Ahhhhhh!! I'm starting to freak out. I felt like this week would NEVER end and now I only have two more days of teaching. I am freaking out. I have met SOOOO many amazing people in this process and the mix of trying to keep up with my school work and teaching AND spend as much time with the AMAZING people I've met here is overwhelming. I have made so many good friends here at Maximo- people that I have looked forward to seeing on a daily basis & in two days I have to say good-bye. I am NOT good at goodbyes at all and I'm dreading it. It just blows my mind at how complete of a life you can make in 5 weeks. This place feels like home to me. I know it is not and I'm excited to go back home, but the mixture of all these emotions is draining. I couldn't sleep last night just thinking about everything that I've experienced here and all the amazing moments I've had. I've been blessed.
The fact that the TEFL has been one of the most challenging things I've done in my life has allowed me to grow that much closer with the people around me- the people that have carried me through the hard moments.... those people mean the world to me (not just here in Peru, but some of you have been such a strong support from back home with your encouragement through e-mails, verses and quotes, help with my school work- thanks Dad, I needed your creativity! and little messages to let me know you had thought about me). I'm blessed to have such wonderful people in my life back home.
I LOVE life. Can I just say- I love meeting people along the way, there are so many amazing people in this world. The hard part is when they only cross your path for a moment in time. But you take a part of everyone you meet & try and remember the unique strengths of each person and try and make yourself replicate that image just a bit & in doing that you are sharpened & become a better person each day. I try to anyway :).
Today I struggled to get going as I was just trying to take in every moment.. just the routine of it all & capture it in my mind. Waking up to the morning air that is in my room and the smell of sewer (there are some parts that are better then others) of the bathroom & getting in the shockingly cold water as I stare out my window that doesn't close :). Sounds rough.. but that is what I've become used to and it has become my comfort. Do I love the smell of sewer water? No. Is that my norm now, yes. Then my walk to school through the mercado de Confraternidad where I live. Seeing the people opening up their shops and starting their business of the day- all the street vendors that try to sell me fresh bread, juice, jello, meat... everything they line up along the streets to sell in the mornings. There are always people and kids to dodge as I make my way up to the main street. Then I turn onto the main street and it is quiet for the first stretch as they have torn out the street and are doing construction on it. It isn't until I get up a little ways that I walk along Avenida del sol with all the traffic of the taxis and the hussle and bussle of people commuting to work. I'm always on guard & crossing to the opposite side of the street is an art somedays as there is so much traffic... and believe me just because you are a pedestrian does not make you safe here.... you are at your own risk crossing the street. I pass the policia randomly standing about they way blowing their whistles... it still cracks me up.
Then I get to Maximo and have my morning warm-up where I study and work on my lessons before class starts. I get interupted consistantly but it is welcomed as I've made a lot of friends here. Everyone that works here knows who I am now and like I said it will be hard to leave them. Class all day long... our class is quite international. Lots of different English accents. Yesterday I was talking in class and this girl said to me "you have the cutest accent". I HAVE AN ACCENT? Who knew? ha ha- i think the word for that is ethnocentrism....aye Lindy. I suppose I do :).
It was today, as every day, a long day at Maximo but I'm really starting to be able to have FUN. I really like my class... & the professors of the course are great (except when they are critiquing me :)). Today was a good day! I was dreading it all week long as it was my day to teach grammar. My class turned out to be the best one I'd had so far. It was awesome!!!! We laughed, had fun and ENJOYED learning grammar. Weird. It felt sooo good walking out of the classroom today- It was a rush! I felt so good and successful because they learned the grammar & we had such a great class. I taught them the Future Perfect tense (which is known to be hard to understand). We learned the formula is subject + will have + past participle= future perfect. There has to be two different times and two different events to make this tense, such as "By the time you arrive, I will have cooked dinner" Two times=by the time you arrive & will have cooked. Two different events= arrived and cooked.... both happening in the future at two different moments but simontanously. Hmmmm... we had fun though. For my main task after doing practice I had them plan a wedding. I gave them a calendar of the months and then all of the tasks they will have needed to complete before they get married. They had to make sentences about how they would plan the wedding. For example, "By January 4th I will have picked a cake." They had a blast with it and one of the guys took it even further and added his own tasks such as "by March 4th I will have picked out the alcohol". Aye boys... but we all laughed a lot and I paired them in "couples" and they were all having fun joking with each other about the weddings- they got a kick out of it. One kid, Borris (the class clown) even went so far as to change the subject and told me "teacher, by the time WE get married....." pretty creative. I'll give him points for that one :). They are fun. We have a blast.
My reviews so far have been great! That has been encouraging because this place does not try to sugarcoat ANYTHING. They are pretty hard on you- which is good, I guess it will make me a better teacher in the long run. But I have surprised myself & am having fun with it. It has been great! Not to mention countless hours of work and not many nights of sleep. This blog is my daily break from "reality".
So yeah- today was hard, but really good. The best part of the day was when I told the students "I'll plan something fun for tomorrow since it is the last day" and they responded "Teacher, don't leave here"... it was an awesome moment. In some ways I wish I was sticking around here, but there is the real world and my purpose in coming out was so I could teach back in the US and I'm excited for what is to come of that. Lots to look forward to in the near future!
Off to plan "a fun lesson" like I promised my students. The final part of this blog will probably be about the journey home. Hopefully it says..."I caught all my flights and it was eventless". Here's to that- I could use some prayers over the next few days that I make it home by Sunday. That would be great. Love you all! Thanks for being by my side along this journey :).
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back to the HUMP day....
I can´t believe it is Wednesday already... yet it feels like it should be Friday. The fact that my days are SOOOO long yet at the end of this week I´ll be DONE throws me off quite a bit. I wake up sometimes confused about where I am, what day it is, and why I´m trying to wake up after only a few hours of sleep..... but it is FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I´m starting to enjoy this a LOT. Not the sitting in class all day- but the teaching part is becoming more enjoyable. I´m able to enjoy being up there a little more then worrying about how it is all going. Tomorrow will be the BIG test when I have to teach a lesson on the grammar of the Future Perfect tense. Hmmmm.... how can I make grammar fun? That is tomorrows challenge.
BUT I´m CONVINCED that THIS DAY, Wednesday, Feburuary 11th (I think?) is going to be a brilliant day. Lots of good things in store for this day and I´m excited to see it all!
So here´s to a beautiful day in Cuzco, Peru... the sun is shining & there is learning and teaching to be had. Let the good times roll :). Bring on this day.....
I´m starting to enjoy this a LOT. Not the sitting in class all day- but the teaching part is becoming more enjoyable. I´m able to enjoy being up there a little more then worrying about how it is all going. Tomorrow will be the BIG test when I have to teach a lesson on the grammar of the Future Perfect tense. Hmmmm.... how can I make grammar fun? That is tomorrows challenge.
BUT I´m CONVINCED that THIS DAY, Wednesday, Feburuary 11th (I think?) is going to be a brilliant day. Lots of good things in store for this day and I´m excited to see it all!
So here´s to a beautiful day in Cuzco, Peru... the sun is shining & there is learning and teaching to be had. Let the good times roll :). Bring on this day.....
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
¨Teacher¨
The worst moment and the best moment! Ha ha- let´s start with the worst because it is pretty darn funny when I think back on it. Not in the moment though. It was a cold and rainy day here in Cuzco, which really doesn´t affect me in any way now that I´m inside the entire day. One of the mysteries of Cuzco has been how the women walk around SO much wearing high heels. Now that I´m officially a teacher I have to dress up like one and I wanted to feel local so today I set out to do the impossible.... I took my walk to school in my heels. Shouldn´t be too hard... except those few places where I go through the dirt and the places where the roads aren´t even, or the hills I´m going up, or the cobbled stone that I walk on (that stuff is slippery!!!)..... I can do it!!!! And I DID! But... as I got to one of the corners just out side of the school a taxi goes flying by. Less then a foot away from me was the biggest puddle I´ve ever seen & I see it coming but can´t do anything about it. It splashed ALL over me... all the way up to my face. I look down at myself covered in wet mud from head to toe... and thought to myself-¨damn I looked good in these high heels¨.
The good... after drying off a bit later in the day we had a five minute break and I ran up the street to buy some water. There was this kid across the street yelling that caught my attention... ¨teacher! teacher!¨. I felt kind of bad because at first I didn´t acknowledge him until I finally realized.. HE IS TALKING TO ME. I almost broke down in tears in that moment it was sooooo sweet. I think that moment will pull me through the rest of this class this week just hearing him call me- ¨teacher¨. They are so sweet in class when I ask them to read or describe a word and they can´t and they look at me with these huge brown eyes and tell me ¨no teacher¨and I can´t get frustrated with them. They have a LOT of respect for the teachers here... they are held very highly. My class is about 8 students the youngest being 18 and the oldest I would guess is 50. Good mix.
Today class was great... we had to talk about how the Minoan civilization was destroyed. Not the most exciting topic... but tomorrow should be fun. I´m going to have them create their own civilizations in groups and then each group will have to present their civilization and convince me that their civilization is the GREATEST civilization in the world. So they will have to do some persuasive writing. Should be fun. They will get into it quite a bit I think. Thursday will be hard to spice up as I´m teaching grammar.. the Future Perfect tense. Blah! I´ll have to figure out a way to make it fun for them.
Well it is 8:00 and I just took my daily break of writing.. and now I have to get to my lesson plan and homework for class tomorrow so I can make it home by midnight and be up and at em tomorrow morning for another day. There are 8 people in my host family right now and I´m always the VERY last one home and in bed and the VERY first one up in the morning... The only time I see my host mom Marina now is at breakfast (which I wish I could skip so I could set my alarm 20 mins later.. but missing breakfast is the highest sin here so no-can-do). She thinks I´m crazy. Haven´t seen the boys since the weekend and I don´t know if/when I´ll see them again??? It is going to be hard that this is all going to end so abruptly. I´m teaching until 7:30 on Friday and leave at 7:00 am on Saturday. I´m planning on taking my host mom and whoever is around out to dinner on Friday after teaching to tell her thanks for all she has done for me. She is cooking 24/7 it seems like & sometimes I feel so bad that she never takes a break from it, so I´m going to try and treat her to a night off. Should be a good last night.
Planning.... right.... back to work....
The good... after drying off a bit later in the day we had a five minute break and I ran up the street to buy some water. There was this kid across the street yelling that caught my attention... ¨teacher! teacher!¨. I felt kind of bad because at first I didn´t acknowledge him until I finally realized.. HE IS TALKING TO ME. I almost broke down in tears in that moment it was sooooo sweet. I think that moment will pull me through the rest of this class this week just hearing him call me- ¨teacher¨. They are so sweet in class when I ask them to read or describe a word and they can´t and they look at me with these huge brown eyes and tell me ¨no teacher¨and I can´t get frustrated with them. They have a LOT of respect for the teachers here... they are held very highly. My class is about 8 students the youngest being 18 and the oldest I would guess is 50. Good mix.
Today class was great... we had to talk about how the Minoan civilization was destroyed. Not the most exciting topic... but tomorrow should be fun. I´m going to have them create their own civilizations in groups and then each group will have to present their civilization and convince me that their civilization is the GREATEST civilization in the world. So they will have to do some persuasive writing. Should be fun. They will get into it quite a bit I think. Thursday will be hard to spice up as I´m teaching grammar.. the Future Perfect tense. Blah! I´ll have to figure out a way to make it fun for them.
Well it is 8:00 and I just took my daily break of writing.. and now I have to get to my lesson plan and homework for class tomorrow so I can make it home by midnight and be up and at em tomorrow morning for another day. There are 8 people in my host family right now and I´m always the VERY last one home and in bed and the VERY first one up in the morning... The only time I see my host mom Marina now is at breakfast (which I wish I could skip so I could set my alarm 20 mins later.. but missing breakfast is the highest sin here so no-can-do). She thinks I´m crazy. Haven´t seen the boys since the weekend and I don´t know if/when I´ll see them again??? It is going to be hard that this is all going to end so abruptly. I´m teaching until 7:30 on Friday and leave at 7:00 am on Saturday. I´m planning on taking my host mom and whoever is around out to dinner on Friday after teaching to tell her thanks for all she has done for me. She is cooking 24/7 it seems like & sometimes I feel so bad that she never takes a break from it, so I´m going to try and treat her to a night off. Should be a good last night.
Planning.... right.... back to work....
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, Monday
Here it is... the big final week. I'm not sure how much I've written about this class... probably avoided it at all costs. All day I think to myself "why am I putting myself through this???"!!! BUT this is me accomplishing a big part of my dream. I have to remind myself that & push through. There are so many moments that I think I'd rather be back in college in the worst part of my finals... I'd do anything to go back to that. BUT it is good to be pushed and stretched. I just never knew how much taking the TEFL class could do that. There have been numerous moments that students have been in tears & I'm thanking my past soccer coaches Armando & coach Evans for teaching me about mental toughness...or else I'd be crying too! But with hardship comes a sense of accomplishment and on Saturday when this is all said and done I will feel accomplishment like never before.
When we got here we went through a briefing and they warned us that we couldn't imagine what we'd be put through... they were right. You walk around Cuzco and meet people that are from here or any of the 1,000 English learners that are part of this institute and there first question is what are you doing here? Of course I answer ¨TEFL¨and the look on their face says it all! Everyone in this city knows who the ¨teflers¨ are and has sympathy on us... it is a commonly known thing that we are being TORTURED! Eh... it isn´t that bad, just draining in every form of the word.
Mini-lessons.... Monday was my last one. The title sounds so harmless. NOT! A mini lesson is where I´ve had to prepare a class curriculum & they bring in a group of English learners and I do my class with these ¨guinea pigs¨(although I certainly don´t call them that here in Peru- bad connotation) who I teach. Pretty simple eh? Yeah.... if I didn´t have 20 people observing my teaching. Not just my lesson plan, but techniques and methods- which this school is very strict on. There is a right way to teach (according to this school) and NO OTHER WAY. I´m learning but it is a LOT of pressure as you are thinking about 300 methods, strageties that you HAVE to follow along with all the do´s and don´ts.... all the while trying to remember exactly what you have planned & following the steps. It is a lot of pressure. But good. My last one was a teaching on song lyrics... ¨where is the love¨by black eyed peas. It was a listening class & we had a bit of fun with it. The students looked at me like I was crazy when they heard how fast the song was.. but I ended up pulling them through it a bit and it turned out quite well. The hardest part for me is that I can´t do any of the talking. The students have to come up with EVERYTHING. My only job is to stand up there and try to pull EVERYTHING from them. It can be tough when you have words like I had in my class today...¨sustainable¨. That is a hard word for them to get without me being able to tell them anything about the word.
Practical teaching! Today was my first day of practical teaching. I took over a class at Maximo Nivel.. the institute that I´m studying through. My class is a Intermediate 1-2 class, which means they are on their second year of English classes. They are great. They were a little intimidated when a new teacher walked in but I got them going and my first day of officially teaching went well! I was being observed in this class as well- but only one supervisor so it is a little less pressure. This school has VERY high standards of their teachers and for them to hand over a class for a week is a huge responsibility. In this class I have to come up with my own lesson plans but the curriculum that we have to cover is provided.
My class is covering a reading on the ¨mysteries of the lost civilization¨about the Minoan culture and the people of Crete. We have to work on reading aloud and then understanding all the vocabulary. WOW! Let me just tell you some of the vocab I had to get through in my class today... ash, Tsunami, shores, crescent, ruined. Magma, active.... about 20 similar words. It would be easy if I could just translate the words... but NO!!!! Big no. I used to be intimidated to teach an hour class but now I wish I was teaching for about 4 hours.... after the vocabulary I have to do a comprehension check activity where they answer some form of questions and then I have to have them do an interactive activity. I am sweating by the time it is all over trying to get through all of my material. It is HARD work. BUT my class is fun and they try hard and we try to have some fun while learning about how the Minoan civilization disappeared.
