Winter in July

For the first part of winter vacation, two of my gringa friends, Laura and Megan, and I traveled up north to San Pedro de Atacama.  San Pedro is a small tourist town located in the middle of the world's highest and driest desert, about 1630 km from Santiago.  Laura and I flew in together very early on Saturday morning and took a bus from the airport to the town.  We walked around a bit and explored the town and found our hostel which was located a little ways out of the "city" center.  We then made our way back and found lunch before our tour started.  The best way to explore the Atacama desert is through guided tours--and there are tons of them up there!  Our first tour was of the Death Valley (Valle de la Muerte).  Our bus dropped the group and our tour guide off and we walked around the rim of the valley and then made our way down the giant sand dune to the bottom.

Valle de la Muerte

Valle de la Muerte

Laura sitting up at the top of the dune

Megan flew in later so she met us half-way through, as we were heading to the Moon Valley (Valle de la Luna), coined that because of its resemblance to the moon.  We walked around a bit there and then headed up to the ridge to see the sunset.  It was beautiful--the sun sunk below the mountains in the west but the mountains in the east "showed" the sunset as the colors reflected off the sides of the rocks over there.  Stunning.

Valle de la Luna

Megan and Laura moon-walking

The second day started off early because it was a full-day tour.  So we were picked up at the hostel in the morning and headed to the Salt Flat of Atacama (Salar de Atacama).  The Salt Flat is a giant piece of land full of lagoons, salt, and flamingos, surrounded by the Andes.  We were able to walk around the area and see the birds before we had brekkie with our tour group.  

Salar de Atacama

Flamingos at the Salar de Atacama

The tour group then made its way up into the mountains to visit two lagoons.  We drove for an hour or so before we reached the lagoons.  It was so windy and the lagoons were frozen, which was such a change from the warm desert we had just left!

Lago Miscanti--can't really tell but I am standing on a frozen water

Lago Miscanti

Lago Miñiques 

A Vicuña (mixture between a llama and an alpaca)

After having lunch and some free time to explore the lagoons, we piled back into the bus and made our way back to the town.  We stopped on the way for an ice cream treat and to catch the last bit of one of the World Cup matches.  After getting back, the girls and I decided to do a little shopping and we all bought warm fuzzy hipster hats :)) We then headed back to the hostel for a nap and a shower before deciding where we wanted to eat dinner.  As we were making our way to a restaurant we met a guy from Poland who joined us for the meal.  He was nice and was happy to have company as he was travelling alone.  We then made our way back to the hostel because we had a very early tour the next morning.

Our tour bus picked us up at the hostel on Monday at four in the morning.  Horrendously early.  And we drove a couple hours northwest of the town to a geyser field.  This geyser field, Tatio Geysers, is one of the largest in Chile.  And the best time to see the geysers is early in the morning as the sun is rising, because of the way that the hot thermal water reacts with the cold air.  So, we arrived when it was still dark out and wandered around with a full moon to guide us.  It looked super prehistoric.  And it was super super duper cold out, our guide told us it was negative 12 degrees Celsius.  The sun rose a bit later and immediately there was a huge temperature difference and I was a little less miserable.   

Tatio Geysers with the sun rising

Francisco, the tour guide, and I in front of a geyser

Las tres amigas

As we made our way back into the town, we stopped at various parts to walk around and explore the different types of flora and fauna as we descended in altitude.  

#pictureperfect

We had spent the last three days with basically the same group of people and the same tour guide, which was a lot of fun and we all got along super well.  There was a couple from Holland on their honeymoon, a couple from Australia who were vacationing around the world, us gringas, a French couple who were both photographers, and a German girl who is living in Santiago.  We all decided to take Francisco out to lunch to celebrate and enjoy the last bit of time together before we all went our separate ways.  It was lovely and fun to be able to share the trip with such a great group of people.

Laura, Megan, and I then decided to rent bikes and go explore the local ruins before we grabbed dinner.  

We all flew back together to Santiago on Tuesday morning.  I spent the rest of the two weeks, hanging out, baby sitting a UP professors kids who were in Santiago for the summer, and having adventures with Laura in and around the city.  It was a great break and left me refreshed and rejuvenated for the second semester of school! 

