Sibayo, Alpacas and a Little Bit of Heaven...

The gloriousness did not stop at Lake Titicaca. It only got better. We woke up on Friday and made the drive to Chivay, the last main town before the communities in Colca Canyon. We woke up early on Saturday morning, packed up our stuff and met up with our families for a breakfast buffet! I lived in Sibayo, two of the higher up communities that we were split up into. 4 others and myself lived in the two higher communities while everyone else lived lower down in the Canyon. My homestay family was FANTASTIC!! I lived with mom, 15 year old sister, 3 year old sister and dad. It was incredible. I love my homestay family in Cusco, but this experience was phenomenal. We clicked right away and Mom and I got to have lots of great conversations and I got to play many a game with the girls--I was ecstatic.

After breakfast, we divided up and headed to our communities. We got to Sibayo around 11 AM and I immediately got to help out with cooking for lunch, which was great. It's sometimes difficult in Cusco because my family never lets me help out with stuff. It was great to finally help with every aspect of daily life... you feel much more involved, even when you're just doing the dishes. After lunch, mom, lil' sis and I went for a walk around town. This town was spectacular. Sibayo means "Town of Rocks" and the rocks in this town rock (teehee). We hiked up to the overlook of the town and got a fantastic view of the area. The mountains surrounding this city were phenomenal as well... I couldn't have been happier. I was well-rested throughout this 5 day experience because these rural communities tend to hit the hay around 8 PM, which allowed for lots of reading, journaling and sleeping. It was great.

The next morning I awoke to a breakfast of trucha (local trout) and then headed over to another family's house to watch the sheep-shearing process. It was crazy to watch it all happen. I also went to church with my two sisters. It was a service in Quechua and Spanish, so although I couldn't understand all of it, I was impressed with how much I've learned (even of the Quechua!). After lunch, I went for a brief hike up into the mountains with the other girl from my program in the community and it was glorious. I crashed early again, preparing for the big adventures of the following day.

The third day in Sibayo was the day we left for the estancia, the ranch in the mountains where they raise the alpacas and llamas. After lunch, the bus from our program came and picked all of us up who lived in the higher commnities. We drove a short way up into the mountains and then hiked for about an hour to the estancia. All of our time in the mountains involved lots of coca leaf chewing to avoid altitude sickness. I'm pretty obsessed with coca now and I'm bummed that I can't bring any back to the US... the cocaine industry sucks. Anywho, we got to the estancia and were completely floored. It was this beautiful little ranch tucked into the mountains.. it was unbelievable.

After settling into our home for the night, we began our first adventure of hunting for viscachas, little chinchilla like creatures that live in the mountains. We saw so many of them, but failed miserably while hunting. We were supposed to create fires in their homes in order to smoke them out... but alas, there was no success. We headed back empty handed and then hiked up to help herd the alpacas and llamas down to their corrals. We got to witness one of the most amazing sunsets of my life and I had another one of those, "Holy shit, I'm in Peru" moments, so it was pretty fantastic. We went to bed early woke up the next morning real early to help cook breakfast and prepare for the day.

After learning a bit about the glorious animals, we helped herd all of the alpacas into a corral. Then, we got to help shear one, which was absolutely amazing! After shearing the alpaca, we all got to keep a good chunk of the fur, which is so incredibly soft. When I brought it back to my family in Sibayo, my mom helped me start spinning the fur in the traditional way into yarn, so I am well on my way to becoming a traditional Andean indigenous woman. We left the estancia at around 10 AM, hiked out, stopped at the local hot springs, and made it back to our families. I slept deeply that night awaiting my last day in Sibayo.

My last day in Sibayo was also amazing, like every day in this part of the world. I went on a short hike with the other girl from my program and her host mom to the local mummy! It was amazing to see archeological evidence in these mountains... so cool. I also helped gather rocks down by the river on this day, which was obviously awesome as well.

We left real early on Thursday morning and I was pretty heartbroken. I have fallen in love with this town and the people I lived with and I truly hope to make it back sometime in my life. I felt like my Spanish improved greatly during this time, and I feel like I learned SOOO much just from living in this family. It was an unreal experience. We all met up in Chivay and then made the drive to Arequipa. We had one day in Arequipa, but it was great to check out yet another part of Peru. Ah, Peru...

We're now in Lima and I'll explain all of that the next time around. Until then, ciao!