Last Day in Huancayo

So, it really just hit me that today is my last day here in Huancayo. I visited the girls at the orphanage for the last time, it was sad to leave them. They kindly gave me a hand-carved gift of a wooden pencil-holder, which I really wish they gave to me yesterday, because I just shipped my souvenirs home and it is really heavy! I´m not sure for how long I´ll be willing to carry it in my backpack. We brought them some fruit today as a going-away present. They performed a dance for us (something they made up to pop music), it was really cute. They tried to teach me after, I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself : )

Here I am with my favorite girl, Estefany. I know I shouldn´t pick favorites, but I can´t help it, she´s just so damn cool:


For the past two evenings we have gone on some interesting excursions. Tino is not used to having so many people in the program, so he is, shall I say, "working out the kinks" of how to show so many people a good time. Wednesday he took us to some ruins outside the city. Since everyone has such a busy schedule during the day, it wasn´t until 5:00 that we left on the one-hour drive, which means it was dark by the time we got there. So actually "seeing" the ruins proved to be difficult. To make matters worse, it was a long walk down a dark path back to the bus, and a few people got very lost. We had to send out a search party, and they were very upset when we finally found them! Lucky for me I have my headlamp - thanks Jeff! They were pre-Incan ruins of the original Huancayan people. Here is a picture with Huancayo in the background:
Not learning the valuable lesson from this night, the following night we went out at 6:00 to attempt to view a natural rock formation in the city, known as "Torre Torre" (Torre = tower). Walking on a narrow path along a steep slope toward rocks that were invisible in the darkness didn´t seem like a good idea to many of us, so after attempting the journey myself and some others turned around and had an early dinner. Though we did have fun taking some funny pictures in the dark!

As I mentioned, Tino is an award-winning weaver. Some of his weavings are on display at a local restaurant, so they let me go in yesterday and take some pictures. Aren´t these amazing?!?!

Yes, these are actually weavings. Marie showed me how they do it, they take a pinch of each color from a handful of wool (or whatever material they are using), and literally just put it together piece by piece. They are breathtaking to see. He told me he even made one for Princess Di!

Tonight we are having a going-away dinner, since 16 of the 21 people in the house are leaving tomorrow morning (13 are the college group, plus myself, Amanda, and Jeff). We will all actually be on the same bus back to Lima, and at the same hostel tomorrow night! I just sort of happened that way. On Sunday, myself, Amanda, and Jeff will fly to Cusco! It is going to be very exciting, though I´m sure a bit shocking as well, as it is very expensive compared to Huancayo! Cusco is the #1 tourist destination in Peru, so the prices are much higher than what I´m used to. I´ll write soon!

Joan