Jankers

In just a few days weŽve seen many sights and lost over 10,000 feet of elevation! HereŽs a quick synopsis. Sorry to lump so much together but weŽve been busy!

Our last day of work was very tough. I had a hard time holding back the tears at both the Ladrillera and Coto Coto. I will miss the children very much. I will always wonder what their lives will be like. I will pray for the best, especially for the few kids at Ladrillera who need help with math or spelling.

Almost all the kids from the toddler house at Coto Coto.

Our last night in Huancayo, we took our house parents out to eat and almost all of the other volunteers joined us. Of course we went to La Cabaña for the best pizza in town!

L-R Alicia, Mary, Mobyn, Mike, Allison, Johanis, Charlotte, Aurora, Alvaro, David. Mobyn, Johanis and Charlotte are new volunteers. Mary is volunteer with a different org.
Packed and ready to go at 5:45 the next morning!
It was a nice train ride but…I wish we didnŽt have soo many jars of sangria last night!

After 5 and a half hours on a crowded and bumpy train, we finally made it to Huancavelica. Being about 1/10th the size of Huancayo and surrounded by aggressive mountains, it was a welcome change. However, we planned to stay a few hours and then take a bus to the coast. Unfortunately, there was no bus service that day, so we had to stay the night.
While we were wandering around town looking for a hotel, a friendly Peruvian man approached us. To our surprise, he spoke very good English and offered to help us. Reluctantly, we listened and he told us our hostel was only 2 blocks away. He walked us to the door and then came the punchline: he was an English teacher and his students would just love to chat with a few gringos! We had nothing else to do so we agreed to meet them. We spent about an hour in the front of the classroom answering their questions and asking questions of them. It was kind of fun but I couldnŽt help but feel like we were the teacherŽs show-and-tell

	One of the many beautiful churches set in front of spectacular mountains.
	The blessing in staying the night was that we were able to see one of the many festivals for Epiphany!
	…and take a dip in the mineral springs

The next evening, we took the 12 hour bus to the coast. Most of this trip was on a dirt road winding down 10,000 feet, including maneuvering through what appeared to be a few mudslides. We arrived at 5 am in Ica, then got a taxi to the resort town of Huacachina. Our taxi driver helped us wake up the Hostel owners while asked if they had a room.

Ah, this will do just fine! I donŽt mind waiting until noon for our room!
Trying my hand at sandboarding the next day

Unfortunately, the sand was too hot and the board was too slow. While in Huacachina, we took a day trip to see the impressive Nazca Lines, but we opted out of the $40 flight over them. The museum and observation tower provided enough stimulation for us. We also toured the wineries of El Catador and Tacama.

Two nights in the quiet town of Huacachina was plenty for us. (Maybe even less time if I hadnŽt come down with a 103 degree fever the first night. I sure am glad I married a nurse!) Today we took a bus 1 -1/2 hours to Pisco, where we will tour the Islas Ballestas tomorrow then head to Lima the following day.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2006 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Peru Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.