Inside El Templo de San Francisco, the only finished church in the city of Cajamarca.

As is the Sunday morning custom for many people of Cajamarca, the Youth Corps members begin their day with a visit to El Templo de San Francisco. The ornate Baroque-style church -- made from volcanic rock -- boasts intricate carvings, as well as beautiful altars, paintings and stained-glass windows. Here the people of Cajamarca come to worship and pray to their patron saint, La Virgen de los Dolores, who is said to bring health to those who believe in her.

The church of San Francisco is the only church in Cajamarca that is completed. To avoid paying the Spanish crown's taxes on finished buildings, the citizens of Cajamarca deliberately left many of the town's homes and buildings, like the cathedral on the town square, unfinished. The church of San Francisco was finally completed in the 20th century, too late for the tax to be collected.

Venturing onward, the Corps members arrive at El Cuarto del Rescate, the ransom chamber where Atahualpa, the leader of the Inca Empire, was held after he was captured by Francisco Pizarro and his Spanish troops in 1532. Here, the Youth Corps members learn that, in exchange for his freedom, Atahualpa offered the Spaniards two rooms -- one filled with silver and one with gold. However, after receiving this treasure, the Spaniards executed Atahualpa anyway; they also killed about 7,000 of his people.

The Ransom Chamber is the only Inca structure that remains in Cajamarca. Most Inca buildings were destroyed to help build Spanish homes and churches, the Corps members learn.

The Cajamarca city tour continues with a visit to El Hospital de Belen, which was built in the 17th century, and remained a working hospital until 1964. Now a museum, the Belen Hospital has tiny cell-like rooms where patients once stayed. On display are various pieces of antique medical equipment and other interesting artifacts dating back to the 17th century.

"I am so happy because I understood almost everything the tour guide was saying," Youth Corps member Polina remarks, noting that her fluency in Spanish has increased on this trip. "I am really learning a lot being here."

Las Ventanillas de Otuzco (the Windows of Otuzco)

The next stop is Las Ventanillas de Otuzco (the Windows of Otuzco). This pre-Inca site is where bones of the dead were buried in tiny tombs carved into a mountainside. After the Spanish conquest of the Incas, the tombs were uncovered because the Spaniards believed that gold might have been buried along with the people. The Spanish named the site "Las Ventanillas" because the tombs remained open and appeared as tiny windows on the side of the mountain.

The last stop on our Cajamarca city tour is to Los Baņos del Inca (The Inca Baths). Here, people who live in and around Cajamarca come to bathe in natural hot springs. Because many people in the area do not have hot water in their homes, hundreds of people flock to the Inca baths every

Steam rises from a natural volcanic hot spring known as the Inca Baths.

weekend to rent a private cubicle for a dip in the steamy mineral water. Thinking that the Youth Corps members have come for a bath, vendors peddling shampoo, towels and soap quickly approach them.

Finished with the official tour, the Youth Corps team is treated to a delicious lunch of stuffed avocados and chicken with French fries at the hotel La Laguna Seca. Here, they also have the opportunity to ride horses around a corral, which has a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains.

"I was kind of scared at first because this was my first time riding a horse," says Carina. "But it was really exciting and so beautiful."

While waiting for their companions to finish their ride, several of the Corps members take a moment to sit back and reflect on everything they have seen today.

"I don't understand how the people who live here don't just stare into the mountains all day," Polina comments on the beauty of the Andes.

Continue to Day 7