Día Cinco: Las Montañas de Q'ente Q'enteyoc
¡Saludos de Zurite!
Today was our second full day with our homestay families, and our second full day exploring the surroundings of the town of Zurite.
We started by hiking up to Q'ente Q'enteyoc, or the "Hummingbird Terraces." We initially expected to be surrounded by buzzing birds, but we soon learned that the terraces' name is actually sourced from the shape of the structure cut into the mountain--from afar, it resembles a hummingbird! Our guide additionally taught us the significance of hummingbirds to the Incan peoples as we partook in an offering ritual to gain spiritual permission to hike the mountain.
Leaving, the terraces, hiking became incredibly steep as we trekked toward our next stop: pre-Incan cave paintings over 6,000 years old! In groups, we skirted a vertigo-inducing shelf of rock to view these pieces in detail, all the while accompanied by a dog named Luna who lifted our spirits.
After descending for lunch, Chris introduced us to one of our main work areas. Our task for this trip is to mark out an area to be turned into a bio-corridor; we learned about why these areas of native nature are essential to environmental regeneration. Today's work consisted of moving tree saplings to a more beneficial area and cutting down invasive Eucalyptus with machetes (sweet).
As evening fell on Zurite, we played soccer--fútbol, sorry--with local children. They bested us despite being half our age and a quarter our weight, but everyone had a great time.
Our time here has only just begun, but we've already had incredible experiences and started to form meaningful relationships with both the village and our homestay families. Tomorrow, we work on the greenhouse, bio-corridor, and cultural mural projects. We're psyched!
Hasta pronto,
