Dientes de Leche

There is this one place called Peru.

I was in that place!

In fact, I returned mere hours ago!

(though that may not still be true because it takes me ages to finish a quality post)
(Yeah... I got home on Sunday at 4... It is Monday night and I am still writing...)

There are so many good things in this place.

Also, it was my very first time off of the continent!

Do realize how exciting that is?

I like other continents called not North America.

I think I may just live on one today.

Here's how my adventure went:

Friday, June 17


We left at about 5 a.m. to go to the airport. Then we flew to Atlanta from Salt Lake and from Atlanta to Lima.

That makes it sound pretty simple, but in reality it took ALL DAY. No joke. I was up for 24 hours just doing that! We slept on the floor of the Lima airport.


Saturday, June 18


From Lima we flew to Cuzco to drop off our bags and about 40 of the 50 members of our group to go to a place called Urubamba, Peru where they would stay until Monday while we were in the jungle!

From Cuzco a few of us flew to Puerto Maldonado where a little van picked us up, made us buy all the water we would need for our time in the jungle, then took us to a river called Madre de Dios where we took a long, skinny boat to our bungalows (which took 1 hour... talk about middle of nowhere).

On the very day of our arrival, we went to Monkey Island, which is a little island across the river where monkeys which were captured as pets are set free to live in peace. On this island of monkeys, one sat on my shoulder and scared my mom worse than I've ever seen her.

That night we went hunting for caimans. They are basically little alligators. They were very cool, but for me the coolest part of that night was the stargazing. Stargazing in the middle of a huge river surrounded  by the Amazon jungle where you can see billions of stars, the Milky Way, and hundreds of constellations that you cannot even see from America. It was gorgeous.

Sunday, June 19


We woke up pretty early to eat breakfast and leave on a hike through the jungle to a place called Apu Victor Lake. We took a boat down the river, got out, and hiked about 5 kilometers to a small lake where we rowed around in a canoe (that we had to bail the whole time and Michael had to plug a hole with her gum). Then we hiked a ways further to Apu Victor Lake where we climbed onto a tower and looked out to the most beautiful view I have ever seen. From there we hiked back to our bungalows to take a nap.

The gum used to plug the hole in our boat

Apu Victor Lake

Apu Victor Lake

I must have been super out because no one could wake me up from my nap, so everyone else went to look at caimans while I slept. Lucky for me, it was uneventful. While they were out, I decided to go exploring! I went into a banana grove where I saw a Pisote and a flock of Brown Agoutis (Brown Agoutis are basically R.O.U.S.'s. If you don't know what that stands for, you're missing out!)

That night I slept in a hammock in perfect view of the stars. I wish that I could do that every night.

Monday, June 20

We woke up early to leave for Urubamba. We took our boat-then-van-then-plane-then-bus-then-walking trip to the clinic, which was held inside of the LDS church building there.

At the clinic, we did dentistry for people who needed it desperately. It is very sad when you have to extract a tooth from a child who has a bad infection on a baby tooth.

From Monday through Thursday morning I was in charge of the puppet show that taught people when and why they need to brush their teeth in Spanish. It was quite the challenge to deal with the kids. They can be rebels sometimes.

Wednesday, June 22

I bought a mask at lunchtime during clinic.

I scared people at night with Marissa, pretending to be Carlos Rancheros.

I brought Zach to his hands and knees because he was so scared.

I rock.

Thursday, June 23

I got to assist in the oral surgery room! It was so much fun in there and I was 0% grossed out by the blood, puss, and cracking of bones!

Assisting Dr. Harris in oral surgery
(He took out my wisdom teeth!)

That night we went shopping in a big market that was about an hour away. It was so good and colorful. I can't get enough of foreign markets!

Friday, June 24

We woke up early-again- to take a bus-then-train-then-bus ride to Macchu Picchu. It was the most incredible thing! There were llamas and ruins and heights and indescribable views. I loved it and would most definitely love to do it every day. (though with the altitude, you're out of breath after about 3 stairs...)

When we were finished at Macchu Picchu, we rode the bus back down the switchbacks and caught a train. The train ride was 3 1/2 hours long. During this train ride, I was extremely tired. I guess that I am funny when I am tired because I brought my whole table to tears from laughing so hard! I sat with Marissa, Zach, and Sam (talk about best group ever!) and had an absolute blast! We played an extremely intense game of Egyptian Rat Screw, laughed, cried, drew, and much more. To top off the ride, our 'flight attendants' decided to scare the living daylights out of us by wearing an evil pig/man costume and dancing through our cart. Then, to make it all even crazier, they put on  a fashion show of items made solely of baby alpaca. Does this happen on all trains? Actually, I'm sure it couldn't be real... Yet it is...

We got off the train to go night shopping and sleep on rock hard beds until 4:00 in the morning (Yep. We got up before 6:30 every day. Actually, 5:00 or earlier would probably be more accurate).

Saturday, June 25

Next, we left our hotel and got on a bus, which took us to the airport in Cuzco where we caught a flight to Lima.

We went to the temple in Lima (though they wouldn't let us in to do work) and said goodbye to the Smiths.

Next we went to Larcomar (?) where we ate at Tony Roma's, saw the beach, and rested ourselves in a supra fancy hotel before taking off at 8 to go to the airport for our 12:40 flight to Atlanta.

Sunday, June 26

Our final flight ended at 2:00 in the afternoon (remember how we left at 8:00 on Saturday?). Then our car battery was dead and it took an hour to jump it. I have never been so tired.

And to end it all, I came home to a beautifully decorated driveway! I vote that that is the best note to end it on.

The end.

Priority Boarding

Smoking causes... brain farts?

Two of my favourite people! Marissa and Mya

Instead of using the straws that come with the plastic bubble
kit, we used suction tubes!

Me, my twins/roomates , and Michael

Macchu Picchu

Scaring Zach... again!

Me and Keaton

Zach

My new friend, Myrtle

Talk about a big snail!

Zach drawing a lovely picture on the train ride

I had to go to Peru to meet new friends that actually live 3 blocks away from me at home! Why had I never met them before this trip?!

-Ally

P.S. Remind me to tell you about the freeing of Charlie.

P.P.S. There were 3 diabetics on this trip!