Peru!!!! .....again :)

I had the awesome opportunity to go back to Cusco, Peru.  I lived in Cusco for 3 months back in the fall of 2014, and I never dreamed I'd be able to go back this soon?!  This time I even got to take my mom!!  It was so great!  We went with our high school Spanish Club and community members and it was so fun to go with friends :)  Here are some of my favorite moments in pictures. 

The best juice in the world is found at San Pedro Market :)

 Pig head anyone??

Familia Delgado.  I lived with these sweet people the three months I was in Cusco.  I was able to go over one evening and have dinner with them.  They are so great!  

So many people on the trip brought suitcases full of clothes down to donate.  We left them with Flor, Andres, and Daniel to distribute where they see need, because they know.  I taught preschool with Flor and she is probably the most Christ-like person I have ever met.  Such a blessing to know her and I am so glad I was able to go to their home and introduce so many friends to her and her family.  

 Stairs to Cristo Blanco.  These people are troopers!

The view of Cusco from up there is fabulous!

The Plaza at night

Mom and Brooklyn in a doorway in Saqsayhuaman.  

Pano of the ruins. 

I look like this in so many pictures.  It's just incredible?!  Anyways, this guy was playing some fun Peruvian music.

The Sacred Valley coming into view. 

 Mom having a stare down with the Condor. 

 The alpaca vest that I wanted SO BAD!

 Awesome niches in Ollantaytambo.  

So many stairs!

 All of the group in Ollantaytambo. 

 The sun coming up on our hike up to Machu Picchu.  

 With my mom :) :) 

 Mom and Carol Clark.  Two amazing ladies!

 These guys are just too much fun! 

The sign of a dang good day--dirty feet.  

We just had so so so much fun in and around Cusco.  I just felt so comfortable there this time around and it was so fun to see everything that was still so familiar.  The people, the streets, the smells.  Memories just came flooding back and so many new memories were made.  I love that place.  'Til next time :)   

Siquijor Island

Friday morning we woke up early, grabbed our bags and headed to catch the 7:00am boat ride to Siquijor island.  The boat ride was only about an hour and a half long.  

As soon as we got there, we rented 3 scooters.  Maddie and Faith hopped on with me, Reed and Lillian with Yet-yet, and Rix and the Ryskamp luggage with Angie.  We were heading to a beach resort, Salagdoong, on the other side of the island.  The ride there was beautiful and we had fun laughing and telling stories.  When we got there, I was speechless!  The sand was so white, and the water was so blue!  Well, I guess the water was so clear--it just looked so blue!

One of my favorite moments was Faith telling me all about how it was going to be jumping off of the cliff!  I was cracking up!  She was so animated about it!  She was going to show me how it was done, and then decided to let me go first, and then she ended up not even jumping off?!  Haha!

We spent the day jumping off the cliffs, snorkeling, eating, and I even enjoyed some time reading my book on the beach :)

That night Yet-yet and I grilled some pork chops, and they turned out delicious thanks to Yet-yet's marinade.

We stayed in a hotel room right there off the beach.  I didn't take any pictures of it.  It was nothing fancy, but the location was perfect!    

The next morning we just enjoyed being a little lazy and then we ran into the nearest town, Maria to try and find some breakfast.  Some people ate at a cantin (little food stop), and I grabbed some fruit and bread from the public market.  

After breakfast we headed back and Angie and the kids swam for a little bit longer while I read and Yet-yet listened to music.  We checked out around 11:00, and then we were off to the next stop, Cambugahay Falls.  

This place was unlike any place I'd ever been before!  It was SO beautiful and SO much fun!  The rope swing was a blast!  The guys would push us up higher off the ground so that we could gain more momentum, and then we'd fly out over the natural pool and drop into the water.  It was great!  Everyone tried the rope swing, and I lost count of how many times I went.  Then you could jump off of the waterfall, and that was fun too!  The waterfall was just the right height--not too high to freak me out (like the one at Salagdoong, haha), and the water was so nice!  We spent quite a bit of time there and enjoyed every second of it!  

