Well, this past week has been pretty good. On Friday I went to Yuramarca with a group of CARE workers. The drive there lasted about an hour and a half, most of which was a dirt road through the Cañón del Pato, one of the most impressive cañons I’ve seen to date. The road includes 30+ tunnels cut out of solid rock and passes by a hydroelectric dam that provides most of the area’s power. Once in Yuramarca we had a meeting with the local lime and mango growers. Fortunately I’ve convinced the other workers that I really don’t know enough about any of these topics to help them present so I played my usual role which is to help serve snacks mid-meeting. After lunch we headed another half hour up the mountain to present to the atuna association. For those who don’t know atuna is a type of cactus fruit. The meeting finished up at around 6 pm, just in time to get in an awesome sunset.

Then Saturday I met up with Joel and Gabe to head to Huaraz. The six of us (Christina, Karen, Rachel, Gabe, Joel and I) spent the day shopping, eating, exploring and watching the US, Italy world cup game. It was real fun to see everyone again and to just relax together. That night we had been invited to go to a karaoke owned by Christina’s aunt. We were all pretty pumped, but when we showed up at the appointed time we found the lights were all out! After a minor panic we discovered that the side door was unlocked. Luckily here aunt was inside and she informed us that the karaoke didn’t open for another week, they had invited us there to do a photo shoot for the website they were making for the place! We were all a little surprised, but ended up having a blast striking poses and dancing as the uncle DJed. We finally headed out at 11pm, ready for supper (yeah, we hadn’t eaten yet). As the combis that take us home don’t run at that time of the night we we settled in at a Hostel run by another of Christina’s aunts (yeah, she has connections!). All in all it was an awesome trip!

Oh yeah, and this coming weekend I’m headed to the mountains. Joel’s dad is leading us six on a camping trip to lake Llanganuco, renouned for it’s blue-green waters. My first time hiking way up in the mountains! Score! Ok, I’ve gotta go, but I hope everyone is having a great time. Later!