mollepata to cruz pata

the first day of the trek didn´t yet involve any trekking. we took a bus from cusco to mollepata, where we met two amazing 12-yr-old boys who were more helpful than we could have hoped. they organized a ride up to cruz pata, where we intended to camp and from where we would begin our trek the next day. mollepata is quite an empty town with no more than three cars and many more caballos. one car owner wanted to charge far too much to drive us to cruz pata while the other was nowhere to be found. finally, the boys (jesus and david) found another vehicle owner who was willing to drive us for a fair price. joyfully, the boys came with us all the way to our campsite to make sure that we were happy.
once there, we were astounded by the beauty around us. it was very green nearby, the snow-capped peaks glistened in the distance, and when night fell the stars came out in abundance. i was so excited to see the southern cross again, which is a constellation only visible in or near the southern hemisphere. i had seen it very low in the sky in thailand, but here it was bright and relatively high in the sky. so beautiful.