My Reflections

I thought I should decompress my thoughts from my experiences in Ecuador into a blog post. It was an amazing, challenging, and life-changing experience. Here's a peak into my thoughts I've had over the summer.

I loved it. Not everyday-- that would be a lie. Many days were really difficult, lonely, challenging and sometimes terrifying. But if everyday was rainbows and butterflies, I wouldn't have learned how to deal with adversity, I wouldn't have become a better problem solver, and I wouldn't have appreciated the simply amazing days when things went... smoothly. 

The many months leading up to my departure to Ecuador were slightly painful as I had very little sense of what I'd be doing when I arrived. However, it's probably best that I didn't know what to expect, because things often don't quite happen as planned here so I'm sure having a day by day agenda would not have been the best approach.

"The best journeys answer the questions that in the beginnings you didn't even think to ask."

As I reflect on my time here, this is the quote I keep returning to in my head. It really is amazing how much I learned here that I didn't even think about before landing in Ecuador.

Microenterprise work always seemed interesting to me, and I thought I understood what it was, but coming here and working with two different groups has given me a new sense of what a micro enterprise really is. I also thought that I would be able to help due to my education background in business and other experiences. While I'm sure this was a bit helpful, what I really learned is that many of the things I learned in my business classes cannot be applied to micro enterprise work. It'd be hard to apply things from my digital studies class to the camarones group, where there is no internet access in the village. Keeping track of finances and accounting for the la calera group is near impossible because the community is so grounded in sharing and helping others, that saved funds go right to community projects or children education funds. While business principles are still present in micro enterprises, the way of addressing different areas of the business: marketing, accounting, operations, etc., should be gone about in different manners than what I learned in the classroom.

The most interesting thing about micro enterprises is that they are just that- MICRO. They do not have the resources to operate like your average business, they don't "clock in" but rather work on their own schedules, they are not paid a wage, but rather just get the money from the sales they make. If they grow, gain many clients, take on more people to work, they are no longer a micro enterprise.

Aside from all I learned in the "work place" I also gained many valuable experiences from just living in rural ecuador. We can start with living on the basics. I brushed my teeth off the side of my balcony using a water bottle, hung dry my clothes, didn't use a flushing toilet, showered in freezing cold water, never looked at myself in a mirror, and didn't have phone or internet access for a month (except when I went into town). I was also able to quickly get over my fear of bugs.

What I will bring back to Madison from my Camarones experience is: you can survive anything and to live happily you don't need many things. & Take advantage of every resource available.

I plan to pack my bags for Madison almost as light as my travel bags for Ecuador (unfortunately, going back to madison means I have to wear business clothes again). I won't freak out if there is a bug in my room or even a bug in my soup, or if a piece of food falls on the ground, 5 second rules doesn't even matter, it's probably ok to eat-- you will be OK!

I was also often very frustrated working in camarones due to not having internet to do research, having no resources to be able to buy materials, it being so so so hot that trying to do work in the heat without AC was brutal, and when the electricity went out, which it often did, we couldn't work with the high school kids in the evening.

I'm going back to Madison with the everything is possible attitude-- using all the resources the school has to offer, feeling grateful to have AC (or in our case heating), electricity to be able to study at night (my host sister set up candles to study when the electricity went out), and a wonderful education system  and support system that encourages me to do well in school. I am also so grateful to have job opportunities. It is so difficult for women in camarones to find jobs because there are no job opportunities in Camarones and it takes an hour to get to a city and nearly no one has their own form of transportation to leave. I wasn't looking forward to getting back to the states and having to search for full time jobs, but now I am so excited because I am so grateful to GET to be able to apply for jobs and have the opportunity to earn an income to support myself.

Another important note from Camarones:

I wouldn't call myself a "feminist" however, I think my time here has just about turned me into one. Machismo was my least favorite thing about my experience here, although it did show me how lucky I am to live in the states, where stay at home dads and full time moms are options. I couldn't believe some of the things I heard and saw when observing the machismo culture in camarones. It was really eye opening.