One day down and four more to go... it has been hard work. It makes for a long day when I have class all day and am thinking in my class and feel drained but have to get the energy to go teach a class & then my body and mind want to crash.... but then it is time to plan for tomorrow. Haven´t slept much lately.... I guess that will be for the plane ride home.
When we got here we went through a briefing and they warned us that we couldn't imagine what we'd be put through... they were right. You walk around Cuzco and meet people that are from here or any of the 1,000 English learners that are part of this institute and there first question is what are you doing here? Of course I answer ¨TEFL¨and the look on their face says it all! Everyone in this city knows who the ¨teflers¨ are and has sympathy on us... it is a commonly known thing that we are being TORTURED! Eh... it isn´t that bad, just draining in every form of the word.
Mini-lessons.... Monday was my last one. The title sounds so harmless. NOT! A mini lesson is where I´ve had to prepare a class curriculum & they bring in a group of English learners and I do my class with these ¨guinea pigs¨(although I certainly don´t call them that here in Peru- bad connotation) who I teach. Pretty simple eh? Yeah.... if I didn´t have 20 people observing my teaching. Not just my lesson plan, but techniques and methods- which this school is very strict on. There is a right way to teach (according to this school) and NO OTHER WAY. I´m learning but it is a LOT of pressure as you are thinking about 300 methods, strageties that you HAVE to follow along with all the do´s and don´ts.... all the while trying to remember exactly what you have planned & following the steps. It is a lot of pressure. But good. My last one was a teaching on song lyrics... ¨where is the love¨by black eyed peas. It was a listening class & we had a bit of fun with it. The students looked at me like I was crazy when they heard how fast the song was.. but I ended up pulling them through it a bit and it turned out quite well. The hardest part for me is that I can´t do any of the talking. The students have to come up with EVERYTHING. My only job is to stand up there and try to pull EVERYTHING from them. It can be tough when you have words like I had in my class today...¨sustainable¨. That is a hard word for them to get without me being able to tell them anything about the word.
Practical teaching! Today was my first day of practical teaching. I took over a class at Maximo Nivel.. the institute that I´m studying through. My class is a Intermediate 1-2 class, which means they are on their second year of English classes. They are great. They were a little intimidated when a new teacher walked in but I got them going and my first day of officially teaching went well! I was being observed in this class as well- but only one supervisor so it is a little less pressure. This school has VERY high standards of their teachers and for them to hand over a class for a week is a huge responsibility. In this class I have to come up with my own lesson plans but the curriculum that we have to cover is provided.
My class is covering a reading on the ¨mysteries of the lost civilization¨about the Minoan culture and the people of Crete. We have to work on reading aloud and then understanding all the vocabulary. WOW! Let me just tell you some of the vocab I had to get through in my class today... ash, Tsunami, shores, crescent, ruined. Magma, active.... about 20 similar words. It would be easy if I could just translate the words... but NO!!!! Big no. I used to be intimidated to teach an hour class but now I wish I was teaching for about 4 hours.... after the vocabulary I have to do a comprehension check activity where they answer some form of questions and then I have to have them do an interactive activity. I am sweating by the time it is all over trying to get through all of my material. It is HARD work. BUT my class is fun and they try hard and we try to have some fun while learning about how the Minoan civilization disappeared.
One day down and four more to go... it has been hard work. It makes for a long day when I have class all day and am thinking in my class and feel drained but have to get the energy to go teach a class & then my body and mind want to crash.... but then it is time to plan for tomorrow. Haven´t slept much lately.... I guess that will be for the plane ride home.
Overview of the weekend....
This weekend seems like a blur... tried to cram in so much! I did accomplish ONE MAJOR TASK which was to find cookies & cream ice cream. That was pertinent to my ability to function this week. In all honesty it wasn't really cookies & cream- but it was a variation of it and when you are in a foreign place you make do with what you have. I ordered a hot fudge sundae without the fudge and saw that they put an oreo cookie on top... so I mixed my sundae minus the fudge with my oreo and VAH-LAH! Cookies & cream ice cream!
Saturday after working for a good part of the day at Maximo on my lesson plans and my last mini lesson for Monday morning I headed to the Plaza and ran into a few students and we took a walk to one of the ancient temples... beautiful. They worship the God of the Sun here and there are all kinds of buildings that are symbolic of their belief in worshiping the Sun. I've decided that I'm a fan of that.... I mean I LOVE when the sun is shining & if their temples help the sun come out cheers to that :). I spent more time walking around Cuzco and met up with a girl from school and we walked back to the house. After hanging out for a bit I discovered that I might need a bit more then the 3 hours of sleep that I was living off of to get through another night in Cuzco so I took a quick nap. I woke up and for the first time really got ready. I haven't spent more then 10 mins (shower included) to get myself ready since I've been here so I treated myself to a hair straightening session. One of the girls at my house had the transformer so I was able to use my flat iron (oh the luxuries... I know, I'm vain). It did feel good to be put together for once though. I felt like straightening my hair was equivalent to putting on an evening gown for a quick moment... that was until I had to put on my dirty jeans that I've worn 8 times now without washing.... and a semi-clean shirt (only used twice). The next step of course is putting on deodorant & a splash of perfume with the high hopes of covering up the fact that my clothes are dirty. Gotta love getting a little dirty every now and then eh?
One of my big debates this weekend was: To do laundry or Not to???? Hmmm... the only solution that I have to any debates presently is: "but I'm leaving in a week....I can survive a few more days". That was the answer I stuck to this weekend. Should I go see a doctor if my bug is still in me??? Eh- I'll be back home in a week. Should I go to the bank and get more money??? Eh- I only have to survive another week. Probably not the best solution but I'm banking on the fact that there will not be a natural disaster between now and then that prevents me from leaving.... or else I will be wearing some DIRTY DIRTY clothes.
The good thing is that this week is all FORMAL week. I have to be dressed to teach in the finest teachers clothes I can find in that suitcase of mine... so I'm digging deep into the bag for some fresh clothes.
Back to Saturday.... After getting ready I walked up to Maximo to meet up with a friend of mine that works at Maximo but is Peruvian. He told me he'd show me a good meal... not the tourist restaurants but a locals place. He wasn't off work yet when I arrived so I took a little walk and met a police officer who wanted to chat. Everyone here has so many questions for me... who I am, what I'm doing here, how long I'm staying. I'm pretty sure every shirt I wear has a sign that says "I'm not from here". There is no blending in for me. He was nice and at the very least I allowed him to have a break from standing on the corner for awhile. That is what the police do best here.... stand on the corners. There are MANY kinds of police and they are all in different places each day... how that is arraigned or who arranges it is beyond me. BUT as long as they look important I guess that is all that matters. They are always in twos as well & I've witnessed (this time from the outside) them pulling cars over by foot. They blow their whistle as loud as possible and run after the cars.... totally legit... and hilarious to witness- when you aren't the one being chased :).
After talking to the officer I went back to Maximo and sat on the step waiting for Andy and a little boy who was four years old sat next to me and we carried on a good conversation for about 10 mins. I asked him questions about him, his school, and his family- his answers were priceless. He told me he was the smartest boy in his entire class and that he has two older brothers... but they are "little boys". I asked him if he was a little boy and he told me he is a grown-up (even though he was younger then his brothers). All of a sudden he decided he was done talking to me & ran off down the street. I had NO IDEA where his parents were, if he had parents.. nothing. I was quite disturbed to see him running down the main street in between people until he got out of my sight... but I guess that is normal here? My first though was- did he steal from me? But I had nothing that he could've taken on me... just my jacket (and a few soles for dinner on the inside of my jacket). Hmmm... maybe that is why he got bored with me, because i had nothing to steal. Sad but true.
Andy and I had a great night. I LOVE the fact that you walk everywhere here. We walked to a restaurant on the opposite side of the city- up some cobbled roads and into a little place called "juanitos". Good grub! They make any kind of sandwiches or burgers and I got a chicken sandwich that was to die for! Really good. We walked around for a few hours and enjoyed a beautiful Cuzco night. He showed me a different part of Cuzco.. more residential but it was good to see because I've kind of been stuck in the main parts.. I live just off the main street and take the 40 min journey back and forth between there all the time. We took a bus off the main roads and saw some parks and scenery that I'm glad I saw. Changed my perspective of Cuzco quite a bit.
Skipping right ahead... Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and set out to walk. I really love walking around here. This walk was a bit tiring though. It was up up up hill for about 2 1/2 hours.... way outside of Cuzco into the country-side. Just took a road that I knew and walked my little heart out. After 2 1/2 hours of peace and breathing in some fresh country air I realized that I'd have to go back all the way I'd come. Ops. I ended up walking back to the city and treated myself to "jugo de fresa" my FAVORITE. Fresh strawberry juice and rested and people watched in a different plaza for a bit. I made it home around noon and my host brother was about to leave to run (walk) some errands and convinced me to walk with him. So we walked some more. He is a riot.. good to spend some time with him because I hadn't seen anyone in my host family other then Marina in days. I feel bad for just sleeping there sometimes, but that is my schedule these days. We went to find a carpenter to fix a door who lived about 30 mins away. Juanca decided to take me a different route back home so I could see more of Cuzco... yet another part I'd never seen and once again completly unique. I loved it! We got back and made some lunch and I hung out with a few of the girls from the house. We took a walk- that is when i found my ice cream & forthe first time checked out some of the tourist markets. I got home, watched a bit of soccer with Marina's realitives that she had over and then went out again with Andy and a few friends to get some dinner. Once again we walked around and enjoyed yet another night in Cuzco. I'm seriously LOVING this walking around and seeing things. I'm going to miss living here for that reason. Your form of entertainment is to walk around the city & there are always SOOO many people out and about. It is a beautiful city. I am seeing more and more how much I'm going to miss it!
Then off to bed... this coming week will be my biggest week for sure. Stress... like never before. I'm intimidated but just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Here we go... the final stretch....
Saturday after working for a good part of the day at Maximo on my lesson plans and my last mini lesson for Monday morning I headed to the Plaza and ran into a few students and we took a walk to one of the ancient temples... beautiful. They worship the God of the Sun here and there are all kinds of buildings that are symbolic of their belief in worshiping the Sun. I've decided that I'm a fan of that.... I mean I LOVE when the sun is shining & if their temples help the sun come out cheers to that :). I spent more time walking around Cuzco and met up with a girl from school and we walked back to the house. After hanging out for a bit I discovered that I might need a bit more then the 3 hours of sleep that I was living off of to get through another night in Cuzco so I took a quick nap. I woke up and for the first time really got ready. I haven't spent more then 10 mins (shower included) to get myself ready since I've been here so I treated myself to a hair straightening session. One of the girls at my house had the transformer so I was able to use my flat iron (oh the luxuries... I know, I'm vain). It did feel good to be put together for once though. I felt like straightening my hair was equivalent to putting on an evening gown for a quick moment... that was until I had to put on my dirty jeans that I've worn 8 times now without washing.... and a semi-clean shirt (only used twice). The next step of course is putting on deodorant & a splash of perfume with the high hopes of covering up the fact that my clothes are dirty. Gotta love getting a little dirty every now and then eh?
One of my big debates this weekend was: To do laundry or Not to???? Hmmm... the only solution that I have to any debates presently is: "but I'm leaving in a week....I can survive a few more days". That was the answer I stuck to this weekend. Should I go see a doctor if my bug is still in me??? Eh- I'll be back home in a week. Should I go to the bank and get more money??? Eh- I only have to survive another week. Probably not the best solution but I'm banking on the fact that there will not be a natural disaster between now and then that prevents me from leaving.... or else I will be wearing some DIRTY DIRTY clothes.
The good thing is that this week is all FORMAL week. I have to be dressed to teach in the finest teachers clothes I can find in that suitcase of mine... so I'm digging deep into the bag for some fresh clothes.
Back to Saturday.... After getting ready I walked up to Maximo to meet up with a friend of mine that works at Maximo but is Peruvian. He told me he'd show me a good meal... not the tourist restaurants but a locals place. He wasn't off work yet when I arrived so I took a little walk and met a police officer who wanted to chat. Everyone here has so many questions for me... who I am, what I'm doing here, how long I'm staying. I'm pretty sure every shirt I wear has a sign that says "I'm not from here". There is no blending in for me. He was nice and at the very least I allowed him to have a break from standing on the corner for awhile. That is what the police do best here.... stand on the corners. There are MANY kinds of police and they are all in different places each day... how that is arraigned or who arranges it is beyond me. BUT as long as they look important I guess that is all that matters. They are always in twos as well & I've witnessed (this time from the outside) them pulling cars over by foot. They blow their whistle as loud as possible and run after the cars.... totally legit... and hilarious to witness- when you aren't the one being chased :).
After talking to the officer I went back to Maximo and sat on the step waiting for Andy and a little boy who was four years old sat next to me and we carried on a good conversation for about 10 mins. I asked him questions about him, his school, and his family- his answers were priceless. He told me he was the smartest boy in his entire class and that he has two older brothers... but they are "little boys". I asked him if he was a little boy and he told me he is a grown-up (even though he was younger then his brothers). All of a sudden he decided he was done talking to me & ran off down the street. I had NO IDEA where his parents were, if he had parents.. nothing. I was quite disturbed to see him running down the main street in between people until he got out of my sight... but I guess that is normal here? My first though was- did he steal from me? But I had nothing that he could've taken on me... just my jacket (and a few soles for dinner on the inside of my jacket). Hmmm... maybe that is why he got bored with me, because i had nothing to steal. Sad but true.
Andy and I had a great night. I LOVE the fact that you walk everywhere here. We walked to a restaurant on the opposite side of the city- up some cobbled roads and into a little place called "juanitos". Good grub! They make any kind of sandwiches or burgers and I got a chicken sandwich that was to die for! Really good. We walked around for a few hours and enjoyed a beautiful Cuzco night. He showed me a different part of Cuzco.. more residential but it was good to see because I've kind of been stuck in the main parts.. I live just off the main street and take the 40 min journey back and forth between there all the time. We took a bus off the main roads and saw some parks and scenery that I'm glad I saw. Changed my perspective of Cuzco quite a bit.
Skipping right ahead... Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and set out to walk. I really love walking around here. This walk was a bit tiring though. It was up up up hill for about 2 1/2 hours.... way outside of Cuzco into the country-side. Just took a road that I knew and walked my little heart out. After 2 1/2 hours of peace and breathing in some fresh country air I realized that I'd have to go back all the way I'd come. Ops. I ended up walking back to the city and treated myself to "jugo de fresa" my FAVORITE. Fresh strawberry juice and rested and people watched in a different plaza for a bit. I made it home around noon and my host brother was about to leave to run (walk) some errands and convinced me to walk with him. So we walked some more. He is a riot.. good to spend some time with him because I hadn't seen anyone in my host family other then Marina in days. I feel bad for just sleeping there sometimes, but that is my schedule these days. We went to find a carpenter to fix a door who lived about 30 mins away. Juanca decided to take me a different route back home so I could see more of Cuzco... yet another part I'd never seen and once again completly unique. I loved it! We got back and made some lunch and I hung out with a few of the girls from the house. We took a walk- that is when i found my ice cream & forthe first time checked out some of the tourist markets. I got home, watched a bit of soccer with Marina's realitives that she had over and then went out again with Andy and a few friends to get some dinner. Once again we walked around and enjoyed yet another night in Cuzco. I'm seriously LOVING this walking around and seeing things. I'm going to miss living here for that reason. Your form of entertainment is to walk around the city & there are always SOOO many people out and about. It is a beautiful city. I am seeing more and more how much I'm going to miss it!
