I never really summarized machu picchu because i had been writing about the trail for so long...which is pretty representative of my feeling towards it. Seeing the ruins was more of a omg, its over...than a WOW lets go look around for 3 hours. None the less it was unreal to be there, and crazy to think about the amount of work it took incas to get to MP everytime they needed to deal with issues in their civilization throughout the entire inca trail. what we hiked in 4 days took them 4 hours. The pristine craftmanship of the village was remarkable, not only the fact taht they got all the boulders up to that point, but that they all fit together so perfectly and purposefully. So many considerations were taken in the making, it is highly impressive. After MP we went to lunch in aguas calientes (thank god there was a bus down) we then went to the hot springs...which were no rockies hotsprings, but did the trick for achy muscles just as well. the trained, then bused, then flew and i was back to lima by lunch tuesday.
Wednesday we went to the healthy orphanage. Which i hav learned still has more specials than regulars...but they are functional specials. which is proving to be more than a challenge, because they are really strong but have a lesser perception of right and wrong and responsiveness to guidance...like STOP!...I worked with little boys about age 5...i always thought when looking at my life that i would rather have boys because its less drama in high school...but boy do parents pay for it in the early years...i was a human punching bag! haha it was fun though, and they were really excited i was there. Im still contemplatign where to give all the orphanage supplies. They too were short basic things like pencils and paper, but they also had virtually no toys. It breaks my heart taht i cant be giving everything to everyone. This week we went to a new school in pachacutec where i will teach phys ed. we had to find a new one because the other one had so me political unrest and walls were burnt down among other things. We did our introductions and got a nice reception of food and inca kola :). I met two people from Newfoundland that th ursday then Friday at special needs worked wi th 2 girls from montreal and met a girl from the GTA--GO CANADIANS! ....i really just like that less people make fun if the way i speak..
so Thursday night was the opening to Eclipse in Peru. Its in English with Spanish subtitles-thank god. it was showing everey 20 minutes and still arriving at 7 we couldnt get in til 840. it was insane. but who knew thesame million calorie popcorn from north american movies exists in peru...its apparently the one thing they imported. It was sweet to go with the group, and for a while i forgot i was in peru. which as much as i love every minute, was kind of comforting. the whole stampede thing is making me a tad bit homesick, luckily yall can st op having fun as of today :P. that day we went to central lima and had a gander which was pretty cool. seems like the more touristy and populated places are, the more european they are. the architecture was much more elegant, there were pedestrian s treets, sidewalk patios the whole shibang. but i must say after shopping in a ton of shops here, the style is really not my thing...probably a great thing for the wallet though. Central lima sells thread we use to make bracelets in our spare time, so i finally bought some which was exciting. i also found some nice leather things i might go back to get.
Friday we celebrated Liz s birthday, her real birthday is monday, when she turns 20! the age i personally am scared as hell to turn, so im excited to see how she does. We went to barranco, which is by miraflores; basically their both nicer, touristier, younger districts in Lima. We fuond a bar called carpe diem which liz, dan and the sisters had gone to last week while i was in cusco. It is a 15 soles entry.. so 5 maybe 6 dollars and is open bar all night. it really sounds too good to be true. but we all arrived home successfully undrugged and realatively un sick so definitely no complaints. they played a great deal of music from home which was fun because it was english, and somewhat remided me of work. which i miss a LOT right now.
Yesterday Kait left to go home. we went to chilis for deserts after lunch and a few of the girls took her to the airport. It was really weird seeing somebody go home. It created the reality that we all go home, and that most of us go home in about the 2 week mark. Which in some ways seems far away, but in more ways is practically going to feel like tomorrow. With all the new volunteers arriving on the 15th including one guy in our house, mike, its almost made me feel like ive been here longer because we arent the new group anymore. Feeling like i know what im doing makes me feel a lot better about being here volunteer wise.
Im still coughing up a lung so Breakfast is next on the priorities, then copious amounts of sleep, because apparently I havent partied in a while and need multiple days of grannyness to recover.
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