Fall Arrives: Trabajos de Invierno, Campamento de Integración, Semana de San Andres, Special Visit, and My Birthday

All of you on the opposite side of the equator are heading into summer, which means for me--fall has arrived! The trees are swiftly losing their leaves, it is freezing cold in the morning (which makes it oh so difficult to get out of my cozy bed), and the rains have come.  We had the first huge downpour of the season last night, which meant that all the smog had disappeared this morning, so I took a picture to show you all the snow on the Andes.

May was the longest month that somehow at the same tine just absolutely fleeeww by...I accompanied a group of 40 Andacollo students and 300 St. George (the other Holy Cross school) students on Trabajos de Invierno for 3 days.  We worked to help repair, rebuild, and construct homes for the people in one of the poorest hills of Valparaíso.  I think it was a really powerful experience for a lot of the students, not only to bear witness to a kind of suffering that is not present in their lives, but also being able to play a very small part in helping to betters these people's lives.  I spent the day working on putting a new ceiling and siding on the house.  

View up the hill

Before Trabajos de Invierno finished, I left with my boss Oliver to go up the coast to the Congregation's Retreat House in El Quisco.  There we had the 8th grade jornada, Campamento de Integración.  The purpose of this jornada was integration--to help the two 8th grade classes get to know one another before they are mixed going into high school.  We did a lot of icebreaker activities, and spent time talking about the hopes and fears of the kids for the next year.  

Icebreaker

Group Shot

Semana de San Andres came at the end of the month of May.  This is a huge week for Pastoral--all of the classes participate in special activities learning about and celebrating the life of Saint Andres Bessette--the first Holy Cross saint.  The kids made special billboards in their classrooms, participated in jeopardy-like competitions, and finished the week with a special day, Día de Acción Social.  There was a formation in the morning filled with prayer, song and poems, and prizes, and ended with a dance done by the Cuarto Medio girls.  The rest of day the kids all mixed up--the high schoolers went with the elementary kids to play games, have snack, and put on presentations of what it means to live a life of solidarity.  The older kids all dressed up and everyone had a great time!

I had special visitors towards the end of the month--my friend Julia from childhood and her college friend Rav arrived in Santiago.  They are making their way through South America, and stopped to see me :))  We went out to dinner the first night in Bellavista.  

Julia, Rav, and I

They came and visited the school on Thursday before I had to teach, so I showed them around the school and we visited the Rector's office and one of the kindergarten classrooms.  I think they really enjoyed seeing the kids and the madness that is Andacollo.  On Friday we made our way to Valparaíso for a birthday getaway.  (Julia and my birthday's are two days apart).  Our hostel was in Cerro Alegre, which is the most historical and central hill in the city.  It is also the area that is most traditionally "Valparaíso," with the street art and walkable streets.  (Some of my favorite street art)

After breakfast on Saturday we made our way down the hill and towards the water, where we got a boat tour of the port.  Valparaíso is the largest port city in Chile, and the tour also helped to give us a perspective of how the city is set up--basically houses upon houses upon houses--the farther back the poorer they are.  

I got to the boat for a ratito

a look back into the hills

sea lions lounging about

boats in the port

We then made our way through the Plaza Sotomayor and back up the hill for lunch and then walked around a couple hills to Pablo Neruda's Valparaíso house.  We did a tour of the house and wandered back to our hostel.  Julia and Rav planned the next leg of their trip before we headed out to a DELICIOUS birthday dinner.  On Sunday we kind of just wandered throughout the different streets, looking for cool art and fun places to eat ate--it was a perfect way to spend a Sunday.  We left Valpo in the early afternoon so that we were back in Santiago for mass.  I then took the girls over to Victor and family's house for once after mass.  

Julia and I in the Plaza Sotomayor

rooftop coffee

Let us eat cake!

I unfortunately had to work a lot for Semana de San Andres so the girls spent Monday and Tuesday being tourists in Santiago and then we would hang out after my workday was done...Tuesday was my 23rd birthday! I was recieved tons of brazos and besitos all day from the students and staff.  Some of the students even threw me a little surprise birthday party--full of cake, song, balloons, and laughter.  I felt so loved :))  Julia, Rav, and I celebrated that night with a special dinner that they cooked and then we went out for beers.  

