Day 3: Cusco, Peru

Today the group will be starting their day by shopping at a local market with a professional chef with a cooking class following the shopping trip! After enjoying their home-cooked cuisine, the group will have trip orientation and gear check with our local guides.

What a beautiful morning to eat breakfast outside! The same stunning spread. We enjoyed the sun and the cool breeze while sipping cafe or coca tea. Enrique Vargas and Jorge (Young Life Director in Lima) joined us to tell us about Quosco (original spelling of the Inca), some of the political challenges in Peru and the work they are doing with youth and young adults here (with Young Life). And they brought traditional hats with beautiful designs for all! We had a wonderful visit to the supermercado and got to see many types of corn, quinoa, fruits, grains and all the different meats. 

Eusebio made an incredible cocktail (mock tail for some!) after our trip to the supermercado using fresh pineapple juice, chilimoya, tumbo, pisco and lemon. Then we started our cooking class! We learned how to make 2 classic Peruvian dishes-ceviche and Loma Saltado (tenderloin). Many on the team said they had eaten ceviche in many places and this was the best ever! The ceviche is served with sweet potatoe, white corn and dehydrated corn. Tons of lime and cilantro, totally fresh! The Loma Saltado was muy sabroso! Ivan shared the story of meeting his wife and waiting 7 years for her. They met while in Ecuador and neither spoke the others language. Now they are both bilingual and teaching their children. We met our guides at the Alpaca Trekking Outfitter, Joel and Luz. We are in good hands! Got all of our gear checked and are really excited about 3 incredible days of hiking with a final day of watching the sunrise over Macchu Picchu. We are looking forward to the Lares Trail and getting to meet the Inca people living here.  Dinner at Cicciolina in town was incredible! We really elevated the new, hip lingo of the team! Do you know these terms because our team (ages 31-72) now knows them all! The words: No CAP, rizz (charisma), fire (an awesome meal), mid (aggressively mediocre). Early bedtime for a 7 AM start tomorrow!