I also have become more interested in learning about the age of mothers because in the rural parts of Ecuador it is likely for girls to start having kids at the ages of 13-15 years old. I would really be interested to know what the average age is in other parts of Ecuador as well as other countries in South America.

My Camarones Family

I guess this transitions into my appreciation for the medical system we have in the states. In my time in Ecuador, I made 14 hospital trips which included 7 different hospitals. I got to experience everything from cleaning fluids poured on my wound from gatorade bottles, getting a tetanus shot in my butt in a shared room with other patients, purchasing a shot at a pharmacy to bring to the hospital to administer it, having food poisoning and the hospital wanting to give me an injection (not the right treatment) and telling me the doctor I should talk with isn't in that day, having my rabies vaccine with the name of another patient, a nurse telling me the wrong day to get my rabies vaccine, my vaccination card having the wrong name on it, running around 3 cities in one day to find my rabies vaccine, AND MORE. While many, actually all, of these days and experiences were not  fun, nor ideal, they did make me so grateful for the extreme medical attention and care that is given in the states. They will also make great stories in the future.

That also leads me to lend a million thank yous to all the people who cared for me along the way! From taking me to hospitals, to running around cities trying to find vaccines, to hosting me in Quito, I was blessed to be surrounded by caring people who I can now call family.

My Quito Family


And another thank you to my mom and dad back home for not sending me home when thing started going south. Thanks for letting me go to Ecuador and stayig calm!

My Calera take aways: Engage with those around you and take in their culture.

At first, I was a little bummed out that I didn't have wi fi at my house in la calera, after going the first month without it. However, after a little bit I realized I was really bonding with my family because I wasn't ever tempted to look at my phone. It really makes a difference the level of engagement you can have with people if you never look at your phone. I am definitely going to try to spend less screen time when back in Madison.

Taking in the culture of people around you is extremely important. I was lucky to be here during their biggest festival of the year, Inti Raymi. I did not want to be a tourist for this event, but rather a participant and see what it was like from their shoes-- so I literally put on my host mom's shoes, and her entire traditional clothing and danced in the square with them, helped them sell beer, and even participated in a ritual bathing in the river at midnight.

My La Calera family

This brings me to another point about culture--experiencing another culture internationally will help you understand and work better with people. In the states, everyone comes from a different background, whether that's culturally, religiously, economically, etc. However, we're all really the same, just with different perspectives. The more perspectives you've seen the more you can understand how the world works.

List of differences in Ecuador:

When in Spain I always took note of differences I noticed and wrote about them in my blog, I also did that in ecuador, but saved them until now to talk about:

Instant coffee- here, disolvable coffee is a big thing, super convenient because you just mix it with hot water or milk!

Sign language on TV-almost all the tv shows, new channels, and commercials have little person on the bottom corner of the screen doing sign language of what people are saying- It's neat!

People sell fruit in the streets and do entertainment in the street- this was mostly in Quito- I think it's a novel way to try to make money. In Chicago, people often come up to your car and ask for spare change, here they juggle in the intersection while the light is red and then ask for donations. They also sell snacks, which is a great idea because Quito traffic is awful so if you want a snack on the ride home, no need to stop at a store, just roll down your window.

Broken glass instead of barbed wire- on the tops of walls instead of wire people break beer bottles and sink them in cement.

Buses are sponsored by Jesus- all the buses running through ecuador have some religious saying on the outside, on the seats, and even pictures of the virgin inside.

Things are named after dates- in tha states, we have a lot of things named after people like presidents, but here it's all about dates. Schools, streets, buses all are dates, like the 6 de Julio, or 10 de Augusto.

Don't flush toilet paper- almost all of the toilets I used in Ecuador had signs that say don't flush your toilet paper, but rather put it in the garbage. This doesn't include the dry composting toilets, because those didn't flush and you could toss the toilet paper down, along with some wood chips.

