June 3rd:

Today we went hiking through the surrounding foothills of Huancayo. It was a blast! Many pictures of this to come as well. It actually got kinda scary at some points, we were hiking through "rocky cliffs and bottem-less pits" in the words of John. We ended up sliding on our butts for a good majority of the hike. Good thing we wore jeans and hiking boots (thanks dad & mom). During one point of the hike we had to jump from one cliff to another. There was probably a two foot gap between the two cliffs, with a 100 foot drop below us. Our coordinator was on the other side to catch us. We got back from the hike a little after noon and we were all starving so we went to get some food! After that we went for siesta again. (We're still tired from the altitude!!)

Later John and I went to the market with two other girls in our group (Michelle & Frankie) because Frankie wanted to buy a woven purse, but only ended up eating pineapple from a street vendor. Which she later got sick from. John was the only one that ended up buying anything, a baseball cap and jacket. The market is a pretty open place, and not too crowded. Very dirty, many street vendors with uncovered food, this area of Peru is not very big on sanitation. Perhaps the most eventful part of the market is when a middle-aged Peruvian grabbed my hand and yanked the camera from my wrist, and then ran across the street with it. Not only was the camera in the camera case, but also my Illinois license and a copy of my passport. Lucky for me, my incredible boyfriend came to the rescue! After a girlish scream from me..."John, John..He stole my camera!" John dropped everything, ran across the street and grabbed the man by his shirt collar. After John spat some unmentionable Spanish words, the man threw the camera case on the ground and ran away. Everyone remained unharmed, and the four of us walked home only a little shaken. 

In the evening, the entire imaginations group went out for dinner at a nearby pizza place. The food was great, and the atmosphere was nice because it was very "sit-down-ish/american". John and I drank "Inca Cola" which is like a bubble gum flavored pop. After this we all returned to rest up for our first day of work!