Aventuras en español

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Moray, Maras, And Chinchero

Urubamba

Moray

Maras, salt mines

Chinchero, place where they make patterned things like panchos

Saturday we went on an excursion to a couple of different places. First we stopped at the valley of Urubamaba which was really pretty and we saw a haunted house. Nothing scary happened though. Then we went to Moray which is an agricultural experiential grounds. They made different leveled terraces which causes different temperatures and agricultural output. It was pretty cool. The further you went down into the circles the hotter it got. It was really hot at the bottom, we meditated there for a little bit. It was quiet serene. After hiking back out of it, which made me feel like dying, we went to some salt mines. They weren't really mines, more like salt water on terraces being dried out. It was really cool looking, it looked like ice or crystals, not salt. Then we went to a village where they feed us potatoes that were cooked in the ground! So good and fresh. They also showed us how they got wool, changed the color, made it into string, and then wove it into different things. I tried to make the string, but it was super hard and mine kept breaking, so I gave up. They made it look so easy. Not fair. Afterwards we rode home and passed out from a long day.

Siete angelitos and Mitología

Friday we had a test, I don't think I did so well since my morning studying was not full hearty. Oh well I will have time to make it up later. During class we watched a movie called Altiplano. It was really strange, but kind of cool at the same time. We have to write a paper on it, which I should be doing right now... Anyways after class we went home and ate lunch. Afterwards we went to Don Pancho to do the paper, I got the majority of it done, but I need to finish the 3rd page. The entire group met up at the plaza de armas to go out! We first went to this bar called siete angelitos and got caiparihna with my roommate. It was pretty strong but it was a small drink. We were in a huge group of people though. There were about 20 of us. It was really fun we just hung otu and talked about life. Then we went to the discoteca, mitología! We got free drinks when we got in which were SUPER strong and served by crossdressing dudes. Only about 8 of us were left and we all started dancing together. At some point the 2 Emily's got me to go on top of the bar with them and dance. The crossdressing dudes tried to pour pure alcohol down my throat. It was not satisfying. Haha I finally escaped and started dancing with Nikita. We just goofed off while EVERYONE else started making out with either random people from the bar or each other. Kids can be ridiculous some times. Haha After dancing until my legs hurt we decided it was a good idea to go home. I was beat and passed out right when my head hit the pillow.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Coricancha and planetarium!

Inside Coricancha

Temple of the sun inside of inside of Coricancha haha

Sacrificial stone

Garden of gold, no more gold

Regular garden

Waking up was terrible. I felt so gross and really wanted to shower. When Nikita got out of the shower our host brother and his wife and kid got in. They took over the bathroom, no shower for me. The day just started off bad. In class I was so bored and tired that I could not pay attention worth anything. I was seriously dead. We were put in tiny groups for discussion which made things a little better for a while, but we went back to lecture mode after a while. These 4 hour classes are killing me. Afterwards we went to lunch which was really good! It was salad, yuca, sweet potato, and some egg dipped yuca. Also chocolate pudding! Two of Carola's sons and two of her grand-kids were there, it was nice and lively. We talked about animals and India, of course. After wards we went to Coricancha which was the center of Cusco during the Incan empire, it was the temple of the sun, until the Spanish conquered them and turned it into a church. It was cool how on the inside there was the temple and the church was built over and around it. There used to be a garden of gold statues and flowers, but it was all looted by the Spanish. After that we went home and tried to grab some snacks from the grocery store, apparently we grabbed drinking chocolate instead of actual chocolate. Haha I got a yogurt drink and Nikita accidentally got sparkling water, poor girl. Then we got to go to a planetarium! I love planetariums. It was a family owned one, so not to fancy but still super fun. First we were outside, it was freezing but they gave us blankets and a drink that was a mixture of mint tea and pisco, alcohol to warm the blood as Carola says. haha we looked at all the astrological constellations. We looked through the telescope and saw the next closest star, a cluster of stars, a tri-star, and SATURN! Saturn was definitely the coolest, we saw titan the moon right next to it too. After wards we went inside and sat in a room looking at the ceiling for the star show inside. The ceiling was bowed so I could hear the kids across from us like they were right next to me. It was fun, we made jokes at each other. While riding home we realized we had a big quiz the next day but we were all to tired to study, so instead we went to bed and planned to study in the morning...

Inka museum and Indigo

The day before yesterday we went to class and had a quiz. Class was not too exciting. Afterwards we went to lunch, which was steak, gross. Then we went to the inka museum. We just roamed around and presented the articles we learned about. Nikita and I had been dying from all the work so we decided that we had to go out. We tried to recruit some people but most people were doing the homework. We convinced CJ to go with us though. Nikita found a hookah bar, called indigo, near plaza de armas to go to. Got lost. Haha we went the absolute wrong direction for a while and asked a couple people where to go but they didn't know where it was until Nikita found the address on her phone and asked someone where the road was. They gave us a tiny map and we were off. Well even with the map we got lost. Ended up walking up the hugest hill and got to the top and realized we were next to a school not a hookah bar. Randomly we decided to go down these stairs that were like an alley way. We ended up running into Indigo when we turned the corner! It was a really chill place. I liked it a lot. We hung out there and smoked hookah and drank screwdrivers for a couple hours. It was nice to just sit and talk. There were candles everywhere and we were in the corner with these big chairs that leaned back. At the end of the night though they gave us the same check and I only had a 50 to pay with so I ended up with the majority of the bill. I need to figure out how much everyone owes me. Afterwards we just got a taxi home and passed out!