Monday, June 6, 2016

Lunahuana

6/5/16

Today was another early morning excursion this time to Lunahuana a section about 3.4 hours to the south of Lima. It was a small town surrounded by mountains and some farming land that was watered via a central river that ran through the mountains along the side of the town. This was definitely some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. We started our day rafting down the river. In my boat were Rebecca, Gaby, Bree, Ally, Ana, Ralzaly, and our boat captain whom was nicknamed CoCo. Despite the water being freezing it was all a lot of fun with the sun hitting us all just right and a little friendly competition to see who could get in first place. We started in first but ended in 4th mostly because Coco kept trying to turn us to get hit by the rapids. Now I’m not complaining and while getting in first place meant major bragging rights, I’m glad we got some real soakage during our time on the river. We followed that up with a ride on some ATV (all terrain vehicles) with the same company. Now it wasn’t the most riveting of rides because we were forced to drive in a line on a single lane path however, along the way we saw quite a couple animals like horses and a donkey, plus some of the beautiful views Lunahuana had to offer. I would liken the whole experience to that of a lazy river.


Our mid daybreak was lunch for which I got the trout. My recommendation to anyone traveling in Peru, always go for the fish. It has yet to prove me wrong and I find it much more exciting than chicken and a lad less disturbing as some types of beef. Next we had a little tour of Lunahuana, which was cut short due to the circumstances of the day. It was Election Day in Peru for their new president PPK or Kieko. Apparently both were extremely close in the polls so today was the revote. It seems that PPK is the progressive vote so if I was voting I think that is where I would put it. Just like in the states I consulted my host parent and asked for their suggestion. So what does this untimely event have to do with our tour, well dear reader during election day in Peru the country goes dry and most if not all facilities are closed. So the church w were going to visit was closed as well as the Winery we visited. However thanks to our amazing TA Henry they opened just for us so we could explore their faculties, learn about their process, and taste a collection of unique wines and Piscos. The wines were probably my favorite part because they were very sweet and very delicious. This is surprising because I’m not used to enjoying wine but I think it must be one of those “grow on you” things because since we’ve been going to wineries I have slowly grown to enjoy their taste more and more.  We ended our trip along the river playing around with the rocks and the water with sampling some honey along the way. We got there by crossing a hanging bridge and passed some stalls selling special honey from the area. I myself bought some honey butter, which was one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted. It is like the consistency of butter but when you try it the crystals and sugars melt in your mouth giving off an overwhelmingly sweet honey flavor. Also there were horses! Yes I succeeded in my mission to ride one animal (a horse) and to eat street meat (chicken on a stick), which we found after getting off the bus at the river. Yep, it was the perfect post winery wined-down.

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