Had another amazing week in Cusco....

I think it was our third week at the school... ive sort of lost track of time here. We had quite a few people sick this week so lessons and construction work was disrupted as we tried to make sure all the classes were being taught. This meant work on the wall was slow going this week, which was actually a good thing as we began laying the foundations and cementing... which we largely left up to the local construction guys as we had no ideas what we were doing.

We will be starting up a hygene staion at the school as well soon which involves showing the children how to brush thier teeth and helping with caring for their skin in the harsh mountain conditions. many kids have a fungus on their face which ets very painful in the cold and wind so well be giving then creams to help with that as well.

This weekend started on friday night when we all headed into town for a night out, which was fun. however the next morning we had to get up super early to go white water rafting! our guides, a group of crazy macho peruvian men picked us up in a bus from out houses and drove us the 4 hours to the Apurimac river. this first day involved leanring how to raft ect

we camped alongside the river back on sand and had this massive campfire. i dont think ive everseen that many stars before ever, and the were all so bright! the downside tocamping on the edge of a river wasthe mosskitos... dont worry they dont have malaria, but they do leave you with a bite mark and an aweful itch.

the second day began early and involved up to grade 5 rapids. we had to get out a walk a few times as some of the rapids were too dangerous for us beginers to go down... sometimes even the guides got nervous...

we had fun playing in some of the smaller grade rapids, we went "surfing" which involved getting caught in the rapids and all jumping to the front to the front of the raft while the tail went flying up behind us. we also jumped off some rocks about 6 metres high... i have to sya even with my diving behind me i did get a little nervous. It seems like every weekend we are doing something completly out of our comfort zones... willing or not. At one stage while going down some rapids the raft accidently tipped and some of us got caught up against a rock and the raft... possibly one of the most terrifying moments of my life... even if it was only of 30 seconds. the guides were amazing and pulled us all out and to safety, but it just goes to show that in no way can you control the river.

we camped along the river again and this time instead of not having a fire there is a tent thats permanently set up with a heater in it which was so warm it was like a sauna. On the final day we jumped off mre rocks and had an amazin time, everyone was just so exhausted. however we had a surprise in store for us, after packing up the rafts our guide told us there was a bridge we could jump off and all we needed was our helmets and wet suits... naturally we were intrigued. turned out to be a bridge with a road across the river, and jumping is not he word i would use... swinging is more what we did. the guides had a rope and a harness and all we had to do was hold on and jump backwards and wed swing under the bridge, back and forth until we felt like letting go and falling into the water, when one of the guides would pick us up in a small raft.

the majority of the group gave it ago and it was so much fun. i was hesitent and ended up going last and got to swing for as long as i wanted haha it was sooo much fun!! after the jump we had lunch and took a 2 hour bus ride back, in which the guides got drunk and blasted south american dance music, naturally none of us were tiered.

Later that night we had to meet up with the guides at one of the clubs in cusco were they played the video on one of the screens of our raftin trip. hopefully ill be able to but some photos up or someting soon.

next weekend were staying in cusco, we might be seeing a peruvian soccer match and having a quiter weekend as many people are getting a little sick and run down. Anyway, another sucessful week in peru and ill keep you updated soon