Horsing Around in Peru

Today we had an awesome time with our horseback riding excursion, but before I get into the details of our fun day, I'll update you on the general stuff that's been happening here in Cusco.

We started our classes at USIL two weeks ago. I am taking intermediate level Spanish class (sort of a challenge for me, but it's definitely helping me improve!) and our whole group is in a Inca History class. It is very interesting to learn about the different parts of Inca culture, and especially neat since we've been to most of the places we're being taught about!

Last week was our first week of work at Jose Antonio, a lovely hotel just 2 minutes from where we're livng. This week, Soos and I were placed in the restaurant, and Ryan, James, and Mickayla were in the kitchen. We have loved everyone we've worked with!! It was rather slow in the restaurant during our shifts for most of the week, so Soos and I did all sorts of little jobs, while managing to comunicate with our co-workers in Spanish quite well. It has been fun working so close to the kitchen as well cause we get lots of yummy treats to try :) On Thursday and Friday we had several large tour groups come in for dinner and Soos and I got to help deliver room service orders and deliver some food to the guests (thankfully I didn't drop anything on anyone's heads). I really enjoyed talking with some of the ladies who had just returned from hiking the Inca trail - I understood their pain!

**funny story time** I was sent on a task to go to the bar (which is on the other side of the courtyard), so Soos and I headed over to pick up two waters, a beer, and a glass of passion fruit juice. I got the drinks on my tray, began to head back, but one of the water bottles fell and rolled and hit the juice, which then spilled all over the tray. Thankfully Soos was there to save me and she went to go get a new clean tray, but that didn't stop the bartender from cracking up at me and from me looking like an unbalanced fool. The next night, I had to get a bunch more orders from the bar, but he was always slightly wary of my ability to make it safely back to the restaurant... oops! Luckily, all other orders were unharmed :)

Now finally about horseback riding! We were picked up at 9 and headed over to an area near Sacsayhuaman (an Inca archeaological site) to find seven horses waiting for our group. We started out on the trail, and within a matter of minutes, we realized these horses weren't quite as well trained as the ones in the US. Thankfully, I've dealt with quite a few "spicy" horses in my time, so I wasn't nervous, but it was a bit of struggle for some until we finally reached the our first stop.

The Inca site we stopped at is known as Templo de la Luna (Moon Temple). It was a large natural rock outcropping that had many Inca symbols carved into it, and underneath was a small cave used for offerings. The locals still come today and bring three coca leaves, one for each of the Inca gods: Condor, Puma, and Snake.

It is at this site that some people begin a 10-day walk to Machu Picchu - we can't even image, four days was hard enough!

An here is a field of quinoa, one of Peru's favorite grains - they have so many different types here, even sweet quinoa - and they export it all over the world.

It was time to get back on the horses, and some people switched, so everyone was a lot more relaxed, and we were able to enjoy the lovely scenery around us. My horses name was Cielo (which means sky), and he and I were getting on quite well, so naturally I had to start taking weird pictures :)

And now back to normal!

There were lots of sheep and pigs grazing around us. We did some trotting and cantaring throught the flat parts and Soos' horse ran into a sheep who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (which was completely hilarious).

Ryan's horse, Bandito, had a mind of its own, and liked to trailblaze its own path, usually down the steep parts of the hills, which also kept us all laughing.

Anyways, we all made it to the end with no major catastrophes and I'd made a new friend by the end :)