Aside from spending time with the children, one of my favorite moments was when the director of the orphanage found out that I love DIY furniture upcycling and asked if I could re-finish a table for them. Of course I said YES! The table was nice solid wood, but the finish was a bit out-dated so I decided to sand it down (by hand, which was the biggest part of the job, but I enlisted some helpers). Here's the original:
After (a lot of) sanding:
The finished product!
The city of Andahuaylas is not what you would call a tourist destination, as even though the mountains are beautiful it is a poor town. Walking through the streets we would get a lot of stares and whispers "mirar!" (look!). I love going to big cities and tourist destinations, but what I love even more is going to places like this because you get a taste of the true culture.
We were all pretty busy during the week spending time with the children, but on Saturday we got to check out the local market. It was crazy! All kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats (including HUGE hog heads as well as guinea pigs, frog smoothies, and quinoa juice). The women all wear these beautiful textiles to carry their babies or groceries called "manta carriers". They sold them at the market for about S/.15 which is only about 5 American dollars, so of course I bought several! I don't have a baby (yet!) but I think I'll be using mine as a table cloth or maybe a picnic blanket. Take a look at some of my pictures from the market:
Guinea pigs, 2 for one sale!
Yes, those are avocados the size of melons...
At the very end of our journey, we had the privilege of taking the Inca Rail up to Machu Picchu and experience a guided tour. It truly is just as beautiful as people say, the pictures don't do justice! Here's my token selfie:
And here's a great one of the whole team:
It's nice to be home, but I think the travel bug as truly bitten me and it's time to start planning my next adventure!
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