I just got back to the hostel after a day of rock-climbing.
Apart from having fun, the reason we went was to prepare ourselves to take about 25 of the older kids from Aldea Yanapay climbing on Saturday. ¡Que locuro! What madness! I think it will be a really fun opportunity for them, though. My peruvian co-teacher from familia Uvitas, Natalie, arranged it with a guide she has climbed with before. There were four of us volunteers there; myself, Natalie, Sam from Manchester and Marla from Alaska. Alex the rock climbing instructor´s paramedic friend Fabio was there too, because he will be teaching a first aid class on Saturday. We met in Plazoleta San Blas just after 8:30 in the morning. I put sunscreen on for the first time since arriving in Peru as we waited for Alex and Fabio in the glorious sunshine. I put on a good hearty dose too, because it exploded out of the tube thanks to the air travel!
The taxi ride out of the city took us by the ruins of Sacsayhuaman and Q´enqo. Driving out of Cusco, weirdly, reminded me of Australia... because the hills on the outskirts of the city are covered in Eucalyptus trees. When we got out of the car I felt like dancing! It was such a relief to be out in the hills and fresh air, with Cusco just out of sight. I really do enjoy Cusco, but I am a country girl and definitely need a break every once in a while. Our climbing spot was just a few minutes´ walk off the road, a small-ish, lumpy, rock face with a fang-like protrusion sticking out from of the green hills. The whole area was grassy, with jagged grey rocks sticking out everywhere and purple flowers scattered accross the hilltop. Alex and Natalie set up the ropes for rappelling while the rest of us took in the view and breathed deeply. I was excited to strap on a snazzy tuquoise, purple and neon yellow harness, knowing I was about to climb "real live rocks" for the second time in my life. The rappel was an uneven vertical face at the top and then a "negativo" at the bottom, which just meant that the face angled back, preventing you from touching it. On our second rappell we waited at the bottom and then set ourselves up to climb. Fabio made it look easy (and sylish, with his pants tucked into his socks), but the wall was actually quite challenging. I was the first to try it (tucking my pants in too, of course!) and fell off trying to get out of a sticky spot. Swinging on the rope is fun, so I didn´t mind falling. That is, until Marla made it up first try! Though she is more experienced... Sam was facing a fear of his (heights) and did really well, making it up to where I fell the first time. The second try I made it a lot farther, but still not quite to the top. We spent a while learning our knots, then gathered up the gear, ate our lunches (avocado and tomato sandwich and chocolate cookies) and started our walk back in to Cusco. It was a beautiful walk through the rolling, emerald hills and past various lesser-known ruins. At one point we saw lots of horses being ridden and grazing. I wanted so badly to hop on one and gallop through one of those fields in the rain, which was falling gently though it was still sunny. At one point there was a lost in translation sort of moment discussing the different expression for farmers tan in our respective languages. Marla had zoned out and asked what we meant by a "drunk driver´s tan". :) We spent a while bouldering at some pre-Inca ruins. Moving sideways along a wall barely as tall as yourself, with minimal footholds, is harder than it looks, especially when the ants who live around your handholds start climbing on and biting you. I managed to do both walls I tried; the ants were just motivation to do it faster. The walk back to Cusco was along a grassy path flanked by low, stone walls. The sun was so powerful today that despite two applications of SPF 55 my skin is displaying evidence of the beautiful weather. I had a late afternoon meal of salad, soup, rice, peruvian soy-meat stew and cool chamomile tea with Marla and Natalie on our way home. The whole thing cost 5 soles (about $1.80). The combination of sun, rock-climbing, food and a long, long walk left us completely "knackered" (as Sam said). Time to go nurse my sunburn and maybe take a little nap before maybe going out tonight.
With love,
Julia
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