statue of Jesus Christ, known as Christo Blanco. We traveled to an Incan “Post Office,” and my favorite was the “Fountain of Youth!&rdquo [View Full Entry]

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I was up at 4:30 in the morning, but I didn’t care because today, I got to see Machu Picchu! While eating breakfast, Amie and I got to watch the Pope’s funeral live (who they call Papa in Spanish), and there were others in our hotel who woke up early to witness it. We caught a train to Aguas Caliente where we met up with our guide for Machu Picchu. Our guide was great. He had a pattern. He would tell us the name of something, and then say, “What is the meaning of this? I tell you.” As we walked [View Full Entry]

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My last adventure began with a near death experience. Amie and I went to the airport in Ayacucho to catch a flight to Lima, and then from Lima to Cuzco. The women were praying (Dios Mio!) and asking us if we have ridden in small airplanes before. I acted super confident and smiled, and simply said that small airplanes didn’t bother me….maybe I’m going to change my mind about that statement. First the plane was two hours late (by this point, I’m used to Peruvian time). Then the pilot asked us how much we weigh in kilos. I have no idea [View Full Entry]

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I went to Machluchula (the villiage in the highlands) to pick up the nurse, and then we were off to Pumawasi (another Quechua village in the highlands). But getter there ended up being more of a challenge than expected. Not only was the rode only a path, but there were so many crevices in the road that we all had to get out and pile rocks into the crevices so we could drive over them. Then the van got stuck multiple times, so all three girls got out to push the van. It reminded me of winters in good ol' South [View Full Entry]

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I am so excited to write in my journal because I just learned so much today! But before I get into that, there was a celebrity in the clinic today getting his blood pressure taken (which was sky high!). He had a body guard with the name "Jesus Nazarenas" on the back of his uniform. I know that he was some kind of official, but I am not sure who he was. It is kind of cool to think that I helped take a celebrity's blood pressure. There were muchos pacientes at the clinic today. They needed a lot of help, [View Full Entry]

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I went back to the Centro de Salud las Nazarenas today, even though it was the holiday honoring the Pope (which in Spanish is something like Pape or something like that). Word must have got out that there was someone from the States working at the clinic because people I didn't even know would shout from the windows on the second floor of the clinic, "Daniella, Daniella!" It definitely made me smile. It was an interesting day at the clinic. A woman came in with her baby today and remembered me becaue I had given her baby the nebulacion the last [View Full Entry]

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The hike to the Wari ruins was gorgeous. The path was lined by cactus with tuna fruit and thousands of butterflies. Ayacucho does not have funding to renovate the ruins, so there were more piles of ancient rocks to see than actual structures. However, it did not take away from the sense of mystery surrounding the site. In Wari culture, they built circular temples. The temple had sixteen seats, but no one is really certain as to why the number of seats is sixteen. In the center of the circle was the alter where sacrifices were made to the gods. The [View Full Entry]

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This weekend I went with six friends on a Llama Trek in the Andes Mountains. It was quite a hike! We began our adventure in Rosisitio - a small village which means Rosy's site. We ascended over 2,000 feet until we reached over 15,000 feet. Wow, what a hike! I have gorgeous pictures of the view. I was glad that I had gone running in Ayacucho a few times before because I was used to having my heart pound through my head because of the high altitude. The hike was good marathon training (right Dad?). We then descended 2,500 feet. The [View Full Entry]

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Hello from Peru! Today I got up at 5:00 in the morning to travel to the highland countryside with the nurse to a Quechua village. The nurse has nine different villages that she travels too. Most people cannot afford health care (health care is one sole a month, which is 30 cents), and the nurse only comes once a month. Today was my favorite day so far, but it was extremely hard. My driver took me up the mountain. As we were driving, I thought to myself, "Oh, look at the cool path, maybe I can go hiking up the mountain [View Full Entry]

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