Then off to bed... this coming week will be my biggest week for sure. Stress... like never before. I'm intimidated but just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Here we go... the final stretch....
Saturday, February 7, 2009
My last weekend...
This is my last weekend in Peru so I´m trying to cram in as much as possible... unfortunatly most of it will be studying and preparing my lessons for next week. Yesterday was a good day- I worked a lot but also got out to take a break. Walked up to the plaza and sat on a bench and enjoyed the beauty of Cuzco. If there is one thing I´ll miss about Cuzco it is the Plaza de Armas- I could go there and sit and watch people and think all day long, every day. It is a beautiful place.
I had lunch with some friends as well and after enjoying the day and getting some work done I went home and had dinner and got ready to go out. I really haven´t gone out much here... but I´d be itching to dance for awhile. All of the TEFL students (they call us teflers) met up at a little pub and hung out and then we went to dance. The first place we started at was kinda boring in my opinion- just a bunch of reggetone... so I headed out with a few people to venture out for SALSA. Salsa we found! It was brilliant. So brilliant that we shut the place down. Ha ha.. I do that pretty commonly in Denver, but ¨shuting down¨La Rumba means 1:30/2:00 at the very latest. Here... ha ha- we left at 5:30 am. I walked home as the sun was rising... it was quite peaceful. I said I was deprived of dancing.... well I got my fix. It keeps me young :). There is nothing I love more then dancing & my feet can tell you that I danced it up!
This morning I had to set the alarm because I have studying and work to do- so I´m working off 3 hours of sleep right now but actually feel great. Sometimes dancing is better energy then sleeping.
Today I´ve spent the whole morning in the computer lab working on my lessons and assignments. Hopefully I´ll get a lot done and get out of here to enjoy some of the sunshine. It is BEAUTIFUL here today. Off I go to work....
I had lunch with some friends as well and after enjoying the day and getting some work done I went home and had dinner and got ready to go out. I really haven´t gone out much here... but I´d be itching to dance for awhile. All of the TEFL students (they call us teflers) met up at a little pub and hung out and then we went to dance. The first place we started at was kinda boring in my opinion- just a bunch of reggetone... so I headed out with a few people to venture out for SALSA. Salsa we found! It was brilliant. So brilliant that we shut the place down. Ha ha.. I do that pretty commonly in Denver, but ¨shuting down¨La Rumba means 1:30/2:00 at the very latest. Here... ha ha- we left at 5:30 am. I walked home as the sun was rising... it was quite peaceful. I said I was deprived of dancing.... well I got my fix. It keeps me young :). There is nothing I love more then dancing & my feet can tell you that I danced it up!
This morning I had to set the alarm because I have studying and work to do- so I´m working off 3 hours of sleep right now but actually feel great. Sometimes dancing is better energy then sleeping.
Today I´ve spent the whole morning in the computer lab working on my lessons and assignments. Hopefully I´ll get a lot done and get out of here to enjoy some of the sunshine. It is BEAUTIFUL here today. Off I go to work....
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Little breaks...
On a quick break at school...
Wednesday night after I wrote a blog in the peak of my frustrations I went out to dinner with a bunch of people from school. We found a little restaurant that had Thai food.... that was a huge treat. Some of the teachers from the school came, which I was kinda bummed at first but it ended up being a good thing for me hanging out with them outside of the institute. I struggle with the school I'm getting my TEFL from- (although there are some really good aspects)... but it was good to see the professors in a setting outside of the school. We had a great time- a group from the school mixed with a group outside the school, mostly peruvians & we had some interesting conversation over Thai food. It was what I needed in the moment... to stop everything and not think about anything.
There was a couple that won me over pretty quickly there- she is an American and he is Peruvian & they were the a wonderful couple... I got along great with them and she twisted my arm to go to a salsa club to dance for a little while. I haven't danced much since I've been here so I took her up on the offer. Good decision. Until I had to wake up the next morning that is. Ohwell, sometimes you have to seize the moment & take a break from the ¨musts¨and enjoy the ¨wants¨. It was good to dance for a bit. I don´t particularly like the dancing in Cuzco (the style of Salsa) as it is very rehearsed. The reason I feel in love with Salsa is for the spontanous freedom that it brings me. But I did manage to find a dancing partner from Lima & for a few hours I forgot about all my worries. Those Lima boys sure know how to dance (Ï´m talking to you ¨camisa negra¨). Nah- it was good though to relax.
Waking up to my cold shower at 5:30 am was a pretty big slap in the face-but I managed and the rest of the day was LONG- but I survived. I actually did much better on my reviews of my class (although I personally felt the class went worse)- but this school is SO focused on methodology. This class has been more like taking foreign language classes then my Spanish classes were.. EVERYTHING they talk about is ¨termonology¨. The CCQ of the EPA.... . What is Method two of the E? To me the model that they use is very dry and boring.. but when I do it that way I get great reviews. So- I figure I just need to do my work here, take what I can from it and get back on the plane to head North. I´m so excited to teach in the States. I love the teaching aspect! This past week I was in class from early in the morning until early evening and then in the evenings we teach and are observed by about 15 people. Talk about pressure. The first time teaching EVER & I have my students to build report with and an audience observing my technique. I´ll be glad when I´m done with the observations. I have one more on Monday.
Monday will start my practical teaching. I have a class here at the institute. I got an intermediate 2 class... they are pretty decent at conversational English. That is good and bad. Good that they understand a bit of English but bad in that the grammar that I´ll be teaching will be complicated. Monday I have to teach them the future perfect tense. That gets confusing because there has to be two events that happen at two different times, but simultaniously. Hmmm.. should be interesting. I have to get my lesson plans for the week done this weekend and then next week I´ll be in class all day again and teaching in the evenings. I went to observe the class that I´ll be taking over and there are about 11 students when the class is full. The teacher that is teaching it now is ironically from Littleton, CO. That was kinda cool to run across her. She signed a 6 month contract but is ready to be done teaching I think- so she was happy to have the week off next week.
Everything else (if there IS anything else) is going well. I get home late at night and last night saw my host mom & brothers for the first time in awhile... they were like ¨what a miracle!¨ I have no life right now. BUT I´m hoping to get all my lesson plans done today so I can enjoy the WEEKEND!!!! My last weekend I´ll have for awhile I´m sure. I´ll be teaching until Friday night next week and then Saturday morning at 8:00 am I´m off to Lima. I´ll get to spend the day with Willy´s family one more time and then (PRAY PRAY PRAY) that I get out on my flight Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1:00 am. I´m flying stand-by so I need everyone to send their prayers that I make it out. IF I make it that far I´ll be in Atlanta on Sunday late morning and try and catch another flight to Denver. IF all that goes well... I´ll be home next Sunday!!!... and back to work & the real world on Monday. Exhausting to think about BUT I´m just taking it one day at a time for now.
This weekend I´m not sure what I´ll get into- but something always comes up. I´m going to try and take a little day trip to a market that is about an hour and a half away on Sunday. One last day in the country.
I always think about things I want to write about as my day goes on to share the experience that I´m having and often forget by the time I sit down to write. This morning I was reminded of one thing though.... Living in Cuzco I don´t trust anyone. If someone is trying to help me- there is a pretty good chance they are trying to get something out of me. That didn´t amaze me at all as I´d experienced it many times in Costa Rica. The part that DID amaze me is what you have to be the MOST careful of. The kids. I guess I always had an image in my head of the innoncence of children... that they can´t be corrupted. Wrong. The number one thing that I have to be on guard of here is the kids. They come up in groups and one will try and distract you will the others work to steal.... I encountered this this morning when I was walking to the school and a little boy who is a shoe shiner started walking with me. I knew he wasn´t interested in selling me a shoe shine becuse I was wearing flip-flops. Red flag. I watched as they tried to do their magic but told them strongly- no and went the other direction. They knew I knew & gave up quickly. Pretty amazing that the kids are so well trained. Sad.
Enough for now. Just trying to capture the experience as a whole. Last weekend! Time has flown by. I´m excited to have a life for two days.....
Wednesday night after I wrote a blog in the peak of my frustrations I went out to dinner with a bunch of people from school. We found a little restaurant that had Thai food.... that was a huge treat. Some of the teachers from the school came, which I was kinda bummed at first but it ended up being a good thing for me hanging out with them outside of the institute. I struggle with the school I'm getting my TEFL from- (although there are some really good aspects)... but it was good to see the professors in a setting outside of the school. We had a great time- a group from the school mixed with a group outside the school, mostly peruvians & we had some interesting conversation over Thai food. It was what I needed in the moment... to stop everything and not think about anything.
There was a couple that won me over pretty quickly there- she is an American and he is Peruvian & they were the a wonderful couple... I got along great with them and she twisted my arm to go to a salsa club to dance for a little while. I haven't danced much since I've been here so I took her up on the offer. Good decision. Until I had to wake up the next morning that is. Ohwell, sometimes you have to seize the moment & take a break from the ¨musts¨and enjoy the ¨wants¨. It was good to dance for a bit. I don´t particularly like the dancing in Cuzco (the style of Salsa) as it is very rehearsed. The reason I feel in love with Salsa is for the spontanous freedom that it brings me. But I did manage to find a dancing partner from Lima & for a few hours I forgot about all my worries. Those Lima boys sure know how to dance (Ï´m talking to you ¨camisa negra¨). Nah- it was good though to relax.
Waking up to my cold shower at 5:30 am was a pretty big slap in the face-but I managed and the rest of the day was LONG- but I survived. I actually did much better on my reviews of my class (although I personally felt the class went worse)- but this school is SO focused on methodology. This class has been more like taking foreign language classes then my Spanish classes were.. EVERYTHING they talk about is ¨termonology¨. The CCQ of the EPA.... . What is Method two of the E? To me the model that they use is very dry and boring.. but when I do it that way I get great reviews. So- I figure I just need to do my work here, take what I can from it and get back on the plane to head North. I´m so excited to teach in the States. I love the teaching aspect! This past week I was in class from early in the morning until early evening and then in the evenings we teach and are observed by about 15 people. Talk about pressure. The first time teaching EVER & I have my students to build report with and an audience observing my technique. I´ll be glad when I´m done with the observations. I have one more on Monday.
Monday will start my practical teaching. I have a class here at the institute. I got an intermediate 2 class... they are pretty decent at conversational English. That is good and bad. Good that they understand a bit of English but bad in that the grammar that I´ll be teaching will be complicated. Monday I have to teach them the future perfect tense. That gets confusing because there has to be two events that happen at two different times, but simultaniously. Hmmm.. should be interesting. I have to get my lesson plans for the week done this weekend and then next week I´ll be in class all day again and teaching in the evenings. I went to observe the class that I´ll be taking over and there are about 11 students when the class is full. The teacher that is teaching it now is ironically from Littleton, CO. That was kinda cool to run across her. She signed a 6 month contract but is ready to be done teaching I think- so she was happy to have the week off next week.
Everything else (if there IS anything else) is going well. I get home late at night and last night saw my host mom & brothers for the first time in awhile... they were like ¨what a miracle!¨ I have no life right now. BUT I´m hoping to get all my lesson plans done today so I can enjoy the WEEKEND!!!! My last weekend I´ll have for awhile I´m sure. I´ll be teaching until Friday night next week and then Saturday morning at 8:00 am I´m off to Lima. I´ll get to spend the day with Willy´s family one more time and then (PRAY PRAY PRAY) that I get out on my flight Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1:00 am. I´m flying stand-by so I need everyone to send their prayers that I make it out. IF I make it that far I´ll be in Atlanta on Sunday late morning and try and catch another flight to Denver. IF all that goes well... I´ll be home next Sunday!!!... and back to work & the real world on Monday. Exhausting to think about BUT I´m just taking it one day at a time for now.
This weekend I´m not sure what I´ll get into- but something always comes up. I´m going to try and take a little day trip to a market that is about an hour and a half away on Sunday. One last day in the country.
I always think about things I want to write about as my day goes on to share the experience that I´m having and often forget by the time I sit down to write. This morning I was reminded of one thing though.... Living in Cuzco I don´t trust anyone. If someone is trying to help me- there is a pretty good chance they are trying to get something out of me. That didn´t amaze me at all as I´d experienced it many times in Costa Rica. The part that DID amaze me is what you have to be the MOST careful of. The kids. I guess I always had an image in my head of the innoncence of children... that they can´t be corrupted. Wrong. The number one thing that I have to be on guard of here is the kids. They come up in groups and one will try and distract you will the others work to steal.... I encountered this this morning when I was walking to the school and a little boy who is a shoe shiner started walking with me. I knew he wasn´t interested in selling me a shoe shine becuse I was wearing flip-flops. Red flag. I watched as they tried to do their magic but told them strongly- no and went the other direction. They knew I knew & gave up quickly. Pretty amazing that the kids are so well trained. Sad.
Enough for now. Just trying to capture the experience as a whole. Last weekend! Time has flown by. I´m excited to have a life for two days.....
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mid-week hump
Almost every moment that I've written anything on this blog it has been with a joyful heart and much excitement. I haven't written in a few days because I've been struggling this week a bit- and figured I shouldn't write about it... but the more I think- that is exactly what this journey is about for me the good moments and the bad. This week has been 90% good with a few rough times in-between but it just so happens that in this very moment that I'm writing that I'm having a hard day.
First things first... I'd like to appologize to any and all of my teachers that I was ever a pain to (that covers ALL of them I believe) because this teaching business is no joke. I am EXHAUSTED. My students have been lovely... wonderful- they are my favorite part. The institute that I'm learning through has been a bit of a struggle. I'm really battling with what I believe versus their methodology... but I have to learn and take what I can from the program and be on my way in another week and a half (I can't believe it is going so quick). I know one thing I'M HAPPY THAT I'M NOT STAYING HERE LONGTERM. That is for all of you to hear back home.... Mom, Dad, Grandma... Grandma & Grandpa, Judy & Paul, Debby & Kerry..... all of you I AM coming home :). This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am more then excited about teaching when I get home- but I could not stay and teach in Cuzco for many reasons.
The place is beautiful. Wonderful city to see- for a weekend & then move on... but this place does not have my name on it as home. I wish I had the opportunity to see more of Peru- but financially and time-wise I'm grounded here. Peru is a BEAUTIFUL country. I'll feel some relief to step off the plane in Lima again too!
So here is to the past three days being three of the hardest days that I can remember in a LONG time. I wake up at 6:00 am and get my cold shower (it is such a struggle for me getting in the shower every morning), get to school at 7:00 am before anything is going on and by the time I get out of school at 7:00 pm I have about 5 hours of homework and lesson planning to do. I go home and eat and go to my room and study. Three nights in a row I've slept with my computer and books in bed with me and wake up at some point mid-night to work a little more & try and get more sleep before the alarm goes off again. I will be more then relieved when this is all over. The part that I struggle with the most is not all the work- I miss being in college and studying like crazy- I actually love that part. The part that is really really hard for me is being enclosed in a building from when the sun is rising and leaving after the sun is set. I have a lunch break but I have to do homework during the break so that kills that. I NEED MY OUTDOOR TIME- where I breathe in some air and see the daylight. This weekend I'm hoping to be outside a bit.
My head is throbbing from over-kill on information and stress. I just need to take a deep breath. This is me being honest :). BUT I'm SO thankful for all of this and the opportunity to get this license- it will be me accomplishing one of my personal dreams... I am excited to teach, teach, teach!
Please know that even though I vented a bit I consider myself one blessed girl. See the pictures below and they will speak every word of why I'm here and how great my experience has been.
