Day 8 - Trip to Pisac

Hola, Families! This is Julian and Matthew writing from Pisac, Peru. Today we set off on an exciting journey to the bustling town of Pisac as a quick break between our days of work. We began our day at the usual time of 7am for breakfast. For us, this was eggs, avocados, wheat bread, an assortment of fruit, and tea. Then, everyone walked over to Don Tomas's compound to meet up before we left for Pisac at around 9am. 


After an exciting car ride filled with music and chatter, we arrived in the bustling town of Pisac. We were greeted by a variety of locals and tourists, many interesting shops, including ones filled with colorful native clothing, plus a beautiful background of mountains that nearly touched the sky. After a short walk from the main thoroughfare, we arrived at our hotel, nestled in an alley filled with colorful plants and small shops. There, we set our bags down, played some games in the courtyard, and then enjoyed a lunch which consisted of a yellow chicken curry with rice. 


In the afternoon, we set off for our trip to El Parque de la Papa, a potato museum 1,367 different species of potatoes set 13,300 feet above sea level. Our van ride to the museum was quite harrowing due to the speed of the van and extremely narrow winding roads which neighbored high cliff faces. Once we arrived at the museum, we were met with a ceremony of traditionally dressed locals who threw rose petals on our heads. 



We then enjoyed a quick snack consisting of fruits and cheeses that the locals provided for us. From there, a local man translated into Spanish what women speaking in Quechua were saying as they showed us the different methods to dye and weave llama, alpaca, and sheep wool into fine textiles. After that, we did a tour of the museum, where we learned about various kinds of potatoes, tubers, and native cereal crops, as well as the agricultural calendar for growing potatoes and the six local villages that comprised their collective.  



After a long day, we drove back to the hotel where we enjoyed our first "American meal" of the trip, which consisted of french fries and hamburgers made with beef sourced from local farms. We then had some free time to explore the local town after dinner, with many of us purchasing after-dinner treats. Overall we had an action packed day that gave us a break from our routine in Zurite. This experience opened our eyes to another version of Peruvian life which slightly contrasted the one we were familiar with.

Thank you for reading and we look forward to getting back to Zurite to complete our projects. 

Julian Lemay + Matthew Bowden.  








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