Well I apologize for taking so long but I have been a bit caught up. You see I was always excited about this part of my trip and I had so many varied expectations but holy guacamole this was a whole new breed of fun that I had not fully anticipated. 

Cusco has got to be the best city I have ever been in and I can't really explain why - I seriously think it just has the best vibes. Haha there's just so much going on - plenty of tourists in town sure but they dont really bother me or make me squirm (as they used to). Though Grace does struggle to hold back comments on terrible jean choices by the majority of the tourists in town. But Why am I talking about other tourists!?

Okay so there are twenty of us. Now i know that seems like soooo much, possibly too much. But what it actually means is that we are our own party anytime, any place : good times are ready to be had. And my god we're a random bunch of sods, got some chiller lads, got some lovely lasses and some rowdy up-for-anything classics. The jumbo pack party mix. 

On the check list so far we've done the main part of town 'plasa de armos' ( but still so much more to explore) avenue de culturale which is basically a highway and we really haven't been on much of it but all our trips to school and into town go along it for at least half an hour as I try to memorize more landmarks I feel it deserves a mention though it is not grand at all. The buses are shuttle busses most of the time - like the kidnapping vans we were warned of in primary school - they're always very cosy and a nice 60cents. Anywho - we have also done the markets. MY GOD we have done the markets again and again - and after doing research and bargain hunting for a few days I started my buying (a little) - morphing sadly into quite the tourist (as im sure you've seen the llama jumper trio photos) but its comfy so screw trying to fit in. I think being about a meter taller than most and having red hair sort of puts me in that category anyway so I may as well enjoy it. 

We've done the ruins. Some good ruins indeed, we did Pisac - adventure style - climbing along not the cement track but rather Makenzie's whim track which I think is a legit track but did not feel like it at the time cause we were the ones on it. It really tested our altitude abilities  in a good way - we reached summit after summit, passed through the 'incan vagina' our beautifully named skinny cave, and practically galloping (not on horses) all the way down pisac stairs cause our knees were getting sick of going down slowly. And we were hungry. This is where many photos were taken at great hights that look like I am putting my foot over a cliff edge. MUM and DAD this was NOT a cliff there was ground about a meter below - these dangerous-looking photos were only taken because of this. Im not stupid. Just so you know... :)

Then we really got our ruin on, on a day trip to use our combination passes. We went to a little town called Chinchero where they showed us how to make alpaca wool and dye it naturally. And to Moray which has the crazy terraces that look like an alien space ship landing site - muy cool and interesting. We had a beautiful 2 minutes of silence holding hand in a circle with strangers while we made a wish to some spirits - well I had a cool experience of crazy balanced vibrations. The others I believe were trying to do a Mexican wave in our two minutes silence.
 And then the stingy ones (me, claud, henry, ruby, makenzie and grace) got of the bus and enjoyed the panoramic view while the rest payed their extra soles to see the salt mines. Which were pretty awsome - but we had a good time too. Next was Ollantytambo via Urabamba for lunch. Where we attempted another adventure climb that kinda failed so we had to scramble back down the cliff face, where me  Olly and  Myles made some excellent Lord of the Rings quotes about fat hobbits eating all the elven bread. (you get me?)

And the history of the ruins was also very interesting and the views were amazing and I really did listen - in fact we often stalked tour groups in search for knowledge. Okay? Haha

Now what else? My family is lovely Dina my madre is an excellent cook and an absolute cutie. She cooks us huevos (eggs) every morning after Penny's relentless 'mi gusta los huevos!' my dad Juan is also a champ - makes fun of me struggling to fit the key in the door late one night and then is too embarrassed to come to dinner cause  he's 'un poco borracho' my mum says in a hushed tone. Naomi and Penny are my roomies and are the cream of the crop in my opinion so that was lucky..! Naomi spent the last few months in Argentina so she's kinda fluent in Spanish - and penny learnt it in school so she's a little ahead of me. But i have a good time trying (especially when naomi's not around (soz girl)) cause I know I can always make them laugh with ma blunders. 

Have I talked about school? Jeeze that's bad - it's amazing as well. We're makin a wall. The first week was spent dismantling the old wall and pulling massive boulders out of the ground to make a trench. Some serious pick axe work involved and we really got to know each other - grabbing a hand hold through someones legs or pushing their butts up with feet to support mass lifting. It truly was beautiful. The following days we watched the builders put the rocks back into our glorious trenches. But we had no choice but to accept their wall building technique which after some time began to make sense. We carried bricks. Beautiful scratchy ten kilo bricks one by one from one pile to another making multiple piles for future wall yet to be built - riveting work. And shoveling wheelbarrows of gravel from one spot to another 20 meters away. Mixing cement with shovels and learning chechwa (that is not how u spell It but its the old traditional language here). And I'm so happy to say that - if you asked what i did today i could proudly say 'I dug a hole'. My god I've always wanted to say that.

And los niños? I am always greated with shouts of 'amiga anna!' and hugs when we arrie in the morning, and another good one was amiga alta (tall friend) Although they're un poco loco at Times they're actually quite smart - I'm teaching year two and I was expecting madness but luckily they're at the stage where they want to learn and they care if you're angry with them. So its pretty brilliant - I'm still racking my brains to remember all the awesome games we played in class and in sport at home as well as fun art activities - anyone got ideas? 

And tomorrow is mi Compliaños! It shall be grand - I'm having a fruit and veggie party (cause we are all craving it here we just don't get enough) and Dina mentioned a cake.. Sooo what could be better for a nineteenth? On the weekend we're going to the secondhand market armed with 10 soles each to dress an assigned partner in a ridiculous outfit to wear on the town on Saturday night. Ohhh yeahhhh I'm excited - you know how I feel about second hand clothes. 

And then? We're going to Earthdance music festival next weekend for a three day camping experience in the sacred valley. Who knows what that'll be like but who cares there's enough of us to make anything fun. 

And now. I hope I have satisfied your news starvation and I will try to write not too long after. But I'm sure now u can understand why I'm just a little preoccupied.