Monday 20 June 2011

The Seven Waterfalls! Weekend trip for Gappers in Peru

Antips girls with the Peruvian locals
So, what has been news these last few weeks? Well the most obvious observation is how quickly time is going. Each one of us cannot understand where the weeks are disappearing to and cannot believe we only have a month left on our Antipodeans placement. However saying all of this we still manage to continuously fit so many things into our time. Since our interesting weekend in Arequipa we were all worn out a bit by our various adventures and so had a (semi) relaxing week teaching our wonderful children some slightly more difficult English concepts such as weather, questions and also having fun painting rocks in art. We have also been working very steadily on our Greenhouse. Along with Riccardo we have now finished building the adobe mud brick wall which is very exciting and will hopefully add the roof on this week. The other greenhouse's plants are sprouting their little hearts out and growing up big and strong.. but I wouldn't risk eating a carrot yet, a few more weeks until they're ready.
Green house under construction

We were also blessed by being able to go and finally deliver the material objects we bought for our house visit. Feeling like little fairies we went into the house/ yard and gave beds, blankets, pots and pans, a kitchen table and chairs as well as some shoes and food. Carmen, the mum was so appreciative that she came to the school this week with coke and biscuits to say thank you.


That week we all enjoyed a movie night watching Love Actually. Everyone I think left thinking about the airport scene and imagining what we will be greeted to when we arrive home... note to families please make it a lovely arrival! Harry then left us for the weekend to visit family in Lima and returned home to us the next week with a slightly interesting haircut and many stories about what a wonderful time he'd had catching up with family.


Rupert, Nick and Bec spent the weekend catching up on some much needed sleep whilst the rest of us girls went off on another adventure somewhere hotter. We had the most amazing drive over snow covered mountains, driving above the clouds to descend along a road lined with fruit trees to a place near the jungle. Sophie, Charlie, Liv and I then had an interesting taxi ride to get from a tiny village called Santa Maria to another small place called Santa Teresa. Along the road we got bogged and after 5 times trying to get out of the situation he told us that this always happens to him and there was no need to worry. The next day after a beautiful tropical breakfast of passion fruit juice and tropical berry jam we got filmed by the equivalent of our Australian Getaway doing a Zip line across jungle trees and the river. It felt like we were flying... especially when I flew at 50km/hr into Charlie, Liv, the guide and a rock after forgetting how to stop! We had amazing views over the surrounding area which we will revisit on the Salkantay trek later in the placement.


Crowded Peruvian taxi!


Then we left to meet Louisa and Carissa in Quillumbamba which is a town Lonely Planet describes by saying 'Welcome to the Jungle!' We loved being able to put our cozzies on as well as our summer dresses and walk around in the sun eating fruity ice-cream! Then, as us Antipodes can't stay still for too long we headed of to a place known as The Seven Waterfalls where we camped the night. The waterfall was amazing with seven separate pools forming one larger waterfall. We enjoyed showering under its cascade and Charlie and I even managed to find our own waterside! We feasted on tropical fruits whilst dodging the scary, highly protective geese that loved chasing us. The tent was a tad squishy with 6 of us but like always we made the most of all available space! Sorry Lou and Sophie...


The next day we discovered that Lonely Planet does lie and that a 3km walk to the right was infact a much longer walk the opposite way so we decided that we were content with our private secluded waterfall. In the afternoon we checked out the local 50m pool which had a lovely relaxed atmosphere to it and was also home to some delicious banana pancakes. That night we decided to stay in Ollantaytambo which is a beautiful town known for its Inca ruins. It is also located at altitude and so getting out of the combi at 7.30pm in wet cozzies and light cotton dresses was rather chilly!


Like Quillumbamba, Ollantaytambo had a festival on in the main square where we could see lots of traditional dancing and hear lots of loud Peruvian music... not the first we'd heard this weekend! I think it is an acquired taste. We found a wonderful hostel with really really warm showers and also a little restaurant with a fireman's pole between the two levels.. too awesome! The next day to propel us forward into our day of teaching we enjoyed a lovely breakfast (including homemade bread) at the Hearts Cafe where all profits go to a local NGO that also works like Peru Challenge in the Sacred Valley.


This week a few of us also went to a local animal sanctuary and were lucky enough to see Condors, Pumas and other Andean animals at a very close distance. However the highlight of the 'zoo' was definitely the black, hairless dog with two tuffs of red hair on its head and tail that has a skin temp of 40 degrees. We are all looking forward to the coming week of more festivals in Cusco and it's surrounds where dancing, costumes and music are in abundance! Until then... Emma

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