Peru Day 6-Mismanay

When we left NZ I really felt like we wouldn't be seeing the southern cross again for a very long time. It made me sad.

We have been in major cities for our entire time in Peru. Cities bigger and busier than any I have ever seen in my life. Where the advice to get used to the elevation is to take deep breaths to give your body more oxygen, but you're convinced that you may be taking in more carbon monoxide than anything else really.

Today we took a mini coach and then a hike to a rural village called Mismanay. You can get here by mini coach we just chose to hike because we have lost some brain cells due to carbon monoxide and were not given all of the proper facts coming in, we didn't listen properly.

They fed us and then brought us out in a field to teach us to plow. They explained their ways of communal living and the sharing of helping hands. Watching 3 western boys be utterly unable to pull off collaboration and team work, despite coaching from adults. I am a failure as a parent, pisco sour samples be damned.

We then got to see the ladies make dye and yarn and then dye it. It turns out that this is just one other area that separates me from my female Peruvian counterparts. We were already struggling in the face of my stature, pasty white skin and inability to speak Spanish. We are now faced with the fact that I am about equal division of labour and having some time in the day spent comfortably on my backside.

The ladies gave us these friendship bracelets as a gift.

The village itself is absolutely beautiful as are the people. The village is also cold AF with no real heat source. Other factors working against it include the fact that we are at an even higher elevation than before (we are now over 4000m). Surprisingly, we are all coping well with that.

The door to our room is an indication of one of the reasons why my immigration application will summarily be declined. Both Dave and I just about ended up flat on our backs with birds flying around our heads when we rang our bells off it the first time attempting to cross it's threshold.

Tonight we are sleeping high up in the mountains with hot water bottles in our beds. The stars in the sky are amazing. Hello again Southern cross. It's so good to see you again.

P.S. a baby donkey is called a burrito. Life. Changed

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