Machu Picchu

---

Hey pals!
It´s been a crazy past couple of weeks. We´made our way to Machu Picchu which was absolutely fabulous. We´ve also started our volunteering at the sustainable school.

Machu Picchu:
We left early Monday morning on a bus to Ollantaytambo, it´s about an hour and a half bus ride. Ollantaytambo is a small, quaint little town (mom, patty & sue: you would´ve have liked it there). From Ollantaytambo we hopped on a train to Aguas Calientes, the entrance town to Machu Picchu. The train ride is another hour & a half. It passed by pretty fast, the scenery along the route was beautiful. We followed a river the whole way inbetween mountains and jungle.
Once in Aguas Calientes we found a hostel, got our tickets for Machu Picchu & enjoyed lunch in the plaza. Aguas Calientes is definitely a tourist town, but still enjoyable. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from as well as markets and tiendas.
Post lunch we headed out on an adventure into the mountains. There was a recommended trail that was just a short walk down the train tracks from our hostel. It was unbelievable. It was our first taste of the jungle. There were trees & plants everywhere as we hiked up man-made stone steps. There were makeshift ladders as well. It was awesome. The views of the mountains and river were beautiful. We were lucky that it was a nice, sunny day.
We got to a point on the trail where the only way to go was a straight, vertical, climb up the side of the mountain about 300 feet, give or take. Additionally, it was to be climbed by ladders attached to the side of the mountain, some of which were missing. Of course we opted to climb. It was one of the most ridiculous & horrifying things I´ve done in my life. Zach got the highest, obviously, but we did not make it to the top due to missing ladders and the will to live.
Upon our descent we continued down the train tracks and made our way down to the river to check out the entry way to Machu Picchu along with other little trails and camp sites.
We treated ourselves to delicious dinner and early night.
Tuesday was the big day for Machu Picchu. The boys decided to wake up obscenely early to have a chance at climbing Wynapicchu, a Mountain that looks down on the Machu Picchu ruins. They were up at 3:30 and I suggest looking at Rob´s blog to hear more about that.
Siham, a new Moroccan friend via Belgium, and I started hiking around 8. It was pretty chilly, and still raining a bit, but in retrospect I´m very happy the sun was not beating on my back during the hike. The hour and a half hike is straight steps. Nothing else. It´s definitely tough work. But once we got to the top, we decided it was well worth it.
Even with the heavy cloud cover, Machu Picchu was all it was built up to be. It´s truly amazing to see the architecture of the ruins and to imagine the work that went into building them so, so long ago.
SCHOOL/VOLUNTEERING:
We started our volunteer work at the school and it´s been very fulfilling. Rob & Nic are helping with the construction. They´ve helped build walls & the roof as far as infrastructure goes. A kitchen still needs to be built. They´ve been working with concrete and adobe, it´s tough and messy work.
I´m working in the garden with another girl, Lauren, from Salt Lake City via Ohio. This next week a lot of our vegetables will need to be transplanted from the greenhouse to the garden. Things are starting to sprout which is very exciting. So far we have squash, onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes. I´ve been researching more about how to grow pinto beans, beetroot, avocado trees, peppers and mangoes.
The soil here is a lot different then back home. It´s almost clay like in parts which poses difficulty. But it does retain more water, and since it is the wet season, we don´t have to spend a lot of time watering the plants so we have more time to focus on planting and weeding.
The school is hoping to be completely sustainable. They will have two classes come the school year (March) that will cater to 4 and 5 year olds. We will have the opportunity to help teach in classes which we are all looking forward to. Upon the basic curriculums we will be focusing on hygiene, nutrition and recycling (overall sustainability). There will also be classes for the mothers to learn about nutrition and we will offer cooking classes.
The food that we grow in the garden will provide two meals a day for the kids and the rest of the food will be distributed to the community.


We´ve finished our salsa classes (for now). We´ve learned the six basic steps which include spinning and dancing with partners.
Through Fairplay we are also able to take a cooking class once a week. It´s been a lot of fun learning how to make traditional Peruvian dishes. They cook with a lot of potatoes and vegetables. I will definitely be taking the recipes home and look forward to sharing them with you.
This next week we are planning to go into the Amazon for a 4 day/3night adventure. We´re looking to finalize the plans this afternoon. I´m really excited to head into the Rainforest.
We´ve met a lot of other travelers and locals down here and are enjoying our nights out.
On a silly note, Zach has man´d up and tried a lot of new foods, included (but not limited to) are: Alpaca, squash, civiche, salt water soup, potato soup, pasta salad, empanadas, liquefied fish, pinto beans, avocado, guacamole, fried eggs, ah..the list goes on. We have a list in the works that we will share at the end of his adventure.

Til next time,
Jennifer

---

Photos

animales
baby chicken, puppy & kitty

peru pals!
mimi & marta are spanish teachers at fairplay.

Comments

[RAY]

#imissyou!