Eloise and Jo go to Cusco!

J: Hey Eloise.

E: Yeah?

J: Remember how we went to Cusco two weeks ago?

E: Oh yeah, we should write a blog about it!

J: That’s a good idea. What are you going to write about?

E: Well, staying with the host family was pretty cool.

J: Ok, but be more specific…

E: In our hypothetical blog, I would probably write about how we woke up at 5:00 am on the first two days to go

on an hour and a half long bus ride to Sophie’s school and on the second two days, we explored Cusco and went to

some cool sites.

J: What did you eat with them?

E: Only my new favorite sandwich ever: a ciabatta bun with one cup shoestring potatoes, caramelized onions, fried

egg. Oh, and don’t forget mayo on both halves of the bread.

J: Dang that sounds good. Anything else you would say?

E: I would probably mention that the family was really nice and it was a great experience. 

J: That’s good, but give a little anecdote.

E: Ugh, you English teachers.  Maybe I would say on the third day we walked to a sculpture park where there were

capybaras. There, that good enough for you? 

J: I suppose.

E: In the hypothetical blog, what would you write about for the time I was with the host family? 

J: Well, obviously I would write about me and Anne’s hiking trip through Salkantay pas to Machu Picchu. 

E: Where’s your anecdote, mom?

J: I’m getting to that. Probably one anecdote I’d talk about would be taking an alternative route because a

landslide had washed out the original path. As we were going below the washed out path, our guide shouted out that

they were throwing rocks. I was confused by who “they” were, but when I looked up, I saw that they were a bunch

of workers clearing a new path while throwing the rocks down on us.

E: Sounds fun! Any more fun stories?

J: Well, we had to walk 25 kilometers the 2nd day to get over the pass and my legs felt like jello. That was fun.

E: What flavor of jello?

J: Cherry, duh. 

E: Is there any other food you are going to talk about?

J: Actually, all the food on our hike was amazing. We had a chef with us the whole time who made Peruvian

dishes like ceviche and fried trout. It might have been because of the extreme hunger we had from hiking, but it was

dang good.

E: So you hiked all the way to Machu Picchu?

J: No, we took a short cut which included driving on a scary road where we came across another landslide. We had

to get out of the van and walk around it and then watch in terror as the bus tilted towards the cliff as it went over the

pile of rocks.

E: That's sooo specific.

J: It was memorable. But afterwards, we got to roast our own coffee beans and sit in a hot spring, so it was worth it. 

E: Are you going to write anything else? 

J: Well, after that was Machu Picchu which kind of speaks for itself.

E: Oh mom, we should talk about the restaurant we went to in Lima!

J: Do you mean the Michelin star restaurant with 14 courses?

E: Duh. I think they can cook better than you.

J: I hope so. What was your favorite course at Maido?

E: When they sliced from a huge hunk of raw toro and made us each hand-rolled sushi on the spot. 

J: That was really good. It was fun to have Anne here, wasn’t it.

E: Yeah, what was your favorite part of having Anne here?

J: It was great to be able to share experiences with someone we know from home. When we go back to Minnesota,

we can reminisce about Peru with her.

E: Ok, we need to remember to write this all down.