(This post was supposed to be posted a week ago!)

I can't believe I come home from Peru in a month!

I have done a lot in the past few weeks, including visiting Machupicchu!

Two weekends ago we went rafting and zip lining. I was terrified to be honest, but it was SO much fun! The rafting was only level three and four rapids, so it wasn't that intense, but the scenery was beautiful and we made some good friends on the trip! After rafting we had a delicious lunch in the base camp before doing some zip lining. That was majorly scary for me considering my fear of heights, but it was so fun and I'm so glad I did it!

Tuesday night we went to our friends house and learned to make some typical Peruvian foods! We made ceviche, causa, and with hyanciana sauce. It was really nice to cook Peruvian foods!

That week, we did a lot of team building work with the girls in the project. Tuesday we supplied them with a list of inspirational quotes in Spanish and they each chose one to write and decorate. We talked about the quotes a little bit after and then hung them up in the kitchen so that the girls have them to look at daily.

"Don't be afraid to fail, be afraid to not try"

"Never look back, it distracts you from the present"

"The only way to do a good job, is to love what you do"

"Anything is possible if you think it is possible"

Wednesday, we printed out pictures of the girls and brought them each an envelope to decorate with their names and other decorations. Then, each girl was given a stack of cards with all the other girl's in the house's names on them. Each girl then had to write something nice about every girl in the house anonymously. Then we sorted the cards and put them in each girl's envelope for them to read.

Friday, we did manicures with the girls. A lot of the girls don't understand the importance of hygiene, especially with little babies in the house. We cleaned their nails for them and painted them for fun.

Saturday morning, we left for Machupicchu! We chose to do the Inca Jungle Trek, which is a four day, three night excursion to Machupicchu. Although unfortunately our tour guide lacked some enthusiasm, we had a great group, and the trip was incredible.

Saturday, we biked three hours downhill to Santa Theresa where we stayed for the night.

The next day, we hiked 6-7 hours through the jungle to Santa Maria, where there were some hot springs we enjoyed after a tiring day.

Sunday, some of the group members chose to do zip lining, but Lindsay, Natalie, and I decided to walk for another two hours until the next town where we met the rest of the group for lunch. The walk was really pretty! We hiked with the group for three more hours that day, to Aguas Calientes, which was where we spent the night before Machupicchu.

Machupicchu was breathtaking. Even though it was raining when we woke up that morning, we decided to climb up to the Machupicchu ruins instead of taking a bus. Although it was 5 in the morning and a steep climb, I'm so glad we hiked up, it was so worth it. The ruins were incredible.

After walking around for a while, we had purchased tickets to climb Machupicchu Mountain, a mountain overlooking the ruins. That was the killer. It was an hour and a half of stairs up the side of a huge mountain. It was so rewarding though!

We treated ourselves to a $3 hot shower back at the hostel when we got back, and a delicious dinner of chips and guacamole and pizza. We took a train and then a bus back to Cusco, and passed out immediately!

The week before we left for Machupicchu, Brenda, the teen mom who was pregnant, went into labor. She had a lot of complications and ended up in the ICU for four days and then in the hospital for 3 more. She was so strong and such a trooper. Lindsay and I went to visit her about every other day and it was so relieving to see her improve. She is now back at the house and she and the new baby, Drey Smit, are doing well!

Drey! When we went to visit him in the hospital.

After we got back from Machupicchu it was the week of halloween! We decided to show the girls an American halloween! Wednesday we carved pumpkins with the girls. Thursday we decorated the house with halloween decorations. Friday we made cookies and decorated them, listened to music, and painted faces! They loved it.

Last weekend were two holidays in Peru. Dia de Los Santos was Saturday. It is customary to eat "lechon" which is pork on Dia de Lost Santos and spend time with the family. The next day is Dia de Los Muertos. It is customary to visit the graves of loved ones and bring flowers. It was a very interesting weekend!

Lechon, which is the meat typical to eat on Dia de los Santos.

These are the graves that we visited. The cemetery is totally different then I expected.

Tuesday Lindsay and I presented a presentation on breast feeding to the teen moms. The girls listened really well and were very responsive to the presentation which was really rewarding.

Yesterday Lindsay and I visited the kindergarten where I volunteered when I first got here. It was really nice to see all the kids again!

Tomorrow night, I head to Lake Titicaca, Colca Canon, and Arequipa for the weekend! I'm so  excited to see more of the country!

Finally, thank you to all of you who donated money for us to buy baby gates!!! The response was great :) I'll post pictures as soon as we have them set up in the house. Thank you!

