Did I not tell you that Jack was the most amazing dog ever created? What other dog would climb to the top of a mountain??

an awesome cloud photo I took

The Incan stone pools

I may or may not live one block from Tupac street

Cusco weekend!

The view of Cusco from my combi. The rolling hills surrounding the city always make me feel like I am in a Dr. Seuss book for some reason.

John and his host brother Jesus, mejores amigos por siempre

all of us passed out after a night of dancing

Carnavales in Cusco with fun costumes and dancing

Our combi broke down on the way back to Ollanta, so we had to hike a little bit to catch a bus to Urubamba. Unfortunately for us, during Carnavales, it is customary to dump water on people and spray them with shaving cream, which is exactly what people did as their cars passed us on the road.

John and Nicki get drunk at la pampa

John’s host family took us out to the pampa one day (a community a few minutes outside of town whose name I can’t spell, but it ends in pampa, so I’m just going to call it la pampa for now), where they brought chicken and beer to sell during the weekend soccer game. I had to leave early to go work at the Awamaki store, but here are some of the events that followed my departure.

Janet and Susana, John’s host sister and mom, drinking

Jesus, drinking, and apparently very proud of it

John’s other host brother, Marco, and his baby Rafaela… not drinking, thankfully

Yep, that’s a baby chillin in a trunk.

this is John and Nicki BEFORE they started drinking…..

and this is them after.

And on a more depressing note…. here are some pics of the damage from the floods a few weeks ago:

Part of the wall that lines Av Ferrocarril, washed out

what used to be a house

what used to be a bridge

collapsed houses

road of muck

an entire cornfield filled with rocks

irrigation channel, also filled with rocks

what used to be the riverwalk along Patacalle

mud everywhere

Luckily, Ollanta and the surrounding communities have gotten tons of support and aid, so no one will go cold or hungry. The sad part however is that no one can start rebuilding their homes until April or so, once the rainy season is over for good.

And to finish off, since I don’t want to end this post on such a depressing note, here are some pictures of cute things!

a little girl whose name I don’t know

a billy goat I found one day up on Pinkyulluna!

billy goat takes a nap

baby sheep!

pile of kittens!