Primer Viaje

So here comes a long one after not writing for quite a while. So let's begin September 26th, at 6 in the morning I got on a flight to Arequipa which is a city in the south of Peru. I ended up sitting next to a little girl named Gabriella Alexandra and after watching her set up all of her dolls on her tray in front of her she offered me a little peruvian candy thing and from that moment on I knew that  I wasn't going to be sleeping like I had planned. She was so cute and told me her whole life story as she brushed her dolls hair and asked me to say things in American. At the end of the flight she gave me a huuuge hug and wished me good luck on my trip.

so that was  a sweet way to start off my trip. Ok so from there we drove for quite some time up into the mountains. It was cool to see how different Arequipa and the south of Peru is different from Lima and the north. It definitely seemed like the people were poorer and that a big part of how they made their living was from the tourists that come through. 

Despite how this looks, this is actually a bag of coca leaves. These are chewed while you are climbing altitude to help relieve stomach and head pains. It tastes literally like you're chewing a leaf and the best way to do it is fold it into a little square and just kind of bite it and not actually chew. That way it doesn't break apart and you don't accidentally swallow it. You can also eat lemon flavored candies and those help with stomach aches too, and they taste a lot better than leaves. Later on as you continue to climb the mountain you can stop at various spots and drink mate de coca which is tea made from the coca leaves.  It tastes basically the same as the leaves but i put sugar in it to make it taste better. So our first hotel was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was stuck in this little valley in the mountains and totally secluded. It's kind of set up like a motel but so much prettier. Theres a little fire pit in the middle of all of the rooms overlooking the river and we had a fire one night but it was veerrrryyyy cold. Also at the hotel was a private alpaca farm and hot springs! They were so cool and when we got free time it was great to go hang out at those places.  

I think this is all i will do for now but I'll continue probably tomorrow in another post :)