Hi everyone! Sorry I haven´t posted. Our days have been busy from morning to night! On Friday Amy was not feeling so hot so I went exploring with Dija, a girl rooming with us. We took a local bus from the center of Cusco up the mountains to see some of the ruins. The bus ride itself was incredible. We got to experience local life first hand since the bus we were on took workers and school children from the city to their homes in the small cities on the mountain sides. The 50 minute ride held breath taking viwes of small towns, beautiful waterfalls and patches of forest with the diverse plant and tree life. Once Dija and I got to our destination we took about 1 hour to look around the site then decided to walk back down to the city rather than take the bus. We saw more on this hike down the mountain than either of us have seen since we have been in Cusco. We talked to the kids in the towns we passed and took pictures with locals. We saw llamas grazing on the side of the road that we pet and got unbelieveable pictures that I will hopefully get posted on facebook tonight. The walk took us about 2 1/2 hours so by time we got to town we were starving. The two of us grabbed dinner (mushroom soup and lomo carne and lomo pollo) I think is how you say it. Basically meat and chicken with grilled veggies on top of french fries lol. After we got our bellies full we hung around the hostel then went out salsa dancing with other kids from the hostel. The bars around here are very touristy but if we get it on the right night we have been able to find live local bands playing.
Yesterday, Saturday, Amy and I went horseback riding in the mountains and toured more ruins. If I weren´t so animal crazy I would have enjoyed the tour a lot, but I kept feeling bad for the horses..go figure. We got lucky that one of the guys in our group spoke English and Spanish, since our guide did not, he was able to translate and we learned quite a bit. Our tour took most of the day and when we got back to the hostel our host and hostess were having a BBQ party for everyone in the hostel...BBQ in South America is just a cook out. There is no bbq sauce involved at all which is always a disappointment. It was good though and everyone had a great time, we went out dancing afterwards but everyone was stuffed so after and hour we made a group decision to have a movie night at the hostel.
Today I am going to the salt mines and some small towns with Dija and her brother, Amy is trying to save up her energy since we leave for our Machu Picchu hike tomorrow morning. I will post pictures tonight but won´t have internet on our hike so be patient I will post when we get back.
Missing everyone! Love you guys