Blessings,
Lindy
First things first... I'd like to appologize to any and all of my teachers that I was ever a pain to (that covers ALL of them I believe) because this teaching business is no joke. I am EXHAUSTED. My students have been lovely... wonderful- they are my favorite part. The institute that I'm learning through has been a bit of a struggle. I'm really battling with what I believe versus their methodology... but I have to learn and take what I can from the program and be on my way in another week and a half (I can't believe it is going so quick). I know one thing I'M HAPPY THAT I'M NOT STAYING HERE LONGTERM. That is for all of you to hear back home.... Mom, Dad, Grandma... Grandma & Grandpa, Judy & Paul, Debby & Kerry..... all of you I AM coming home :). This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am more then excited about teaching when I get home- but I could not stay and teach in Cuzco for many reasons.
The place is beautiful. Wonderful city to see- for a weekend & then move on... but this place does not have my name on it as home. I wish I had the opportunity to see more of Peru- but financially and time-wise I'm grounded here. Peru is a BEAUTIFUL country. I'll feel some relief to step off the plane in Lima again too!
So here is to the past three days being three of the hardest days that I can remember in a LONG time. I wake up at 6:00 am and get my cold shower (it is such a struggle for me getting in the shower every morning), get to school at 7:00 am before anything is going on and by the time I get out of school at 7:00 pm I have about 5 hours of homework and lesson planning to do. I go home and eat and go to my room and study. Three nights in a row I've slept with my computer and books in bed with me and wake up at some point mid-night to work a little more & try and get more sleep before the alarm goes off again. I will be more then relieved when this is all over. The part that I struggle with the most is not all the work- I miss being in college and studying like crazy- I actually love that part. The part that is really really hard for me is being enclosed in a building from when the sun is rising and leaving after the sun is set. I have a lunch break but I have to do homework during the break so that kills that. I NEED MY OUTDOOR TIME- where I breathe in some air and see the daylight. This weekend I'm hoping to be outside a bit.
My head is throbbing from over-kill on information and stress. I just need to take a deep breath. This is me being honest :). BUT I'm SO thankful for all of this and the opportunity to get this license- it will be me accomplishing one of my personal dreams... I am excited to teach, teach, teach!
Please know that even though I vented a bit I consider myself one blessed girl. See the pictures below and they will speak every word of why I'm here and how great my experience has been.
Blessings,
Lindy
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Sunday... a lovely day
I woke up early on Sunday energized and refreshed after a good nights sleep. Ate breakfast with my host mom and was off to have a day of exploring. I wandered around with my friend Merell- a girl from Amsterdam. All my friends here are quite international- there are VERY few people from the States... kind of refreshing really. We walked around Cuzco all day- exploring new corners of the city... finding new plazas to sit and people watch in. We went to the main plaza- the plaza de armas and watched a big ceremony of the army- they marched around the plaza chanting and singing.. it was quite the ceremony (not really sure what for) but entertaining. We walked and walked until we couldn't walk anymore and decided to have a girls day and do manicures.... peruvian style. One lady did our nails in a bucket in a loft of a store....but it was fun we could just be girls for the day and it was dirt cheap.
Next I decided to conquer my Sunday mission.... to find GOOD ice cream. Cookies and cream preferably- we went to the avenida del sol- I had remembered seeing an ice cream place that was labeled "the best in the world".... just what I was looking for. Ish... quite the disappointment. Ice Cream is not Peru's strong point. Oh well... we got our little ice cream & took it to the park and enjoyed it. The sceanary was great, ice cream...boooooo!
After our ice cream we headed back home so I could call all my family since they were all together for the Superbowl- YEAHHHHH!!!!!!!! It was sooooo good and refreshing- uplifting to hear my family. I love Peru & all my experiences but I miss my family SO much. Even the ones in Oregon seem so far away from here. I am learning lots but will be super excited to getting back home- I'm one blessed girl where I'm from & the people in my life. I have lots to go back to!
After getting my fill of my family I drug my friend from Amsterdam to watch the Superbowl with me at a little bar. There were two latinos watching and for some reason I KNEW they were from Mexico... I asked them and sure enough... I joked with them that Mexicans would be the only Latinos interested in the Superbowl. They will probably be the only two Mexicans I come across in Peru. There was another guy from NY and two from LA and we all bonded over the 4 hour superbowl. Good game. Good company. GREAT food. That was the first time I'd eaten in a "real restaurant" and I had a chicken sandwich that was to die for. The only problem was that we watched on ESPN so EVERY 30 seconds there was a commercial break we had to watch the ESPN commercials- about 5 commercials that were repeated the ENTIRE game... not the fun traditional ones. Bummer.
Great night though- fun to watch from here.
Next I decided to conquer my Sunday mission.... to find GOOD ice cream. Cookies and cream preferably- we went to the avenida del sol- I had remembered seeing an ice cream place that was labeled "the best in the world".... just what I was looking for. Ish... quite the disappointment. Ice Cream is not Peru's strong point. Oh well... we got our little ice cream & took it to the park and enjoyed it. The sceanary was great, ice cream...boooooo!
After our ice cream we headed back home so I could call all my family since they were all together for the Superbowl- YEAHHHHH!!!!!!!! It was sooooo good and refreshing- uplifting to hear my family. I love Peru & all my experiences but I miss my family SO much. Even the ones in Oregon seem so far away from here. I am learning lots but will be super excited to getting back home- I'm one blessed girl where I'm from & the people in my life. I have lots to go back to!
After getting my fill of my family I drug my friend from Amsterdam to watch the Superbowl with me at a little bar. There were two latinos watching and for some reason I KNEW they were from Mexico... I asked them and sure enough... I joked with them that Mexicans would be the only Latinos interested in the Superbowl. They will probably be the only two Mexicans I come across in Peru. There was another guy from NY and two from LA and we all bonded over the 4 hour superbowl. Good game. Good company. GREAT food. That was the first time I'd eaten in a "real restaurant" and I had a chicken sandwich that was to die for. The only problem was that we watched on ESPN so EVERY 30 seconds there was a commercial break we had to watch the ESPN commercials- about 5 commercials that were repeated the ENTIRE game... not the fun traditional ones. Bummer.
Great night though- fun to watch from here.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The biggest adventure of my life.....
Saturday was a good day. Real good day. In fact it was a day that will stick out in my mind for the rest of my life. It started really early... Alfonso and his wife and their daughter picked me up at the crack of dawn and we started off to go pick up the 200 loafs of bread before we hit the road. We started the journey by driving up to the mountains and about an hour and a half to another town where we´d pick up a friend of Alfonso and his wife to show us the route and translate for us. Where we were going there would be no paved roads or Spanish spoken.. the people that we visited in the villages spoke quechua. Our additional passangers were the woman and her two kids, one fourteen years old and the other just two. With a full tour bus we set out on our journey... I was wide-eyed trying to soak in all the sceanery and the views. We went on for a long time away from any civilization. About 2 1´/2 hours into the journey we got stuck. That would be the first of MANY times we got stuck.... after that we were stuck more then not. The solution.... to get unstuck of course- again and again and again. How? Lift the van and put rocks under the tires and then build a road with any rocks you can find. After you´ve gone a few feet collect the rocks behind the vehicle and build more road. Slow process to go a few feet my friends. Once again I´ve learned patience. We did that many times- at one point coming across a fast paced stream that was about 2 1/2 feet deep where we all had to get out and cross so the vehicle could cross without any weight.... that was a memorable moment. We went as far as we could go until we were REALLY stuck. This time for about 5 1/2 hours. We walked up to a village that was nearby and these people were in SHOCK to see me. Their reactions were kinda painful... most of the kids were afraid of me as if I were an alien... they had NEVER seen a white person before. I´ll do the best I can to describe the village we were approaching......
This is a place I never could have imagined. Walking up the hillside there is nothing but beautiful sceanery surrounding me for miles and miles. This is the land of llamas and alpacas wondering free. Most of the open field had horse wondering free mingling with some pigs and sheep. The animals outnumbered the people by the hundreds. As we got close to the village there were a few horses with their front holves tied together so they would stay close by....donkeys, pigs and alpacas that were the village animals. There were some huts- or houses where the people lived. They were made out of rocks stacked on top of eachother formed together with dried mud- the ceilings were made of dried grass straw. The doors were no higher then 3 feet... and the few people we came accross in the house were not much taller than that. I felt tall for the first time in my life as I ducked to enter the house. The house was a one room I could hold my hands out and nearly touch each wall.... if I took one step left Iwas in the kitchen one step forward in the dining room and one step to the right the bedroom (no walls) where the entire family slept in one ¨bed¨. As I took those few steps I had to be careful not to step on the dinner.... live guinea pigs that ran around on the floor to be breed for food. That was a sight!
The land that they had cultivated was the ONLY land they had ever known other then a trek to the next village- that looked just the same. It was almost painfully quiet... no TV, no radio, no interruptions. In that moment I tried to picture the lifestyle....nearly impossible. These people had NEVER seen anything of any outside world.... what they lived was everything they knew... it was generation after generation of routine. I can´t imagine even a day in that life...not because it is bad or wrong...but because I come from an opposite world...where quiet and stillness are often signs of laziness and weakness. Made me think.
The woman (girls 10 and older) were there to breed and weave. All the women were weaving all day long- that was their task in life. The girls start to have kids at about 13 years- or close after (basically as soon as they can) and they have around 6 kids each. The first village we were at had about 20 people total..... we joked around that you would ¨marry¨or be with whoever was born your same age. WOW! Talk about a concept for THIS GIRL to swallow. If you were lucky you would have 2 MAYBE 3 guys to choose from to have your kids with and spend all your life with. I´m pretty sure I´d be in trouble :) :) :) (I can just hear you all laughing and thinking... that is so true- shut up)! WOW. That was and still is an incredible concept for me to grasp. You would know that person since birth.... and hopefully like them. Okay...I have to move on because I can´t and probably will never comprehend that concept.
Back to the point. We greeted all of them and told them to hike down to our van that we wanted to give them some gifts. We made the journey back down to the van and worked on getting the van unstuck again.... a little bit forward, a little bit back. At one point Alfonso needed to be in the back of the van but have someone driving it while he was doing whatever he was doing. By this time people had come from several villages and there were about 40 people gathered....who would drive? Believe it or not I was the ONLY other person that had EVER driven a car- so hop in and 4-wheel it Lindy.....with a live audience. Another moment....¨where am I and what am I doing¨??? UNO DOS TRES.... my job was to floor it (I´m not sure this was the best idea but Alfonso insisted on it) and steer up the terrain. We would go a little bit forward and a little bit back. I was laughing in my head pretty hard as I imagined what they were thinking of this alien white girl driving like a maniac. Oh.... and this is my REAL LIFE.
After being stuck for about 4 1/2 hours we had enough people that had gathered from near and far to give away the supplies. That was a cool moment. The kids all lined up behind the back of the van and we gave the bags away- each kid walked away with a bag of supplies and everyone got some bread. It was cool to see the excitement of the kids and how greatful they were to recieve the supplies. Alfonso encouraged them to study and work on education- which seemed like the right thing to say... but for the first time in my life the thought passed through my head..."Is education necessary?" I mean IF they were to become educated it would be so they could leave the life that they were living, and had lived.... to advance. Did they want to advance? I can't answer those questions, but who am I to say that they way they are living is wrong? Lots of questions that crossed my mind throughout the day for sure.... none of them do I have any immediate answers. It's good to question your views- so I'm thankful for that and the smiles that these little kids had on their faces (until I got back in their view and they turned away- darn gringa :)).
There was one great part about being the blonde hair- blue eyed girl in this village. The highlight of my day was when this little boy probably around 8 years old approached the line and had all of his body covered in clothes and pulled his hat all the way over his face. I tried to figure out why.. then realized that he was albino... and all the other kids made fun of him. I walked over to him and they tried to get him to peek out of his little hat to look and see that I'm white with "white" hair and light eyes too..... That he wasn't a freak- just different from the people around him. A moment that is in my heart for the rest of my lifetime was when he peeked out under his cap and looked at me and got the slightest grin. They told the other kids to stop making fun of him because there were a lot of people just like him..... just not where they live & that he is in fact "special". Another moment that made it all worth while.
The rest of the day was full of adventure as well..... we got unstuck and said good-bye.. and headed to yet another village that was sort of on the way back. This time there had been word we might be coming and as we drove down a dirt road there were kids chasing the van. We got to a middle ground and once again gave out the supplies... kids lined up behind the van anxious to get some treats. The thing that amazed me about all these dirty little kids was how bright their clothing was. Very typical traditional clothes worn by all of them- and you can't help but LOVE the big brown eyes peering up at you. That made the trip all worth it! The work that Greg & Kirsten are doing with "Sense the World" is admirable work and I got to witness it personally that they are doing some great things throughout the world. I am honored to be able to have worked through their organization.
Returning back to "civilization" we stopped at the clinic just before you leave and gave the clinic the reading glasses, medications, first aid kits etc. as they would be able to distribute them better then we would have been able to. The main concern was that the supplies that we gave would be used for a cause and not to be sold- so the clinic was the best place for those supplies. By that time it was about 4:30 pm and we hadn't eaten so I treated them to lunch- we all went to get chicken and papas (french fries) a favorite of peruvians. We got fed- they have a saying here that is "fully belly- happy heart" true true. Then the drive back to Cuzco.... it was a long drive but it was good.... we got back home and I was exhausted. My host mom had dinner waiting for me but I couldn't eat anymore- I just headed to my room and crashed by 9:30 pm. I was one tired girl after a brilliant day.
This is a place I never could have imagined. Walking up the hillside there is nothing but beautiful sceanery surrounding me for miles and miles. This is the land of llamas and alpacas wondering free. Most of the open field had horse wondering free mingling with some pigs and sheep. The animals outnumbered the people by the hundreds. As we got close to the village there were a few horses with their front holves tied together so they would stay close by....donkeys, pigs and alpacas that were the village animals. There were some huts- or houses where the people lived. They were made out of rocks stacked on top of eachother formed together with dried mud- the ceilings were made of dried grass straw. The doors were no higher then 3 feet... and the few people we came accross in the house were not much taller than that. I felt tall for the first time in my life as I ducked to enter the house. The house was a one room I could hold my hands out and nearly touch each wall.... if I took one step left Iwas in the kitchen one step forward in the dining room and one step to the right the bedroom (no walls) where the entire family slept in one ¨bed¨. As I took those few steps I had to be careful not to step on the dinner.... live guinea pigs that ran around on the floor to be breed for food. That was a sight!
The land that they had cultivated was the ONLY land they had ever known other then a trek to the next village- that looked just the same. It was almost painfully quiet... no TV, no radio, no interruptions. In that moment I tried to picture the lifestyle....nearly impossible. These people had NEVER seen anything of any outside world.... what they lived was everything they knew... it was generation after generation of routine. I can´t imagine even a day in that life...not because it is bad or wrong...but because I come from an opposite world...where quiet and stillness are often signs of laziness and weakness. Made me think.
The woman (girls 10 and older) were there to breed and weave. All the women were weaving all day long- that was their task in life. The girls start to have kids at about 13 years- or close after (basically as soon as they can) and they have around 6 kids each. The first village we were at had about 20 people total..... we joked around that you would ¨marry¨or be with whoever was born your same age. WOW! Talk about a concept for THIS GIRL to swallow. If you were lucky you would have 2 MAYBE 3 guys to choose from to have your kids with and spend all your life with. I´m pretty sure I´d be in trouble :) :) :) (I can just hear you all laughing and thinking... that is so true- shut up)! WOW. That was and still is an incredible concept for me to grasp. You would know that person since birth.... and hopefully like them. Okay...I have to move on because I can´t and probably will never comprehend that concept.
