Day 11

Here I am wearing a Foster The People t-shirt in front of a model of the Qorikancha church. Special shout out to Corey and Gregg for getting me this shirt. Another special shout out to all my Sony College Reps - I know this band holds a special place in all our hearts!

Here I am on the balcony of Qorikacha 

This church was beautiful inside, it had a lot of Incan-built walls and rooms. Yet again, I am amazed by the dexterity of Incan architecture.

NEXT STOP:

Here I am outside of another church called El Templo De La Sacrada Familia.

 We were not allowed to take pictures inside of the church. 

The church was beautiful inside. I got two post cards from the church. One is of a picture of the Peruvian verision of the last supper. It is very interesting. Jesus is distributing Chuta bread (remember when I was holding a giant loaf of Chuta on Day 4?) and instead of wine there was chicha morada and in the center of the table was cuy. In English cuy is guinea pig. Yes, they eat that here in Cusco, a lot. 

NEXT STOP:

Here I am about to climb the stairs at Saqsaywaman. 

Climbing stairs in Peru is not an easy task. As I have informed you before, we are about 2 miles above sea-level, therefore there is less oxygen. With less oxygen, it is harder to breathe. Here is a FUN FACT:

Did you know that the Incans had roughly 1.5 more liters of blood than we do now. That's why the were able to so efficiently build!

Here I am at the top of stairs that I just climbed. 

I don't look too out of breath do I?

Here is a close up of me with the VIVA EL PERU in the background.

Yes, humans carved the "Viva El Peru" into the mountainside. Awesome, I know.

Here comes something even more awesome...A ROCK SLIDE!

Here I am going down the slide.

The rock slide is exactly what the name insinuates. It is hard, cold, solid rock that is smoothed over in certain parts, thus creating lanes, or "slides." 

I climbed up that steep, slippery hill (along with my friends) and slid down! It was very fun. Also, I picked up A LOT of momentum towards the end. =)

Here I am about to enter my first cave of the day.

This. Cave. Was. Dark.

It was also not very high.

But guess what?

We couldn't SEE that it wasn't fit for 'taller people.'

Therefore, I may or may not have hit the my head a few times. 

[my friends may or may not have hit their heads a few times as well/let out a couple of screams]

But I'm still alive and kickin' !

NEXT STOP:

Here I am at Tambomachay.

Behind me, here at Tambomachay, are mini waterfalls. The water doesn't come from rivers or lakes, it only cirrculates within itself. 

Here I am about to enter my second cave of the day.

Luckily, this cave was not as dark as the first one, there was still some visibile light as we were walking through it. However, in this cave, we stopped inside to check out the rocks. They were large and EXTREMELY cold. I would assume this would be a great place to hang in the summer - shade and cold rocks - all you'd need is a nice refreshing Inca Cola to accompany you.

All-in-all today was yet another adventuresome day. That being said, I am pretty spent. 

I went out to dinner after our adventure. I went to Don Esteban's again, this time I went with Estefania and Profesor Esteban. It was delicious, as per usual. I had a vegetable sandwich, an alfajor, and a croissant. All were awesome.

For those who are wondering, this is what an alfajor is. 

Soft cookies on the outside, covered with powdered sugar, and on the inside, dulce de leche. 

Solid day. Tomorrow, I have class...bright and early.

Hasta manana mis amores!