The Reese's melted, but that just meant I had to eat them right away ;)
I woke up at 5am and headed to the airport in order to make it there by 6am, we then sat around for 3 hours waiting for our plane. None of us really know why our school told us to be there 3 hours in advance, but being the good, timely americans that we are, we did it. Finally arriving in Cusco that afternoon, we headed to the hotel to drop our stuff off and our tour guide, Nilo, and bus driver, Dino, picked us up to take us to Saqsaywaman ruins just outside of the city. Here were some enormous boulders that were somehow lifted and sculpted to make the walls and it was a huge complex.
So amazing!
These upside-down steps were for the souls to leave the burial chamber- creepy!
This is one of the many sacrificial rocks
This is another, they changed which rock was used depending on where the sun was
Group pictures for the win
Probably the most breathtaking church I have ever seen.
This is the day I have been waiting for since I decided to come to Peru. My first world wonder and it was absolutely amazing. This was another early morning, leaving the hotel by 6:20 and taking a bus, a train, and another bus to reach the mountainous ruins. We did not hike to the ruins, but there were 4-day, 2-day and 1-day hikes available- I would really like to return and actually hike to the ruins sometime!! Anyway after we climbed some steps...a lot of steps... we reached the picturesque location overlooking the iconic ruins. And unfortunately, as amazing as they were they looked exactly as I had expected. This was disappointing to me until I took in everything surrounding me. The huge mountain range, and the ruins on the mountain tops surrounding Machu Picchu made it a lot better. But what I found to be even better than the basic picture-taking spot, was the venture into the ruins. Yes! I actually got to walk where the Incan people lived so long ago! This was so breathtaking: the intricacy of the buildings, the way it was set up, the lack of barriers preventing me from falling to my death below. Our tour guide had a ton of information that really put the whole place into perspective for me. And I find it so interesting that "Inca" was actually their name for their king, not the actual group of people! It was an amazing day of exploring, but it was very rushed. Our tour guide was constantly telling us to keep moving so it was hard for me to take in the grandness of it all, which is why I would like to go back eventually and really take it in.
Unfortunately, the pictures I took on my camera did not turn out (none of them) >:( so I will have to share pictures from my friends who graciously is filling that void in my life.
We returned to Agua Calientes to eat, shop a little bit, and board the train back to our van. The shopping was amazing, the market was quite large and there were a lot of souvenirs!
The patchwork of the valley was absolutely beautiful
Mountain ranges and valleys
We enjoyed our picture stops on the drive to the train
Me and my wonderful Little
"Shelby take a picture of us!" Alright, you asked for it
Very nice train taking us to Agua Calientes (then bus to Machu Picchu)
Omg we're finally here!!
I love this world.
Classic Machu Picchu picture
My lovely Little and me
Instead of the Incas, Llamas now inhabit this monument- they don't even know the beauty
My mind is still trying to figure out how they made these stairs from boulders all over the site
The intricacy of the buildings is so cool
I'm running out of adjectives for "amazing"
A sacrificial temple. The bottom of the stairs goes to below the ground, and the top goes to this world
And the very top temple is for the above ground sacrifices
Sacrifices (also our tour guide had us sit on a big rock then informed us afterwards it was used for sacrifices... cool)
I think I've fallen in love with Llamas
Once you feed them apple pieces, all is good with the world
The last day, we visited some ruins and shopping locations in The Sacred Valley, which was beautiful! The ruins did not really meet the expectations after Machu Picchu but it was interesting that they were all pre-Incan ruins! We visited another giant market that we wandered in and got lost in a few times, but it was very successful.
Panorama of the Sacred Valley
Two girls in traditional dress- I love it a lot!
A beautiful after lunch view of a garden and another one of my Llama friends
Represent #UNK
I watched this lady made these belts for a solid 5 minutes. This is how they make bracelets, blankets, belts and a lot of other stuff by hand. I also have a recording if anyone is interested!! :)
The weekend was amazing and it is something I would go back to see again in a heartbeat (even though most Peruvians think Machu Picchu is a one-time thing). I got a lot of my souvenirs bought and I may or may not have walked out with 2 blankets for myself... whoops. One is such a Peruvian pattern that I see all over in the mountains that I just had to buy it, and the other was made of Alpaca fur, so (again) I just had to buy it.
So much love.
...even if I did pay wayyy too much for it
Then on Monday, I got to meet my German host sister!! She arrived Saturday while I was exploring Machu Picchu, but I already like her a lot and am excited to have her around! :)
I had a good great time teaching my host dad about Snapchat
So Sunday I noticed I had some blisters where some one of my bug bites used to be on my ankle. It itched like crazy and was just plain ugly. So when I showed my host parents Monday at lunch when I returned from the airport, they rushed me to the clinic. After getting a blood test and a doctor telling me I need to return the next day to see a dermatologist, it was unsuccessful. I returned at 1 the next day after class and apparently she was on a 3-hour lunch break, so I had to leave and return again at 3. I put my name in and was told to wait and I would see her at 5:30, great. Annika was there to help me translate the parts that I didn't know, and I am oh so extremely thankful for her because she didn't realize she would be there for 7 hours! The dermatologist did not seem too worried, I took the prescription to the pharmacy downstairs and bought some pills, a cream, and a shot (yes I had to buy the needle and injection fluid myself). I then took the needle to a nurse to inject me (in my hip, apparently). This was the most painful shot I have ever felt, and I'm usually pretty good with these.
Back to the Emergency Room I go.
A wheelchair was brought out, luckily I was sitting right outside the ER, and I was taken in. More blood tests, a urine test and an IV later, apparently the nurse did not dilute the medicine enough and should have put it in my vain since I am small. What I gathered was I just passed out from the pain. So I went from having an infected bug bite, to sitting in the hospital for 7 hours, ending with a visit to the emergency room. What a great day I had.
Afterwards, Ahnika, my host sister, Francesca, and I went across the street to get BOGO ice cream from McDonald's for International Day of the Girl (yes we all had 2, I think I deserved it).
Annika and Francesca took over my phone while I'm lying in the hospital bed, so grateful for their company <3 <3
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