Day 14: Foul Smells and Unexpected Rain Showers
Yo, what up?! It's your girls Katie K and Hadley L back in DA CASA (in Zurite duh). Big day today, being our last work day here! Tomorrow is our big celebration day, so today we locked in to finish our projects.
Most of us woke up and did our normal morning routine: eating bread, corn mate, potatoes, eggs, and tea for breakfast. Then we headed over to DT (Don Tomas') for our daily poop check and yoga session led by Toph. Afterward, we split into two groups—one to finish mapping the canals and the other to hang up the Hummingbird trail signs.
In our all girl power group (+ Topher), we mapped one last canal, traversing 12 km in total. We started up by a reservoir and followed the canal around the perimeter of Zurite. It may have been muddy (to say the least), and there may have been quite a few smells that made our imaginations run wild (and not in a good way), but we had fun queuing songs under different themes. Our favorite theme was "model walk" and included songs like Vogue, Gimme More, and Poker Face. This journey also tested our "American Ninja Warrior" skills, as we found ourselves leaping from bank to bank, clinging to roots and branches, and sacrificing our shoes along the way.
As we embarked on this treacherous journey, the other group trekked up to the cliff paintings, installing the 10 signs we painted along the way. However, after hammering the second sign into the ground, the hammer head broke off from the handle—leading to a break that lasted nearly an hour and Johanes driving back into town to pick up a new hammer. One sign later, they found themselves in a torrential downpour, yet they soldiered on nonetheless—digging post holes and using rocks to secure the signs.
Once the two groups reunited at DT, we headed off to our homestays to spend the afternoon. Some baked treats, while others played games with their homestay siblings. We on the other hand, had part two of our birthday extravaganza. All 6 of our homestay parents' kids came to our house to celebrate Jazmin's 15th birthday (again). We got to spend time with our favorite sister Ari, who surprised us with her two baby chickens who we named Charlie and Juan. We hung out with everyone, played Uno, tried Inca Kola, and ate an early dinner. For our starter, we ate a potato soup, shortly followed by a slice of cake, and finished with a steaming plate of cuy (guinea pig). After our meal, we played EVEN MORE Uno, talked about our friends and family at home, and ultimately said goodbye to our homestay's family members.
We're headed to bed early tonight in preparation for tomorrow's big Pachamanca celebration! Stay tuned and see you next time!
Love,
Hadley and Katie
