2024 Ralston Valley Peru Service Adventure
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Blog 7: Machu Picchu!
Written by Jake R
We woke up early in the morning to our final wonderful breakfast from our host families. After devouring our food, our parents joined us in walking back to where it started, Restaurante Uchucuta, where we said our last goodbyes. We then set off for the train station, where we boarded a beautiful blue and gold train with surprisingly comfy seats. On the one and a half our ride, some of us snoozed, opting out of small town views and unbelievable mountain sights (or so I’m told), showing off higher heights than even those in Colorado. After reaching our destination and exiting the station we were led into a dense market which, after touring through, brought us to Aguas Calientes, a smaller town with river sound overpowering that of a busy bus stop. After waiting in a long, but incredibly fast moving queue, we were shuffled onto a bus to take us to one of the wonders of the world. After our bus driver masterfully executed twists, turns and obstacles along a cliffside road, we met our guide Joel at the entrance to the conservatory. After learning some history about the origins of the city under Incan emperor Pachacuti, we were brought up to the famous viewing spot, where copious amounts of pictures were taken, and the llamas seemed indifferent about some of us grabbing a photo with them. As we toured around the city, we learned about the importance of its architecture and structure, like the walls, religious buildings, and the separation of classes. I found the astronomy building most interesting, as there was still the instrument astronomers used to study the stars: two bowl-like containers of water. How they did it, I still don’t understand. Anyway, after making our way through the ruins, we once again let our bus driver masterfully guide us down the mountain, dropping us back off in the town. We ate lunch at a place called Mesa 7 (ironic because we have a seven person party, hah!) and then stayed a little longer to ride out the worst of a large rain storm. After it died down we headed back into the market before our train ride. Once we had thoroughly combed through the labyrinthine walkways, we made it to the train station and got on the train, where we all tried to get some rest. We met our van in Ollantaytambo and set off on our journey back to Cusco. Some decided to play “How Many People are Seen Before the Next Dog” in which the record was 151, while others continued to catch up on sleep. We made it back to Cusco, checked into our hotel, and some of us retired to our rooms while others grabbed dinner. We will be up early to fly back to Lima tomorrow.
Blog 6: Ruins Day
Written by Nathan G
Today, the group was up and out early at 7:30, and met with Joseph to go tour some ruins. After a long drive we arrived in Moray, and explored some ancient Incan farming terraces. We then drove to Chinchero for some stunning views and an ancient church. After another short drive, we made at stop at a local coop just outside the Salineras for a nice demonstration of how chicha was made, and the different salts found in Salineras. We enjoyed lunch in the same spot, and an interesting new game that involves tossing coins onto a board. We then went to the famous Sacred Valley Salineras and enjoyed some stunning views of the pools where the salty water dries off and learned about the process they use to collect it and produced different goods they then sell. A quick jaunt up to a nearby town, and we were with Mario, who led us on an exciting adventure on mountain bikes past the salt mines and down the Sacred Valley. Throughout the descent, we were able to enjoy some stunning views of the mountains that surround the valley. After that exhilarating journey, we went back to Ollantaytambo to hopefully explore and play some soccer, but weather turned us back, so we rested with our families until enjoying our last delicious dinner in the community, and heading off to bed. Tomorrow we will visit the iconic archeological site of Machu Picchu!
Blog 5: Community and Communication
Written by Sophia N
Our first morning with our host families started with a breakfast of bread and organic cheese, which tasted remarkably fresh. Once we had gotten breakfast, we then set out to the Plaza de Armas to meet up before our service project. It was there we met a very charismatic saleswoman who got four out of seven of us to buy souvenirs from her (the compliments she gave might have helped.) Our service project leader, Chino, led us to la Institución Educativa Inicial, or public preschool. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the principal of the school, and set to work.
Our work fixing the roof gave us an up close look at the red tiles used in Ollantaytambo. The tiles used on the roofs were both longer and heavier than we expected, and of course, this roof also had a Torito de Pucara. We also spent time cutting and contouring astro turf to the walls before stretching it and gluing it down. In our time between work we had the opportunity to talk with some of the children of the preschool— if you think understanding toddlers in English is a challenge, Spanish is in a league of its own.