Rav preparing the bread

Julia making the pasta

The girls left early on Wednesday morning for the second half of their adventure, and I finished the week off with a surprise birthday celebration with the ChACE girls on Sunday! It was a lovely day, full of presents, yummy food, delicious ice cream, and friendship :))

Carolyn, I, Tiz, and Laura

June should be a calmer month, as the semester comes to and end and winter takes over...make sure to send warm thoughts down my way!

Holy Week, Easter & First Communions, Proyecto Acción Social, y Encuentro Arquidiocesano

As you can tell by the title of this blog post, I have been quite busy as of late--thus the reason for such a long time between posts...But now that it is almost May, I can update you all on what happened in April.

Holy Week: I began Holy Week with the Palm Sunday Mass with the 5th graders at Andacollo.  Holy Thursday all of the students came to the colegio, but there were no classes.  Each ciclo, kinder-2nd/3rd-6th/7th-12th, all had special activities about the Passion and the Adoration of the Eucharist.  I spent the majority of the day with one of the kindergarten classes.  So, we began by watch a children's bible cartoon movie of the Passion of the Christ. and then drew pictures of who we would invite to the Last Supper with Jesus, and then went to the church for Adoration. I came in about half-way through the movie and sat down, and soon the part of Jesus ascending into Heaven came up. In the movie, the way this is depicted, Jesus basically has his arms pointing downward and his head up to the sky and then simply appears to float into the clouds. The kids, who had been pretty quite up until this point, lose it. "Jesus can fly?!?!" "But He doesn't have wings?!?!?" "Why didn't I know he could fly?!?!?!" etc. It has a HUGE thing. And Tia Rosita just very calmly responds, "Children, Jesus can do everything," and pushed the play button again to finish the movie. I sat there just absolutely dying--a roomful of 5 years olds that are all in an uproar about flying Jesus... Good Friday, I helped to organize and then run an all-day retreat for some of the high schoolers. We left in the morning and went to the Congregational offices across town. It was a very nice retreat and I think impactful for many of the students. Holy Saturday, we had a district-wide retreat at St. George's in the morning and then I helped with the Easter Vigil Mass that night. It was a exhausting Holy Week, full of lots of work but also very rewarding.

Easter & First Communions: After the craziness of Holy Week, I was so ready for Easter as a chance if nothing else to sleep!  The day was pretty tranquil, and Mary Jeanne and I went out for an Easter dinner that night.  The Monday after Easter, we had a special formation in the morning at the school--complete with balloons, dancing and singing, and a gospel reading.  The students then didn't have class for the first hour and instead celebrated the Resurrection in their classes with a special breakfast.  (This day I was also a debate judge for one of the 12th grade classes--which was overwhelming and a bit intimidating, but very interesting hearing the Chilean perspective on controversial issues such as the legalization of homosexual marriage).  This past Saturday we had the masses for First Communions with two groups of 5th graders from the colegio,  one at 8am and the other at 11am.  It was very exciting for the students and their families, and everything went off without a hitch!

Proyecto Acción Social: We had our first Acción Social project this past week.  Mary Jeanne and I wanted to start off with a rather simple project for our first time as directors, so we decided on FundaMor (the place where I taught swim lessons over the summer).  We took 6 students, from 8th-12 grade, on Thursday after school across town to the FundaMor offices to celebrate Easter with some of the younger kids.  We began with games, and then had little bags of chocolate eggs that we hid for the kids to find, then had a craft project where they made bunny ears, and shared a story about Jesus and the Easter Bunny, and finished with a prayer and gift for the kids.  The kids all had a great time, and we managed to make it there and back with all 6 of our students.  So I counted it as a success!  We will be doing one project each month, and hope to incorporate a diverse group of students to participate.

Encuentro Arquidiocesano: This past Friday, I accompanied a group of high schoolers to a retreat sponsored by the Archdiocese of Santiago.  There were probably 70 or so other Catholic high schools from around the city that also participated, around 800 teens.  The idea of the retreat was to help the youth of Santiago to see that the faith/the Church is not boring but is relevant in their daily lives.  We began with a concert, performed by a group of nuns, who animated the crowd with song and dance.  There was then a play, called "From Simon to Peter," that traced the transformation and journey of the apostle.  This play also incorporated the various art forms that the students would later elect to participate in as a type of workshop.  Afterwards, there were more than 12 options of art forms, like dance, theater, graffiti, hip hop, and circus, that the teens could pick as an entertaining form to learn how to communicate their faith.  We then had to go, because the kids had a chemistry exam, but the retreat finished with a presentation of their works in the different groups, a presentation by a priest, and another concert.  I spent the time walking around and visiting my students in the different groups, which was fun to see how creative and talented they all are!  It was a nice day outside of the normal grindstone work at the colegio... :))

Off to a Running Start...

