Tina, eat your dinner

The following has been edited by me (Caleb), and is composed of emails from Liz.

So forget being sick....lets fly from the coast (lima city, 43 feet) to Cusco city (11024 feet), and climb a mountain 2 days later!

Hiking a mountain yesterday was one of my favourite days of our trip so far. It brought me back to hiking in the rocky mountains three summers ago, challenging and satisfying - I think I am built to be in the mountains : )

about 8 hours total, 5 up plus about 2 hours resting along the way and at the top, and 2 hours down, reached town just before sunset.

The other girls headed back about 2/3´s of the way because they were really feeling the altitude....dizzy, chest pains, Amy had a black out or two :P I continued with the other Peruvian veterinary students, as we slowly plodded our way to the top. What a view! There is nothing quite like sitting on top of a mountain, in the sun, exhausted, and eating chocolate with good company.

They also have an interesting ritual. At the top, each person has a shot of zambuke (called anise here), but must pour a bit on the earth before drinking as a way to pay tribute. We lay in the sun, they sang Spanish songs, and I even fell asleep for a few minutes. It was bliss.

I will post the pics when we are in Cusco (next week on Wednesday I think). What a great time.

We also had a great day at work today. Oral anti-parasitic treatments for a herd of sheep (for future reference: the restraint method of making sheep sit really cute that we learn in clin-med is proportionally difficult to their size). Then the same for a herd of llamas. Unfortunately they don’t sit down. We have some great action pics! I now love llamas and alpacas. Then we were sent to help cut and bale hay. That was really hard. I mean, really hard. They cut the hay using small curved knives and we made tepee bales. Sounds easy enough, but it’s not.

Hope everyone is well, I miss you all!
Liz