Follow the Journey

After a week of jungle life, it was time to begin our student directed travel. We stayed in Puerto Maldonado for a couple of days in what became known amongst the group as `Monkey Palace`. Monkey Palace is the beautiful hostal we stayed in, filled with adorable (but sneaky) monkeys. After Puerto Maldonado, we took a 10 hour night bus to Cusco, and from there, a 2 hour bus ride to Ollantaytambo, a small, sleepy city nestled in the Sacred Valley. We`ve spent our time here exploring ancient Incan ruins, mountain biking, and enjoying some much needed down time in the hostal.
Our hostal this week has been especially fun, with kittens, a puppy, hot showers, and a kitchen available for us to cook in. We took advantage of the available kitchen to celebrate el Día de Acción de Gracias – Thanksgiving! We had to make a few minor adjustments here and there due to lack of ingredients, so we called it our Peruvian Thanksgiving. We had tons of food – devilled eggs, glazed carrots, fresh salad, stuffing, chicken, french fries, curried beans, green beans, broccoli, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, apple cobbler, brownies, bread, ice cream, and more. We feasted like royalty and felt absolutely sick by the end. Everyone was able to have a little taste from home, and though we couldn`t be with our families in the US, we were all very grateful to able to spend it with our Carpe family.
It`s been a peaceful week in the Sacred Valley, with good food, kittens, puppies, and beautiful ruins. Today is our last day in Ollantaytambo, and then we`re off to Puno. It`s crazy to think that we have only just about 2 weeks left. It`s been a wonderful adventure, and we`re all trying to make the most out of our last days here in the beautiful country of Peru.