Week 5, Part 1: Final Days in Cusco

By the middle of week five, I was ready to go home.  I was tired of taking classes in the summer, and I longed for familiar foods, smells, and faces.

On the morning of our last day in Cusco, Jennie and I woke up feeling sad.  Amazingly, everything I'd accumulated throughout the weeks managed to fit in my bags.  We finished up our final tests in our classes on that day, then we hung around and took pictures with our professors and classmates.

That afternoon, our host brother, Fernando, took us horseback riding through the fields surrounding Sacsayhuaman.  Fernando seemed to think he was a cowboy, as he galloped in circles around us, wearing a 10 gallon hat.  Jennie and I struggled to not fall off our horses!  I was not planning on dying on my last day in Cusco!

About an hour and a half into the rise, we got off our horses and walked (stiffly) to Fernando's favorite place in Peru - a beautiful and hidden cave.  We explored the cave for a while, and then walked back to our horses and rode back to town.  My butt hurt like crazy.

That night we had one last meal in Cusco at Tordos with the entire Rockhurst group and our professors from Wiracocha.  We ate a delicious final meal of salad, fries, and chicken.  That night, we slept in Cusco for the final time.

My conversation classmates with our professor, Erica.