8
Location: Cusco to Sacred Valley
After four days of hard work at Casa Mantay and Saint Teresa in Cusco, it was time to continue our journey in Peru. We woke up with excitement, as we were jittery to travel to the Sacred Valley. At breakfast, we received our phones back to update our families on the journey we have experienced so far. We carried our bags up the stairs, up the hill and loaded our bags onto the bus. On our way to the Sacred Valley, we made a couple of fun stops. Our first stop was at a llama farm not too far from the Cusco. We piled off the bus with cameras in our hands and smiles on our faces as we saw all the llamas and alpacas we would soon pet and feed. As we entered the farm, we picked up some grass and headed over to the llamas. They were very eager to get the food from our hands. Many of us captured the moment with pictures and tried to take some selfies with the animals. As we walked up and down the farm feeding and taking pictures, we saw many different types of llamas. Making our way through it was time to get back on the bus and go to the next stop. After about 15 minutes on the bus, we pulled over to a lookout sight that gave us an unbelievable view of the Sacred Valley. We got off, and all posed for a group picture and then just enjoyed the beautiful view that was in front of our eyes. A couple of minutes later we loaded back onto the bus to make it to our next stop, which was my favorite. Our next stop was at Pisaq, which are some ancient ruins of the Inca. We took a walking tour with our tour guide and learned many interesting facts about Pisaq. There were many beautiful ruins, which we got to hike up to. Once we got to the top of the exhibit, there was a gorgeous view that overlooked the ruins and the Sacred Valley. We took lots of pictures to capture the moment. After we an hour of enjoying the exhibit, we all gathered at the bottom and started to make our way to the bus and headed to lunch. It was about a fifteen minutes bus ride to the restaurant. The restaurant was very good and had good Peruvian food. After we all stuffed our faces with food, it was time to get back on the bus and head to the next adventure, which was an eleven-mile bike ride. Our tour guide William and our bike tour leader (find his name) got us fitted for the perfect bike, helmets, and gloves. We were instructed to stay in a single line so that there were no injuries. As many people were at different levels in biking experience, the group slowly got separated. About a mile or two later we reconnected and continued our bike ride. As we were peddling the 10th mile, many of us started to get very tired, but with support combined from everyone, we all made it to the end of our eleven-mile bike ride feeling very accomplished. At this time, we all loaded onto the bus and headed to the hotel. We grabbed our bags off of the bus and lugged them down a tiny hill and into the hotel. Once we got to the hotel our faces filled with smiles when we saw how nice the hotel was. We got our roommates and rooms and got some time to relax before we headed out to dinner. Overall, the day was filled with crazy fun adventures and new experiences for everyone.