I also got to enjoy a fresh, young coconut.  First I drank out the juice, then I went back and he cut it in half for me and I ate the meat out of it.  So yummy!  I am loving all the coconut here and will be so bummed to not be able to have fresh coconut whenever I want :( 

We left there and headed to our last stop, the Mystic Tree and Fish Spa.  It was a pretty neat tree, and the fish spa was nice.  

When we left there we were all starving!  So, we drove and drove until we found a nice little outdoor restaurant.  I had this yummy fish!  It was just what I needed after a long, fun day.  

After lunch/dinner we raced back to the port to catch the 6:00pm boat back to Dumaguete.  We got there right on time and ended our wonderful visit to Siquijor.  It was probably my favorite trip we've had here in the Philippines.  The kids all got along, the sun was warm, the water was so beautiful, the places we went were fun--everything just seemed so surreal.  I am so blessed to be here and experience some of the more beautiful places in this world.  

Oh, and here's the video :)

National Parks

At the start of the summer I made a goal to visit three National Parks before I headed back to school, and ya know what?! I actually accomplished it :)  I visited Redwood National Park, Crater Lake National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park.  Each one was very different.  Each one was breathtaking.  While I was talking to my Uncle Sam back in July at our family reunion he asked me about my visits to national parks during the year.  I told him I was so amazed at how unique and beautiful each one was.  He then said that he likes to think of national parks as "God's Gallery."  I love that.  So, here are some photos from the three "galleries."

Redwoods National Park (California)

Crater Lake National Park (Oregon)

Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)

Cuscotopia!

Well folks, the time is almost here!  I fly out for my next big adventure (well, my biggest adventure probably EVER) on Saturday!  

So here's a little Q and A about what I'm about to do!

Q: Where are you going?

A: I'm going to Cusco, Peru.

Q: Is this for school?

A: No. It's not through BYU or any university and I will not be receiving any credits.  I'm going with a group called International Volunteers HQ.  

Q: What will you be doing?

A: I will be doing service with children in a setting like an elementary school, orphanage, day care, etc.   

Q: Where will you be living?

A: I will be living with a host family where I will be immersed in Peruvian culture and the Spanish language :)

Q: How long will you be there?

A: My volunteer time is 12 weeks, but I'm going to stay an extra week to make sure I do all the things I want while I'm living among Incan ruins.

Q: Are you nervous?

A: Yes and no.  I'm nervous of the unknowns (which is just about EVERYTHING!), but I'm not nervous about loving it.

Q: Are your parents nervous about it?

A: I think they are more nervous than they let on.  They are excited that I am excited to go. They're the best!

Q: Do you know Spanish?

A: A little bit.  I've taken Spanish in high school and 5 semesters of it in college, so hopefully I can conversate.

Q: Is it close to Machu Picchu? 

A: Yes!  And I'm definitely going to hike it!

(Isn't it beautiful?!)

Q: What made you decide to do this?

A: My sister Tami and cousin Camille went to Ecuador and worked in an orphanage when they were about this age, and ever since them I've dreamed of doing this!  Now is just the perfect time to do it.

Hopefully this answers some of your questions about my trip!  Most of you probably already know about it cause I'm so excited I have to tell everybody!  I feel so blessed to have the opportunity and ability to go and do this.  I can't wait to see how it all goes!  

#QUESTIVAL

All of my Instagram friends that want to defined me because of all my posts the other day, I have an explanation!  I was participating in an adventure called Questival and it was awesome!  

So, what is Questival? 

Questival was an adventure event organized to launch the company Cotopaxi.  Teams were made up of 2-4 people.  You could have an all boy team, all girl team, or co-ed team.  Every team was given the same list of tasks (there were over 100).  Each task was a different amount of points.  Each team had 24 hours to earn as many points as they could.  Included in these 24 hours was 6 mandatory hours of sleep.  The quest started on Friday at 6 pm and went until Saturday at 6 pm.   