Back to the point. We greeted all of them and told them to hike down to our van that we wanted to give them some gifts. We made the journey back down to the van and worked on getting the van unstuck again.... a little bit forward, a little bit back. At one point Alfonso needed to be in the back of the van but have someone driving it while he was doing whatever he was doing. By this time people had come from several villages and there were about 40 people gathered....who would drive? Believe it or not I was the ONLY other person that had EVER driven a car- so hop in and 4-wheel it Lindy.....with a live audience. Another moment....¨where am I and what am I doing¨??? UNO DOS TRES.... my job was to floor it (I´m not sure this was the best idea but Alfonso insisted on it) and steer up the terrain. We would go a little bit forward and a little bit back. I was laughing in my head pretty hard as I imagined what they were thinking of this alien white girl driving like a maniac. Oh.... and this is my REAL LIFE.
After being stuck for about 4 1/2 hours we had enough people that had gathered from near and far to give away the supplies. That was a cool moment. The kids all lined up behind the back of the van and we gave the bags away- each kid walked away with a bag of supplies and everyone got some bread. It was cool to see the excitement of the kids and how greatful they were to recieve the supplies. Alfonso encouraged them to study and work on education- which seemed like the right thing to say... but for the first time in my life the thought passed through my head..."Is education necessary?" I mean IF they were to become educated it would be so they could leave the life that they were living, and had lived.... to advance. Did they want to advance? I can't answer those questions, but who am I to say that they way they are living is wrong? Lots of questions that crossed my mind throughout the day for sure.... none of them do I have any immediate answers. It's good to question your views- so I'm thankful for that and the smiles that these little kids had on their faces (until I got back in their view and they turned away- darn gringa :)).
There was one great part about being the blonde hair- blue eyed girl in this village. The highlight of my day was when this little boy probably around 8 years old approached the line and had all of his body covered in clothes and pulled his hat all the way over his face. I tried to figure out why.. then realized that he was albino... and all the other kids made fun of him. I walked over to him and they tried to get him to peek out of his little hat to look and see that I'm white with "white" hair and light eyes too..... That he wasn't a freak- just different from the people around him. A moment that is in my heart for the rest of my lifetime was when he peeked out under his cap and looked at me and got the slightest grin. They told the other kids to stop making fun of him because there were a lot of people just like him..... just not where they live & that he is in fact "special". Another moment that made it all worth while.
The rest of the day was full of adventure as well..... we got unstuck and said good-bye.. and headed to yet another village that was sort of on the way back. This time there had been word we might be coming and as we drove down a dirt road there were kids chasing the van. We got to a middle ground and once again gave out the supplies... kids lined up behind the van anxious to get some treats. The thing that amazed me about all these dirty little kids was how bright their clothing was. Very typical traditional clothes worn by all of them- and you can't help but LOVE the big brown eyes peering up at you. That made the trip all worth it! The work that Greg & Kirsten are doing with "Sense the World" is admirable work and I got to witness it personally that they are doing some great things throughout the world. I am honored to be able to have worked through their organization.
Returning back to "civilization" we stopped at the clinic just before you leave and gave the clinic the reading glasses, medications, first aid kits etc. as they would be able to distribute them better then we would have been able to. The main concern was that the supplies that we gave would be used for a cause and not to be sold- so the clinic was the best place for those supplies. By that time it was about 4:30 pm and we hadn't eaten so I treated them to lunch- we all went to get chicken and papas (french fries) a favorite of peruvians. We got fed- they have a saying here that is "fully belly- happy heart" true true. Then the drive back to Cuzco.... it was a long drive but it was good.... we got back home and I was exhausted. My host mom had dinner waiting for me but I couldn't eat anymore- I just headed to my room and crashed by 9:30 pm. I was one tired girl after a brilliant day.
Friday. Getting ready for our Saturday Adventure....
Wow! What a weekend. Too much to write and my 24 hour days just turned into about 20 hours of work load. Should work out.... 3 hours to sleep and an hour to eat inbetween :)!
Getting right to it... We'll start with Friday afternoon/evening. I met with Alfonso at 3:30 to start getting our supplies set up so we could take our trek to deliver our materials for "Sense the World". He told me his wife was away working so we'd need to get everything ready that evening. We went to his house and laid out all of the materials in different "stations" so we could bag up the school supplies and basic necessities such a soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. We started bagging and got about half way done when we realized we didn't have enough soap & shampoo packs so I suggested we go buy the rest... thinking it would be just a few extra soles and a quick stop at the shop up the street and we'd be back. 5:00ish- we start out to get a few more packs of soap. 5:15 we get to the supply store and they no longer have the bulk soap we bought b/c a hotel came to purchase all of the rest of the soap. No problem, we'll just spend a little bit extra to get the brand that IS avaliable... Checking out like I said is quite the process... after four different stations and them gathering our soap & shampoo we are off...almost done (so I think). We get to the car when Alfonso "remembers" that we want to take candy to the kids...he explains to me they never have candy...again, no problem... just a little extra money. 5:45 we get to the candy shop when he decides we need cookies and water for the journey since it will be a long one. Okay... pack it up, I mean what is a JOURNEY without cookies and water, afterall they are the essentials, right? 6:00...Off to home to finish working.... not quite. Alfonso gets a phone call that he owes money to a bank that needs to be paid before they close at 7:00. He explains to me that he doesn't have the money because he just got his tour bus fixed (it had been broken) therefore he hadn't had any work. So we start out on a journey to find a few of his friends he could borrow money from. We go all over and he can't get ahold of any of his friends...so I do what anyone would do in this situation and offer to lend him the money. 6:30 we start out looking for a bank so I could withdrawl a bit of money. We get to the bank and I wait in line to use the ATM... not really paying attention to anyone around me. I get up to the machine and realize the gentleman in front of me had left his bank card. I tried to run after him but couldn't catch up to him in the hussle and bussle of the busy street. Realizing we were on a tight schedule I took the card back to the bank and turned it into a security guard. Simple as that right... explain the situation and be on my way... haha... yeah right. It drew quite a crowd and they wanted to give me an award for turning it in...explaining that I was in a hurry and I just need to get money and go they had me fill out some forms, sign and be on my way. As i was getting money out of the ATM one of the gentleman kept yelling out in a thick accent "this lady is lovely JUST lovely". Embarrased I took my money and ran.....
....6:45 we are back in the car and on our way. To the bank to pay the fine and back home to finish the materials... BUT.... to get to the bank quickly requires that we take a right. That normally wouldn't be a problem but on this given day in this given moment there happens to be a traffic police in the middle of the road directing traffic straight for no apparent reason. Alfonso decided to ignore the traffic police that is blowing a whistle in the middle of the street and directing us straight and took the right. Hmmm... I thought....that seemed wrong, but who am i the foreign gringa to know what is going on around me. We continue on straight until we get to a light a block and a half away. Suddenly I hear a whistle being blow quite obnoxiously...getting closer and closer. It was then that I realized that we were getting pulled over by an officer...by foot. He caught up to us and we were stuck with the cars in front of us. Once again thinking to myself...this should be no problem since Alfonso himself told me that he is a police....found out pretty quickly that there are different kinds of police in Cuzco and they do not mix. 6:50 the police starts yelling at Alfonso and jumps in the car with us. Interesting. This is one of those moments I described when you think "where am I & what is going on?" Go with this one Lindy.... They start arguing because Alfonso is telling the police that before we get escorted to the police station that we need to go pay his bill at the bank. The police says no. Who wins? The driver of course..... so off to the bank dodging traffic to get there before the doors close. 6:59 (no exaggeration) We get to the bank and Alfonso runs in with the money... I sit quietly in the car with the police and wait, as I am told. 7:15 next stop... police station. I wait in the car as told. A few police come out to the car and ask why the gringa is sitting in it. He explains we are working on a project & shows them his police badge... and once again they disappear into the police station. Around 8:00 Alfonso emerges from the station with a ticket and we are on our way. He makes a few calls and explains to me... "I'll take care of this on Monday, my boss can over-ride it". Great, I think.....are we going home to do the materials now?
8:30-9:15 we finish packing up the rest of the bags of material and Alfonso takes me back to my place...."get some rest for tomorrow.... when we take the adventure" The adventure, I thougth to myself has already begun my friend.
So I do as I'm told and get in my bed get some sleep and set my alarm to 5:00am to start THE REAL ADVENTURE..........
Getting right to it... We'll start with Friday afternoon/evening. I met with Alfonso at 3:30 to start getting our supplies set up so we could take our trek to deliver our materials for "Sense the World". He told me his wife was away working so we'd need to get everything ready that evening. We went to his house and laid out all of the materials in different "stations" so we could bag up the school supplies and basic necessities such a soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. We started bagging and got about half way done when we realized we didn't have enough soap & shampoo packs so I suggested we go buy the rest... thinking it would be just a few extra soles and a quick stop at the shop up the street and we'd be back. 5:00ish- we start out to get a few more packs of soap. 5:15 we get to the supply store and they no longer have the bulk soap we bought b/c a hotel came to purchase all of the rest of the soap. No problem, we'll just spend a little bit extra to get the brand that IS avaliable... Checking out like I said is quite the process... after four different stations and them gathering our soap & shampoo we are off...almost done (so I think). We get to the car when Alfonso "remembers" that we want to take candy to the kids...he explains to me they never have candy...again, no problem... just a little extra money. 5:45 we get to the candy shop when he decides we need cookies and water for the journey since it will be a long one. Okay... pack it up, I mean what is a JOURNEY without cookies and water, afterall they are the essentials, right? 6:00...Off to home to finish working.... not quite. Alfonso gets a phone call that he owes money to a bank that needs to be paid before they close at 7:00. He explains to me that he doesn't have the money because he just got his tour bus fixed (it had been broken) therefore he hadn't had any work. So we start out on a journey to find a few of his friends he could borrow money from. We go all over and he can't get ahold of any of his friends...so I do what anyone would do in this situation and offer to lend him the money. 6:30 we start out looking for a bank so I could withdrawl a bit of money. We get to the bank and I wait in line to use the ATM... not really paying attention to anyone around me. I get up to the machine and realize the gentleman in front of me had left his bank card. I tried to run after him but couldn't catch up to him in the hussle and bussle of the busy street. Realizing we were on a tight schedule I took the card back to the bank and turned it into a security guard. Simple as that right... explain the situation and be on my way... haha... yeah right. It drew quite a crowd and they wanted to give me an award for turning it in...explaining that I was in a hurry and I just need to get money and go they had me fill out some forms, sign and be on my way. As i was getting money out of the ATM one of the gentleman kept yelling out in a thick accent "this lady is lovely JUST lovely". Embarrased I took my money and ran.....
....6:45 we are back in the car and on our way. To the bank to pay the fine and back home to finish the materials... BUT.... to get to the bank quickly requires that we take a right. That normally wouldn't be a problem but on this given day in this given moment there happens to be a traffic police in the middle of the road directing traffic straight for no apparent reason. Alfonso decided to ignore the traffic police that is blowing a whistle in the middle of the street and directing us straight and took the right. Hmmm... I thought....that seemed wrong, but who am i the foreign gringa to know what is going on around me. We continue on straight until we get to a light a block and a half away. Suddenly I hear a whistle being blow quite obnoxiously...getting closer and closer. It was then that I realized that we were getting pulled over by an officer...by foot. He caught up to us and we were stuck with the cars in front of us. Once again thinking to myself...this should be no problem since Alfonso himself told me that he is a police....found out pretty quickly that there are different kinds of police in Cuzco and they do not mix. 6:50 the police starts yelling at Alfonso and jumps in the car with us. Interesting. This is one of those moments I described when you think "where am I & what is going on?" Go with this one Lindy.... They start arguing because Alfonso is telling the police that before we get escorted to the police station that we need to go pay his bill at the bank. The police says no. Who wins? The driver of course..... so off to the bank dodging traffic to get there before the doors close. 6:59 (no exaggeration) We get to the bank and Alfonso runs in with the money... I sit quietly in the car with the police and wait, as I am told. 7:15 next stop... police station. I wait in the car as told. A few police come out to the car and ask why the gringa is sitting in it. He explains we are working on a project & shows them his police badge... and once again they disappear into the police station. Around 8:00 Alfonso emerges from the station with a ticket and we are on our way. He makes a few calls and explains to me... "I'll take care of this on Monday, my boss can over-ride it". Great, I think.....are we going home to do the materials now?
8:30-9:15 we finish packing up the rest of the bags of material and Alfonso takes me back to my place...."get some rest for tomorrow.... when we take the adventure" The adventure, I thougth to myself has already begun my friend.
So I do as I'm told and get in my bed get some sleep and set my alarm to 5:00am to start THE REAL ADVENTURE..........
Friday, January 30, 2009
Ending the week strong...
Things are going to pick up QUICK for me here. I posted a few pics... will try and post some more but the internet shuts down so it is rare that the posts actually work. I'm learning a lot of patience :). The pics are all around Cuzco, Machu Picchu.... Some of the ones I really wanted to post didn't- like I said it's hit or miss.
Things are pretty routine here...when routine is waking up to breathe in some fresh air (literally because I have a window that is wide open in my room that doesn't have glass) and hoping into a freezing cold shower. I've learned that I have to shower early or else I'm accompanied by the construction workers who work at the same level as my bathroom where there is also a window that is actually just a hole in the wall. I've had a few moments where I've gone into the bathroom and have been eye-to-eye with some of them- akward! Then there is the normal arguing with my host mom at the breakfast table that I've had enough to eat and wishing they let their dog in the house so I could feed some of my toast to it. After that- brush the teeth and pack my bag to take the 20 min walk uphill to school. My school is on the main avenue...avenida del sol- so there is always lots of traffic and hussle and bussle. It is kinda wierd dodging cars, people, llamas, alpacas...you name it. I get lots of comments that I pretend I don't hear and just keep my forward pace. Yesterday at the market my favorite comment was this guy who approached me and asked me real seriously.."Cuando me vas a casar?" When are you going to marry me? That one at least got a smile out of me... creativity points for that guy!
School is good- Had my morning lesson with my tandem student- Kely... more of a friend now. Today we walked to a bookstore and I bought a Spanish/English dictionary... I'll need it for teaching. Next week is supposed to be intense.. I'll be teaching classes to the students here. Kinda nervous for that. BUT- there is more to focus on before that. This afternoon I'm going with Alfonso & his wife to get all of our materials ready to take to the village.. we are leaving at 5 am tomorrow morning and will be gone all day. There is much unknown to this trek....but I know it will be an adventure for sure. We bought notebooks, pencils, erasers, all the basic school supplies. Greg's organization "Sense the World" sent down a bunch more supplies and we are doing the big trek to deliver it all tomorrow. There are rumors of taking some via horseback- but you just never know what will actually happen???
The afternoon should be normal as well... I'll go home to some loud music bumping in the house and my host brothers who have decided to finally get out of bed will be ready to give me a hard time. I think they wait anxiously until I get home to harrass me...but with good intentions. They are like little kids. There is always soccer on the TV and chyada our cat is always waiting for attention.... pretty comfortable little living pad for me.
There have been a few moments that have brought a smile to my face...just those moments when you stop and think "where in the world am I?" in a good sense....
*The other afternoon when I was riding horses with Dan and he was on this little tiny horse that was galloping & he was holding on for life yelling "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch".... I seriously laughed SOOOOOO hard the entire ride just watching his face. That was a good moment.
*Walking down the street the other day (most of the streets are made of stones & are really narrow) and this little girl had two sheep and a little dog and they were tied together. She was having SO much fun running along with them laughing. Every now and then the dog would go on one side of a post and the sheep on the other and they'd get all tangled up and the girl (about 5) would fall over laughing. It was priceless to watch the girl with her pets.
*Getting spit on by a llama...... believe them when they say if they put their ears back they'll spit!
*Riding home on a bus from Kely's house yesteday on a little bus that was PACKED with peruvians. I was obviously the only gringa on the bus and this lady had three little kids about 3 & 4 yrs old and they kept saying "mama look at that girl". The mom was so embarrased and tried to appologize- but the kids so innocently kept going on and on and on about how white I was and with "clear" hair and "colored" eyes. They stared at me the whole trip... Gotta love kids and their honesty.