Specialized food stores or brands on women's dresses- this is a new marketing technique I garuntee you won't see in the states. At malls, movie theaters, and grocery stores you may see a woman wearing a tight dress with a brand plastered to the breast area of the dress. That's one way to get someone's attention.

dish soap in a bucket- the popular choice of dish soap comes in solid form in a little bucket.

Milk in a bag- In the states, milk often comes in a plastic gallon, in Spain it came in a box, and in Ecuador it comes in a bag.

They eat guinea pig-enough said.

Men with braids-this is a tradition in many indigenous communities. From the time they are babies, their hair is put into little braids until it is long enough to put it a big braid, usually surpassing their butt. Another note about braids, it's probably a requirement to know how to braid in order to be a mom here, because all the braids on these little girls are so amazing.

Drink beer sharing a cup- Drinking here is truly social drinking. When we had a beer, we litterally had a beer- and one cup. You'd pour yourself some beer in a little cup, drink it, and pass the cup for someone else to pour beer and drink from the same cup.

Megaphone if there is a missing pig- in la calera, there is a community house with a megaphone that the volume reaches all the houses in the community- it often plays music and acts as an alarm clock in the morning, and it also puts out special announcements, for instance, if someone's pig, or cow, or sheep is missing, they will put it on the loud speaker so everyone can be on the lookout. Except often people steal animals, so many times you won't be able to find them!

Picu placa- this is a government run program in Quito to limit traffic. As I mentioned before, the traffic in Quito is bad, so to try and limit it, the gov says, if your license plate ends in "this number" you can't drive in the city on this one day of the week during rush hours. So everyone has one day a week they are can't drive in the city in the morning and after work hours. 

High medium salt, sugar, fat on all foods- on all packaged foods there is a label on the back that notes whether the sugar, fat and salt are either high, medium or low- and it's color coordinated! Red is bad!!

Breast feeding In public- very very common. At parks, restaurants, really everywhere, you will see moms breastfeeding. 

Public schools where uniforms, private don't-this was on the coast. This is the  opposite of how it is in the states so I thought that was interesting.

Anything can be turned into a backpack: pots of food, plants, luggage, babies: this is mostly in la calera. You would be amazed at what people, mostly women, can carry on the backs and how they use a simple sheet to turn everything into a backpack.

Holidays that celebrate seasons- this is big for indigenous communities because the seasons and harvest times of the year are very important to them.

Parade for soccer- it's a big deal here

Quechua has 3 vowels; Quechua is the indigenous language that almost everyone in la calera speaks. The language has only 3 vowels "ah" "e" and "oo". I've learned a few words in Quechua, but my favorite is "ah chai chai" which translates to "I'm really really cold" I'll definitely be using that in the states.

Political campaigning as graffiti- all political campaigns are plastered on street walls, graffitied, hung up at all little stores! It's everywhere!

Juice with all meals- one of my favorite things about ecuador. I was thinking I'd try making some mora juice back in the states, but then I remembered it cost $4 for like 20 blackberries, where he it costs $1 for a pound.

Coladas are warm jam like juice drinks- and they are so tasty!!

3 "Ah ha!" Moments. 
I had an interview after my time abroad in Sevilla, and the first question the interviewer asked me was, "What were your 3 "Ah-ha!" moments from living and studying in Spain. I loved the question and it really made me think about my time in Europe, so I decided I would also answer it here for my time in Ecuador.

1. happy to work- we choose what path we take in life and we have the freedom to change that path at anytime. When you realize that you choose to go to work and have the opportunity to work rather than having to go to work, your perspective will drastically change!

2. The internet can be a great thing ( use the resources it offers) it can also be a terrible thing (don't sacrifice relationships)

3. Less is more- material items should be limited, and when you have less resources you become creative on how to solve problems and get things accomplished

Another point from my experience:
tranquilo, no pasa nada- the theme of ecuador.. Stay calm, don't worry about it. One of my biggest weaknesses I always talk about in interviews is that I'm very impatient. I have had to really learn to go with the flow and not glue my eyes to the clock while on Ecuador.