How did I get roped into this?

My roommates Heather and Kimmy came downstairs Monday or Tuesday and told me about it and asked if I wanted to do it.  Of course I said yes!  This was right up my alley!!  

What is Cotopaxi?

Cotopaxi is an outdoor gear company like Patagonia or The North Face.  They're pretty special though, because a lot of their proceeds go to helping children around the world in locations like Peru and Tanzania.  They are doing a lot of really good things for a lot of kids.  So, they had a genius idea to get the word out about their brand and their cause.  

Did we win?

No.  But we had a BLAST doing it!  I don't know how we compare to other teams, but we scored 228 points, and I'm pretty proud of that.  The teams that did win get to go on an awesome humanitarian trip.  The trip locations are Machu Pichu, Angkot Wat, and Kilimanjaro.  Pretty legit.  

Why all the Instagram posts?

We had to document ever quest with a picture and four hashtags: #questival #gearforgood (Cotopaxi's slogan) #shrimpshackshooters (our team name) and #q12 (or whatever the task number was).  So, every picture taken by the 450 teams was uploaded onto Instagram and hashtagged with Cotopaxi's stuff!  They were definitely trending.  Genius social media marketing!!  Luckily, my teammate Heather also had an Instagram, so you didn't have to see ALL of the posts.  Thanks for putting up with me.  You can start following me again now :)

Why are there backpacks in all of the photos?

They gave us these backpacks when we registered.  (Registration was $15 per person, but the backpacks are a $30 value, so we felt like winners)  Then, each photo we took had to have each team member's backpack to prove that they were there and not off doing some other task.  Once again, genius idea, and can I just say, I LOVE these packs!  They have these sporty ones, more basic ones, as well as backpacker deluxe ones! Go check 'em out at cotopaxi.com.  

What quests did you do?

It would take me a really long time to list all of the tasks, so I'll just throw in a few of them.  

We rollerbladed for 30 minutes.  Kimmy and Heather are PROS!  This was the first time I've been since I was like 10. I only had one biff, with minor injuries. 

We enjoyed a sunset, and it was gorgeous!

Kimmy swung on a rope swing into the Provo River (in the dark no less).  She's so brave!

We hiked to the Y in spandex pants by the light of the moon. 

We hiked to Stewart Falls in the middle of the night.  This hike was super snowy, crazy, and so much fun!! 

We had eggs, tinfoil dinners, and s'mores for breakfast over a fire we built, after we slept for 3 hours under the stars.  

I slept in a public place (a park) while Kimmy slept in a hammock nearby and Heather slept in the car.  This was our second 3 hour segment.  Each were worth different amounts of points.  I've never felt so homeless in my life.  

We hiked the G in Pleasant Grove and did some yoga in nature while we were at it.  

We hiked to the U. 

We hiked Ensign Peak.  What an awesome view!

Finally, our last quest was to take a picture in front of a water fountain at Thanksgiving Point.  This was the location of the finish line.   

After it was all over, we got a picture with some Llamas.  

Would I do it again?

Absolutely!  It was so much fun!  The worst part about it was having to sleep the second set of 3 hours.  I loved every adventure and every task.  I included mostly pictures of us hiking (which we did a LOT of), but we did a lot of other fun things like:

Yodeling in a public place

Planking in a public place for the length of an Instavideo

Riding the elevator in the SLC City Library

Eating a street taco with no hands

Sending a postcard to a Veteran

and many, many more!  

This was such a fun experience and I'm so glad I got to do it with Kimmy and Heather.  They are such awesome girls, and I'm so glad I got to know them better.  We were within 10 feet of each other for 24 hours straight, and I was smiling the whole time :)  They are great!  I definitely hope they do it again!  If they do, I'll try to help spread the word so that all of you can join in on the fun as well :)  

#QUESTIVAL