I have found where my heart belongs in Peru. After a month of frustration at the clinic, I decided I had to do something to stop wasting time. Most days there were fewer then four patients, and even when there were a some more, anything that Lindsay and I did was simply taking an opportunity away from a Peruvian nursing student. Peru for Life (the orphanage for teen mother's and their babies) still needed our help, so after a little trouble with our program, we finally got the okay to volunteer there five days a week instead of at the clinic. I finally can't wait to go to the project every morning, instead of dreading sitting around at the clinic every day. It is so nice to finally feel like we are doing some work that will help people!

There are a few things that we plan to focus on in the house with the girls. Since Lindsay and I are nursing majors, we want to focus on health related topics, such as nutrition, exercise, sexual education, mental health, breastfeeding and more.

Our first project for the clinic was to create a presentation with information regarding pregnancy and labor for one of the girls, Brenda, who is due to give birth in mid October. Brenda arrived at the orphanage a little over two weeks ago. Before then, she hadn't been to the doctor at all. Lindsay, two other volunteers from Peru for Life, and I met a few times to research and translate material into Spanish. When we presented it to her, we brought cookies and hot chocolate and all sat around on the couch to make it less intimidating. She seemed to really enjoy the discusion and since then, she has been a little more talkative and open about her pregnancy.

All of the girls were gathered around Brenda talking about their babies and touching her stomach.

We have been doing 30 minutes to an hour of exercise with the girls every day. Yoga has been a personal favorite for the girls! In addition, we have started discusions about nutrition, and did a presentation about a balanced meal and iron intake.

The girls practicing savasana after some yoga.

Nutrition discusion with the girls.

A poster we have hanging in the kitchen now about iron,

Some out door exercising!

The stories of almost every single girl in the house is heartbreaking. Even when I'm not at the project, I think about the girls and their babies all the time. All but two of the girls in the house were victims of rape, and most of them by family members. These girls are children themselves, they don't know how to take care of themselves yet, let alone another person. I'll share some of their stories in later posts.

I went to a really neat painting exhibit with my host family one afternoon. I had never seen people paint such amazing works in real life before! Many paintings reflected the Incan culture. My host family very kindly invited Lindsay to their house in Urubamba for the weekend. We had a great time. Lindsay ad I biked around the smaller, quieter city. We went on drives with my host family to see the scenery around. It was a really nice weekend.

Last week was elections for Peru for Mayors. There was a ton of political propaganda leading up to the elections. I learned some interesting things about Peru. It is mandatory in Peru to vote, or you have to pay a fine. In addition, it is illegal to sell or drink alcohol the day before the election and the day of the election. The ballots are with pictures because of the high rate of illiteracy in Peru.

The elections took place on Sunday, and the Thursday before, one of the candidates held a free outdoor concert to nmark the end of his campagin. I went with Lindsay, my host dad, brother, uncle, and cousins. Before the concert, there was a lot of family over at the house and we had a great time drinking wine and eating pizza.

Being goofy with Abdon at the outdoor concert,

Some of my host cousins drew pictures of the family.

I'm the one with the huge eyes and big lips on the left.

We had a really good time and it was a nice expereience that most tourists don't get.

Last Sunday was my host cousin, Maria Ferndanda's, first communion. My host aunt and uncle had a party at the house. I love hanging out with the whole family so it was a lot of fun!

Maria Fernanda - the girl of the day!

Lindsay and Sebastian.

Maria Fernanda and Abdon goofing around.

We made literally 75 cupcakes for the party.

Last Saturday (a week ago - I know, I haven't been great with posting), we went rock climbing. I am terrified of hights, but it was actually an amazing experience. We hiked about an hour to the mountain, and climbed for a few hours. The views were amazing, and it was great to spend time with friends.

Lindsay!

Views on our hike.

Ahhhh!

Sunday we went to a very relaxing yoga class to stretch out our sore muscles. 

Healing house is a really nice yoga studio we have discovered.

It has a beatiful garden as well.

Monday we went on a wonderful Walking Tour of Cusco with some great friends!

Wednesday we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant Green Point. It was delicous and a nice way to say bye to our wonderful Dani before she left for Machupicchu and then home!

Also Wednesday, Lindsay moved into the same house as me! It's been great having a roommate and we have a lot of fun with my host family. Thursday we made homemade guacamole and salsa for the family and made nachos! It was so much fun.

Veronica, my "host aunt"

The finished product... nachos!!

Tomorrow we go ziplinging and rafting! I'm so excited!