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Published: August 18th 2012
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Today we met up again with Gail and Olin to start our trip that would last 15 days and go through three countries. We explored Lima some with them, showing them our favorite spots and getting some awesome Peruvian/asian food. We went and saw ancient temples just outside of the city and visited a shanty town. Then we headed for Cusco. This way was much better, as instead of a 20 hour bus ride, it was a 1.5 hour flight. We arrived in Cusco and immediately hopped on a bus and headed down to Pisac, and nearby town (technically just a province of Cusco). We visited some nearby ruins that we really neat, and learned about how the terracing that the Incas put in works. I never knew how many cultures and civilizations there were before the Incans.. they were just like the romans, conquering and combining other cultures and using the best of what others had discovered.
The next day we drove to Ollantaytambo, where there was a great standoff between the Incans and the conquering Spaniards. The ruins were absolutely amazing, and all the granite to make them was brought over from another mountain ( you could see
the trail still). Some of the stones weighed more than 150 tons, and all were carved to fit together so well that you couldnt even fit a piece of paper in between them. They would build graneries to store their food way on other mountains, to keep it safe and dry. Justin and I took off exploring, and we were much younger and more acclimatized than the rest of the group.
While driving back in the bus, we passed a field where locals were making adobe bricks from a mixture of mud and straw. Our guide, Manuel, invited us to join in, and Justin shoveled mud into the wheelbarrow while I formed a brick in the mold. Afterwards, we had a nice excoliating mud fight 😊
In the next field over, locals were using oxen and an old wooden plow to get a field ready, and Justin got to do a couple rows. His lines were much straighter than theirs, which was probably due to the fact that all the farmers were totally drunk.
We visited a local school, and went to a classroom of 7 year olds. They were doing really great work (thanks to a
fantastic teacher) and were very cute. They all told us their names and ages, and the majority of the little girls wanted to be doctors. Then they sang us a couple songs. By sang, a mean yelled. My favorite was the one where they screamed, ¨Tienes un amigo que te ama, su nombre es JESUS!!¨
We also had a homecooked meal by this great family with 3 little girls and a boy. Justin and I made the salsa by using two rocks to smash tomatoes, peppers and herbs, and then made some chile rellenos. We even had some guinea pig! The two girls were adorable and so fascinated with my tattoos. After dinner Justin and I had a tickle war with the two girls, which was hilarious.
We also visited some newly uncovered ruins just outside of Cusco on our way back, called Saqsayhuaman (pronounced very similar to ¨sexy woman¨). It was originally a temple, but used as a fortress during the Spanish Invasion. Afterwards the spanish tried to destroy it but it was built so well that they decided to just bury it instead.
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