¡más fotos!

Alright folks, another round of photos! This time slightly less exciting and lacking in numbers, but oh well. The weather is starting to get better around here so hopefully sometime this week I'll have time to get some pictures of Cuenca!

Anyway, these pictures are from the past two weekends. One was spent at an old archealogical site: Ingapirca (old ruins of the Incas and also the Cañaris). The other weekend was spent in the tiny little town of Principal. There is a branch of the peace corps working there to try and promote eco tourism and local handicrafts in the town. Principal has a very large problem with immigration. Many men leave the town for the United States or Europe to get a better job and more money, and usually don't return, leaving the town full of wives and children. So the peace corps are trying to bring people to the town so that the men have a reason to stay there and make money. Therefore, we went and visited but then decided to stay the night in the only Hostel in the town. It was actually a really nice hostel and we had a great time. The town was celebrating the confirmation of alot of the children in town so there were huge parties that night. (and I do mean parties...I've never seen anything like it, haha) Ok on with the pics...

This is a view from our hostel of Principal.

Guess what we had for lunch?? CUY!!! a.k.a guinea pig. Ok I had chicken, but I tried Nick's cuy and it actually wasn't bad...its just the presentation that gets ya. (picture what you see above minus the head and that's what's on your plate)

Me with the Andes, again. Our hostel is in the right corner of the pic, the orange looking building.

This is a woman weaving together plant strands to make their most popular arteseñia here.

Just thought it looked cool, shows how small the town is.

These are some ruins at ingapirca.

This was a typical house built in those times, the roof is straw and the walls are a mixture of straw, mud and animal feces. Its actually a really sturdy house and very warm.

The local form of graffitti, I thought it was funny. Those are the plants that make tequila.

The best tour guide ever! Estéban! Man he was funny...

This is the face rock. If you look closely you will see the profile of a man. Many people argue over whether or not this is a natural phenomenon or man made.

Well I guess that's it, hope the pictures were enjoyable! Hopefully I will have more soon. This weekend we are camping at Cajas National Park from saturday-sunday, so fingers crossed for good weather! The park is supposed to be gorgeous.

I hope you are all doing well in the beautiful weather that is summer in the U.S. (I'm slightly jealous)

Miss you and love you!
abrazitos,
Linds