If you've made it this far in my post, thanks for reading. Here are my closing thoughts:

The whole "Change the world" goal is something I have completely rethought. Something this experience has taught me is that it is more important to understand the world first before even thinking about changing it. A way I have learned to help change the the world is by educating others about the world. When people know and understand what it is like in other places, we may start to realize the change that can be made.

And if you decide you want to make change, first seek to understand what you want to change, ask, why does this need to be changed, what will the outcomes of this change be?

My goals for working with these artisan groups this summer drastically changed from developing their micro enterprises to plain and simply just learning and observing. If I came in and changed what I originally wanted to, I also would have changed the culture and the way these people live, which is not what I intended to do. So instead of focusing on what I could change, I focused on what I could learn.

While it took me a while to accept that my work this summer would not be result driven, or something I could quantify on my resume, I truly believe I walked away with something much more valuable. Through midnight bathing rituals, to rabies vaccines, food poisoning, machismo, scary motorcycle rides, dry composting toilets, bugs to the extreme, indigenous festivals, and more, I have learned to overcome obstacles, enrich myself in new cultures, preserver, and be creative with very few resources. While I know I have learned so much from this experience, one of the most important things I learned is that I still have so much learn. Looking forward to the many adventures ahead but will always be grateful for the time I spent in the beautiful country of ecuador and the wonderful people  I lived with, became friends with, or just encountered along the way. 

So when I think about 9 months ago when deciding to come to Ecuador, I'd still say yes in a heart beat. Through the moments of frustration and fear although challenging, I never once thought, I wish I didn't come here. It's all been a part of the holistic experience of living in rural Ecuador.

Of course I will end with a quote:

"We travel because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. but something inside our minds has changed, and that changes everything." Jonah Leher 

Thanks for an amazing 11 weeks Ecuador (&Peru)! I will be back one day, but until then, hasta luego!

Sending smiles from Chicago,

Rebecca

Hasta Luego, Ecuador!

Peru

Peru was great! We hiked until our legs shook, ate so much organic chocolate until our stomachs ached, and also ate/ drank a lot of coca so our stomachs wouldn't ache! 

The views were amazing and Machu Picchu was better than I could have imagined.

Wednesday

We started our travel day leaving Mildred's bright and early to go to Cusco! We had a layover in Lima and when we got to the Lima airport, after getting some snacks, we found out that our flight was delayed. We waited. It was delayed more. Then it was delayed more. Then it was canceled. Everyone waiting for our plane got in a big line at the gate but I thought we might be able to talk to someone else to get things straightened out. We went up to another gate to talk to someone from LAN (our airline) and she was SO nice and got us put on a new flight that left within the hour. So, we only lost about 3 hours of travel thorough all of the shenanigans. We got to Cusco around 6 and took a taxi to our hostel. We were starving, so after checking in to our 18 person room we went out to find some food.

Upon walking around town, I instantly fell in love with Cusco! The streets were super cute and the town was lively. We found a place to eat and also made sure to drink lots of Coca. Coca is a leaf that was like a superfood for the Quechua communities way back in the day. It is a huge part of the Peruvian culture. It is said to help altitude sickness and many people recommended eating or drinking a lot of it as soon as we arrived to prepare for our hikes and just the general altitude change. We got Coca tea with our dinner, which is just hot water with coca leaves in it. It didn't have much flavor, but at least it wasn't bad. We also stocked up on some coca candies that we could eat before and during our hikes.

Thursday:

We got up early and had a nice free breakfast at our hostel. We then took a LONG, very UPHILL hike to a bunch of ruins. We got to the top of the hill to purchase our tickets and then had another uphill to go. We were approached by a man trying to sell us horseback riding around the ruins. Normally, we would ignore or say no thanks, but at this point Rachael and I looked at each other, completely out of breath and seriously feeling the altitude, and we negotiated with the man so we could avoid climbing up any more hills.

