Aventura de Sabado (Saturday Adventure)

Today everyone got up early.  Most of the people in the house went to ride their bikes up Huaytapallana to the glacier, but Mabel and I went to take a different trip with our friend Christian, who works at La Rustica, the place we go sing karaoke.

I was hurrying to get ready, but we still left the house a little bit late.  She couldn't get a hold of Christian and it turned out that he had worked until 5 in the morning and hadn't gone to sleep until 6 or 6:30 in the morning.  She finally reached him and we had to wait a bit for him to meet us.

We took a combi to Chupaca and Christian was so sleepy on the bus that if Mabel turned to talk to me for a second, she would turn back to him and he would be sleeping.  He hadn't had time to prepare a lunch for himself, so when we got to Chupaca we went in search for some food for him.  There was a large market like the one we have here on Sunday, and he ended up buying a bagful of fruit: tangerines, bananas, grapes, mangos, and apricots.

Mabel found us a taxi to drive us to Iscos to see the lake Pucuhs Uclo where there are a bunch of different species of birds.  We arranged a price for the taxi driver to wait for us and take us to the rest of the places on our route.  We had to walk across the middle of a farm where they were growing artichokes, carrots, and other vegetables.  It was muddy around the lake, so when we got closer, we had to hop over the wet patches to get a better look at the birds and the lake.  There was a man washing his clothes near the lake and two dogs followed us around everywhere.  There was also a puppy and another small dog that came to check us out.

Christian, the puppy, and one of the bigger dogs.

We couldn't get close enough to see the birds really well, but it was still a pretty view and a fun adventure.  We found a raised gazebo and stayed there to take in the scenery for awhile.

Me on the gazebo.

The dogs followed us, so I sat down with one of them to give him a good scratch.

This dog wanted a good scratch.  :)

Mabel was saying that all dogs follow me.  :)  After a bit, we made our way back to the taxi.  We walked back a different way and passed by a small house.  There was a little black-haired boy peeking at us from behind the bushes and he smiled when I smiled at him.  He was adorable!

From there we went down the road a bit to see a stable.  There a big area where they were growing trees for reforestation and beside that there was a huge field of cows and sheep.  On the way to the cows and sheep, there was a woman preparing wool.  A little boy was watching her.

The woman preparing wool.

These unfamiliar sights are now becoming less foreign to me, although I still am impressed when I see women knitting as they walk down the streets.  Mabel told me that a certain cow was named Consuelo and I laughed.  She said she wasn't joking.  All of the cows had their names written on tags attached to their ears.  I took a picture of Pepe.  :)

Pepe, the cow.  :)

After that we passed through Chongos Bajo to go to Chupuro, since I had already been to Chongos Bajo before.  There was a small square in Chupuru where we stopped.

Mabel and Christian were being silly!!!

Mabel was telling me to do cartwheels in the middle of the square and she took a picture.

Mabel took a picture of me right as I was doing the cartwheel.  :)

We walked around the square and down a dirt road to see some more of the farm area.  There was a huge pig snorting around in the water in one of the ditches.  I wish I had gotten a better picture of him because he was really funny.  On the way back, Christian jumped to the other side of the road because a dead rat had surprised him.  We started talking about things that freak us out.  Mabel was talking about toads and Christian started telling us about a toad where he's from.  He's from a place in the jungle called Tingo Maria and he said there was a huge toad there and he indicated with his hands that it was about a foot wide.  He said it was an intense red and that when you see it, it scares you to death.  The way he told it was much more expressive than I can write on the page...though maybe I'll try...when he was describing it he said it was a "rojo inteeeeeenso."  :)

From there we went to Huayucachi and that's where we left our taxi driver.  On our way there we passed over Rio Mantaro, which Mabel was telling me was one of the larger rivers.  There were two giant hats in the square in Huayucachi and also two statues of dancing men.  We went into a church on one end of the square to look around and take pictures.

Christian and me doing his usual pose.  I couldn't help but think the pose might not be appropriate for the church... 

Further beyond that church there were steps leading up the hillside to get to a little chapel.  Mabel and I weren't having any problems walking up, but Christian was groaning while we laughed at him.  I had Mabel take a picture of me with a burro that was eating his lunch on the way up.

Me and the burro as he was munching away.

Right after that it started raining and we saw a bunch of men who had been working on the hillside run for cover.  We continued walking up and the rain died down.  There was a couple already in the chapel, so we took pictures around the chapel.

Me in front of the little chapel we climbed up to.

Christian sat down to eat more of his fruit while Mabel and I explored.  Christian couldn't believe we weren't cold because he was dying from the cold.  He came to join us though when we stopped to write our names in an aloe plant.  Mabel had found a piece of glass, so she held the aloe leaves while I wrote.

Our names in the aloe plant.  :)

We went on the other side of the hill to go back down and saw a little lamb and a sad-looking dog.

Walking back down from the little chapel.

From there we found a playground by another little church.  There was a huge mound of dirt in front of the church and we climbed it to take some pictures in front of the church.

Mabel and I in front of the church by the playground.

Then we went to go play on the playground.  Mabel and I went on the see-saws and she was freaking out like she always does in her funny little way.  We went on this merry-go-round type thing that was caged all the way to the top.  A little girl came on with Mabel and I while Christian pushed.  A dog was barking at us as we went around and I think it was just because he wanted to come on also because when it slowed down, he jumped on.  When we were stopped for a bit, Christian was asking for one of the little girl's snack with a puppy face.

Christian with his best, "Please, can I have some of your snack?" face.

She gave him one and then told him to push again.  When we got off, the little girl stayed on and had her family come to push her.  They had been on the swings, so we made our way over to swing for a bit.

Mabel and Christian on the swings.

We climbed up on another jungle gym type apparatus before we went back to the main square to take a combi back to Huancayo.

On the combi, Christian kept falling asleep and Mabel and I were messing with him while he was sleeping.  The women sitting across from us were smiling an laughing.  He went to sleep so quickly and soundly that he didn't wake up when Mabel pulled a hair from his head.  And then she was putting my camera up really close to his face to take a bunch of pictures.  He woke up then and she hid the camera quickly.  His eyes closed quickly after that and as his head dipped towards us, we were poking the side of his head to keep it from falling all the way over.  Mabel poked him so hard though that he woke up laughing.

The combi dropped us off by Plaza Vea and we went and sat in front of the main entrance to Plaza Real.  Mabel was saying she was dying of hunger, so Christian told us that we should all go to La Rustica since he gets a discount.  We went and got salad, chicken nuggets, french fries, and juice.  We were telling Christian more about our work at the school and he was asking me some things about English since he wants to learn more.  We were talking about our families and where we are from.  He was asking me if I missed my family.  I absolutely do, but I think I've reached the point where I feel at home here.  He was sweet and disappeared to pay for our meal without us realizing.  He said he'd had a really good time with us and that we should go with him to a movie on his day off next Thursday.  We parted ways, with the agreement that he would save a table for us tonight at karaoke since there is an event going on tonight.

Mabel made me a bit sad on the way home.  Not in a bad way.  She told me that she didn't want me to leave and asked me to stay longer.  It's crazy that I wasn't sure if I would survive when I first started and now I'm not sure how it will be to leave here.  I'm so blessed to have made so many good friends and to feel so at home here.  I know I still have a month left, but time has been passing much more quickly and I don't even want to think of the goodbyes.

Good night everyone!  I'm off to karaoke in a bit!!!