We left Yantalo a week and a half ago, and had a great send off. They had a ceremony and a toast (which they had to bring soda for for us)at the school, a lunch with the teachers, presents from various places... It was definitely hard for me to say goodbye to my jardin kids. Oh I'm going to miss them. It was also hard to say goodbye to our English students. As we packed our stuff into suitcases and prepared to leave some of them came to see us off, and they were pretty emotional about it. Everyone kept asking 'porque se van?' and 'Cuando va a regresar?' My answers: mi familia, because that's the easiest way to explain it to them, and I don't know.
We spent 27 hours on the bus from Moyobamba to Lima, stayed a night there with the family of a friend, then headed out the next night for another 8 hours on the bus to Huancayo. We spent a couple days there with the family Caleb first lived with on his mission, who didn't let us pay for pretty much anything while
we were there. They were great. Then it was on the road again to Satipo, where we again stayed a couple days, though this time in a hotel ($6 a night for me and Jenny). We also celebrated Fiestas Patrias, or the Peruvian independence day, by going on an outing with the YSA. We got to ride in the back of a truck again (I managed to get stung on the inside of my lip by a bee), played some volleyball and soccer on top of a mountain, and went to some waterfalls, which were way cool. We actually climbed up the middle of the falls (there were a
bout five) and there was a pool at the top where we could jump in and such. It was way fun. Another day of car travel took us to Huanuco. We actually went through Cerro de Pasco, which claims the highest city in the world. My book described it as cold and unsightly, which pretty much sums it up. We only had one day in Huanuco to do some visiting, then did another 8 hour bus ride (last one!) and were back in Lima by Saturday.We arrived in Cuzco this morning, and it is definitely one of the coolest places I've ever been, and all we've done is walk around looking for hotels. Here's the view from my room for the night. About $13 a night, if you're willing to walk a bit, uphill, at high alitutude. Definitely worth it though :)
I would write more, and format the pictures... but I'm tired. Home in a week!