We got to his horse ranch and he tossed us each up on a horse. It was $30 total for the both of us and he asked us to pay  up front. We said we'd rather pay upon finishing the tour but they said they needed the money now (red flag number 1). We only gave them $20 and said we'd pay the rest at the end. We were supposed to get a 4-5 hour tour that included 3 hours on the horse. Then they said to "go" and we were like, where is the guide? He waved at us.. But wasn't on a horse, so he was walking us... (Red flag number 2). We started going uphill and thankfully the horses were calm because we had to cross a busy street with cars and I almost freaked out. We got to a plot of land and the guy is like, ok so now you have to take a bus to the ruins.. And we're like... What? Thought the horse was taking us. He said the horses couldn't go there (red flag number 3) and he'd wait for us at that land and we should be back in an hour. We got on a bus and got to the ruins fairly quickly, we walked around and really had very little idea of what we were looking at, because it was all rocks and ruins. We tried listening in on some tours to gain a little, but didn't gain much. We thought our guide was coming with us, but guess not. We walked around and it was pretty neat and the scenery was gorgeous, but I'll have to Wikipedia what we were looking at later.

We got back to the horses and trotted along for a little longer and reached a hill with an ancient temple on it, we climbed up the hill, by foot, and took some pictures before getting back on the horses to go to the next site. This time when we got off the horses our guide was like, ok, you just go in here and then walk the rest... Uhm, we had only been gone for about 2 hour and on the horses for maybe 30 minutes, we also had to pay for a bus which they never told us we would have to do, and we had no "guide." We were pretty upset and refused to pay the last $10 because we were completely lied to. The "guide" was pretty mad but didn't stop us from walking on.

We went to the ruins, climbed up to the white Jesus statue (cristo blanco is the name is the statue- literally translates to white Jesus). You can see it from the main square of cusco and it looks like an angel in the sky. After climbing up there, we went to the final ruins of our trip- Sacsyhuman. It was definitely the most elaborate of all the ruins we had seen that day. We saw some doors and rooms in the ruins and even got to see some llamas (or alpacas, I can never tell the difference).

We walked around for an hour before heading out because we wanted to make a free walking tour which started in the plaza at 12:30. We got there just in time and we walked around the city of cusco for about 2 hours with our awesome guide Marco. We learned a lot about Cusco's history and how the city was built. After the tour we got free pisco sours and chatted with the people in the same tour as us. We were starving because it was 4:00 and we hadn't eatten since breakfast! We went to get Chinese food with some people in our tour and we ate so so much. We were very full, however we stopped at the organic chocolate store in the main square to buy a few pieces of chocolate for dessert. We then walked to the artisan market to look around and buy a few gifts and at this point my legs were shaking and my knees were super sore. We started walking back to our hostel but still had a sweet tooth and decided instead of having a real dinner we'd stop at a cafe and get hot chocolate, and split a brownie and a slice of cheesecake. It was just what we needed and deserved after a long day. We walked back to our hostel and packed our bags because in the morning we would be leaving for our 4 day Inca Jungle trek to Machu Picchu. 

Friday:

We woke up at 5AM because we were supposed to be getting picked up at 5:40 by our tour guide. As 6am rolled around we got a little nervouse they weren't coming, but they pulled up around 6:10. We met the group and had breakfast with everyone and then they piled everyone into 2 vans and we headed up the mountains. 

Our first activity we would be doing was downhill mountain biking. We pulled the vans off the side of the road and they took all the bikes and gear down from the top of the van. The view from the top was incredible. We got suited up in a padded jacket and a helmet and then picked out our bikes. I love biking, but these steep downhill turns on a road next to cars and buses definitely freaked me out a bit. In our group of 20, I was always at the back of the pack, and usually everyone was so far ahead I couldn't see anyone. Luckily, there was only one road and one direction to go in so I couldn't get lost. Also, the van was following behind me in case I fell (which I almost did a couple of time) or got hit by a car. Thankfully, I completed the trek safely and made it to the bottom with everyone waiting for me- slow and steady!!

