Day 4- Huara Huara, Pikillacta, & Cuzco

Today was probably one of the COOLEST & most life changing things I have ever done. We had another campaign today in a village called Huara Huara, waaaaaaaaaaaay up in the Andes mountains... and I mean way up there. The road we drove on was about a car length wide, very curvy, and the edge was a huge drop off. I don't think I have ever been so tense, scared, nervous, excited, in awe, or nauseous in my life. Dr. Ferris, the doctor is the president of CerviCusco, failed to let us know how terrifying this ride up to the village would be... probably for a good reason. The people of Huara Huara are called the Quechuans. They only speak Quechua and they dress in the most beautiful clothes. They have these gorgeous burlap skirts that are embroidered with really colorful flower and other designs. They dress in a lot of layers because it is so dang cold up on that mountain! We did over 100 pap smears, blood pressures, and blood sugar screenings. It was so amazing to be able to help these women out in a way they would probably never get if it wasn't for CerviCusco. It was so hard to communicate because very little of the people we had with us spoke the language of these women and these women spoke no Spanish or English. We got creative and figured out ways to communicate... a lot of hand gestures were involved. :) The people were so grateful for what we did they made us an amazing meal of chicken, potatoes, and beats! Luckily, the ride down the mountain was a lot less terrifying. 

We saw so many animals on the way up to the village!

Being this close to a bull or "torro" made me a little nervous!

see that dirt path?? that's what we were driving on!

Grass hut on the side of the mountain! See the women with the cow?

I still can't get over how beautiful these people are. Something about their faces are so stunning. When you look at them you can really tell that they have worked their entire life. Their skin is really thick and calloused, but something in their eyes just shines. These women literally carry everything on their backs in these blankets... babies, food, supplies etc. 

This was one of the rooms we were doing screenings in. I believe Dr. Ferris called this table the "Cadillac" of the  tables, which was unfortunate since the stir up like things kept breaking! :p

One of the women let natalie try on her skirt and take a picture, but we had to give her some thing in return.. so we gave her some bread!

See the little black and white specs?? Those are mountain goats! 

On the way back to the clinic we stopped at Pikillacta and took some pictures. It is an archaeological site outside of Cuzco. If I remember correctly it was the western entrance to Cuzco. The ruins were absolutely gorgeous! You definitely don't see stone work like that today. 

When we got home we got ready to go to the down town area to check out some of the markets. The architectural work here is stunning! We went into another cathedral that was just amazing. The markets have so much fun stuff to look at! I want to buy one of everything! One down side to Peru is the terrible exhaust from all of the cars and buses. It is hard to get a breath of fresh air when you are down town where most of the traffic is. My body is still hating me for this altitude. I now understand what its like to either have really bad asthma or COPD! Seriously.. walking up 1 set of stairs and huffing and puffing by the time i'm at the top is kind of embarrassing. On a better note my Spanish is kind of improving... I had a conversation [a very short one mind you] in Spanish today on the side of the road! hoo ray! I love the group of girls that are on this trip! We are having so much fun together! "We are in Peru! WOOOOO!" is probably the most commonly said thing between us haha. 

Oh yeah.. I don't think Peru really enforces seat belt laws. There were 5 of us in the back on the taxi

I went to the roof tonight to see if I could take any good pictures of the stars with my tripod. I seriously need a class on this camera! It is so fancy.