Pachacamac

Last week I went with CUSO-VSO Peru on their annual retreat. All of the volunteers from Cuzco were flown in to participate with the rest of us from Lima. It was a great opportunity for me - right off the bat - to meet, to learn from and to get to know the other volunteers here in Peru.

We stayed in this beautiful retreat in the area of Pachacamac called Attinchik. They specialize in corporate retreats so everything was set up nicely. The food was amazing and so pretty that I took pictures. They also had this huge garden set up all around us and all the plants were labelled with their Latin names. I woke up early on the first morning, took a stroll around the gardens and relaxed in one of the hammocks. While I was there this squirrel came up to me to check me out. I´m not going to lie - I felt a little like Snow White.

I took a walk through the mountains to the town with two of the other participants. They were real mountaineers and just charged right through while I struggled with vertigo. In Bolivia, I went on a hike with some friends and had to turn around I was so scared of spontaneously falling off the mountain. So it was a real accomplishment to make it to the peak! When we got to the town it was exactly what I expected Peru to be like (so nothing like Lima). It had this big beautiful town square with fantastic gardens. There were tiny corner shops and narrow, dusty streets with three-wheeled moto-taxis zipping all over the place.

We ended the day at the retreat with a grand fiesta - Pisco sours, guitars and dancing! So much fun! I wish I could have stayed there!

http://www.atinchik.com/casa_atinchik.htm