We then took a bus to lunch which was delicious and then headed to our next activity, white water rafting! Rachael and I had never been before so we were both excited! It was a lot of fun! We were in a raft with 7 people and our raft guide didn't know English and no one except Rach and I spoke Spanish, so I was helping translate for our group. We got pretty wet and only one person on our raft fell out, but we quickly got her back in! The river moved quicker than I thought, and the scenery was incredible!

After rafting we changed back into our clothes and then took our vans to our first hiking spot. We were dropped off on the side of the road and had to take everything with us. Thankfully, I was able to fit everything for 4 days in my little blue pack, while some people brought their huge backpacking packs- I would have died if I was carrying my big bag. 

Our first hike was straight uphill. It was around 6pm, so already dark and I didn't bring my headlamp. Luckily, others had flashlights so I followed their lead. It was quite warm because I was wearing my jacket and the hill up was steep. We were hiking to our accommodation for the night which once we arrived was lovely. We were all dripping sweat and starving once we arrived, so we stripped down into tanks, settled in our bunk rooms and then went down for dinner. In our room, Rach and I shared a bunk and then there were 3 friends (2 girls and a guy) from England around our age, and a couple in their late 20s from the Netherlands. 

We all hung out at our table after dinner and talked about life in the Netherlands, England, and the states. I loved learning about cultural differences- so cool! We also had some amazing 100% organic chocolate made by the family who lives there and runs the accommodations- so good!

Saturday

We woke up to a beautiful view of what we had hiked up the night before. Our rooms were literally tucked away in the mountains. It was super cool!

After breakfast we got to learn about all the agriculture that grows in the mountainous region of Peru. There are more than 3,00 types of potatoes produced in Peru- how crazy! I we learned about achote, which is an plant that has oil inside and I remembered that is what my family in la calera often used to cook our potatoes and soups with. We learned that it was also used as a face paint for inca warriors and it contained sun protection. Our guide and the family then painted all of our faces with traditional inca symbols. 

We then began our long day of hiking. We hiked around 7 hours today with a 2 hour break in the middle for lunch and a rest in the hammocks. The first part of our hike before lunch was hilly and along the side of mountain. The views were amazing. After lunch, our hike was a little less hilly but along side of a river. It was so beautiful but unfortunately, being near the river meant lots of mosquito bites! At one point we had to take a cable car across the river which was cool! Then we kept walking until we hit the hot springs, meaning our day of trekking was over and we could relax our muscles and take a dip in the hot springs. We relaxed in the springs for about an hour and a half and then took a short bus ride to our hostel in the very small town of Santa Teresa. We had dinner in the town and then hit the hay, but not before an amazing shower!!

Sunday

We started the day with breakfast and then zip lining! Loved flying through and over the mountains with the river below. We got to zip long upside down and superman and we also walked over a long wobbly bridge which was slightly terrifying! 

After zip lining we took a bus to our lunch spot in a village called hydroelectrica and then rested a bit before our 3 hour trek to the village of aguas calientes, which is the closest village to Machu Picchu. The hike was mostly flat land and walking along a rail road track which wasn't too bad! When we arrived we had an early dinner around 5pm because the next day we'd be getting up around 3:30 to begin our hike. After dinner, Rach and I got some ice cream and then some snacks to bring on our hike for tomorrow. We were sharing a room with 2 girls from Germany who were our age, so it was fun to chat with them, but we called it a night pretty early because we wanted to be well rested for the big day!