*The other day erin and I tried to buy some nail polish remover that costed less then a sole...so about .50 cents.... it was SUCH a process to get it and we were dying laughing. First you have to go to the counter and order what you want. Then you go to another part of the store and pay and get the paper work. Then we went to another place to get the paperwork stamped....then we took the paperwork, with the stamp back over to another window to exchange it for our nail polish that was worth .50 cents...... quite the process to buy something here.
There are so many images I see every day that i wish I could describe... all the markets I pass and people with their business up and down the streets...selling anything you could think of. Lots of poverty here. Much more evident then in Costa Rica. I want to try some of the foods that they sell in the bakerys etc, but I've been hesitant and STUFFED so haven't done that yet. I'm craving some good old cookies and cream ice cream though- that is for sure :).
I'm going to be off on my adventure tomorrow so I'll write more when I get back...
Things are pretty routine here...when routine is waking up to breathe in some fresh air (literally because I have a window that is wide open in my room that doesn't have glass) and hoping into a freezing cold shower. I've learned that I have to shower early or else I'm accompanied by the construction workers who work at the same level as my bathroom where there is also a window that is actually just a hole in the wall. I've had a few moments where I've gone into the bathroom and have been eye-to-eye with some of them- akward! Then there is the normal arguing with my host mom at the breakfast table that I've had enough to eat and wishing they let their dog in the house so I could feed some of my toast to it. After that- brush the teeth and pack my bag to take the 20 min walk uphill to school. My school is on the main avenue...avenida del sol- so there is always lots of traffic and hussle and bussle. It is kinda wierd dodging cars, people, llamas, alpacas...you name it. I get lots of comments that I pretend I don't hear and just keep my forward pace. Yesterday at the market my favorite comment was this guy who approached me and asked me real seriously.."Cuando me vas a casar?" When are you going to marry me? That one at least got a smile out of me... creativity points for that guy!
School is good- Had my morning lesson with my tandem student- Kely... more of a friend now. Today we walked to a bookstore and I bought a Spanish/English dictionary... I'll need it for teaching. Next week is supposed to be intense.. I'll be teaching classes to the students here. Kinda nervous for that. BUT- there is more to focus on before that. This afternoon I'm going with Alfonso & his wife to get all of our materials ready to take to the village.. we are leaving at 5 am tomorrow morning and will be gone all day. There is much unknown to this trek....but I know it will be an adventure for sure. We bought notebooks, pencils, erasers, all the basic school supplies. Greg's organization "Sense the World" sent down a bunch more supplies and we are doing the big trek to deliver it all tomorrow. There are rumors of taking some via horseback- but you just never know what will actually happen???
The afternoon should be normal as well... I'll go home to some loud music bumping in the house and my host brothers who have decided to finally get out of bed will be ready to give me a hard time. I think they wait anxiously until I get home to harrass me...but with good intentions. They are like little kids. There is always soccer on the TV and chyada our cat is always waiting for attention.... pretty comfortable little living pad for me.
There have been a few moments that have brought a smile to my face...just those moments when you stop and think "where in the world am I?" in a good sense....
*The other afternoon when I was riding horses with Dan and he was on this little tiny horse that was galloping & he was holding on for life yelling "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch".... I seriously laughed SOOOOOO hard the entire ride just watching his face. That was a good moment.
*Walking down the street the other day (most of the streets are made of stones & are really narrow) and this little girl had two sheep and a little dog and they were tied together. She was having SO much fun running along with them laughing. Every now and then the dog would go on one side of a post and the sheep on the other and they'd get all tangled up and the girl (about 5) would fall over laughing. It was priceless to watch the girl with her pets.
*Getting spit on by a llama...... believe them when they say if they put their ears back they'll spit!
*Riding home on a bus from Kely's house yesteday on a little bus that was PACKED with peruvians. I was obviously the only gringa on the bus and this lady had three little kids about 3 & 4 yrs old and they kept saying "mama look at that girl". The mom was so embarrased and tried to appologize- but the kids so innocently kept going on and on and on about how white I was and with "clear" hair and "colored" eyes. They stared at me the whole trip... Gotta love kids and their honesty.
*The other day erin and I tried to buy some nail polish remover that costed less then a sole...so about .50 cents.... it was SUCH a process to get it and we were dying laughing. First you have to go to the counter and order what you want. Then you go to another part of the store and pay and get the paper work. Then we went to another place to get the paperwork stamped....then we took the paperwork, with the stamp back over to another window to exchange it for our nail polish that was worth .50 cents...... quite the process to buy something here.
There are so many images I see every day that i wish I could describe... all the markets I pass and people with their business up and down the streets...selling anything you could think of. Lots of poverty here. Much more evident then in Costa Rica. I want to try some of the foods that they sell in the bakerys etc, but I've been hesitant and STUFFED so haven't done that yet. I'm craving some good old cookies and cream ice cream though- that is for sure :).
I'm going to be off on my adventure tomorrow so I'll write more when I get back...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Cuzco- The norm
Walking down the street today there were so many experiences in my normal day that I thought of that I haven´t written about. The big moments & trips have been great- but there is a whole nother degree of my trip- which is experiencing the daily routine of Cuzco. My living situation is a ¨condo¨which I´m pretty sure is considered nice living here in Peru. It is a cement 3 story house that is stacked high rather then having width. I live in a room with 2 other beds (anyone want to come visit?) and a private bathroom... but it is pretty basic. I´ve had about 2 warm showers since I´ve been here- as you can imagine shower time is not my favorite time of the day. It isn´t like in Costa Rica where it is 80 degrees outside... it is COLD. Cold plus cold water= not fun. But there is good and bad to every place you live in life I suppose.
My host family as I´ve said are great... I came in at a moment that they are going through a lot of hard stuff. The boys try and not show it as much- but I can see it in them somedays. I am thankful that I´m here at this time as I´ve tried to keep a upbeat attitude and keep them laughing with my attempts to speak Spanish- when all else fails, SMILE :). They hardest part has been keeping up with the food. I am not used to having 3 meals a day. We sit down for three full meals. Breakfast is always toast with Jam & tea- sometimes fruit. Lunch is between 1-2 and everyone makes the trek home to eat together. Dinner is usually around 8 & by the time I´m done eating 3 full meals I´m exhausted just from the eating. I try and pawn the food off to Juanca & Richy... but they make sure to give me a hard time for not finishing first. The food for the moment is okay as I have lost a lot of weight. My pants are falling off my waist...but I´m sure I won´t have that problem for too long. Several students have gotten the same illness as me- but it has sat them out all together. Fortunately I´ve been feeling good- but they say it is pretty common that once you get this bug it comes back... I can feel it kinda dormant in me and I´m trying to be very careful to take care of myself so it can´t fight back.
Classes have been good- but the best part has been my tandem class- my one on one with a peruvian student. I was fortunate to get partnered with a girl (kely) my same age that has become more like hanging out with a friend then having a class. I had NO girl friends from Costa Rica (they wanted nothing to do with me) so it has been so FUN to have a friend here!!! We wonder around Cuzco and talk & it has helped with my conversational Spanish a lot more then the actual class.
On Tuesday after lunch I went out to find Dan bc he had been in Cuzco for a while and I hadn´t made contact with him. We met up at the Plaza and he was traveling with a friend and we decided to hike up to one of the highest parts of Cuzco- a place called ¨sacsayhuaman¨ to the gringos... where there are ruins and at the top we met a guy that had horses and offered us a ride for 20 soles...like 6 dollars. We took him up on it & it was a brilliant afternoon. We went to this stable with these little horses that we rode around on through the country side and up to the temple of the moon. It was beautiful. By the temple you could walk around through parts of the inca trail and see the walls they built at the very beginning. Pretty incredible. Sooooo much history here. There were rocks that were sculptured into monkeys, snakes, and a puma... but they were broken up (smashed up) by the Spaniards.... quite interesting. They aren´t really perserving the stuff- you could walk right up to it and touch it... I imagine that they are going to have to tighten the reigns on the artifacts and machu picchu in coming years or it will be destroyed quickly....
It took me a few hours to walk home from that adventure and I was exhausted. Wednesday was the first day i could eat again so my body was achy and weak- but it was good to get some fresh country air in my lungs. Yesterday was a good day also.... Did all my school and watched Liverpool tie. Did errands... laundry day- I needed it! I wore flip flops to meet kely the other day and it was cold and she asked me if I was crazy ¨no I ran out of socks¨I told her and she laughed and laughed and laughed at me. For some reason I was nervous to take my laundry- but it was quite painless... just had to go pick it back up around 8:30 last night. Everywhere i go here I walk- so I have to plan on leaving 20- 30 mins before I need to be somewhere. It has been quite nice...when it is not raining.
I didn´t think it´d be sooo cold here- but this week has been a bit nicer. I thought I´d die when I first got here it was so cold. Today has been beautiful. I went to a market called Molina this morning with kely & there you can find ANYTHING. It isn´t a tourist market- but for the locals. I bought a few DVD´s- 3 for 10 soles... like 3 dollars. I got Siete Almas¨- seven pounds, and look forward to seeing that as I´ve been wanting to for awhile. At night sometimes I can´t sleep and I´ve been watching movies- last night we bought Mama Mia for a dollar off the street- I enjoyed it. Kely took me to her house and we hung out for awhile and she took me to another part of Cuzco- it was a huge maze I think. Had she ran off I´d be lost for good I´m sure. It seemed like we were walking zig zag up streets- but I probably should question a local.. It is hard to have a since of direction here as it is all a big valley.
Hopefully we will go out for a bit tonight. I haven´t really done any going out since I´ve been here and after this weekend I will be 24-7 intensive in my TEFL. They say to brace yourself bc the last two weeks are intense- so I´m counting on getting all my fun out of the way this weekend. I´m going to be taking my trek to deliver the materials that I brought through ¨sense the world¨ on Saturday- that should be an adventure. There is supposed to be a big celebration/festival going on Sunday in Cuzco so I want to be around to see what that means???
So much I want to write about- but this is getting long for today. Thanks for the e-mails & staying in touch.
Love,
Lindy
My host family as I´ve said are great... I came in at a moment that they are going through a lot of hard stuff. The boys try and not show it as much- but I can see it in them somedays. I am thankful that I´m here at this time as I´ve tried to keep a upbeat attitude and keep them laughing with my attempts to speak Spanish- when all else fails, SMILE :). They hardest part has been keeping up with the food. I am not used to having 3 meals a day. We sit down for three full meals. Breakfast is always toast with Jam & tea- sometimes fruit. Lunch is between 1-2 and everyone makes the trek home to eat together. Dinner is usually around 8 & by the time I´m done eating 3 full meals I´m exhausted just from the eating. I try and pawn the food off to Juanca & Richy... but they make sure to give me a hard time for not finishing first. The food for the moment is okay as I have lost a lot of weight. My pants are falling off my waist...but I´m sure I won´t have that problem for too long. Several students have gotten the same illness as me- but it has sat them out all together. Fortunately I´ve been feeling good- but they say it is pretty common that once you get this bug it comes back... I can feel it kinda dormant in me and I´m trying to be very careful to take care of myself so it can´t fight back.
Classes have been good- but the best part has been my tandem class- my one on one with a peruvian student. I was fortunate to get partnered with a girl (kely) my same age that has become more like hanging out with a friend then having a class. I had NO girl friends from Costa Rica (they wanted nothing to do with me) so it has been so FUN to have a friend here!!! We wonder around Cuzco and talk & it has helped with my conversational Spanish a lot more then the actual class.
On Tuesday after lunch I went out to find Dan bc he had been in Cuzco for a while and I hadn´t made contact with him. We met up at the Plaza and he was traveling with a friend and we decided to hike up to one of the highest parts of Cuzco- a place called ¨sacsayhuaman¨ to the gringos... where there are ruins and at the top we met a guy that had horses and offered us a ride for 20 soles...like 6 dollars. We took him up on it & it was a brilliant afternoon. We went to this stable with these little horses that we rode around on through the country side and up to the temple of the moon. It was beautiful. By the temple you could walk around through parts of the inca trail and see the walls they built at the very beginning. Pretty incredible. Sooooo much history here. There were rocks that were sculptured into monkeys, snakes, and a puma... but they were broken up (smashed up) by the Spaniards.... quite interesting. They aren´t really perserving the stuff- you could walk right up to it and touch it... I imagine that they are going to have to tighten the reigns on the artifacts and machu picchu in coming years or it will be destroyed quickly....
It took me a few hours to walk home from that adventure and I was exhausted. Wednesday was the first day i could eat again so my body was achy and weak- but it was good to get some fresh country air in my lungs. Yesterday was a good day also.... Did all my school and watched Liverpool tie. Did errands... laundry day- I needed it! I wore flip flops to meet kely the other day and it was cold and she asked me if I was crazy ¨no I ran out of socks¨I told her and she laughed and laughed and laughed at me. For some reason I was nervous to take my laundry- but it was quite painless... just had to go pick it back up around 8:30 last night. Everywhere i go here I walk- so I have to plan on leaving 20- 30 mins before I need to be somewhere. It has been quite nice...when it is not raining.
I didn´t think it´d be sooo cold here- but this week has been a bit nicer. I thought I´d die when I first got here it was so cold. Today has been beautiful. I went to a market called Molina this morning with kely & there you can find ANYTHING. It isn´t a tourist market- but for the locals. I bought a few DVD´s- 3 for 10 soles... like 3 dollars. I got Siete Almas¨- seven pounds, and look forward to seeing that as I´ve been wanting to for awhile. At night sometimes I can´t sleep and I´ve been watching movies- last night we bought Mama Mia for a dollar off the street- I enjoyed it. Kely took me to her house and we hung out for awhile and she took me to another part of Cuzco- it was a huge maze I think. Had she ran off I´d be lost for good I´m sure. It seemed like we were walking zig zag up streets- but I probably should question a local.. It is hard to have a since of direction here as it is all a big valley.
Hopefully we will go out for a bit tonight. I haven´t really done any going out since I´ve been here and after this weekend I will be 24-7 intensive in my TEFL. They say to brace yourself bc the last two weeks are intense- so I´m counting on getting all my fun out of the way this weekend. I´m going to be taking my trek to deliver the materials that I brought through ¨sense the world¨ on Saturday- that should be an adventure. There is supposed to be a big celebration/festival going on Sunday in Cuzco so I want to be around to see what that means???
So much I want to write about- but this is getting long for today. Thanks for the e-mails & staying in touch.
Love,
Lindy
Monday, January 26, 2009
La chica enferma & Machu Picchu!!!!!!!
There is a lot to catch up on in the past three days. Thursday night I was supposed to go out with my host mom to a concert of a friend of hers that plays typical Inka music at a lounge... I laid down to rest as I was exhausted & it hit me pretty hard that I was not feeling good...so I didn´t make it back out of bed Thursday night. Friday only got worse. I am NOT used to being sick- especially when it isn´t just feeling run down but actually illness.... so that´s what I´ve been battling the past several days. I came to the conclussion that I´m not eating ANYTHING for a few days. After not eating (or trying a few bites a few times and having a horrible outcome)- this morning I tried to eat some bread and it was a no-go.... so I´m sticking to water and gatorade for the next few days to try and get this out of my system. The sound of food just repulses me as every time I try to eat something it makes me feel awful. Some small bug living in my stomache I suppose.... I have no idea where I picked it up.. but I´ve convinced myself it was from the cuy I ate on the street :) (guinea pig). I´m sticking to that... In fact I think I´ll call this little bug in my belly "cuy". I´m not one to turn down trying things but I did the deed and tried the guinea pig and came to the conclusion (this one´s for you G)... Good idea= have a guinea pig as a pet. Bad idea= have a guinea pig for dinner. Lesson learned :)
Now that I´ve gotten the bad out of the way.... this weekend was amazing despite feeling ill. On Friday Willy´s cousin, my best peruvian friend, Efrain came from Lima and we hung around Cuzco and did some sight-seeing and ran around the city. He was so patient with me as every 10-15 mins I´d have to sit down and let my stomach settle down. But we got quite a bit in. We hung out in the plaza and did some people watching- it is the best place I´ve been to people watch. Lots of foreigners here- but not many from the US. Most are from Argentina (LOTS), Chile, Brazil, Columbia.... all over. I was surprised that there aren´t more people from the States here- very little English speakers around Cuzco... which is good for me and my Spanish. The people from Argentina are crazy though. Friday night we got some dinner- but I only had one bite and was done. After we made plans to travel the next day to Machu Picchu... the adventure I´d been waiting to take!
