May 17th: The woman I’m standing with created that scarf which I bought from her. She used the wool from her Alpacas on the ridge below and spun the yarn herself!

May 15th: Before settling down in our hotel in Ausengate, a few students and I went down to the river where Ian taught us a lot about the rocks in that area.

May 15th: My favorite meal from the entire trip. These Peruvian donuts were amazing, and the best part was the special honey-like sauce which came with them.

May 13th: Machu Picchu, featuring our amazing tour guide Edwin. My favorite part of our visit to Machu Picchu was this building, where supposedly students of the university that is thought to have been a part of Machu Picchu would have lived. These students would have studied subjects such as astronomy, which I am studying today. It’s amazing to think that long ago, people could have been studying the same thing I’m studying now (astrophysics) on this very mountain top.

May 12th: Ollantaytambo. These were the first ruins we visited, and they were absolutely astounding. What I particularly loved about them though is the modern town that has been built around them and the view from the top of the ruins, as seen here.