I had another great week in Cusco. I don't have any big news or cool pictures today, but figured I would write down some random observations.
Peruvian time: As I half-jokingly told Berto today, he would fit in perfectly here. I've learned that there is really no pressure to be on time or do anything in a timely manner. My Spanish class starts at 10am, which really means we might get started by 10:15. After my first week of arriving at class at 9:58 and sitting by myself for 15 minutes, I have learned to not arrive at class until at least 10:10. I've also learned to not expect waiters to pay much attention to me. Want to get your menu? Expect to wait at least 10 minutes. Ready to order another drink? You are better off going to the bar and ordering yourself. This concept of time is new to me, and it has been a little hard to get used to. But it is also really refreshing and a much-welcomed break from the gogogo of Chicago.
Locals' extreme overdressing: The weather here is beautiful. It is hot and sunny for most of the day with the occasional rain shower. Cusco is the place on earth with the highest ultraviolet light level. So if the sun is shining, you are HOT. Yet I have not seen one single local in a pair or shorts, or rarely a t-shirt. Daily, they are bundled up in sweaters, fleeces, winter jackets, and the Quechua women wear legwarmers. It continues to amaze me that I am sweating excessively in jeans and a t-shirt and people are passing by me wearing leather jackets and scarves.
I'm a gringa: In many places in the city, it's very common to see a bunch of tourists aka white people aka gringos. However, in other places and on my bus to work everyday, I am the sole white person and the locals (affectionately) call me gringa.
Everyone is on my level! Cusquena people are short. You won't see any local, man of woman, above 5'9" in Cusco. I personally am loving it! But for my taller housemates and volunteers, it can be difficult. There is barely any leg room in buses and anyone above 5'5" can't stand up straight on a bus. Evan, a guy I volunteer with is over 6 foot. When he stood up to get off the bus yesterday, a kid on the bus pointed and yelled "gigante!" It was pretty funny. Lee- Cusco is perfect for you!
Sorry for the underwhelming post. Tomorrow I am going to the Pisac ruins, so an interesting post with pictures is coming!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Weekend adventures
My first weekend in Cusco flew by and it was truly amazing. It was spontaneous and full of surprises- exactly how it should be!
On Saturday, my roommate and I took a hike up to Cristo Blanco, a huge white statue of Christ that overlooks the city (pictures below). It was a beautiful walk with great views. Plus, I was very excited to see my first llamas (or alpacas...not sure of the difference yet). There are also some Inca ruins on top of the same hill, but we were not able to go because we had to rush to be on time for our next activity - chocolate! We went to the Chocolate Museum with one other girl in our house and her boyfriend. We took a 2 hour class about the history of chocolate and how it is made. We got to make a couple ancient chocolate drinks that the Inca royalty used the drink, as chocolate used to very expensive and a luxury. We also got to flavor our own chocolates to take home. I made mine a bunch of different flavors - mint, chile, milk, peanuts, etc. They turned out quite delicious!
I expected Sunday to be pretty low key so I could relax and do my Spanish homework. That did not happen at all. Me and 3 of my housemates decided last minute to go to some ruins in the Sacred Valley. A 1 hour bus ride and 15 minute cab ride later, we arrived at Moray. Moray is Inca ruins that are a bunch of huge, depressed circles. The temperature increases as you walk down to the center, so people believe that the Incas used these circles to experiment with different climates for growing crops. It was amazing - I really hope my pictures do it some justice! After Moray, we drove about 20 minutes to the Salineras, which are salt mines that have been used since the Inca time. It's a group of hundreds of little ponds that local people own to farm their own salt. Our cab driver's family actually owns one of the ponds, so he ran down to check out how the pond is doing. Unfortunately, we didn't see the farmers in action because they do not farm the salt until the rainy season is over in May. But it was still very cool and had really breathtaking views.
It was a really great weekend and I am excited to do some more traveling next weekend. But I have to cut this post short because I have yet to start my Spanish homework!