We are three weeks into the new school year at Colegio Andacollo, and what a crazy-busy three have they been!  I think the easiest way to explain everything is to simply illustrate what a "typical" week looks like for me...(though nothing ever is actually normal)

Monday--Outside of the colegio.  As a part of the program requirements, I am to spend one day each week doing some type of secondary-ministry work.  So, I prepare, serve, and clean up at the Comedor (Parish Soup Kitchen).  The Comedor is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and serves about 20 old people in the neighborhood.  And I work on Mondays with two other ladies from the Pastoral office and then a couple of moms who have kids at the colegio. I normally end up in the Pastoral office afterwards finishing up things or helping someone else.

Tuesday--English Classes.  I have my 5th, 8th, and 6th graders on these days. (The 5th graders are the only ones that I had last year, all of the other classes are new to me.)

Wednesday--Pastoral. 

Thursday--English Classes. I have my 7th and 4th graders on these days.  (Oh, we have a new English classroom--pictures to come--but it is huge and awesome!)

Friday--Pastoral.

Saturday evenings--Pastoral.  I am in charge of the attendance for the masses on these nights, and help with coordinating them.  

My Pastoral duties have changed a bit this year, which basically means that I have a ton more responsibilities than I did last year.  For instance, I am totally in charge of the Primer Ciclo (Kindergarten-2nd grade)--including writing the morning prayers, accompanying them in the morning prayers, coordinating events throughout the year, organizing the masses, and developing the jornadas.  I am also co-coordinating  the Social Action Club for the high schoolers with Mary Jeanne--we will have monthly meetings as well as monthly activities for them to particiapte (such as visiting a women's prison or orphanages or preschools or hospitals, and doing activities or some type of service work at all of these places).  Also, I help prepare and participate in all of the jornadas, every other Wednesday, with kindergarten through 6th graders.   Finally, I am in charge of the attendance for the Saturday masses, which translates to me keeping track of which students came to mass and which didn't, for Pasoral records as well as the official school records.  And throughout the year, I will develop/organize, coordinate, and participate in various other Pastoral activities, including the Winter Mission Trip, Holy Week, Saint Andre Bessette Week, Summer Mission Trip, Month of Solidarity, etc.  

**deep breath** so, yeah...it make be more like off to a sprint start that will turn into a marathon pace...

It has been great being back at the school though--I get swarmed with little kids who want to say hi and hug and kiss me, or tell me what new English word they learned that day, or help me open their snacks.  I know quite a few of the high schoolers from the Summer Mission trip and it's great catching up with them between classes and during the breaks, which is fun and different from last year.  I definitely feel more of a part of the Colegio this year, which makes all of the day-to-day craziness and stress feel worth it.  

Let's see, what else...It has been a big week for the Congregation of Holy Cross here in Chile.  The District Provincial (the big boss) is in town, and so yesterday he visited Andacollo, and that evening we had a big mass and dinner for the Feast of Saint Joseph (Patron Saint of the Congregation), and tomorrow one of the seminarians from Haiti will be ordained a deacon (!!).  

It still feels a heck of a lot like summer, not that I am complaining, so I am trying to soak in some of the warm weather before winter starts to arrive as well as find something fun to do outside of work...I can't quite think of anything else at the moment.  Next blog will be filled with pictures!

Tanning, Tequila, and The Perch

Mexico.

Kels and I

So so so happy to be reunited with my parents, Kelsey, and Carolynn and Jim.

Legit--so happy, I actually ran out of customs.

Group Pic on the Last Night

My time in Cabo was a much needed break and the vast majority of time was spent soaking in the sunshine next to an infinity pool or on the rooftop deck (coined The Perch by Kels and Mom).  We celebrated my birthday a few months early, spotted whales from our house (it's gray whale migrating and birthing time), ate a lot of really good food, did an art walk in San Jose, caught some of the Olympics, bought some souvenirs, and had a couple fun adventures in the car.  It was wonderful to be able to see my parents and be able to spend time catching up and just being together.  The house was incredible and I never wanted to leave.

