I just counted, and minus Labor Day and my Machu Picchu excursion on May 7th, I officially only have 12 DAYS of volunteering left at la Eco-Escuela Simataucca. And 20 days left in Peru. WTF? How has the time gone this fast?!?
The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind because on top of volunteering and salsa dancing lessons (basically my life here), a couple friends and I purchased a 10 day pass to see a bunch of Inca ruins and do touristy stuff.It happened because two Saturdays ago we hired a taxi driver for 100 soles (or $31.89 for the entire day, not bad huh?) to go see Maras Moray and las Salineras. We originally wanted to just do the tourist sites one at a time, but here they don’t let you do that… You HAVE to buy a 10 day tourist ticket (for 130 soles, or $42), or a 4 day pass with less sites. Pretty stupid in my opinion, they could easily raise the prices for people who just want to do them separately… maybe I could get into the tourism industry and help them with some strategy down the road 😉
Wanting to take advantage of everything on the pass, we planned to do something every single day for the 10 days. Here are a couple pics from each place, starting with Moray on Saturday, April 11…
Moray:
Las Salineras:
Tambomachay:
Puca Pucara:
Qenko:
Sacsayhuaman (sounds like “sexy woman” and I giggle every time I have to say it, because I’m mature like that):
Centro de Arte Qosqo:
Qorikancha:
Tipón:
Pikillacta:
Chinchero:
Ollantaytambo:
Pisac:
We did almost everything on our passes, which I am impressed with since we all have volunteer jobs here too. It’s really hard to choose favorites because all of the spots were so amazing in their own ways. Despite the fact that there were lots of similarities in the Inca ruins (like the agricultural terraces and how the rocks were shaped) all of the sites were very different and unique from each other.
Along with all of the amazingness here, there have been many “not-so-comfortable” times that have made me realize how lucky I am to have grown up in the US. There are so many things I’ve taken for granted my whole life.
For example, I never know when I’ll get to shower, because the water pressure is constantly going out for hours on end. There is trash everywhere (people just throw it in piles on the street, no bins or anything) and no recycling here. Lots of dogs and pigs hanging out in the trash piles looking for food.
Public bathrooms are rare and there is never toilet paper, and a lot of times no toilet seats either. People pee in public all the time here… it’s just normal for guys to drop trou and go wherever they want. Cars don’t stop for people the way they do in the US… You have to be so careful crossing streets because there aren’t a lot of “rules” when it comes to driving. For example, we carpool with up to 12 people in a tiny car to go to school every morning!! It usually gets warm from all the people and everyone falls asleep which is kind of funny considering how squished we are.
Even without the luxuries I have been accustomed to.. this has been the best experience of my life! I am so grateful for whatever force in the universe told me to leave my job, and come to Cusco!!! Now just need to enjoy the last part of this trip and figure out a way to come back here for longer… 😉
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