I took 111 pictures this weekend, but here are some of the best ones:
On Saturday, my roommate and I took a hike up to Cristo Blanco, a huge white statue of Christ that overlooks the city (pictures below). It was a beautiful walk with great views. Plus, I was very excited to see my first llamas (or alpacas...not sure of the difference yet). There are also some Inca ruins on top of the same hill, but we were not able to go because we had to rush to be on time for our next activity - chocolate! We went to the Chocolate Museum with one other girl in our house and her boyfriend. We took a 2 hour class about the history of chocolate and how it is made. We got to make a couple ancient chocolate drinks that the Inca royalty used the drink, as chocolate used to very expensive and a luxury. We also got to flavor our own chocolates to take home. I made mine a bunch of different flavors - mint, chile, milk, peanuts, etc. They turned out quite delicious!
I expected Sunday to be pretty low key so I could relax and do my Spanish homework. That did not happen at all. Me and 3 of my housemates decided last minute to go to some ruins in the Sacred Valley. A 1 hour bus ride and 15 minute cab ride later, we arrived at Moray. Moray is Inca ruins that are a bunch of huge, depressed circles. The temperature increases as you walk down to the center, so people believe that the Incas used these circles to experiment with different climates for growing crops. It was amazing - I really hope my pictures do it some justice! After Moray, we drove about 20 minutes to the Salineras, which are salt mines that have been used since the Inca time. It's a group of hundreds of little ponds that local people own to farm their own salt. Our cab driver's family actually owns one of the ponds, so he ran down to check out how the pond is doing. Unfortunately, we didn't see the farmers in action because they do not farm the salt until the rainy season is over in May. But it was still very cool and had really breathtaking views.
It was a really great weekend and I am excited to do some more traveling next weekend. But I have to cut this post short because I have yet to start my Spanish homework!
I took 111 pictures this weekend, but here are some of the best ones:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Settling in
Officially 4 days in and I'm starting to get adjusted to the Cusco way of life. I've been keeping very busy and have quite a full schedule. Here is my schedule Monday-Friday:
-7:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast, which consists of delicious fresh fruit, yogurt, granola-type stuff, and fresh juice.
-9:30am: Leave the house to walk 30 minutes to my Spanish class.
-10am-12pm: Spanish class - I am in a class with one other guy who speaks fluent Portuguese, so he has a big advantage learning Spanish and picks things up pretty quick. I am learning a lot though. My teacher only speaks in Spanish the entire class, so at times it is difficult to follow her but she is very good at explaining things and giving examples. I'm enjoying class a lot!
-12:30pm: Arrive home for lunch. Relax a bit, read on the awesome rooftop balcony we have, or do my Spanish homework.
-2pm: Walk 30 minutes to the bus stop to take my 50 min bus ride to my volunteer placement in a nearby town named Saylla. This is where things get interesting because riding a bus here is quite the experience. First of all, it is not always a 'bus'- sometimes it is a van. They're are very crowded and play super loud music. There is a guy who kind of hangs out of the bus door (which is left open a lot of the drive) who yells at people at the different bus stops if they want to get on. He also walks through the bus at seemingly random times to collect payment (1 sole, or about 30 cents). He sometimes announces the next bus stop, but not always - you have to be pretty alert and ready to yell "Baja! (stop)" when you want to get off. Then you are told to hurry up, hurry up, get off the bus.
