Lunahuaná

This weekend I went to Lunahuaná with about 20 other exchange students. It was a lot of fun, although most of our activities were fairly short do to a lack of time and also because as the tourism industry goes, they gave us enough of each thing to enjoy the activity, but not enough for those who really don't like certain activities to detest them. I was so happy to be in the country, to breath fresh air, and to see and hear sounds of nature rather traffic.

Lunahuaná is located to the south of Lima in vinyard country. It is actually very interesting because the village is located in a valley near a river and is a stark contrast to the desert around it. In the valley everything is green and lush, but all around is a difinitive line where between desert and vegetation. In the desert literally nothing grows...there are no cacti, nothing. I am in awe that so much land (mountains) can be so naked. We got to visit 2 family own businesses where they grew their own grapes, smashed them, and turned them into wines and piscos without adding any preservatives or other flavors. It was very interesting.

My favorite activities included going white water rafting, going hiking, and going mountain biking, although...the latter seemed much more fun when it was over than while I was doing it. The white water rafting took place in the river on whose banks our hotel was situated. We hiked to some pre-columbian ruins 2 different times and also saw 4 ancient pathways. On one of the hikes, we got to cross the river on a rickety board connected to a zip-line. That was fun...kind of reminded me of an Indianna Jones escapade.

The biking was just rediculous...not because it was physically strenuous, but because it was terrifying. I didn't care about having to ride the bike up the side of a mountain, but some of the narrow paths we took the bikes on should not be used for anything but walking. (Only 2 of us went mountain biking because we preferred not to ride horses). Some of the paths were barely wide enough for the handle bars if one did not want to be clutched by grape vines or drive over the edge to 5-10 foot drop-off or fall into a river. There were hole that bike tires could get stuck in and also narrow rocks or boards that we were supposed to carefully maneuver our bikes across. Needless to say, Maya and I walked our bikes in a few places and definitely laughed a lot at the end of the journey out of sheer relief that we were done and that we survived. That is one thing that is funny looking back on, but I wouldn't do again.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and refreshing weekend. We're back at classes now, but only until tomorrow :)