Mas Ruinas! June 29th

Today was a good day. Rach and I went on another tour to see more ruins and what not. It was actually really cool.  We went back to Chinchero where were learned the process of taking Alpaca wool to thread and then dying it. It is amazing how useful these people are. For example, the Peruvian women use leaves for green colors, different types of flowers for yellow, purple, and blue, and for red they use insects that live in cacti. It was really neat because we were able to see a demonstration of the insect being squished, producing dark red blood. Then through the use of lime juice the insect blood could turn bright red or with the use of a quartz stone the dark red blood turns sort of a maroon color. Anyways, it was awesome to re visit the place. Not to mention they some how sucker me into buying something from them every time I go {2 times..}. After this we went to Maras, which is a HUGE salt mine. It is beautiful. Seriously, this place never ceases to amaze me when it comes to its natural beauty and architecture. After Maras we drove to Moray-this is 3 different ampitheatre-like structures that the Incans built. We had to hike all the way down to see it and then hike all the way back up. One thing I have learned in Peru—Morgan + hiking +altitude= do NOT mix well. LITERALLY. After 5 ½ hours we finally made it back to town and Rach and I decided to go to McDonald’s. IT WAS SO GOOD. Haha, we just needed a little break from all of this foreign food-a little taste from home! Seriously though, the portion sizes here are like perfect—We both ordered meals and the drinks and fries were the same size as America’s kid’s meal. On another note, they call a happy meal here a “cajita de feliz” {a little box of happiness!}. We made it back home and just hung out til the Orphanage. It was a chill night for me with the girls. The “mamita” as all the girls call her (they actually call every older lady worker “mamita”), dropped her phone in the sink and I tried to explain to her in Spanish that she needed to put it in rice. She looked at me like I was crazy so I just finally spit out—that’s what we do in the United States! Plus, there is obviously no shortage of white rice here since they seem to be able to fit it into every meal! After that a girl accidently knocked over a glass jar of flowers for this shrine of like Virgin Mary or something- I am not quite sure who it is, obviously I need to ask. Between these two small tragedies the girls practiced a magic trick I taught them yesterday OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER….for reals. Overall I had a good day-On Friday morning we head to Machupicchu! Rach and I are pretty excited about it, although I am hoping I don’t slow her down too much! Love Peru. <3.