Monday:

MACHU PICCHU

We got up at 3:40AM and left our hostel at 4am to meet some of the people from our group to hike with them. We met them at the market (they were placed at a different hostel) and began our trek. It took about 20 minutes to get to the starting point of Machu Picchu. It starts by crossing a bridge and the bridge opens at 5AM and we had to get to the top between 6-6:15 because our guide would be waiting for us up there. There was already a large group of people waiting at the bridge, we got to the bridge around 4:35. Once they opened the gate, they individually checked everyone's ticket and then we began the upwards trek. I had made a Machu Picchu playlist the night before that would hopefully motivate the group for the dark and steep hike. We all stayed together the entire time and if someone fell behind we would wait for them so we could all get to the top together.

We made it by 5:55! And after finding our guide and checking in, we entered Machu Picchu. It was SO cloudy and we could barely see anything, so it was a bit anti climatic, but it was really Eerie and cool when the clouds slowly passed and we could start seeing parts of the ruins and mountains.

Our guide sat us down and told us about the history of Machu Picchu, which was really interesting to learn about! We then got to walk through the ruins and he showed us where the houses, temple, and school was. Machu Picchu was much bigger and more elaborate than I imagined! I loved it! After we finished the guided tour, he told us we could now walk around on our own or climb the Machu Picchu mountain if we wanted. We first went to use the bathroom and had some of our snacks and then decided to climb the mountain with our friends from the netherlands. It was about an hour and a half straight uphill And eventually, we made it. There is a huge flag at the top of the mountain, which looks like a gay pride flag but actually represents the 7 Incan tribes. When we were treking the day before we noticed the flag at the top of a mountain and didn't realize we would actually be hiking up there! The view from the top was amazing and the breeze felt so so good!

After relaxing and snacking up there for a while we began our trek back down, which was pretty difficult because the steps were so steep!

We made it back to the Machu Picchu ruins and decided to explore a little more, where we saw llamas, the sacred rock (which is in the shape of the mountain behind it) and some more rooms and houses. 

We then exited the village and got a stamp in our passport for visiting Machu Picchu which was cool! Then the Netherlands couple bought Rachael and I  ice cream to thank us for taking pictures of them, which I loved doing anyway, but it was so nice of them! We ate our ice cream and said goodbye because they were taking the bus back down and we were walking. Our legs were a little shaky at this point, but we continued down. We walked all the way back to aguas calientes and had a nice big lunch/ dinner and then grabbed our bags from our hostel, got some ice cream and headed to the train station. We took a train to ollyantambo and then a bus back to cusco! We got back to our hostel around midnight and finally got a chance to rest our legs for a good night of sleep. 

Machu Picchu truly exceeded my expectations! There was so much hype around it, which made me nervous that it wouldn't live up to what people said, but it really was amazing!!

Tuesday:

We traveled to Puno! A city about a 7 hour bus ride south of Cusco. We only ran into a little trouble at the bus station buying our tickets for puno. We were told to avoid one bus company called Power, so we went to a different company to purchase our tickets. The guy selling gave us a student discount of 35 soles for each ticket which is about $12 each. We paid and he gave us a reciept and then we went to get some snacks before our bus left. We went back to the counter 15 minutes before our flight because that is what the man said and when we got there he told us we needed to pay more for our tickets. It was only 10 soles more, but I was so angry that he had lied to us and he wouldn't give us our tickets until we paid, and after arguing in my best Spanish ever he still wouldn't budge. We didn't really have a choice because we had to make the bus, so we paid the extra soles, and extremely frustrated, we got on the bus. As we got on the bus, there was a random girl filming us, which we found bizarre, but after talking to some other people, apparently, that's normal for Peru bus companies to do. Additionally, we were lied to about the seating in the bus, and also we found out that we actually did buy a ticket for a power bus, which explained how awful the process was, we were just happy we made it to Puno safe.

We got to the station and tried to buy our bus ticket for the next day, but they told us we had to wait and purchase it the next day! We took a taxi to our hostel which was so nice! We had our own room and the receptionist was so helpful in getting us booked for a tour for the next day!

We went out to dinner with one of the English girls from our inca jungle trek because she had arrived to Puno that morning. It was nice to see her again and get a good meal in!