How I spent the vast majority of my time

Mexican Sunrise

The house (!!!??!)

I have returned to Santiago, very tan and very well rested and refreshed--ready to begin a new school year!

Lima: Museums, Churches, and Ruins...Oh My!

I did my first solo-vacay two weeks ago to Lima, Peru.  I spent my three days there trying to pack in literally as much of the city that I could in such a short amount of time!  I really really liked Lima, it has such an interesting blend of a huge city with large slum areas, islands of modernity, and colonial architecture in the city center.  It is made up of more than 43 neighborhoods and sprawls from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.

FIRST DAY
Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, and was the seat of the Spanish rule for 300 years--so it has wonderful churches, museums, cloisters, and monasteries.  So, the first day there, I made my way through the Center.  The hostel that I stayed at was close enough to the center that I could walk there.  I began at the Cathedral of Lima and the Archbishop's Palace.  Initial construction on the Cathedral began in 1535 and ended in 1622.  It was designed as not only with religious focus but also as a sort-of chest for all the Church's riches.  There are 14 side chapels, and a crypt underneath the High Altar.  The Cathedral also contains the tomb of the city's conqueror.  There is also a museum attached to the church that contains relics, art, and clothes of former archbishops and private collectors.

Cathedral

Side Chapel for the Sacred Family

Entrance to the Crypt of Our Lady of the Assumption

Me in front of a mass grave in the crypt--terrifying

Tomb of Francisco Pizarro

I then made my way next door to the Archbishop's Palace.  This building was also commissioned by Pizarro, and is not only the residence of the Archbishop of Lima but also the administrative headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church in Peru.  

Chapel in the Palace

A look from the upstairs

Outside of the Archbishop's Palace

Outside of the Cathedral

I then made my way around the Plaza de Armas to find a place for lunch.

Plaza de Armas

The Saint Francis Monastery is located a few blocks off the Plaza de Armas.  It was built in the baroque-style of the late 1600s. The adjoining monastery has a superb collection of ancient religious texts, about 25,000 books Theology, Philosophy, History, Literature, Music, Canon Law and Ecclesiastical Law; as well as, about 6 000 scrolls generated by Jesuit, Augustine and Benedict priests, and Bibles that predate the printing press.  Some of which were brought over by the first wave of Spanish priests after the conquest of the Incas.  The Monastery also contains catacombs.  The catacombs under the church served as the cemetery of the emerging city during colonial times. Religious authorities, administrators and benefactors were buried in special places. Elsewhere, at lower levels, were placed the remains of prominent persons among the commoners, while the rest of the rabble went to mass graves in deep pits with rounded brick walls.  It is estimated that more than 70,000 people are buried down there.  As a part of the tour, we walked through parts of these catacombs--I was bent over and squished the entire time, but so so cool.

Saint Francis Monastery 

I then made my way to the Convent of Saint Dominic, which is not only a Church, Convent for the Dominicans, but also the Sanctuary of the Peruvian Saints.  The priory and church were founded in 1541 and the construction ended in 1583.  I had a private tour with a Peruvian woman who was beyond excited that not only did I study theology in college but I was also working/volunteering my time at a Catholic school in Santiago, that she went above and beyond to show me ALL of the saint's relics in the place.  

In the gardens of the Main Cloister

At the top of the bell tower

The relics and some of the remains of the three Peruvian Saints are kept here in the Convent: Saint Rosa of Lima, Saint Martin of Porres, and Saint John Macias.  

In front of artistic depictions of Saint Rosa

Tomb of Saint Martin

Chair of Saint Martin that contains part of the True Cross. Women sit here if they want to become pregnant.

To finish my first day, I ended up at the Inquisition Museum--a gruesome place to say the least.  In colonial days, Lima was the capital of South America as well as the seat of Spain’s control over the territories. The museum is located in the building that was used as a headquarters for Inquisition officials from 1570 to 1820. During the Inquisition, torture was common. It was here that local people suspected of heresy, blasphemy or witchcraft were detained, interrogated, and sentenced to public burning and execution.  

