Words cannot describe...

Words cannot describe, pictures cannot describe, nothing I do can describe the beauty of this place. I will attempt to do so, but everything here is so surreal and incredible that I do not even know the words to describe it. I will start off with Pisac. Just so you know, this will be long...the best part is about Ollantaytambo, so read that if you must skip the rest haha

On Saturday we FINALLY arrived in Cuzco after the hellish flight from Atlanta and were taken by bus through the streets to a nice little hotel called Hotel Garcilasco. All of the hotels are BEAUTIFUL here! We came into the garden courtyard and had a lunch packed by Monica---Rafo's wife---and started packing for our 4 day trip around to the different ruins! Before I describe the adventures that we have been having, I have to tell you about our group leaders, Rafo and Carlos. THEY ARE AWESOME. They are both the man. Rafo is probably about 50 or something and is married to Monica. They live in Cuzco and they host students studying abroad from all around the world! They are two of the nicest people I have every met. Rafo's job is to go around with university students to Cuzco and different places like we have been doing and pretty much just show us around Peru. He is so nice and funny! Hahaha--this seriously cracks me up every time I think of it...but when we take the bus anywhere he like narrates the surroundings over the microphone and says the funniest things in his spanish accent! He will be like "Ok...sooo....dis is where dey do da Inca stuff....Ok." hahah or "And if you look to da right you see da biiiigggg moooooon coming over da mountain...it is bery beautiful....ehh....ok." Gosh, it is so funny. Carlos is also so awesome. He is probably about 50 something and has been working with the NC State study abroad group since 2000 I believe. He is so helpful, they both are! They speak to us in spanish, ask about our families and our friends/ boyfriends or girlfriends, they actually care about what they do! I love them!

Ok so anyway, now that you know about the two guys pretty much leading our trip, I will talk about the trip!

So on Saturday we took a bus from Cuzco to Pisac and saw so many cool things along the way. We were all freaking out at the sight of the mountains, which now is still beautiful, but less exciting by bus. Actually that’s a lie, its still exciting. Anyway, the most amazing thing we saw that day was these three mountains—the one in the middle had snow caps on it and there was a rainbow above it. There was also a cute little village underneath them! We stayed at this hotel called “Hotel Royal Inca”…I think that was what it was called…but it was even more beautiful than the first! Gardens everywhere, a hot tub/ sauna which looked like a rainforest, and mountains all around. I was pretty much in heaven. We had dinner at this place called Ulrikes and they served pizza, but Carlos made sure I had something to eat! I had chicken and rice and it was pretty good. The Diamox medicine that we were using for the altitude made things taste kind of weird though. After dinner Chrissy and I went to bed because we basically go 2 hours of sleep on the plane.

The next day we woke up super early and had breakfast at the hotel. OH MY GOSH…I am sorry, but I am so obsessed, the watermelon here is soooo AMAZING! It is so fresh and juicy yummmm...Matt and Matt do not say thats what she said...jerks. ;) Ok so then after breakfast we went to the ruins of Pisac. We hiked this huge mountain and saw the terraces where the Incans would farm...it was mind blowing! We got to the very top of the mountain and took some pictures. I was DYING! Oh my goodness, I should have done more stair workouts before this trip! We then went to these like temple things that the Incans used for the God of the Sun....I honestly dont really remember exactly what it was haha...but it was beautiful. I think the part that blows my mind is the mountains around everything and how the Incans actually built this stuff. After seeing all of that we hiked down the mountain. Ok when I say that, I am being serious....we legitimately hiked down this huge mountain on narrow paths with sometimes not a lot to hold on to! I took a picture of the mountain that we hiked down...it was pretty hard to do, but I was proud once we finished. We got to the bottom and walked to lunch at the same place we had dinner the night before. Tim and I were stopped by these two little kids who had on crazy outfits and had a goat, so we took a picture. They started to ask us for money, but we did not know we had to pay! Whoops. After lunch we went to the market. AHHH THE MARKET. I am legit obsessed. Not even kidding. My teacher called me the "compradora" (shopper) of the group! haha it is true though. I bought so much and it was very fun :) We went to the town of Otallanaytambo after this and got our hotel rooms then chilled in the courtyard. The hotel, once again, was amazing. We all started playing this game called Ninja for like 30 minutes and it was hillariouss!!! I won..no big deal.. :) We went to dinner at this all you can eat place and Chrissy, Eliza, Kaitlin and I spoke in Spanish with Carlos and Rafo. I love practicing Spanish :)

I told you this would be long!

