September 26th to October 10th

Studying Spanish and hiking whenever possible

I was sick with parasites most of my time in Cusco, but luckily the Spanish school I was at had a great doctor who diagnosed me right away, and prescribed a medicine that made me even sicker, but cleared the bugs. I can now officially say that I survived parasites. Gross.

I stayed with the most beautiful host family in Peru. The host dad, Efrain, was one of the sweetest men I have ever met. The family of four owned a restaurant that ran out of their house, and a shop in central Cusco. We ate really well, and they took really good care of me while I was sick. It also helped me Spanish a lot living with a host family, as opposed to my apartment that I rented in Costa Rica.

There are a lot of great things about Cusco. The small winding streets are fun to wonder through and the architecture is great eye candy. The only bad thing is that the city is overly touristy. The amount of people asking you for massages in the centre of the city is extremely annoying, and you always have the feeling that you're getting ripped off. I guess that's how most touristy cities go. (I may also be grumpy about it because I was sick most of the time). There are some definite gems in the city, my favourites being The Green Point, L'atelier Café, Museo de Pisco (so many Pisco sours!), and the hostel Bed and Bakery. The Spanish school, Maximo Nivel, is also great. Most of my two weeks consisted of going to school in the morning to study Spanish, then to the Green Point for lunch with my friend Carol, and home for supper with my host family. I was most always in bed by nine, besides one night of salsa dancing (so much fun).

My favourite thing about Cusco was the Sacred Valley. The hiking around Cusco and Pisa were amazing. For the weekend I was there, I spent one day exploring Moray, an Incan Agricultural Labratory, and the near by Salineras, the salt mine. We made our way to the ruins independently catching local buses which was an easy adventure.

Moray was amazing. The food engineering that the Incas were capable of is mind boggling. There are over 5000 varieties of potatoes from Peru, and over 400 varieties of corn. Salineras, the terraced Inca salt mine, looks otherworldly. A salty stream flows from the mountains, and is concentrated in man made terraces.

The next day we caught another local bus to the nearby town of Pisac, where the ruins of an Incan city can be found. It's a four hour up-mountain hike to explore the ruins, and totally worth it. The market on Sunday was also gorgeous.

I had one day off from Spanish school, and my friend Murray took me to one of his favourite hikes, called Quechua Kimsa, or 3 lakes. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on, but it was challenging at ~4300 m. The hike took us 5 hours, plus a 45 minute taxi ride from Pisac to the town at the base of the hike. The taxi ride cost 100 soles return, but oh so totally worth it. The stunning views, the remoteness, and conversations with the local farmers made it one of my highlights. It also helped prep me for my five day trek to Machu Pichu, another definite highlight.

Like always, the people make the experience. I'm so happy to have had such a great host family who took care of me while I was sick, and the friends I met along the way. I'm blessed to have the experiences that I did. The Sacred Valley is a very special place.