These past few days have been BUSY. I have a free afternoon so Ill try to get caught up on my blogging.

Also, my Dad is traveling today to the Philippines for two weeks so please pray he gets there safely!

So, Friday...our train got into MachuPicchu Pueblo (the town there) at 8 AM, and somehow we were able to check into our hostel around 9, praise the Lord! Theres not much to do in the town and I was exhausted, so I decided to sleep most of the day. For dinner we went out to eat and because we couldnt decide between 2 restaurants, we got a pretty cheap offer for a 3-course meal, plus free appetizers. After dinner on Friday we went straight to bed because on Saturday morning, we had to get up at 3 again to get in line for the bus to Machu Picchu.
Getting on the bus or into the park isnt a problem, but the highest mountain inside the park is called Wina Picchu and only 400 people a day are allowed to climb it. So, we made it onto the first bus (the bus ride from the town to MP takes about 25 mins.) and got tickets to climb WinaPicchu at 10 AM (its in the background in this picture). You can also hike up to the park, which a lot of people did, so even though we were on the first bus we were almost 300 people back in line. The park opens at 6, and our guide met us while we were in line so we were good to go. Words cant even explain it. After you walk in the park, you have to hike a little ways to actually see the ruins, and the first sight of it is breathtaking. The prettiest mountains I have ever seen surround the ruins but I think what makes the location is the sky. Its so high up MP almost seems like its sitting in the clouds.
Probably my favorite part of the day is that we got to watch the sun rise. The sun was so bright that the sunrise was hard to watch, but seeing it first peak above the mountain is something I will never forget.
After the sunrise we walked through the ruins with a running commentary by our guide, Graciela. To me in pictures, the town part looks really small, but you can (and we did) spend hours walking through them. I am convinced that the Incas were genuises. They were so incredibly detailed in building things that aligned with the sun, etc. I wont even bother trying to explain all of the details because I cant! (Dad, I was more impressed by Angkor Wats architecture and style but the location of MP made it more enjoyable for me!)

We wandered around for about 4 hours before our time for the hike came up. MP has a tropical/rainforesty climate, so it was fairly warm and really humid. This caused me to get fairly dehydrated and didnt feel up for doing an intense hike. I think my friends were more disappointed than I was that I didnt go, but I was content to stay. I found a lovely grassy area and napped for the 3 hours while they were gone. I had a perfect view of the ruins as I was falling asleep and when I woke up. After the others got back, we wandered around for a few more hours and left at 3. Altogether we were there for 9 hours and I felt like I totally got my moneys worth.
When we got back into town, we were FAMISHED, so ate an early dinner (mexican food in Peru!), dessert (best Tres Leches cake of my life!) and killed time until our train. Over dessert we had a great conversation about development and I was really able to see the hearts of my fellow volunteers. They all have a tremendous desire to see peoples lives in Peru and everywhere improve and we all see the problems that excess in America is creating (another post on this coming later). Anyway, I think that conversation bonded us. 5 of the 9 volunteers (including Ashley) that came at the same time as me are leaving this week, and I am more sad about it than I thought it would be.
Our train was supposed to leave at 9 PM from M.P., but a train derailed coming to the station so every train leaving that night was delayed for hours. We didnt end up leaving until close to 1, and didnt get back to Urubamba until 5 AM. To make things worse, our host family has never given us keys (they were supposed to when we first got here), so Ashley and I were crossing our fingers that they would answer the door when we knocked. Well, they didnt (they thought we were coming back Sunday afternoon). Thankfully, the ProWorld has a bunkhouse, and thankfully it was unlocked. Ashley and I went to sleep there till 9 and then went back home. Thankfully, they answered the door this time and were so apologetic when they found out it was us that was knocking in the morning (they thought it was a drunk). They served us breakfast and then I went straight to bed till 3 in the afternoon.

This post is getting super long, but I might as well update you all on yesterday and today while I have time. Yesterday, everyones normal work projects were canceled because of the annual Rio Urubamba clean-up. The river and the area around it is very dirty, but people still use this water for a lot of things, like bathing, cleaning, etc. The amount of trash our group picked up came to about 40 big sacks. I literally spent half an hour pulling trash out of only a small part of one tree. Im glad we were able to help, if only a little bit.
Yesterday afternoon was our weekly Urubamba womens group meeting. There were seven women there yesterday, and I started by reviewing the English that I taught them last week. It amazes me how attentive and eager they are to learn, and they have the best attitudes! Afterward, the same knitting teacher as last week came to teach them how to make scarves. They are fast learners and got pretty far in the hour and a half that they had.
Today is another national holiday (big surprise there), so I didnt go to school this morning. I did meet with Adriana to talk about the nutrition presentation I have to make on Thursday in Calca for the womens group. I have lots of research to do but I am excited about it.
Ok, really gotta go but thanks for reading!!!