Notes from my Journal

I know it´s been a long time since our last post... I had limited internet access, but I wrote down a bit of my experience. Here´s a lil´ bit from my journal! Just so you know, we are all disease-free, safe and well!

Also, Please Scroll Down and check-out new photos I´ve added, such as the Sept 17th Blog from our Adventures in Huacachina, where I added some photos from our adventures sandboarding!

note: These are notes that were taken before we got sick - my last post...

September 19 -
It´s Saturday! It´s nice to have the day off, especially when the last few days were full! We spent the day at the ancient ¿Inca? ruins called Saxaywaman. Now THIS is easy to remember : Sax-y-wo-man! ... sounds something like... ummm... Sexy woman! LOL!  (I use ¿Inca? with question marks, because there are many who believe that the ancient ruins here in Perú were not originally created by the Inca, but in fact were creations by a culture that existed BEFORE the Inca society. However, most books and tour guides, and yes, even historians give the Inca credit for all of Perú´s ancient creations). We got to ride mules up to see La Templa de La Luna (Temple of the Moon)... what a walk that would have been!  We rested for a bit on the Temple and I wrote down a few of my intentions... as it was the New Moon (in Virgo)! How magical was it to be at the top of a temple that was originally created to honor the Moon on the day after the New Moon! *One of my intentions is to start interpreting! (It´s about time, huh?¿!¿¡)

Templa De La Luna

Saxaywaman (Well, Two)

Sept 18 -

Nicole, Wilson (our friend from HelpingHands) and I went to El Centro (the center) de Cuzco to go shopping and such. I bought a gorra (hat) with Llamas on it and looked around a bit for other goodies.

Nicole and I drank some smoothies from the Mercado. *This might not have been such a good idea... (see post below).  At the Mercado I saw a flier that read ´Full Moon PsyTrance Party´and you know I was happy! I insisted that we go later, as I Love electronic music!  After dinner with a new friend, JulioCesar, another volunteer, Matthijis met us at La Plaza de Armas and joined us for a few bebidas at a few spots. We had a great time dancing and such. We went to Mama Africa, where there were a lot of Gringos, like us. Then of course I made sure we go to that PsyTrance Party, which was pretty fun... I could have stayed all night long, but I felt like I should rest because I had something to look forward to... It was very nice to know that I´d be returning to where I was needed once the weekend was over. I have something to look forward to... to be with the little kids again on Monday morning and teach English in the afternoons.

Sept 17 -

Today I had a lot more energy, and so after the first session of class I decided to wash my laundry... by hand! It wasn´t my first time doing this... We had to wash our laundry by hand when my mama and I traveled to Spain. I didn´t realize how long it would take, but just for a few shirts, a pair of pants, and the essentials "pantelones pequenos" - as Nicole likes to call them, it took me about an hour and a half.

After washing clothes I got to meet the students who attend the second half of the program. We revised a few English the kids English. I had a lot of fun teaching and got the idea that I could do this more often! ¿¡Hmmmm!?...

Sept 16 -
We finally are a little more settled in our destination city, Cuzco (Cusco). Today we volunteered with kids from the ages of 4-6 in the morning. I felt a little sick and tired so I needed to stay back and sleep a little today while Nicole volunteered longer during the second half of the day. She helped kids from the ages of 7-13 with their homework from their school. When Nicole got back, she INSISTED that I eat, even though I felt sick. Thank you, Nicole! That made me feel a lot better! ¡¿What would I do without you, friend!?