Viaje a Cuzco

Thursday.. woke up bright and early to get to the airport and find out we had a 3 hour delay, aka.. 3 more hours of sleep lost. not cool. we arrived to Cuzco late and instead of the scheduled nap & lunch we were rushed through tours of Sagsaywaman (SexyWoman is how you pronounce it) which was really disappointing because we didn't get everything out of it that I thought we could have. and I really would have loved to spend more time there relaxing and absorbing it rather than following a guide and being in a big touristy rushed group of exchange students. Regardless, it was beautiful. And there were big natural rock slides that were fun to go down. After that we did some more touristy rushed guides through more ruins that I totally would have enjoyed had it been done differently. That night was GREAT, though.. because across from our hotel there was the coolest little pizza place ever. It only had a few tiny picnic tables and an oven in it and we watched the cook bake our delicious pizzas and a Cusqueña was definitely enjoyable after a long day of trying to stay on schedule.

Friday.. woke up really early (again) to drive 3 hours in a bus outside of Cuzco to go to an orphanage. This was both a really good and a really hard experience. We went for the day and brought gifts for children we had decided to "adopt" and spent some time with them playing and hanging out. But it was not really well planned and here is why I believe this..

These girls live a completely different reality than we do as middle-class kids in America. Most of the girls come from families who have abandoned them, have alcoholic parents or abusive parents or come from backgrounds of rape. The most recently arrived girl had just came because her older brother raped her and she didn't have another caregiver. She is 10. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these girls were incest babies, either. These girls do not have the nutrition they need and so they are smaller than they should be, look younger than they should be and their features are rough. Most of them have weathered leathery skin with blotches all over their cheeks and chapped arms and lips and skin and rotting teeth. They don't have access to proper hygiene or medical attention. They never get visitors other than my study abroad group every semester and the most of their education is catholic nuns in school rooms where they don't even have enough pencils for everyone to have their own.

When we arrived we played with them a little bit but they mostly entertained us with a recital they had prepared. They dressed in costume and told us that every dance was prepared with love for us. In return, we decided we should provide some entertainment, too. 2 girls juggled and we all danced the electric slide for them. There we were, a bus of gringos, dancing the electric slide in a high remote orphanage in the mountains. It was funny.

Then we gave them our gifts. We were told to bring them a stuffed animal/toy, clothes and a tootbrush & toothpaste. We should have brought a lot more things like lotion, school supplies and outdoor games. I almost felt like we gave a weak effort. I gave my 2 girls, 2 sisters named Maria, stuffed bears and wrote them letters. Watching their smiles when they read the letters I wrote was my favorite part. They both put them in the backs of their teddys to keep, and named them Lucy and Annika.

But they appreciated everything. it was amazing to see how much these young children appreciated our visit. because they're so far from Cuzco and so remote from any other town, they never receive visitors. It must be strange to see older Americans just come.. I also think our group shouldn't have had to rush away from the orphanage right away. A lot was observed and experienced there that I wish we had more time to talk about as a group and reflect on.. seriously.

Another thing I struggled with is CAMERAS... we hopped off the bus, hang out with these girls and took sooooo many pictures. Maybe we shouldve all just soaked it in and focused all of our attention on them rather than snapping pictures. Jessa and I talked about it that night and had the conversation that we wonder if we were so anxious to take these pictures because it always seems cool to see "white" people going to other countries to "help" people.. so cliche. So there are some pictures on my facebook and I just want to make everyone aware how much this experience meant to me. In my research project I found out that the poverty level is about $700 a year salary and some of us where there with $700 cameras!!!!!!!!!! This makes me feel really uncomfortable.

Another thing that really shocked me about this experience was when I asked one girl how old she is, she didn't know. Imagine.. when I was their age I was getting scrapes on my knees and playing outside and going to birthday parties and these girls don't know how old they are, some of them.

The nuns that run the orphanage and some of the older girls prepared us a HUGE meal, unexpectedly, which probably took a lot of food away from them. None of us were hungry after a big breakfast but I managed to finish mine. Someone asked our director if she had to finish and she said no because here at the orphanage they would never let food go to waste. Someone was going to be eating out leftovers. I felt incredibly undeserving.

Before we left they sang us a beautiful song (they sounded so good) and played instruments. The girls were all sooooo sweet and thankful and sad to see us go. The one nun thanked us and began to cry.. when she did so did many of the girls. It was really touching to see how much a group of strangers visiting them could mean to them.. and so amazing to see how appreciative they were.

And then we didn't talk about it again.

This kind of bothered me...


After the orphanage we ran through a tour of an organic farm, too tightly scheduled and spent 3 hours driving back to the city never really getting the chance to walk around and SEE Cuzco on the only night we could. This was disappointing... because we were in Cuzco without ever getting to see it.. but I'm over it by just accepting that the day in the orphanage is one I will keep close to my heart.

Saturday... Alpaca farm and Sacred Valley!!! The Alpaca farm was awesome... we got to feed them, hug them and play around with them. Then we got to see how they make the yarns and how they use natural dyes and how they weave all of their products. This may have been one of the hightlights of my trip. It was really interesting and awesome. AND I GOT TO HUG A LLAMA! :):)

After that we rushed through some more sights on our gringo filled tour bus making stops to take pictures at popular spots that we didn't learn enough about. We took a train to Aguas Calientes, the town by machu picchu to go there the next day.

SUNDAYYYYYYYYYYYY :) got to the hotel around 11pm. woke up at 330am. in line for a bus to Machu Picchu by 4am.. thats because if you want to hike the big mountain, Huaynu Picchu, you have to arrive early because only 400 people are able to enter every day. MACHU PICCHU WAS AMAZINGGGGGG. One of the world wonders, and there I was! I even got to nap on one of the terraces and walk around the ruins. We all did the hike to the big mountain, which is the one in the postcard pictures and photographs you see of it. The hike was STRAIGHT UP but not as hard as I was expecting, which makes me think all of my running has been paying off. The top was amazinnngggggggggg.

I LOVED MACHU PICCHU. everyone who has the chance to go, should. IT IS WONDERFUL!!!!! I don't know what else to say.

Lunch that day was great after such an exhausting hike, the town was adorable and the markets were great!

Today = back to Lima.. I realize more and more everytime I have to come home from an excursion how much I don't like Lima. I like my district but in general, Lima is definitely one of my least favorite cities ever. I try to find little things and history to appreciate about it, and I do, but the taxi drivers, combis, grey skies and dirty streets and completely CHAOTIC city make me disssslikkeeee it.

Over all, Cuzco was cool. or maybe I should say the surrounding areas. Lesson learned = I am not a fan of tightly scheduled group outings and I value sleep.

But I'm not complaining, just stating how I feel.

pictures will be up soon.

(back to classssssssssssssssssssssss....)