Monster Aloe Vera, Truck Rides & Possessive Daughters

First off, the Aloe Vera plants here are huge! And they grow everywhere! It's not uncommon for them to be bigger than me! Don't believe me? Well, don't worry cause I took pictures!

Second, I really love riding in the back of trucks here. It's so fun! Even if you are zooming down dirt roads in the Andes. It's kinda dangerous, but definitely an experience to remember!

Most people stare at us wherever we go, cause how often do you see a group of gringos wandering around? Cajarmarca isn't really a touristy place, so it's not very common to see white people. But, holy cow! You wouldn't imagine how many stares we got when we drove back into the main city in the back of a truck. It was was pretty funny! I guess people don't see a truck full of gringas very often! haha

Usually at the health screenings, little kids like to watch me prick fingers for the blood glucose test. Most of the time they will either just quietly watch, or they will make funny noises when they see the prick. But, yesterday, a little girl did something that none of the kids have done before. I would guess that she was around two years old. She was sitting in her mom's lap while I was working on her mom. She was kinda apprehensive in the first place, which isn't unusual. But, once I pricked her mom's finger, she began to cry a little. Then she grabbed her mom's arm and pulled it away from me. It was so cute to see how she cared for her mom! She really didn't not wanting me hurting her mom. It was adorable. But she really hated me after that! haha I'm kinda used to it, though. Not many people like me after I make them bleed. But someone has to do it. :) It's for a good purpose. These mothers need to be aware of their health and how it can impact them, and their families. I love these mamas. They are some of the strongest women I've ever met.

It's kinda hard to breathe at over 11,000 ft elevation

Yesterday we went to Cumbe Mayo! Cumbe Mayo is a man-made structure built by an advanced pre-Inca society. And holy cow it is way up in the mountains! It averages at over 11,000 feet in elevation. We took a tour bus up the mountain, and that was the roughest ride of my life! haha After we got there we hiked around with our tour guide. We loved our guide! He was hilarious! On the way up there he kept falling asleep. But he would wake up every few minutes to tell us some historical fact. It was so funny! But I'll tell you what, hiking around at that elevation is kinda hard. I didn't get altitude sickness or anything, it's just that my heart rate kept jumping up. And you get out of breath really easily.

Cumbe Mayo is famous for it's aqueducts. It's actually really cool to see all the math that they used to make the water flow with precision. And I hate math, so I was pretty impressed! haha They also have lots of petroglyphs and stone pillars.

This picture is of a table that the people used to do sacrifices on. If I remember right, they did animal sacrifices for the water god that they worshiped. The blood would run down the river and into the canal. They would then drink that water. 

It was such a fun little excursion, but I had a headache from hiking around so high up. After Cumbe Mayo, some of us did some grocery shopping. Which I am not a fan of shopping in general, but I don't mind having to only pay just over $10 for a week and half's worth of groceries. So that's awesome! After grocery shopping we took a trip to the hot springs again. I love that place! So relaxing! Well, I think that's it for today's post! Hope y'all have a good day today! 

Adventures and Pig Intestines!

When we're not working on projects, we like to go exploring! Recently, we went to a place called Santa Apolonia. It's really cool! At the very top, there's a look out point where you can see all of Cajamarca. The view is breathtaking!

I can't remember if I have really explained Cajamarca or not. Cajamarca is in the Andes at about 8,900 ft. in elevation. The cool part, though, is that it's kinda in a little valley. So wherever you look, there are mountains in the background. The clouds hang pretty low around the mountains, so it looks like you're in heaven. When we flew in, we had to fly through a layer of clouds. It was so cool!

Anyways, in Santa Apolonia, once you hike down from the look out point, there are tons of historical things. I really liked the little stone houses. But don't go in them, they smell nasty in there! haha

I didn't take a picture of the church, but there is a really pretty church on the hill in Santa Apolonia. There are really cool stairs that lead up to it. They kinda zig zag back and forth up to the top. On the stairs there are lots of vendors. Some of them are pretty persistent, and tell you to come over to look at their stuff. I don't really like those ones. haha So I didn't buy anything.

On Saturday, after doing some visits with Camina Conmigo, we went hiking! We saw some pretty cool waterfalls! But, I forgot to take my camera with me that day, so I don't have any pictures. Sorry. But I had so much fun climbing everywhere on the rocks! Ah! Peru is so beautiful! 

After we went hiking, we stopped at this adorable open air restaurant. I ordered something called frito, cause it was the cheapest. All I knew was that frito meant fried. Fried what, you ask? Yeah I had no idea! haha I ended up getting potatoes and fried pig intestines. Surprisingly, it was pretty good! A little chewy, okay, really chewy! But it was kinda sweet too. I liked it enough that I ate all of it! haha So I was pretty proud of that! 

Tomorrow we are looking into going to Cumbemayo! I'm not exactly sure what it is yet, but I will let you know if we go! Until tomorrow, hasta luego! 

So many blessings

Even though the public transportation here is really cheap, we still try to walk everywhere as much as we can. Yesterday, we walked to and from our health screenings, which takes about 45 minutes one way, if I remember right. We had quite the hike once we got out of the city. It was so beautiful! Emily Swain was very nice to let me use her picture on here. The view was seriously breathtaking!

I especially loved the women at yesterday's health screenings. They were so sweet and nice. It always surprises me though, how young some of the women are. Sometimes a mom and her daughter are both there with their own kids. Like, I will do a blood test on the mom while she is holding her baby, and then I will do a blood test on the daughter who is also holding her own baby. Those women work so hard. And they do it all with their babies on their backs. It's incredible what they do every day. 

There was a little girl at the last health screening who reminded me of myself when I was young. I'm guessing she was about ten-years-old. She basically stood next to me and just watched me prick everyone's fingers. I wish I could have given her a pair of gloves, but we have limited supplies, so I couldn't. It just reminded me of when I wanted to watch everything the nurse did. Anything medical-related fascinated me. It was just interesting and thought provoking to be on the other side. It made me wonder that if she wants to be a nurse, will she ever have the means to become one? She's living in a super rural area. Is she going to get pregnant as a teenager? Will that make it so she can never go to school and become a nurse if she wants to? It again made me realize how blessed I am. If I have the dream and drive to do something, I can do it. Nothing can hold me back but myself.