Cusco, Lima, and Frienship!

**I am posting this late because of crazy travels and bad WiFi**

We are now in Lima! The rest of our time in Cusco was nice. We went out to a couple of chill, nice bars for Annika's birthday and got fancy drinks. And we got Indian food. Which I know is crazy because we are in Peru, but it was actually so good. And what is even crazier is that it was an Indian and Mexican restaurant where one side of the restaurant was for Indian food and the other side was for Mexican. We returned another night and got the Mexican food, and it was so good! A bit wacky but hey! that's traveling. 
On Friday night we went to the Cusco observatory to learn about constellations in the Southern hemisphere and about Incan astronomy. So cool! The Inca were really so advanced in so many ways and really had an interesting perspective on a lot of things. The constellations that they imagined were so different from anything I would have thought up. Honestly, I think if I would have been looking at stars during Incan times and they were like "Hey don't those stars look like a llama?" I would have just nodded my head and agreed because that is pretty much what I already do. I would love to get more into astronomy, so this was a good place to start. After the tour it was kind of late, so we visited good, ol' McDonalds and I got a McQueso which was literally just the bun with cheese. But at least it had a name!
On Saturday we went to a full day textile workshop that was really wonderful. It was just the four of us and we got picked up and they drove us to the Sacred Valley. Then we met these traditional weavers from several different communities in the Sacred Valley. They only spoke Quechua, so our guide was the translator for us. Our guide taught us all about the history of weaving and how they harvest the wool and plants. Then how they dye the wool to be able to weave. We then went out and picked some plants to dye our own wool! They already had the wool spun so we got some plants and heated them up in water over a flame. Then we smashed some bugs that live on cactus. We smashed them because when you do, they are a nice wine-red color. So, we put the smooshed bugs in a different boiling pot of water. Then we put in our yarn and 15 minutes later we had yellow and red balls of yarn! Then we each got assigned a woman to work on our weaving with us. We each were doing a bookmark, and we helped our weaver set up the loom. I definitely could not recreate it because she was moving so fast, but it was fun to experience. There were four sticks in the ground and then we tossed a couple of balls of yarn back and forth to get it set up. Then we moved the loom to a horizontal post and that is where the top of the bookmark got attached to. The bottom was attached to a belt that wrapped around the back of us so that we could create tension. Then we followed a pattern on a piece of paper to make the bookmark. It was so cool. I love locking in to stuff like that and it was so fun to create something so beautiful. During the day we also got to learn about different communities, eat new fruits, and dance with the weavers. It was something that I would not have done alone so I am glad that my friends motivated me to do it!
We left Cusco on Monday and flew to Lima. We were all a bit apprehensive about Lima because it is a really big city and there are some rough areas. We were in the nicest area, Miraflores, that is really popular for tourists. We walked down to the beach and along the beach as well. We ate some good food (Taco Bell included). And mostly just enjoyed each other's company. It was so fun, although a bit challenging at times, to travel with three other people for three weeks. We did so many wonderful things and made so many incredible memories. Peru was the perfect place to share with my friends because it is such a beautiful and vibrant country. I am going to stay here for a bit longer and it was sad to say goodbye, but we have plans to reunite this summer in Grand Junction. And I will be home in 5 weeks! My flight is booked and everything. I will only be traveling alone for 4 weeks and then Kaitlin and Ryan will be in Guatemala! I have been traveling for 8 months now which feels so surreal. My life truly is full of so many beautiful people and now so many beautiful places. So much love in this heart of mine. 

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