Outside of the Museum

Tour guide explaining torture method

Original torture devices

The tour walks you through the holding cells and a dimly lit underground torture chamber to show the techniques that were used against the prisoners. Wax figures with their faces are shown undergoing all types of abuse.  I thought that the museum was a good complement to the area’s beautiful colonial palaces and cathedrals, serving as a reminder of the tremendous injustices imposed under colonial rule.

SECOND DAY

I began day two with a group tour to the Ruins of Pachacama.  The Temple and Ruins of Pachacama are located about 40 minutes southeast of Lima.  It was a major site for pilgrimages for the ancient people, who would travel from all around in order to make their sacrifices.  Pachacama (Earth-Maker/Shaker) was considered to be the creator god.  Most of the common buildings and temples in this area were built c. 800-1450 CE, shortly before the arrival and conquest by the Incan Empire.  The guide told us that the archequologists believe that less than 25% of the ruins have been uncovered--due to lack of funds as well as people who now squat on the land.  Andean civilization never developed writing so today very little is known about the heavily eroded collection of adobe and stone temples and pyramids.

Housing for the pilgrims

Temple of Pachacama 

Ruins

We got out and walked around the Temple of the Sun--which is the only Incan temple there.  The principal side faces the sea, and has niches all around the sides for offerings, as well as altars for human and animal sacrifices that were offered to the Sun.  

Temple of the Sun

Original red plaster that covered the entire temple

I then spent lunchtime and the afternoon in the neighborhood of Miraflores, which is on the beach and a much more wealthy and touristy area.  

The Miraflores coastline walk

Beach-side soccer court

I was in the middle of asking a police officer for directions when this couple came up to him and asked for directions to the same place--how fortuitous!  We decided to split a cab to the other set of Incan ruins in Lima.  Turns out by new friends had just met a few days before on the airplane--Emily was from France and was on vacation, Gabriel was from Lima but lived in Paris.  They were great and I was so happy to have travel buddies!  The ruins were actually closed, so we made our way to the Reserve Park for the Magical Circuit of Water spectacular.  We sat and chatted in the park as we waited for the sun to set.  I asked a guy to take our picture for us (to commerate our wonderfully blossomed new friendship) and it turns out he was also travelling by himself from South Korea (Mike spoke no Spanish, or French, and was a little sketch on the English--he could only understand me "perfect" English), so we invited him to join our merry bunch for the water show and then for dinner. After dinner, Gabriel negotiated a cab price for me so that I could make my way back to the hostel.  (Fun Fact: none of the cabs in Lima have meters, so before you get in you have to negotiate the fare).

Me, Gabriel, and Emily

THIRD DAY

I didn't fly out of Lima until really, really late that night, so I slept in and checked out of my hostel around noon.  I then made my way to the Larco Museum and then back into the Center to visit the National Art Museum and the gardens of the Exposition Park.  The Larco Museum is an absolutely giant privately owned museum in the neighborhood of Pueblo Libre, that showcases pre-Colombian art..  There is also a gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery--which was a umm, very interesting exhibit to see.  My favorite part was the Cultures Gallery which houses over 40,000 years of history--including a Gold and Silver Gallery showcases the largest collection of jewelry used by many notable rulers of the times. It comprises of a collection of crowns, earrings, nose ornaments, garments, masks and vases, finely wrought in gold and decorated with semi-precious stones.  The National Art Museum was under construction so they only had three galleries open.  Though incredibly different, all three of the exhibits featured artists and their works from the 70s and 80s in South America (which as many of you know was an incredibly difficult and politically-repressive time in history).  The art was stunning and shocking and disturbing and beautiful, but I had to sit outside for a while afterwards to kind of unwind.  

I ended my time in Lima with a dinner of ceviche-- a seafood dish that is a specialty of Lima.  The dish is typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and spiced with chili peppers. Ceviche is usually accompanied by side dishes that complement its flavors, such as sweet potato, lettuce, corn, or avocado.  

Ceviche

Bus Depot at sunset

Though the time flew and I felt like I was flying the entire time while I was there, I very much enjoyed my time in Lima.  It is such a different city from Santiago and yet wonderful in its own right.  I hope to make it back there one day to eat more of that delicious spicy food before making my way to Machu Picchu.  Then, I caught a ride back to the airport later that evening and jetted off as a very very excited girl to Mexico!