Day 10, Day 10.

It was a pretty uneventful day, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Sometimes you need a low-key day, right?

Even though we didn´t get in until 5:00 am on Monday, I only slept until 8:00 am because I wanted food.  Always.  So I got up, ate (bread with butter, yogurt with cereal), then got dressed for my second run!

This time it was so. much. better.  I was able to slowly jog for about 45 minutes with 0 difficulty breathing.  Of course it was very slow because I don´t want to get hurt, but it was great!  I also did over 200 lunges so…I´m sore today.

On my run, I found a mini supermarket so after showering when I got home, I walked 15-20 minutes down the road (it seemed so much closer when I ran by it).  I have been looking for markets to purchase some snacks because most of my $$ here goes to street food.  So with right around $8.00, I was able to purchase: 5 L of water, 6 apples, 3 bananas, a loaf of bread, a huuuge bag of crackers, and 4 yogurts.  Not bad, huh?

Then I got home, had lunch with Amber (veggie soup then rice with a fried egg).  Once she left for her project, I crawled into bed and took a two hour nap.  I was just feeling soooo tired and that helped a lot.

I would have kept sleeping forever, but Amber and I had plans to meet up in town to try Chifa (a mix of Chinese and Peruvian food).  It just happened to be that another volunteer, Ben, was walking by and stopped me and asked if we would like to join a big group for Korean food.  Korean food in Peru?!  Why not?  So we went and it was so good and so much fun!  And…shots for everybody!

I ordered the Spicy Ramen and it was…spicy…and delicious.  I ate the entire bowl PLUS my entire bowl of rice like a champ.  Clear sinuses!  I had a lot of fun at dinner and thought it was really funny that we ate Korean food in Peru.

After dinner, a few of us went out for Picaronnes (sweet potato donuts), but I had churros.  I was sad when I realized they weren´t filled with caramel.  I will find those… (Edited to add:  Found them today!! They are AMAZING!)

__________________________________________________

Day 11: Inti Raymi- Festival of the Sun

Ohhhh, what a fun day!  Inti Raymi is a huge holiday here, which celebrates the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year in terms of the time between sunrise and sunset and the Inca New Year.  Inti Raymi is still celebrated in indigenous cultures throughout the Andes. Celebrations involve music, colorful costumes (most notable the woven aya huma mask) and the sharing of food.  (According to Wikipedia)

All of the celebrations began around 8:00 tin the morning and then go all day.  Amber and I didn´t get to town until around 11 and then met up with some friends at 12.  They all arrived at 7:30 this morning and said it was definitely worth it.  After everyone finished their lunch, we walked up to Saqsaywaman, which is like a fortress made with perfectly fitted stones above Cusco.  Nearby is Christo Blanco.  There were many people heading that way, so we followed.  It was a steep walk up, but the views were breathtaking.  Once we got to the top, we didn´t finish the last leg because there were so many people, that we figured we wouldn´t be able to see.  All of those little dots in the following photo are people:

Instead, we headed over to the food festival where there were hundreds of fires burning with food cooking (like guinea pigs).  Yum.  It kind of looked like a battle ground.

Then we went back down, but took a different route.  I basically slid down part of the hills on my hands and feet because I was afraid of slipping!  We all got down safely and made our way to get homemade ice cream.  

The shop is called El Hada (ice cream is helado).  I tried 3 flavors and ended up getting the Plum & Cream flavor in a cone and everything was out of this world.  We walked back to town and went our separate ways.  I made my way home for dinner and then spent the night doing…nada.  Dinner was really good, though!  Maybe my favorite since I´ve been here!

A good couple of days, indeed.