Hiking and other fun things

Overall, we had a fun week!

I got food poisoning, not so fun, and it made us miss horseback riding

But other than that we did some cool stuff!

This post maybe picture overload, but believe me I hard a really hard time picking which ones to post!

Billy and I eat anywhere they will play the NBA finals

Which means on game nights, we eat at pubs and bars

which is a nice change from Peruvian food

We hiked up and side street from the main Plaza De Armas

It had some really cool views and we finally saw some green 

Sachsayhuaman, 

the Inca fortress that the Spanish couldn't conquer

The stones they used are huge and cut perfectly (just like Billy! He's cut)

The View from Sachsayhuaman was awesome, finally got some good pictures that show the city 

This man randomly stopped Billy, then talked to him for a good half hour on his philosophies of travel and life.

Besos de Moza - the best cookie/treat ever

Its a soft cookie, with a marshmellowy/meringue blob, covered in chocolate

These were the only things that sounded good the day I got sick 

(no matter how touristy the restaurant, don't eat the lettuce)

Later on in the week we took a bus to Puca Pukara and Tambomachy 

We took the local bus which cost us 15 cents each 

But was packed like sardines, it was actually very fun/funny

Sweet Billy stood for a lot of the ride

This is Tambomachy, the resort town of the Incas

Finishing the hike

It was a great week. Now we are in Lima for a couple of days before heading out to Piura. Things are about to get very busy and we're really excited to work in the communities!

Eliot isn't here with us, but we wish he was. 

taking it easy

We took it pretty easy this week, poor Billiam was sick with a fever for two days

But he's feeling better now! 

At least a little better. 

So here were the few things that went on

 (this week and some from last week)

This is the Apple store of Peru, Claro!

Where Billy bought a nice little phone, one that we haven't seen since the late 90's 

Everywhere we eat they serve soup first

In case you can't see it, it was chicken feet soup

Crazy! and not so good (ha)

Qoriqancha

Which would be bigger than Machu Picchu if the Spanish hadn't built on top of it 

This was our guide Willy

He was nice and had a hilarious accent

Just photo proof of the countless dogs here

Afternoon nap 

The view from the bench where we like to people watch and read

Toffee that is meant to help your altitude sickness, with coca

 (yes, coca)

The fruit in the San Pedro Market - the best fruit in all the land, what they put in our juice

This is our new home, the barbed wire and broken bottles in the cement are a little freaky

But we're totally safe

And we went back to the boys orphanage to help with homework. 

This boy asked billy to help him draw a family, which we thought was a little sad

The boy on the right wanted my help coloring. The boy on the right just wanted to hang out

This day was so fun, I kept thinking my best friend Christina would have LOVED to be there, seeing as they were a bunch of cute little boys that were crazy and fun :)

Sorry to Nalani for not putting pictures up earlier! I have been having camera trouble! But I am sure your presentation went smoothly!

Overall it was a pretty good week, lots of relaxing, and some fun stuff thrown in there. Hopefully we have a pretty cool hike coming up, and we're going to the villages in the Andes for a couple days just to get things ready for the groups. 

VIVA PERU!

Another Week in Cusco

We had another fun week here

(the walk from our first apt to everywhere else)

But almost all the pictures I took this week won't upload

(some invalid data problem, help?)

We did some more fun things

like get jugo!

Billy with his jugo con leche - tasted kind of like mango lassi

Annie with her pineapple, mango, orange 

The jugo at San Pedro Market is the best! They have all the fruit right there, you tell them what you want and they blend it. The fruit in Peru is insane it's so good

And juice is about the only way to get vitamins here, so we're doing it in the name of good health 

We also visited two orphanages, one girls and one boys

This is Delyah 

She loved getting her picture taken, and wanted us to play outside with her forever

The girl in the middle is 13, we missed her name, but she wanted to know if we had ever been to South Korea. We told her no, but she still had a lot of questions - did we speak Korean, do we listen to Korean Pop music, etc. All the girls at the orphanage loooove South Korea which we found hilarious. 

Turns out they watch a soap opera Stairway to Heaven that is set in S. Korea. 

And finally, 

Ceviche! 

We ate at this cevivheria Dolphina and it was soo good! Who knew I could eat fish and like it?

It was fun and delicous but I couldn't eat the whole plate, the texture was a little funky. It came with sweet potato which tasted great. 

So it has been really, really fun. 

And if the internet was a little faster, and my computer a little more functioning, this post would be a little longer.

We met a man named Duane who comes down every summer to volunteer. He was excited that we decided to move out here and gave us a cool quote which I'll end with.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

- Helen Keller

and we're back!

I blame the 6 month hiatus on school and work, and maybe some laziness

but now... 

We're Back!

(our habitación en San Blas)

This time we are blogging from the beautiful city of Cuzco

(I have yet to take a good photo of the city, one coming soon! This is in the Plaza de Armas)

(The view from our window in the Hutan Wasi Hostel)

This week has been a lot of settling in, moving from place to place, and a lot of eating

which, is really pretty good

Highlights from the week include

Los Ninos - There are kids everywhere, and for every kid there are 2 dogs. The dogs are everywhere and so gross/hilarious. But the kids are very cute.

The churches -  They look like they were lifted out of Italy and sat in this andean valley, so out of place. Remind us of our honeymoon :)

Gun Shots - Billy and I were watching some TV to try and stay awake at night when we heard a loud gun shot. Then another and another. It freaked us out so bad until we heard a firework. So Billy opened the window and heard a firework being lit and then go off. We felt a little better until we heard two more gunshots. Then sirens. Finally to ease my paranoia, Billy and I went to the roof of our hostel. Next to us was a church, where they were celebrating the Festival of the Crosses. The sirens where the police stopping them from shooting the guns, which they were only doing out of excitement. So far there has been one day out of 5 where there has not been some parade or festival. Pretty fun!