Wednesday:

We went on our day tour of the floating islands and another island in Lake Titicaca. The reason we wanted to take the trek to Puno was to see the floating islands, and it was well worth it! We first went to the island of Uros. Floating islands are made completely of reeds which produce an oxygen gas to make them float. 5 families (21 people) lived on the island we visited. The kids rowed boats made of reeds for 90 minutes to school everyday. The islands last for 30 years before they begin to sink and the people start to build a new island about 2 years before their own island starts to sink. The people on the islands rarely use money, but rather barter with goods with people from other islands. They mostly eat fish and birds and reeds. The man I talked to on the island had only been to the mainland once. I was so so amazed and intrigued with this lifestyle. I have so many questions about the islands and I really want to learn more about this group of people!

After visiting Uros, we went to another island called Taquile. It was not a floating island, just a normal island. There were a bunch of different communities that lived on that island and each community was separated by an archway. The people on this island dressed in a very distinct way. By looking at their outfit you could tell if they were a male, female, single, married, or in a level of authority. You could usually see this by looking at their type of hat or belt.

We were fortunate to get to see an indigenous celebration while we were in their main plaza. Many men and women were dressed up in VERY colorful outfits and dancing in the square while another group of people were sitting on the side in black and just observing and sometimes clapping. We learned that these people were in levels of authority and got to drink and observe while the others danced.

We then had a nice lunch, learned about how they make soap and clean sheep wool. We also learned that men and women must live together for 2 years before deciding if they want to marry, and then the woman's hair is sewn into the man's belt. 

We then took a boat ride back to the mainland and went to buy our bus ticket for our bus that would leave at 10pm that night. After getting our ticket we walked around the square and got dinner and then hung out at our hostel until we went back to the bus station to catch our night bus back to Cusco!

Thursday:

We got back to cusco at 5am and went back to our hostel (even though we didn't have a reservation). We just asked if they could store our bags in their luggage room, they said yes, and then we took a nap in their lounge room until around 7am. We had some breakfast and then ventured into the town for our last day! We went to the church because there is a famous painting there of the "The last supper" but instead of normal food, there is a Guniea pig and chica for the meal. We kind of saw it while we were in there, and then looked around the church before being forced to pray or leave. We left.

We went to massages because so many people offer massages in cusco for cheap because after you do the Machu Picchu hike, your muscles will need it. We got an hour massage for $8 each. It was kind of sketchy because we went into this random room behind a market shop and then stripped down before having a 10 year old start massaging us. Actually, we usually switched between the 10 year old and her mom. So I'd say about 30 minutes of my massage was legit. Also, for the first 10 minute it was just the girl rubbing my hand and there was a little boy running around in the room grabbing my shoes and making noises, so that was relaxing. After he left, and I had the real massues, it wa smooth sailing. I would say the massage exceeded my expectations and was worth the $8. 

After we walked around some more and then went to the San Pedro market which is known for the great juice bar, groceries, and cheap little market stands to get lunch. We had some good cheap juices, bought some lunch and then walked around and observed the market.

We then did some more walking around and visited the chocolate museum where we learned all about the history of chocolate and the chocolate making process! And of course, we had some samples. My favorite thing I learned is that in the olden days, they used to barter with cocoa seeds, so you could get a chicken for about 5 cocoa seeds. It was a big luxury food!

We did some gift shopping at the market and the headed back to the San Pedro market for dinner and more juice and to use up the last of our soles on plane snacks! 

We went back to our hostel to grab our things and then took a taxi to the airport! Our flight got back to Quito at 2am and we went to Mildred's for a quick nap and to grab the rest of our things before leaving for our 3pm flight back to the states! 

Peru was amazing! I really loved the city of Cusco with the cobbled stones and inca history, Machu Picchu was incredible, and the floating islands of Puno were ridiculously cool and intriguing! Overall it was a great trip and I'm so glad I got to experience it with my friend Rachael! 

Sending smiles from Peru,

Rebecca