It was good to be traveling with a Peruvian bc the way I was going to do the trip and the way that the peruvians do it is quite different & I ended up saving lots of money. Early Saturday morning we got a taxi to a city called Ollaytaitambo. If you haven´t heard of it check it out online.. pretty amazing. It was about an hour an a half from Cuzco. From there we caught the train to Aguas Calientes- The little town you stay in when visiting Machu Picchu. On the train my mouth was wide open seeing the views- this HUGE mountains that look NOTHING like the mountains in CO. Just unreal... Reminded me of a movie.. something like Lord of the Rings- amazing scenary.
When we got to Aguas Calientes we explored the little town- it was sooo cute... lots of little hostels and restaurants built around the train tracks and a fast paced river that runs through the town. Tiny place that once you´ve seen it you´ve seen it- but worth seeing. All day we walked around- again stopping every 15 mins- but I was so excited to be in a new place I tried not to let it slow me down. So much to see and explore! We had dinner at a little restaurant and I had a few bites of a pizza made on a thin crust...looked delicious... but was done pretty quick... and after trying that was bed-riden for the rest of the night. I felt so bad for Efrain as it was his first time going to Aguas Calientes as well... but he was chill & once again patient about "cuy" living in my belly.
It turned out to be a good thing that we went to bed early because we woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning to catch the bus to Machu Picchu. I was SO blessed to have a gap that I felt good (well better) for the day- and we went HARD for our time in Machu Picchu. We got up there about 5:30 am and once we got in we went straight to Wyannapicchu.... a HUGE mountain that you can climb that is the highest point. This is another experience that I´ll struggle to write about.... UNREAL. When you get to Machu Picchu you are already up in the sky in the clouds... but at Wyannapicchu it feels like you are above the WORLD. There was a line to get into the mountain & it is dangerous to say the least.. but such a rush. They only allow 400 people to climb a day... and there are sessions. We were numbers 97 & 98- you have to sign in to climb and sign back out to say you exited (aka survived). I had no idea what I was getting into- but it was going up these steep rocks for over an hour... there were parts you had to hold on to a cord and pull and it was wet and slippery. Lots of work to get up... but at the top was worth it all.
I struggled with energy a bit just as my body has been SO exhausted- but when we got to the top it was so cloudy you couldn´t see anything. We waited about 10 mins and it cleared completely and there was a perfect view of Machu Picchu from WAY above. Incredible. Wow. Wow. Wow. That is all I can say. I am going to see if I can put some pics later today. We enjoyed being on top of the world for a little while and started the trek down. Too much to see in one day. The accent was easier...but even more dangerous- but when we got back to the bottom and looked at where we´d been it hit me pretty hard. The rest of the morning we ran around Machu Picchu trying to soak it all in- see everything. Incredible (did I say that already?). Can´t really describe it more then that.
We went back to Aguas Calientes after enjoying one of the wonders of the world and hung out and walked around a bit more before the train came. The train was a good experience.... we had to travel in seperate cars- as he was a resident of Peru and I was a foreigner.... to me that seemed like descrimination... but what can a little gringa do about a system they have set? I ended up sitting by a guy from France who was traveling with a friend of his who is peruvian as well- so they were seperated also. We struck up some conversation and after seeing the sights from the train we were back in the city where we got another mini-van taxi back to Cuzco. Home sweet home. We returned with a bunch of bug bites, a splash of sun on our skin and we were pretty dirty and tired. BUT well worth it all!
Last night I went back to my host family... sad to see my puruvian amigo leave as we had such a great time. I will get to see Willy´s family again on the 14th of Feb. so I´m looking forward to that.
Today is back to work... classes and spanish. My Spanish class was hard today- which was good as I had been challenged, but not really pushed last week. I feel awful right now- thinking of getting to a doctor (could be interesting) sometime this week if I´m not feeling better. As long as I can dodge food I should be good to go. About to head home to my house for "lunch time" so this should be interesting................ I´ll keep ya posted :)
Now that I´ve gotten the bad out of the way.... this weekend was amazing despite feeling ill. On Friday Willy´s cousin, my best peruvian friend, Efrain came from Lima and we hung around Cuzco and did some sight-seeing and ran around the city. He was so patient with me as every 10-15 mins I´d have to sit down and let my stomach settle down. But we got quite a bit in. We hung out in the plaza and did some people watching- it is the best place I´ve been to people watch. Lots of foreigners here- but not many from the US. Most are from Argentina (LOTS), Chile, Brazil, Columbia.... all over. I was surprised that there aren´t more people from the States here- very little English speakers around Cuzco... which is good for me and my Spanish. The people from Argentina are crazy though. Friday night we got some dinner- but I only had one bite and was done. After we made plans to travel the next day to Machu Picchu... the adventure I´d been waiting to take!
It was good to be traveling with a Peruvian bc the way I was going to do the trip and the way that the peruvians do it is quite different & I ended up saving lots of money. Early Saturday morning we got a taxi to a city called Ollaytaitambo. If you haven´t heard of it check it out online.. pretty amazing. It was about an hour an a half from Cuzco. From there we caught the train to Aguas Calientes- The little town you stay in when visiting Machu Picchu. On the train my mouth was wide open seeing the views- this HUGE mountains that look NOTHING like the mountains in CO. Just unreal... Reminded me of a movie.. something like Lord of the Rings- amazing scenary.
When we got to Aguas Calientes we explored the little town- it was sooo cute... lots of little hostels and restaurants built around the train tracks and a fast paced river that runs through the town. Tiny place that once you´ve seen it you´ve seen it- but worth seeing. All day we walked around- again stopping every 15 mins- but I was so excited to be in a new place I tried not to let it slow me down. So much to see and explore! We had dinner at a little restaurant and I had a few bites of a pizza made on a thin crust...looked delicious... but was done pretty quick... and after trying that was bed-riden for the rest of the night. I felt so bad for Efrain as it was his first time going to Aguas Calientes as well... but he was chill & once again patient about "cuy" living in my belly.
It turned out to be a good thing that we went to bed early because we woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning to catch the bus to Machu Picchu. I was SO blessed to have a gap that I felt good (well better) for the day- and we went HARD for our time in Machu Picchu. We got up there about 5:30 am and once we got in we went straight to Wyannapicchu.... a HUGE mountain that you can climb that is the highest point. This is another experience that I´ll struggle to write about.... UNREAL. When you get to Machu Picchu you are already up in the sky in the clouds... but at Wyannapicchu it feels like you are above the WORLD. There was a line to get into the mountain & it is dangerous to say the least.. but such a rush. They only allow 400 people to climb a day... and there are sessions. We were numbers 97 & 98- you have to sign in to climb and sign back out to say you exited (aka survived). I had no idea what I was getting into- but it was going up these steep rocks for over an hour... there were parts you had to hold on to a cord and pull and it was wet and slippery. Lots of work to get up... but at the top was worth it all.
I struggled with energy a bit just as my body has been SO exhausted- but when we got to the top it was so cloudy you couldn´t see anything. We waited about 10 mins and it cleared completely and there was a perfect view of Machu Picchu from WAY above. Incredible. Wow. Wow. Wow. That is all I can say. I am going to see if I can put some pics later today. We enjoyed being on top of the world for a little while and started the trek down. Too much to see in one day. The accent was easier...but even more dangerous- but when we got back to the bottom and looked at where we´d been it hit me pretty hard. The rest of the morning we ran around Machu Picchu trying to soak it all in- see everything. Incredible (did I say that already?). Can´t really describe it more then that.
We went back to Aguas Calientes after enjoying one of the wonders of the world and hung out and walked around a bit more before the train came. The train was a good experience.... we had to travel in seperate cars- as he was a resident of Peru and I was a foreigner.... to me that seemed like descrimination... but what can a little gringa do about a system they have set? I ended up sitting by a guy from France who was traveling with a friend of his who is peruvian as well- so they were seperated also. We struck up some conversation and after seeing the sights from the train we were back in the city where we got another mini-van taxi back to Cuzco. Home sweet home. We returned with a bunch of bug bites, a splash of sun on our skin and we were pretty dirty and tired. BUT well worth it all!
Last night I went back to my host family... sad to see my puruvian amigo leave as we had such a great time. I will get to see Willy´s family again on the 14th of Feb. so I´m looking forward to that.
Today is back to work... classes and spanish. My Spanish class was hard today- which was good as I had been challenged, but not really pushed last week. I feel awful right now- thinking of getting to a doctor (could be interesting) sometime this week if I´m not feeling better. As long as I can dodge food I should be good to go. About to head home to my house for "lunch time" so this should be interesting................ I´ll keep ya posted :)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Mis hermanos...
Yesterday I took a walk around Cuzco after having lunch with my brothers- The plaza de armas is A-MAZING... seriously the most beautiful place. It is a huge square with all ancient buildings and churches surrounding- and a fountain in the middle. I love that everything is historic here- nothing new and yuppie.... every building is just beautiful.
I went home to watch Peru play against Columbia with Juanca- perdimos...we lost :(. These boys crack me up! They are so great though- we laugh a ton and they are teaching me the "spanish lingo" of how to talk hip in Cuzco. We ate dinner all together- which was nice. In the evening Juanca and I walked to the plaza so he could give me tour of all the places. There are little stone allys in every crevice here that i would have never found on my own... that have a lot of international restaurants & discos. We walked through just about every one of them. At 11 Richy (that´s what they call Ricardo) got done working so we went to his bar/lounge. It is such a cute place. Lots of bean bags you can sit on- just a hip chill place. We played darts for about 2 hours- I got addicted. We played a game and I was within 2 points of beating them both... but Richey won- I got second.
This morning I had breakfast with Marina- my host mom again & this time she spilled everything. She opened up and told me all that she had been through- why she is a single mom and how she has/is struggling with depression. She was crying while she told me & it broke my heart... but I was able to tell her how much strength I see in her and that there is a joy that shines within her. All of that is true- she is such an incredible woman. It has just been such a blessing to be in her house- really.. divine. There is a reason that I´m there and I am just so glad I can be there for her to listen. What a blessing it has been to understand everything and be able to express myself. I love spanish soooo much. Last night Richy and Juanca were giving me a hard time for something that I said- and I realized that in this trip there hasn´t been a moment that I want to stop speaking in Spanish. In the past my head would be spinning and I´d want to be away from it- but this trip it is almost addicting to be in conversations. I´m loving it! Everywhere I go someone wants to have a conversation- and I love talking with people.
The most interesting thing that I´ve talked is politics... the peruvians have so many questions they want answered. It is interesting to hear their views also. I try to stay away from it for the most part- but they don´t want to argue it- more so hear about it.
Okay- enough for now. Off to my next clase de espanol....
I went home to watch Peru play against Columbia with Juanca- perdimos...we lost :(. These boys crack me up! They are so great though- we laugh a ton and they are teaching me the "spanish lingo" of how to talk hip in Cuzco. We ate dinner all together- which was nice. In the evening Juanca and I walked to the plaza so he could give me tour of all the places. There are little stone allys in every crevice here that i would have never found on my own... that have a lot of international restaurants & discos. We walked through just about every one of them. At 11 Richy (that´s what they call Ricardo) got done working so we went to his bar/lounge. It is such a cute place. Lots of bean bags you can sit on- just a hip chill place. We played darts for about 2 hours- I got addicted. We played a game and I was within 2 points of beating them both... but Richey won- I got second.
This morning I had breakfast with Marina- my host mom again & this time she spilled everything. She opened up and told me all that she had been through- why she is a single mom and how she has/is struggling with depression. She was crying while she told me & it broke my heart... but I was able to tell her how much strength I see in her and that there is a joy that shines within her. All of that is true- she is such an incredible woman. It has just been such a blessing to be in her house- really.. divine. There is a reason that I´m there and I am just so glad I can be there for her to listen. What a blessing it has been to understand everything and be able to express myself. I love spanish soooo much. Last night Richy and Juanca were giving me a hard time for something that I said- and I realized that in this trip there hasn´t been a moment that I want to stop speaking in Spanish. In the past my head would be spinning and I´d want to be away from it- but this trip it is almost addicting to be in conversations. I´m loving it! Everywhere I go someone wants to have a conversation- and I love talking with people.
The most interesting thing that I´ve talked is politics... the peruvians have so many questions they want answered. It is interesting to hear their views also. I try to stay away from it for the most part- but they don´t want to argue it- more so hear about it.
Okay- enough for now. Off to my next clase de espanol....
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Family Day
This morning I got up early to spend a little time with my host Mom- I haven´t been able to really sit down and talk to her as I´m always coming and going from the house. I can tell that she is a strong woman- a single mom of two boys ages 20 &25. She has a lot of strength in her personality, you can just tell she is such a wise woman.. but so warm and welcoming at the same time. I kind of had a feeling that she was struggling a little bit so I sat down with her for a few hours this morning and she was more then ready to talk... it was such a beautiful thing to be able to have a full conversation with her and understand all the things she is going through & the hardships of living in Cuzco. She told me about the past things that had happened to the people- the economy in Cuzco- her personal story and her hopes and dreams. It was awesome! Lots of hard things to hear about how the people in Cuzco are losing their land, companies and culture due to all the tourism and foreigners- but good to hear and be aware of for sure. Now she is a full time host mom- but keeps herself busy with yoga, volunteering at a few places and spending time with her friends.
School was good today- another day of Spanish. It has it´s good moments and frustrating ones, but I feel like my spanish is improving for sure!
I went home for lunch and my host brothers (Ricardo & Juan Carlos- we call him Juanca) were waiting to eat with me- how sweet. They are awesome. We have a really good time talking soccer (they can´t believe that I love it) and laughing about the simple things in life. This host family has been great- feels like home for now. I like having brothers around that I can hang out with and talk Spanish... they are good about helping me. Plus I can pawn some of my food off on them- they try and feed me sooo much (surprise)!
Ricardo is a chef so tonight he is going to take me to his restaurant & the three of us are going to go dancing for a bit after. My tandem class got cancelled in the morning- so I´ll be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning before my next class. Juanca told me he is going to see if he can get us into a private tour of the stadium here in Cuzco- they were telling me their dad used to work for the club.
So- in a nutshell I´m enjoying my host stay and am glad I choose to take the family route. Should be an awesome month!
School was good today- another day of Spanish. It has it´s good moments and frustrating ones, but I feel like my spanish is improving for sure!
I went home for lunch and my host brothers (Ricardo & Juan Carlos- we call him Juanca) were waiting to eat with me- how sweet. They are awesome. We have a really good time talking soccer (they can´t believe that I love it) and laughing about the simple things in life. This host family has been great- feels like home for now. I like having brothers around that I can hang out with and talk Spanish... they are good about helping me. Plus I can pawn some of my food off on them- they try and feed me sooo much (surprise)!
