i wrote this last week but blog was down

Here is an excerpt to get an idea of my arrival at Huaran last week...

I{ve been dying to use the net to tell you all about this place. I thought Cusco was cool but it was nothing compared to Huaran. We got three taxis to Huaran (because one person is sick and stayed in cusco so easier to get taxis) which was a hell of a drive. The driver was driving on both sides of the road to avoid potholes and overtaking cars all the time and beeping and the drive was very winding and hilly and steep cliffs on sides of the road. It was quite a ride. we even got stopped at a police checkpoint and our driver was takenb away and i got some good photos of scary peruvian police with guns. we thought they were going to take our driver away and leave us stranded, but then he came back and kept driving. After about an hour and a half of holding on for dear life we finally arrived at HUran, although it was difficult to see we had arrived anywhere. It was just a dusty gravelly road leading up to a beautiful old spanish church that is very dilapaidated. we waited for a while as one of the villagers went to get the village car! but it didn{t come so we piled our backs onto our backs and began the walk up the road to fridas house. Aoll the villagers came out and helped carry our bags in these colourful woven clothes...so much for hugh tech expensive kathmandu gear! No one carried my bag so i bundled it onto my bag and began walking. As soon as i arrived i was in awe of the natural surroundings. On every side of use there was massive massive mountians, very steep and very green - bright green, dark green, orangey rock, red rock, trees, some terraced fasrms perched precariuosly on the mountian faces. I was stunned, i had never seen something so beautiful. As we walked all the children who had come down from the mountains to see us began blowing conch shells to signal our welcome. We walked through the hacienda which is the hostel we will be working on. I was not prepared for how amazing this building is. I{m so excitewd to be working on it. It is in a c shape surrounding a courtyard with a wild and overgrown garden. There is a large vernadah the whole way around the c shaped building which is tiled with old colourful tiles that just need to be cleaned and polished. Every broken window you look out of is a million dollar view of these massive mountiains. While we waited for lunch that the commuynity was cooking for us we walked out the back and there was a huge orchard of pears and peaches that evryone picked and ate. We came back and the long table had een set with huge bowlsd full tomoato, carrots, caulifower, cucumbers and huge plates full of large quartered avocadoes (which are cheap here). They had arranged some flowers as well. Ithought this was lunch and was very happy but then sudfdenly they began hanmding out plates to each person with a large steak, potatoes, lettuce on it. It was such a delicious meal i ate everything and was like aggh. I thought it was alpaca steak (we ate aplaca steak on wednesday and it was one of the tastiest meats i ever ate). but it tunred out yesterday it was just cow. oh well it was still so delicious. They will be cooking lunch for us every day when we are working there. yayy.
But before lunch we took all our bags to fridas house which is further up the dirt road. We walked past many mud brick houses with tiled roofs. There were animals everywhere jusdt walking around, especially pigs, barking dogs, goats, cows, horses, chickens, geese, ducks.
I am sharing my room with two other girls, nicole and luisa. It is fairly spacious and has a concrete floor so last night i was very cold before i got into bed. I woke up this morning with a really sore throat. I went to the outdoor bathroom and was looking forward to a hot shower (got up early especially) but there was no hot water. so i freezed while i had an icy shower. Just metres from the house is a very rapid flowing river that sounds like heavy falling rain. We have to croos over two little wooden bridges to get from the dirt road to the house. The house has a farm with a cornfield and fruit trees. I was going to climb the moiuntian next to the house when we got there but tanya (fridas daughter) said it was too windy to climb today. i was dissapointed because i was so ready to climb, plus i wanted to be the first one there!
I ended up walking further up the road weith emily and saw more cornfields and people in their small mudbrick houses and smoke coming out. Group 1 was supposed to cook dinner but some of the community must have come over and cooked because they served us noodles and chicken which was so delicious. there must be something about being always hungry that makes food taste so good. We also ate a piece of choc for dessert from frida and everyone had been craving chocolate so much that we all sat there and savoured every morsel. I had my own stash of german chocolate that i bought in cusco that i didn{t dare tell anyonbe about because everyone was talking about chocolate all afternoon. Also everyone is a bit sick with sore throat etc.
Today we walked down to the Hacienda and tanya took some of us on the local bus to Urabumba (20 mins from Huran). we drove throught the corn capital of the world. This morning the tops of the mountians were shrouded in clouds. and yestrday evening the sun was hitting the slopes of the mountians and making them glow golden. I can{t get over how amazing it is. i will have to take so many photos. On the way to the bus we saw three pigs mating a thte same time. we all stopped and laughed and took photos, it was quite a sight if you can picture it. I think it was very clever oif them to be so coordinated. hahahahah so funny, i must get the picture from soomeone. Then a minute later we saw four gates chasing each other and then mating. It was a very different walk to work than usual!
I could keep wrtiting about this place for ages but i think i will just have to show you in photos. I was excited yesterday, but today i am tired and sick and weary, but i{m sure it will be better once we start working. But there is never a shortgae of inspiration in the natural surroundings. I can{t possibly feel too bad when i am in such a beautiful place.