Christmas in Musho!

I was LUCKY enough to spend the Christmas holiday with my wonderful friends, Lib and Benj, who are just over 1 year into their Peace Corps service. They live north of Huaraz, Peru in the Cordillera Blanca in a cute little mountain town called Musho. (Check out the link on the right to their blog for more info.) Christmas morning!!! And we're making cookies - YUM!! We even had a little Christmas tree.
Christmas Day we spent with close friends of theirs - Betty is making us our meal, which consisted of chicken soup, quy (guinnea pig - yup, I have officially tried it now), potatoes, and rice. Quite a Peruvian meal, to say the least.

On the 26th, we did an amazing hike through the Cordillera Blanca up to this lake (Laguna 69 - not sure of the significance:)). Quite a lake, as you can see. The happy duo as we began our descent - look at those smiles!!
The Blanca is such an incredible mountain range, nestled in the eastern Andes. It gets the precipitation from the Amazon, which can't get over the tall peaks (>6000 meters!!) without turning into beautiful snow. The contrast of white is breathtaking.

I have now returned to Cusco after a wonderful 5-day holiday. I have a few more weeks here, and then will be returning to the states briefly Jan 16th - Jan 25th. I am looking forward to re-connecting with family and friends, not to mention the exciting Alicia-and-Bruno wedding I get to be a part of while I'm home. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Years´plans are shaping up.

Much love from the Andes,

Laurita