Ricardo is a chef so tonight he is going to take me to his restaurant & the three of us are going to go dancing for a bit after. My tandem class got cancelled in the morning- so I´ll be able to sleep in a bit tomorrow morning before my next class. Juanca told me he is going to see if he can get us into a private tour of the stadium here in Cuzco- they were telling me their dad used to work for the club.
So- in a nutshell I´m enjoying my host stay and am glad I choose to take the family route. Should be an awesome month!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Festivals....
I know it hasn´t even been a day- but the festivals were pretty impactful so I thought I should record it. Alfonso picked me up with his nephew and we took a taxi to the first one. It was pouring rain and we ran to this church where the procession would take place (they were religious festivals). We pushed our way through hundreds of people to make our way to the front of the church so we could see the virgin that was being honored. It was a huge statue that they would pick up on their shoulders and carry out.. Alfonso told me it weighed more then 3 tons- no idea how close that was but about 50 men carried it out. After that we pushed our way back out of the church to get a taxi to the next festival.The next festival was that times 500... TONS of people and we missed the honoring of the virgin in that town... but we got there to see the dancing. Groups of traditional dancers traveled from all over south america to honor this virgin... and they all had bright costumes. I´ve never been so close to so many people. This event tested just about all of my patience... I was SO close to SO many people... a few times I was worried we would all fall over. There were lots of masks in the procession... which I LOVE. Alfonso thought it was so great so I couldn´t tell him that i have a phobia of masks... as you will see in one of my pictures. We watched a parade of the dancing as it was pouring rain- we bought panchos.. but were soaked.
To top it off Alfonso decided we should try traditional food at a festival... perfect. My first sampling of Coy... guinea pig. Not only that, but there was whole parts of chicken, sausage, some bread made of corn, fish eggs, alge, beef... you name it- it was there. Luckily I didn´t get a plate... I just sampled off of Alfonso´s.... PRAY I DON´T GET SICK!!!! ha ha- I guess we only live once and my theory is that if you are going to be somewhere you must live as the people live. As you can see they serve guinea pigs whole.... head, feet... it´s there. You should have seen these peruvians tear that thing up..... Mmmmm!So there you have it.. again you must see pictures to do justice to this experience. Now I´m wet and cold and waiting to go home to eat....AGAIN. Ish... I can´t keep up with this.
Inauguration day from Peru...
Yesterday I ended up taking a city tour with my spanish class going to the town market... not the tourist one, but the one where they sell all kinds of fruits, vegetables, groceries, supplies, everything you could think of. The most odd thing I came across were the buckets of live frogs that they would cut the heads off of and peel the skin and you eat the rest of the frog (not the legs) as a form of medicine. It is supposed to relieve stress and headaches... I´m pretty sure it would CAUSE me both!!!! Poor little froggies.. I wanted to buy all of them.
In the evenings- after all of my classes at Maximo we decided to take some clases de baile.. Dance class.. they dance a lot of rueda here...which is salsa in a circle with anywhere from 3-10 partners and you change partners in a circle... if you´ve never seen it check it out on youtube- it is pretty awesome. One person in the group calls out the turns and all the other partners follow, changing partners as you go. After dance class i went home and watched the Peru vs Ecuador game on tv with my host brother Ricardo... Unfortunatly Peru lost 2-1. I feel right at home with the brothers- we watch lots of soccer, and my host mom is awesome! Erin and I decided to go out and dance a little more Rueda at a place where all the locals go to dance from 9-11 to try our new skills.
This morning I had my first tandem class- which is where I meet with a peruvian student and we talk for an hour in English and an hour in Spanish. I am meeting with a girl named Kelly who is my age and we had lots to talk about- it has been great for my conversational skills!!! Next I have classes for tefl and again in the afternoon I have my formal spanish class. I will be doing dance classes in the early evening 3 times a week- so I´ll keep busy for sure!
For the inauguration today we stopped our class to watch Obama speak- and got back to business after. It was good to see and especially with all the peruvians- they were very interested. We were all gathered around the tv´s listening... pretty sweet experience.
This afternoon Alfonso is picking me up to take me to some religious festivals... No idea what that means but he said they are very traditional so I guess I´ll find out. Right now I´m going to walk home to have lunch with my host mom...
My friend from Lima is coming out this weekend so it will be fun to hang out with someone during the free time. It´ll help me out a lot to trek around with a peruvian too as they get charged so much less then us obvious gringos. I try to blend in, but it´s hard. Here in cuzco there are a TON of tourists- but not from the US- from all over central and south america... cool to meet new people. Last night I got the best compliments bc I was talking to some locals in spanish and they asked me if I was from Argentina or Chile.. I was like ¨no..the EEUU"- but they said I spoke too well in Spanish to be american... that was exciting. my accent is probably my greatest strength in Spanish, which is helpful here.
Alright- off for lunch! Happy inauguration day to you all. Here´s to new beginnings for all.... Salud!
In the evenings- after all of my classes at Maximo we decided to take some clases de baile.. Dance class.. they dance a lot of rueda here...which is salsa in a circle with anywhere from 3-10 partners and you change partners in a circle... if you´ve never seen it check it out on youtube- it is pretty awesome. One person in the group calls out the turns and all the other partners follow, changing partners as you go. After dance class i went home and watched the Peru vs Ecuador game on tv with my host brother Ricardo... Unfortunatly Peru lost 2-1. I feel right at home with the brothers- we watch lots of soccer, and my host mom is awesome! Erin and I decided to go out and dance a little more Rueda at a place where all the locals go to dance from 9-11 to try our new skills.
This morning I had my first tandem class- which is where I meet with a peruvian student and we talk for an hour in English and an hour in Spanish. I am meeting with a girl named Kelly who is my age and we had lots to talk about- it has been great for my conversational skills!!! Next I have classes for tefl and again in the afternoon I have my formal spanish class. I will be doing dance classes in the early evening 3 times a week- so I´ll keep busy for sure!
For the inauguration today we stopped our class to watch Obama speak- and got back to business after. It was good to see and especially with all the peruvians- they were very interested. We were all gathered around the tv´s listening... pretty sweet experience.
This afternoon Alfonso is picking me up to take me to some religious festivals... No idea what that means but he said they are very traditional so I guess I´ll find out. Right now I´m going to walk home to have lunch with my host mom...
My friend from Lima is coming out this weekend so it will be fun to hang out with someone during the free time. It´ll help me out a lot to trek around with a peruvian too as they get charged so much less then us obvious gringos. I try to blend in, but it´s hard. Here in cuzco there are a TON of tourists- but not from the US- from all over central and south america... cool to meet new people. Last night I got the best compliments bc I was talking to some locals in spanish and they asked me if I was from Argentina or Chile.. I was like ¨no..the EEUU"- but they said I spoke too well in Spanish to be american... that was exciting. my accent is probably my greatest strength in Spanish, which is helpful here.
Alright- off for lunch! Happy inauguration day to you all. Here´s to new beginnings for all.... Salud!
Monday, January 19, 2009
change of pace...
I appologize if this blog starts to sound more like a journal- but it is how I´m tracking my trip so bare with me. Wow, wow, wow. Yesterday was a day of adventure. Words cannot describe anything that I experienced or saw yesterday as we packed SO much into one day-but it was brilliant. It was the last day to explore a bit until i had to get down to business at Maximo Nivel. I started my TEFL course and will be taking Spanish classes in the evenings also. SO- lots to learn. I could write all day about yesterday alone-but here is my best attempt to give you an overview. I can´t post pics- but they would do a lot more justice to my day.
Alfonso picked me up yesterday morning after I had some mate de cocoa in my hostel and we went to Maximo to get assigned to a host family. Honestly I was a little nervous when they told me I´d be with a single mom.. as that was my situation in CR, but I got to the place and I couldn´t have it any better. My host mom is named Marina and she reminds me so much of my aunt Judy :). So sweet and likeable from the first moment. She has a cat that wanted me to hold it right away- so I felt at home pretty quick- as I´m used to having Mamba & Luna around. My room is great and she has two sons- 20 & 25 that live there too. I´m sure they´ll show me some good parts of cuzco. I was only there for about 20 mins before we hit the road and started off to who knows where- we left by 9:30 am and didn´t return until 8:30 last night. We went way outside of cuzco the heart of the land here. The land is unbelievable- I couldn´t stop taking pictures. I felt like I was in watching a movie. Alfonso told me we would start at 14,000 ft and go higher as the day progressed. We stopped in a village about an hour outside cuzco where they have a market that people walk to from all over for hours and hours with their stuff on their backs. I was the only gringo that I saw- and the peruvians were the ones you see in pictures.
As I said so much of this is impossible to explain without pictures- but we went to a temple there where the walls were painted with the oils of the vegetables- Alfonso gave me a tour right in the middle of a service- which felt wierd to me.. but you learn to go with it when you are with a local. We heard the people singing in their native tongue- which I don´t know how to spell but it is catchua... the other langugage of the people here. We tried some kind of food that was all herbs that they grew- the closest discription I have is spinach... mixed with other green veggies.
We continued on to a place that was a glimpse of what I´ll see in machu picchu- with the ruins and construction of the incas. I´ve learned more history in the past few days about Cuzco then I know in all my years of English History in the US (that may have something to do with my attendance in highschool-ops). It is utterly facinating... the gods the Incas had and how they worshiped the sun.. how they built their land to harvet different kinds of crops in levels. So much to learn. That was amazing as well... as pictures will later describe.
We met alfonso´s wife for lunch at this buffet where the food was typical- and delicious. It was a cute restaurant with live music with flutes of all sorts- and all of it only cost for the three of us 15.00- for a first class feast.
The drive alone was incredible- but the little places we stopped at and the people of peru have been the biggest culture shock I´ve had in my travels. Yesterday alone! We stopped by a few soccer fields on the way and one time stopped to visit a friend of Alfonso´s who was the ref of a game so we watched. There was a girls game going on on a tiny field and some of the girls (or women) were wearing skirts playing soccer. That was an awesome sight! Go women´s soccer!!! It seriously amazed me how we would be in the middle of NOWHERE and you would see a beautiful soccer field with a fence around it (okay not AS beautiful as DSGPark Dean:)).... they were everywhere. I don´t even know where the people lived that played on some of these fields- but I loved it! Beauty at its finest is when you can see a soccer field surrounded by majestic land.
We also stopped on the side of the road to watch a cock fight- you can only imagine how well I handled that... it was pretty crazy. They put knives on the cocks- and the fight was not even the worst part. I was trying not to watch but kinda had to- REALLY trying to blend in as the only white person there... all the while maintain my cool. I´m a pacifist- so I really don´t understand the joy in watching a cock fight. BUT it was a great experience culturally. The worst fight was afterwards when they had to kill the cock that lost... it took about 10 of the men to try and break it´s neck as it was bleeding all over the place from the fight... ISH! They killed it and started walking off- one man carrying the winning cock and the other holding the losing cock by his legs when it started to try and fly... STILL. After a broken neck.... that my friends was an experience I didn´t expect when I signed up for this deal- but like I said, important to see.
We went to send a message to the village via a piece of paper that we will be coming to bring supplies soon. I guess the people will walk from far away to meet us... after our drive and horse-back trek. I´m pretty excited for that.
We stopped at one more market so Alfonso and his wife could buy some fruit and then on the way back we went to a look out view on our way back into cuzco and saw the white angel statue that looks over the whole city and all of the lights- pretty amazing view.
I got back- had dinner with my host mom and another student and then went to bed pretty quick.
Today I´m at Maximo- I had orientation this morning and classes and took my placement test and start Spanish classes tonight. That is my life in the past day in a nutshell...
Sorry to be so long... Hope all is well. Please be in touch :)
Alfonso picked me up yesterday morning after I had some mate de cocoa in my hostel and we went to Maximo to get assigned to a host family. Honestly I was a little nervous when they told me I´d be with a single mom.. as that was my situation in CR, but I got to the place and I couldn´t have it any better. My host mom is named Marina and she reminds me so much of my aunt Judy :). So sweet and likeable from the first moment. She has a cat that wanted me to hold it right away- so I felt at home pretty quick- as I´m used to having Mamba & Luna around. My room is great and she has two sons- 20 & 25 that live there too. I´m sure they´ll show me some good parts of cuzco. I was only there for about 20 mins before we hit the road and started off to who knows where- we left by 9:30 am and didn´t return until 8:30 last night. We went way outside of cuzco the heart of the land here. The land is unbelievable- I couldn´t stop taking pictures. I felt like I was in watching a movie. Alfonso told me we would start at 14,000 ft and go higher as the day progressed. We stopped in a village about an hour outside cuzco where they have a market that people walk to from all over for hours and hours with their stuff on their backs. I was the only gringo that I saw- and the peruvians were the ones you see in pictures.
As I said so much of this is impossible to explain without pictures- but we went to a temple there where the walls were painted with the oils of the vegetables- Alfonso gave me a tour right in the middle of a service- which felt wierd to me.. but you learn to go with it when you are with a local. We heard the people singing in their native tongue- which I don´t know how to spell but it is catchua... the other langugage of the people here. We tried some kind of food that was all herbs that they grew- the closest discription I have is spinach... mixed with other green veggies.
We continued on to a place that was a glimpse of what I´ll see in machu picchu- with the ruins and construction of the incas. I´ve learned more history in the past few days about Cuzco then I know in all my years of English History in the US (that may have something to do with my attendance in highschool-ops). It is utterly facinating... the gods the Incas had and how they worshiped the sun.. how they built their land to harvet different kinds of crops in levels. So much to learn. That was amazing as well... as pictures will later describe.
We met alfonso´s wife for lunch at this buffet where the food was typical- and delicious. It was a cute restaurant with live music with flutes of all sorts- and all of it only cost for the three of us 15.00- for a first class feast.
The drive alone was incredible- but the little places we stopped at and the people of peru have been the biggest culture shock I´ve had in my travels. Yesterday alone! We stopped by a few soccer fields on the way and one time stopped to visit a friend of Alfonso´s who was the ref of a game so we watched. There was a girls game going on on a tiny field and some of the girls (or women) were wearing skirts playing soccer. That was an awesome sight! Go women´s soccer!!! It seriously amazed me how we would be in the middle of NOWHERE and you would see a beautiful soccer field with a fence around it (okay not AS beautiful as DSGPark Dean:)).... they were everywhere. I don´t even know where the people lived that played on some of these fields- but I loved it! Beauty at its finest is when you can see a soccer field surrounded by majestic land.
We also stopped on the side of the road to watch a cock fight- you can only imagine how well I handled that... it was pretty crazy. They put knives on the cocks- and the fight was not even the worst part. I was trying not to watch but kinda had to- REALLY trying to blend in as the only white person there... all the while maintain my cool. I´m a pacifist- so I really don´t understand the joy in watching a cock fight. BUT it was a great experience culturally. The worst fight was afterwards when they had to kill the cock that lost... it took about 10 of the men to try and break it´s neck as it was bleeding all over the place from the fight... ISH! They killed it and started walking off- one man carrying the winning cock and the other holding the losing cock by his legs when it started to try and fly... STILL. After a broken neck.... that my friends was an experience I didn´t expect when I signed up for this deal- but like I said, important to see.
We went to send a message to the village via a piece of paper that we will be coming to bring supplies soon. I guess the people will walk from far away to meet us... after our drive and horse-back trek. I´m pretty excited for that.
We stopped at one more market so Alfonso and his wife could buy some fruit and then on the way back we went to a look out view on our way back into cuzco and saw the white angel statue that looks over the whole city and all of the lights- pretty amazing view.
I got back- had dinner with my host mom and another student and then went to bed pretty quick.
Today I´m at Maximo- I had orientation this morning and classes and took my placement test and start Spanish classes tonight. That is my life in the past day in a nutshell...
Sorry to be so long... Hope all is well. Please be in touch :)
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