Town of Chivay, Arequipa, Peru
¡Hola!
We kicked off this week with a weekend excusrion to the small, nearby town of Chivay. Personally, this is my favorite spot we’ve visited so far! The bus ride itself was filled with interesting sights including hundreds of cairns(stones stacked on top of each other to form towers as a form of worship) placed there by Incans long ago, and a plethora of Alpacas. Needless to say, we were quite excited at the sight of the infamous beasts! Seeing them made it really hit me that we were actually in Peru.
Photo of the Cairns:
Eventually our bus arrived at the town nestled among simply breathtaking mountains. We got a chance that afternoon to explore the town and surrounding area. The town itself has numerous “interesting”, to phrase it politely, statues of various dancers scattered about. They feautured various dancers, and while most were actually quite pleasant, others were borderline creepy.
Here’s an example of a pleasant one:
And not so much:
After investigating the town, I and a few others crossed a beautiful bridge to follow a trail that led to some incan ruins. At one point I got to go off on my own and discovered a view on top of a cliff face that dropped down to a wandering river. I loved getting that chance to immerse myself in the surreal beauty of nature that surrounded me. It was especially peaceful in contrast to the busy city of Arequipa we were currently living in. Chivay was a nice refuge, but short-lived. The next day we returned to the city to continue our activites.
This time, however, our groups switched what we were doing. My group had Spanish lessons last week, and this week we had the opportunity to volunteer at a home for girls. Naturally, the former volunteers then got to improve their Spanish skills at the School. Those of us volunteering painted several areas of the home (and a bit of ourselves as well. Whoops!). We also had the option to help the cooks prepare some muy rico (very delicious) food, which gave us a behind-the-scenes look at some typical Arequipan dishes. After volunteering one day we stayed later to spend time with the girls there. Although we spoke very limited Spanish, their joy was contagious and laughter is a universal language we could all understand. These girls have not had an easy life, so it was especially delightful to see how loving and joyful they were. We got another opportunity to hang out with these girls on Friday and I know I for one, was glad that I had the chance to improve their lives just a bit, even if it’s only through something as basic as brightening their living space.
Rachel