READ THIS, BEST DAY! The next day we went to the ruins of Ollanaytambo, this was by far the best day. We hiked up these HUGEEEE stairs to get to the top of the ruins. It was pretty hillarious because we were all out of breath and taking breaks. It is pretty hard to climb those mountains dude, I was dying. We got to this random spot and a group of us decided to go up to the top of the mountain. I would just like to start out by saying that this was not my choice! I was scared to climb up, but most of all I was being lazy because it was hot and the trail was steep and not part of the normal touristy stuff. I decided to go anyway...peer pressure. We started to climb....and climb.....and climb...then I made the mistake of looking down. I instantly got terrified at the height and made myself get up the rest to the top. We took some pictures then we realized that we had to climb BACK DOWN THE SAME WAY! I was almost in tears and I put my camera in Ryan's backpack and we made our way down. Guys I am telling you I have never been so exhilarated from something ever! We found our group and finished up the tour with a trip to another market...yes...then went to the most beautiful hotel/restaurant for lunch. When I say beautiful, I cannot even describe this place. Pretty much paradise. There was music, flowers, beatiful tiki hut things, llamas, parrots, a huge field to lay in the shade...ahhh gorgeous. And lay around is what we did. We left there and went to Urubamba to this really fancy hotel! We went to a ceramics shop and saw how they make it! Then we went to dinner and I had chicken/fries at this place called Tonis....EW EW E WEW EW E W W EW KSHGKASJHG;A'....uhhh yeahhh it made me very sick last night. I had to mention it, but thinking about it makes me so sick! We then toured a church and went to the hotel. Although the ending of the day was a bit rough, the things that I experienced were unreal.

This morning we woke up and got breakfast at the hotel. Chrissy and I were still pretty sick from last night and overall just exhausted. We got on the bus feeling like crap, but then we realized that we were driving by the most beartiful mountains ever! I wish the pictures were working so I could show you how wonderful it was! Rafo was talking to us the whole way, he cracks me up! Our bus driver, Elvis, is pretty much a baller. He drove on the side of the mountain about one inch from the edge! We were headed to the salt mines! When we got above the salt mines we went out and took pictures. What an amazing view. You need to see a picture. We were so high up and there were mountains and blue skies all around!!! The salt mines were underneath of us, I want to be there right now again! We then went to the salt mines and walked all over them and learned about how the water goes down from the spring and then after three days the water evaporates and then they just have salt. The best way I can describe it is hundreds of quadrants on the side of a mountain with a stream of water waterfalling onto each one! After this we went to the ruins where there were just circles upon circles all of the way down a different mountain! We went to the bottom and layed in a circle for 2 straight minutes of silence! Haha, kind of weird, but whatever it was an experience. Stupid bugs were flying all around me though, so I was kind of breaking the silence. Apparently the silence cirlce thing is supposed to channel energy??? haha I dont know. We then had to hike ALLLL THE WAYYYY BACKKKK UPPPP to the top. Oh my gosh, this never gets any easier. I could literally hear my heart pounding in my head. We left the ruins to head to lunch with some of the natives. When we got there they had us do this ritual thing with the Coca leaves where they honor mother earth, aka "la mama pancha", and then they made us lunch! These people were the nicest and sweetest people I have every met. They literally made everything from lunch by hand from the stuff that they grow. We had some kind of soup that tasted like earth...not being mean it really tasted like earth...then we had chicken, potato things, straight up potato, and vegetables/ fruit. I was so happy after this meal. The people were just always smiling and hugging us...what a great time :) After this we went to the textile market in ...I forget the town!...and watched how they legit make things from scratch. The lady had alpaca wool and washed it with some shampoo she made from a root and water mixed. Then they dyed the wool with natural things like mushrooms, and then spun the wool. I didnt buy anything at this market...first time the whole trip....but the stuff was awesome. On our hour long bus ride to Cuzco I talked to Rafo in Spanish the whole time! We went to dinner at this place called Jacks afterwards in Cuzco, but I had trouble finding food I could eat. I got salad meh.

And that brings me to here. I hope you actually read all of that...but if not I understand. I will try to add pictures when I am able!! :) I miss everyone from home! As you can see these days are insane, I feel like we have been here for 2 weeks! I love you all :)