I hope I find all of you well. Over the past few days we have done so many things and taken so many pictures but I just haven't had the time to update the blog but now as I stay at the hostel (while a bunch of other people go out dancing) with my upset stomach I've got plenty of time to put down my thoughts and get some pictures up for all to see!
So, let's begin where I left off.
Friday was the last day of the "semester" for my Andean Culture Class. I was very happy with the information we covered during the class. Our professor, Erwin, was a full blown anthropologist and he had covered a huge amount of the topics we studied in class (festivals, dances, rituals, etc) in his research afield so mostly everything we talked about was something he had personally been to. It was a great semester and I was extremely happy with how everything worked out, especially since I ended up with an A, haha!
After class, we went on a trailriding trip around some of the ruins north of Cusco. As many of you may know, I haven't ever ridden a horse before, but I was extremely happy with how things turned out and I am definitely trying to do it again while I am here. We paid $15 US for over two hours of riding and the landscape was awesome. Here are a few pictures to prove that I did indeed do it!
After horseback riding the night was pretty much tame and we just ended up going to bed nice and early.
Today we got up around 7:30 (an upgrade from the normal 6:45 wakeup call for school) and made our way downstairs for our trip to Pikillakta and Tipon. These historical centers of the ancient peruvian history were great places to explore and hike and we really had a great time. Another good thing about the trip was that we got to split up into two buses but with different people than normal. We typically ended up going with the people from our hostel for everything and it was getting kind of repetitive but today we got to mix and match a bit.
Pikillakta is a city of the ancient pre-incan Wari people that is just a bit outside of Cusco. It was used as a point of control for those who entered the city (since only the noble class of Incans were allowed into the city). The settlement was also used as a center for practical education for conquered people in the empire. The incans would bring conquered peoples into the city, teach them Quechua and a craft (pottery, weaving, etc) and then have them work as productive members of society.
Here are some pictures from Pikillakta:
After Pikillakta we went to Tipon, which served as an agricultural center for experimentation on the part of the ancient Incans. They had terraces over a large height difference which they used to reacclimate low altitude plants to higher altitudes. For example, they would plant Coca, a plant normally cultivated in the jungle lowlands, on the lowest terrace and then after a few years they would transplant the bush up a level and repeat the process. After the plants got accustomed to the highest terraces they would take the seeds and use them all over the mountanous parts of the empire. This saved them countless hours of transportation and labor as they could now simply grow the plants where they were by conquering the environment instead of letting it dominate them. This is what Tipon looks like, some from ground level and some from the mountain above:
Not only were we able to visit the ruins of Tipon, but our tour director Nanci also set up a ceremony for us while we were there. A peruvian healer from the nearby village of Huasao (as you may remember, this is the town where we had the coca leaves read and is called "la tierra de los brujos" for a reason) led us in a ceremony giving an offering to the Pachamama or mother nature. We all got to participate while the healer lead the ceremony. Despite my unbelief, it was certainly an experience being in a ceremony in its native country which I have only read about or heard stories of. Here are some pictures of the "ofrenda a la pachamama" to help us in school, health, and love through the coming year:
After our offering was concluded we made our way down the montain and headed for, what else, lunch! We ended up eating some delicious rainbow trout at a restaurant called La Hacienda del Tio Juan. The restaurant is a spread out place with tables outside under thatched roofs. They had a volleyball court, a trampoline, and hammocks for your after-lunch siesta and we made use of all of those things. Perhaps the best was when, in the midst of our meal, Tio Juan himself, a charming old gentleman with a mustache and a cowboy hat, came riding up the slope leading to the restaurant on his magnificent black horse. We were all quite impressed and many of the girls confessed to have swooned a bit over their plates. Overall, it was an excellent meal and the weather couldn't have been better:
So, like I said, over the past few days there were sooo many things to do! Tomorrow we have our first "free day" since the weekend before last so we are pretty much ready and raring to sleep in late and see what else we feel like doing (if we get around to it of course). Well, I know this was long but I hope you enjoy and feel a little jealous that you're not here, haha!
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