A Traves y A Dentro 2

After cramming 8 volunteers and their spelunknig gear into a station wagon and traveling down the mountain, we were at the gruta, one of the biggest caves in Peru who's name I can't remember right now.  What I do remember is that it extends 2,800 meters and is only explorable for the first 300.  And that it's awesome.  We set up our tents, ate cheese and palta sandwiches, and got ready to explore.  

Look at those flowers!  We don't have flowers bigger than a 20 centimo piece in Carhuamayo.

It was dark by the time we got going, but that hardly matters after a few meters in the cave.  This post will be mostly pictures since how much does it convey if I go on about beautiful stalactites and holes to the center of the earth.  We did lots of climbing and clambering.

We emerged satisfied and dusty and stayed up way too late chatting, listening to music, and stargazing.  It turns out our collective constellation knowledge is Orion's belt and maybe Cassiopeia.  I'm going to work on that.  It started to rain and we moved our tent into the cave by the river.  It was one of the shortest and most uncomfortable nights of sleep in recent memory.  We were woken up at 6:30 by the sunshine and the jingling bell of Virginia the llama.

It was lovely to see the landscape in the light of day.  We were surrounded by hills and terraces and there was  all sorts of color and life in the cave that we couldn't appreciate at dusk.  Look at all the stuff growing on that one rock.

All of this was just 4 or so collectivos away from my house.  I'm excited to explore as much as possible.  Peru is a big wide world, but there are wonders right nearby.