By Talia, a group mate of Jakob and Natalie
Ciao ciao!!!!!!!
Talia here!!!!!! Since we last talked we’ve gone through some major changes, people, look alive.
Thursday Feb 2o, 2025
Our last day ever in the sun. We were bummed to leave the coast in Mejía, but we have bigger things ahead of us. We spent our last afternoon on the beach playing volleyball and getting ferocious burns before having our first weekly group meeting, appointing our first student leaders (yay!, Katya and Lauren), and getting on the bus heading back to Arequipa. At the bus terminal in Arequipa we bought some last-minute dinner and snacks before heading onto the most daunting bus rides of our lives. The 10-hour overnight bus to Cusco. While mostly uneventful, the moving bathrooms proved to be a real challenge (for example, holding on FOR DEAR LIFE while squatting to pee over the toilet). Who knew you needed to be so still to have some peaceful toilet time??
Friday, Feb 21, 2025
We woke up with a view of the lush green mountainside while pulling into the bus station of Cusco, which was quite different from the arid landscape of the desert at the coast. We pulled into the bus station and immediately transferred to another van that took us to the accommodations. Because we went from sea level to 11,152 ft, everyone was violently panting carrying their bags up the hill to the hotel. I actually thought that I might pass out and just tumble back down the hill. We got a little time to rest and shower before Jose guided us to a viewpoint on top of the city. While it was only about a 10-minute walk uphill, it might as well have been the trek to Machu Picchu with the way we were gasping for air. Jose taught us a little history lesson about the city of Cusco and a bit about the Incan Empire while we looked over the city. We then walked down toward the main square of the area, turning onto beautiful small stone streets with art all over the walls. Cusco definitely had a very different vibe to it then Arequipa did, but just as rainy. Then we split up into groups to eat lunch and explore the area for a few hours. We reconvened at the fountain in the center of the square after our explorations. Some good shopping was done by Natalie (earrings), Ava (a headband), Larkin (a bottle opener), Katya (a sticker), and Sam (some t-shirts). Lucia did well by only buying one thing (a shirt) and holding back her other shopaholic desires. Then we went back to the hotel to do an exercise in naming our group values. After that, we had a little more time to rest (and watch Tangled for some) before heading back out to dinner. The people who ordered the chicken were happily surprised to see some of the most massive fried chicken in all of existence served to them (side note: people think that the USA has big portion sizes…Peru has BIG portion sizes). While we were eating, we heard a rumbling from the street below, so we went to the door to see that there was a massive parade passing by. It was fans of some Peruvian soccer team decked out in jerseys and scarves and waving big flags and chanting for their team. It was really cool to see.
Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
We woke up at 6:30 this morning so that we could have time to go to the local market and get smoothies and sandwiches to start our day off right before getting in another van that took us to Urubamba (we think that the altitude had some effect on our dreams because everyone had some crazy tales to tell while eating breakfast). While the ride was quite short, it was pretty dramatic: we had to stop off on the side of the road a few times for some sickness (barf, throw up, upchuck, vomit), Larkin hoped that we would stop off another time because she was absolutely busting for a whazz, but alas she just had to wriggle in desperation going over every little bump until we got into the city, and she could bolt to the hotel bathroom before ruining one of the only pairs of pants she has. The hotel that we are staying at for the night is the most peaceful, prettiest place ever. There are birds chirping in the trees, which I’m literally convinced are fake because there’s no way that this place is so nice. We had some time to rest before going out to lunch, so we could enjoy the nice grass and flowers here. For lunch, they brought out the most bomb Passion fruit juice everrrrrr. Many liters were dranken (drunken?) it’s definitely drunk. Now we’re preparing to do a short scavenger hunt around Urubamba, get a briefing about our homestays, and have our last dinner together before separating for the next 10 days. We’re excited to dive into local life, and start Spanish lessons and ISPs.
There’s a lot of exciting stuff happening, we’ll update you when there’s more to tell
XOXO- Talia
(Love you mom and dad.)