After our service project, we had free time to spend climbing the Incan ruins of Ollantaytambo. Unsurprisingly, we were once again amazed by the intricacies of the ruins, and the phenomenal view. Returning to our host families, we had time to rest before enjoying a lovely dinner and practicing our conversation skills. Tomorrow we will go on a day trip outside out host community where we will visit several places in the Sacred Valley!
Blog 4: Traveling to Ollantaytambo!
Written by Nathan G
After waking up and having a late breakfast at 9am, the group was picked up by our driver, Alesandro, and taken on a long 2 hour drive through the Sacred Valley all the way to Ollantaytambo, our host community. The sites along the way were very pretty, and missed by most who were snoozing away on the bus. Everyone was feeling a little under the weather, so upon arrival to Ollantaytambo we went for lunch at Restaurante Uchucuta, we all got ginger and lemon tea and some of us tried alpaca for the first time. After lunch, our host moms (Filomena, Silvia and Johana) met us at the restaurant, and we split off to go drop off our bags and rest a little before setting out to explore the town. After mostly resting and a little chatter with the host families, the group met up in the town square to explore and get oriented. Mario, our local guide, couldn’t make it, so JP showed us around town and we showed our respective homes to the rest of the group, and then browsed a market for a little, and bought some fun souvenirs. After returning home, we rested for maybe 30 minutes, and then were called down to a delicious dinner made by the moms. After some nice conversations and practicing of our Spanish, we retired to our rooms to shower, and get some well deserved sleep for the project tomorrow.
Blog 3: Ruins and Rhythms of Cusco
Written by Dyaln G
We started today of nice and slow, a nice break from yesterday’s 4 am wakeup. After enjoying a nice breakfast at our hotel, we traveled up to the Saqsaywaman ruins. This archeological site was both a public place for the ancient peoples but also a place for the high class. This was also the site of a great battle near the end of the inca empire. After walking through these ruins, we traveled further up the mountain and arrived at “Manos de la Comunidad”, or Hands of the Community. This place was a conservation site for not only the many species of alpacas and llamas, but also for the cultural traditions surrounding the products made from llamas and alpacas. We were treated with being able to feed and meet several species of these animals and then were shown how their wool is processed. After a quick stop back at the hotel, we were off to lunch at a beautiful outdoor restaurant. No time to waste after lunch we had a blast at our dancing lesson. We learned to dance mambo and cumbia solo and with a partner. After having a blast at dance lessons, we took some time to relax and explore the city, including a very important diplomatic visit to an American government building. Once we’d finished our city time, we went out for dinner at a pizza place. Tomorrow we set of to finally go to our host community and meet our host families.
Blog 2: Our Journey to Cusco
Blog 1: First day in Peru!
Written by Juan Pablo R (program leader)
The group began their travels barely escaping the snow in Denver and they were welcomed by the warm and humid weather of Lima. Once the group met their program leader and driver at the airport, we drove from Callao District, where the airport is located, to Miraflores, where we spent the night at Girasoles Hotel. The ride to the hotel was about an hour and along the way we got to see different parts of the city. As soon as we arrived to the hotel we were welcomed with lunch and later we had short time to freshen up and rest before our first activity in the country, a walking tour of the historic city center of Lima. We started by meeting our tour guide, Lily, and then drove from the hotel to the center. Lilly explained how the city was organized and its history as we drove. Once we reached the the center, we got off the van and started waking around. We discovered that so many of Lima’s buildings in the center were the houses of the aristocracy in colonial times so it makes sense that every building and street is very nicely decorated with beautiful facades and balconies. We also visited the catacombs under the city and the central plaza, where the cathedral and several government buildings are. After our visit to the historic center, we hopped back on the van and drove to Parque del Amor, were we got an stunning view of the Pacific Ocean at twilight. We finished our day at the center of Miraflores where we visited La Lucha, a sandwich place that has been around for decades. From there we strolled back to our hotel ready for a good night of sleep. Tomorrow we are flying to Cusco!
We made it!
Here are some pics from our travels thus far, written updates coming soon.