The following post features student writing.

Today in Ollanta, six of us woke up early and went to see the ruins of Ollantaytambo, which was only a 10 minute walk from Andean Moon, our hostel for the weekend. We arrived at 6:45 AM, only to find out that it didn’t open until 7, so we got hot chocolate and tea in a cafe that, like the rest of the city, didn’t have electricity — this morning began with a power outage. When we got inside the ruins, we climbed a lot of stairs to see the Templo del Sol (Sun Temple) where the Incas prayed to the sun. Seeing how the Incas shaped the boulders to mold and fit together perfectly with only their 16th-century tools was really incredible and lots of photos were taken. We then checked out their military zone, with a vantage point of the city that allowed for one of the best views in Ollanta.

At 8, we had breakfast in the hostel and then packed up our backpacks to go back to Qenqo. Before our drive back to our “home” in Peru, we finished off the weekend with white water rafting through classes 1, 2, and 2.5 rapids. At first, standing in our bathing suits and sandals in the cold, we were hesitant to get on the river, but now I think we would all say it was one of our favorite moments so far. When we got to the shore, we played Frisbee with our raft guides and ate pumpkin soup with bread, chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies, and caramel crepes for lunch. Then, around 2:30, we started our two and a half hour drive back to Qenqo, but it seemed a lot shorter thanks to Lou’s playlist.

We then got resettled into our rooms in the village, and had dinner. After dinner, we had our usual group meeting, when we shared our appreciations, apologies, and ah-ha moments of the day. To finish the night we played many fun group games and afterwards, everybody went back to their rooms and rested up for the first day back to work in the community after our weekend off.

More soon!

– Kelly