Wow, what a day! Well first, I’ll tell you about my evening last night. Wendy is the mother of Alexia, who is the girl who was baptized into the Catholic church yesterday. The baptism was pretty cool, then we had dinner at Wendy’s house. The food here is very good, not amazing, but simple and very good. We stayed at their house for a few hours just eating and talking. It was really good for me to be around that much Spanish. I’ve never been so immersed in so much Spanish before, and I think even in that one day, my understanding and even my speaking has improved a little bit. Wendy has another daughter, her name is Shirley. Shirley is about my age, very nice, and actually a member of our church! So that will be so nice to have someone to go to church with and have a friend there as well. After that nice visit, Micheal and I went to the market near Rosanna’s house. It’s amazing to me how much trash there is here, on the streets, in the Plaza’s, everywhere. But I guess that’s how all the stray dogs survive. I got to Video chat with Mother online last night so that was nice. It had only been a day since I’d seen her, but it feels like I’ve been here much longer. The past two days may have been the longest days of my life...but I’m not complaining! They’ve been awesome! I love being here, experiencing a different culture and something new! It’s wonderful! This morning I slept in; I’ll most definitely have to use the alarm on my phone because my watch didn’t wake me up at all. To my surprise, I got to take a fairly warm shower this morning. There is no heat in the houses, so I assumed that meant the water as well, but I guess Rosanna has heated water. It was really nice, but I probably wont be so lucky in Ocongate, and it’s much colder there then here in Cuzco. The whole city of Cuzco just amazes me; the streets, the people, the buildings, the drivers, the culture, the street vendors, it’s all so...so...Peruvian! Haha, I love it. I feel I already have a love for the Peruvian people, and I still can’t even talk with most of them. But anyway, today was my tour to the Sacred Valley. I honestly thought this was going to be a bus ride to a open valley of grass, and then a bus ride back. Boy, was I wrong. It was an all day tour of the Sacred Valley, and many of the Incan cities surrounding it. The sacred valley is huge, and is full of farms and towns. It’s not really sacred, it’s just called that because there is a river running through it called the Sacred River (also not really sacred, that’s just the name). Before the valley, we stopped in a market; I resisted from spending all my money on all the beautiful things there and only bought one sweater and some weird seed things. My sweater is made from alpaca fur and is incredibly soft. It is, of course, orange :) I wish I could remember all the names of the places we went to today...oh! it’s on my ticket! Un momento! Hoy, nosotros fuemos Pisac, Ollantaytambo, y Chinchero. Pisac y Ollantaytambo are mostly ruins, and boy are they amazing. I’m trying to remember which one is which, but at one of them we had to climb hundreds of stairs, and let me tell you, at 12,000 feet, not being used to this altitude, that’s pretty difficult. I chewed on Coca leaves most the day to help with the altitude, it helped a little. They don’t taste very good though. It’s weird, it’s only been two days and I’m already addicted to Coca tea, but I don’t really like the leaves. The leaves straight are bland and have a bitter after taste. But in tea with sugar...mmm es muy bueno! I’m sad it’s illegal in the states, I would love to drink it when I get home. For those of you who don’t know, Coca leaves are what are used to make Cocaine – after a long chemical process of course. By itself, it’s nothing like cocaine, and perfectly healthy, I promise. Amway, the cities were amazing. My feet are a little sore from hiking all day, but it was very worth it. I’ll try to send some pictures to mi Madre so she can post them. We stopped in Urabamba for lunch; I tried alpaca! It’s not too much different from beef, pretty good though. I also tried alcohol for the first time today...whoops! At the restaurant they were offering the “drink of Peru” and it was free. I totally wanted to try it, but when it tasted like rotten nail polish, I realized it was an alcoholic beverage. Apparently it was delicious, said everyone at my table, but I though it was pretty disgusting. I’m a little disappointed, I really wanted to go my whole life without even trying alcohol, but oh well. There were a lot of nice people on my tour, I made some friends, and it was really awesome. After a very long day hiking in the sun, they dropped us off in a plaza in Cuzco. There are plaza’s everywhere here, like Wendy’s in Utah County. The main plaza is Plaza de Arma. They dropped us off very near to there, so I went over to explore. The buildings there are so beautiful! I would have stayed longer but I really needed to use the restroom and there are no [free] public restrooms, so I called a taxi and came back here to Rosanna’s. The extended family was here for dinner, they were all very nice. It’s amazing to me how well I understand most the people here like Wendy and her family, but I can’t understand Rosanna for the life of me. I couldn’t understand her family either! She talks so very fast; it’s a good thing she also speaks English or I would never know what she was trying to tell me. She always talks to me en Español first, and then in English if I just can’t get it – which is most of the time. Oh! I met her children! They are very nice. She has one son and one daughter. The son’s name is Diego, he’s about my age, but a little strange. Her daughter is...I don’t know how old she is, a few years younger than me, her name is Luciero – I think. I don’t know if they don’t speak English at all or if they’re only speaking Spanish to me to help me learn, but either way is fine. School starts tomorrow, I’m excited to learn! I’m also excited for church next week, I missed going today. I’m not sure when I’ll be going to Machu Picchu, I still have to talk to Rosanna about that. Well, it’s only 9:30 but I’m pooped! So I think I’ll call it a night! Feel free to email me (alyssanicole47@gmail.com) and keep me updated on all of your lives! Thanks for the support and love! I love you all! ¡Buenos Noches!
P.s. Well it appears as though my camera has been stolen. Hopefully I've just misplaced it, but as of right now I can't seem to find it. How depressing, I has so many awesome pictures. Hopefully it shows up!--
-Alyssa Nicole Escalante-
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