“Lunch” was great, we were supposed to spend the time outside of the classroom talking about pre-Incan history but I think my Professor got caught up with regular conversation although technically it was good practice since we were speaking Spanish the entire time. Once the bill came, she finally remembered the papers and articles she had brought with her to lecture us on at the café. It was a little late but she summarized the main periods and points, pretty much saying that there was something similar to the caste system during pre-Incan times and of course fisherman were at the very bottom while sacerdotes, or priests, ruled as the elites.
After school we all scrambled to find a real lunch since we had a tour at 2pm that day. My friend from home, Brian, was in Cuzco that day and so I split with the group and we went to probably the most expensive place I’ve been to since our arrival. I thought it was pretty cool to meet up with someone I knew outside the group in a foreign and random country such as Peru. I helped him out a little on his Spanish since he, his brother, and some other friends decided to take the trip with little to no experience in speaking Spanish.
I had to meet my Professor, Monica, at McDonalds at 1:30pm and so I had to rush lunch a little bit. I was supposed to meet her to discuss my plans with the travel agency and backpacking through Machu Picchu alone the next day. Instead, I met with Henry and the tour guide who told me that he’d be at my house at 2:30am the next day so I could catch the bus and hop on the train for my adventure. I was super disappointed because I was looking forward to going out that night as part of my last weekend since I was leaving early for a scholarship program. Anyway, I sucked it up and joined the group for what was to be a series of long tours.
First, we took a tour of the church in the Plaza de Armas. I joined the English tour because I wanted to be able to retain more information about the places, times, and artwork. Our tour guide was a little insane in the head as I’m pretty sure he was making up random numbers and stories for our entertainment. Nevertheless, I was entertained so I guess he did a pretty good job.
After the church we went to visit a museum where we witnessed piedras, or stones, made by the Incans themselves. It was all pretty impressive how the Incans worshipped the sun and built and lived around that same element. My tour guide, although questionable, said that there was a wall with stubs of stone that on a specific day (I can’t remember which) the shadows of the sun align to form one long line. I’m not sure if I believe that but I thought it was pretty cool.
When we were done with that tour, we drove to what we thought would be repetitive ruins. However, when we got there, the area was so pretty and we just caught the sun setting. I was really tired so I didn’t hear too much of what the tour guide was saying but he did leave plenty of time to take pictures as the sun set.
After we drove to a little cave with lots of vendors. I’m not sure what the significance of the cave was but it was a fun little adventure. Vinny was the person who went before me and since the sun had already set it was dark and hard to find our way around the cave. Unfortunately, I had the lovely experiencing of running face first into Vinny’s butt.
After the trip we all went home for dinner. Everyone was stoked to go out for Tyler’s birthday and so was I, until my roommates pointed out the fact that it would probably be really irresponsible for me to go out considering I had to be up and packed for Machu Picchu by 2:30am that morning. So, the responsible me chose to stay in and pack and squeeze in a nap although it was absolutely treacherous to stay in, especially since it was Tyler’s birthday and also my last weekend in Peru.
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