Author: kkahn

Yesterday we got back from the Inca Trail. It was absolutely amazing. While some parts were a bit foggy as we literally spent parts of the trail inside clouds, the views we did have were absolutely mind blowing. We visited many ruins along the trail and learned about their history from our tour guides, Saul and Elio. The hiking itself was very fun. There were more stairs than I’ve ever seen before in my life, but it was much easier than it could have been because our amazing porters carried all of our stuff for us, and cooked amazing meals for us. To give an idea of the calibre of food that prepared, we had ceviche on the Inca trail.

Last weekend was absolutely amazing. We took a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. On Saturday we went to the areas that were closer to Cusco which meant we took a sort bus ride then walked around and rode horses to three or four Inca sites. As well as seeing old Inca temples and castles we saw many beautiful mountainsides and landscapes. I took a whole lot of pictures. Unfortunately for me, the horse I took was kind of lazy and annoying and I ended up being at the back of the group. Horse riding was a very cool experience however.

On Sunday we took a tour of different sites in the Sacred Valley. This your was much more bus oriented as we took buses to each of the sites, however we hiked around the different sites once we got there. It’s hard to describe the places we saw with words and uploading pictures takes a while so I will share them once I get home, but the sites we saw were quite breathtaking.

We ate lunch at an amazing restaurant called Incalicious. It was an all you can eat buffet place with pasta, rice, salmon and other such foods. It was a semi outdoor place with a great view of the mountains.

We’ve been in Peru for a little bit over a week now, and it’s a little bit weird to realize how fast this trip is going. Yesterday was the Festival of Corpus Christi and we went out to see it during our school day. I tried multiple new foods such as sugarcane and granadilla, something I had never heard of before. I also got a coconut with a straw in it. After drinking the milk we broke the coconuts open and ate the “meat”. We also went to the Artesianal Market where I bought multiple gifts for people. The food here is good. I’ve found plenty of tasty good to eat despite being vegetarian. There is a pastry place near to the school called Pantastico which sells quiches as well as sweet pastries such as carrot cake for very cheap.

Now I’ve had a fair bit more time in Peru. So far I’ve done a lot of sightseeing and taken a fair amount of pictures. We went to the orphanage yesterday and today. I have yet to meet the kids but I have been helping out in the laundry area folding and hanging up clothes. We went to the Spanish school as well. The classes are 2 students to one teacher. We spent time doing exercises with the subjunctive tense as well as talking in Spanish about soccer and the World Cup. There are lots of festivals going on right now which include parades and dancing among other things. 

Although the journey to Cuzco was not the most enjoyable experience I´ve had, now that we´re here, it´s absolutely amazing. My host family is great, and the food here is amazing. The vegetables taste much better than hey do back home. I´ve had tea with every meal since I´ve gotten here, with brown sugar. There are other English-speaking guests here, including a few college students and a guy from London, but the mom doesn´t really know much English at all. What I´ve found really satisfying is that I haven´t really had much issue with that. Apparently my years of Spanish education have paid off. Although there´s a fair amount of vocab I don´t know, I can get by quite well and communicate with the native Spanish speakers.

Today we went to the Plaza de Armas, where there was a massive parade. I´m not entirely sure what they´re celebrating, but it´s something big because apparently there are celebrations for the entire month of June. There are people wearing all sorts of colorful costumes and playing all sorts of instruments including traditional drums and pipes. There were people dressed as condors as well. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but I´ll be sure to take pictures later.

–Krishna