-3-6pm: Volunteer at Corazon de Dahlia, a program for local Saylla children ages 5-12. There are usually about 15-20 kids. I'm immediately greeted by the kids with kisses on the cheek and "Buenas tardes!" These kids are freakin cute, and so sweet and polite. For the first hour, we play a game or do an art project. The next hour they work on homework, and it's my job to make sure they are doing their work and not messing around. This can be difficult with the language barrier but already in the past 3 days, I feel I have really improved. Yesterday I successfully explained in spanish to a 7 year old girl what a subject and a verb are and how they form a sentence. So I was pretty happy about that. Though there are also a few kids who do not speak Spanish or English - they only speak Quechua, the native language of the Andean region. The last hour of the day we work with them on English. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we teach a lesson and the rest of the days we review that week's lesson. This weeks lessons are how to say "My name is..." and learning the English alphabet. It is really fun, and I am truly enjoying it. I never really though of myself as a big "kid person" but these kids are really awesome and I look forward to spending a lot more time with them!
-7:30pm: Arrive home and eat dinner. By this time I am usually really tired and don't do much, but hopefully I will get more adjusted to my schedule and have more energy to do more at night.
Weekends are open for me, so I am trying to plan trips and tours and such. Hopefully this weekend my roommate and I will go to the Sacred Valley.
The weather here is beautiful - about 70 degrees and sunny during the day...and I mean SUNNY. I was on the balcony for about 10 minutes and got sunburnt. I have never felt sun so strong in my life (yes mom, I am wearing sunscreen everyday). Then at night it cools of quite a bit and you need a light jacket.
Here are some pictures:
-7:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast, which consists of delicious fresh fruit, yogurt, granola-type stuff, and fresh juice.
-9:30am: Leave the house to walk 30 minutes to my Spanish class.
-10am-12pm: Spanish class - I am in a class with one other guy who speaks fluent Portuguese, so he has a big advantage learning Spanish and picks things up pretty quick. I am learning a lot though. My teacher only speaks in Spanish the entire class, so at times it is difficult to follow her but she is very good at explaining things and giving examples. I'm enjoying class a lot!
-12:30pm: Arrive home for lunch. Relax a bit, read on the awesome rooftop balcony we have, or do my Spanish homework.
-2pm: Walk 30 minutes to the bus stop to take my 50 min bus ride to my volunteer placement in a nearby town named Saylla. This is where things get interesting because riding a bus here is quite the experience. First of all, it is not always a 'bus'- sometimes it is a van. They're are very crowded and play super loud music. There is a guy who kind of hangs out of the bus door (which is left open a lot of the drive) who yells at people at the different bus stops if they want to get on. He also walks through the bus at seemingly random times to collect payment (1 sole, or about 30 cents). He sometimes announces the next bus stop, but not always - you have to be pretty alert and ready to yell "Baja! (stop)" when you want to get off. Then you are told to hurry up, hurry up, get off the bus.
-3-6pm: Volunteer at Corazon de Dahlia, a program for local Saylla children ages 5-12. There are usually about 15-20 kids. I'm immediately greeted by the kids with kisses on the cheek and "Buenas tardes!" These kids are freakin cute, and so sweet and polite. For the first hour, we play a game or do an art project. The next hour they work on homework, and it's my job to make sure they are doing their work and not messing around. This can be difficult with the language barrier but already in the past 3 days, I feel I have really improved. Yesterday I successfully explained in spanish to a 7 year old girl what a subject and a verb are and how they form a sentence. So I was pretty happy about that. Though there are also a few kids who do not speak Spanish or English - they only speak Quechua, the native language of the Andean region. The last hour of the day we work with them on English. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we teach a lesson and the rest of the days we review that week's lesson. This weeks lessons are how to say "My name is..." and learning the English alphabet. It is really fun, and I am truly enjoying it. I never really though of myself as a big "kid person" but these kids are really awesome and I look forward to spending a lot more time with them!
-7:30pm: Arrive home and eat dinner. By this time I am usually really tired and don't do much, but hopefully I will get more adjusted to my schedule and have more energy to do more at night.
Weekends are open for me, so I am trying to plan trips and tours and such. Hopefully this weekend my roommate and I will go to the Sacred Valley.
The weather here is beautiful - about 70 degrees and sunny during the day...and I mean SUNNY. I was on the balcony for about 10 minutes and got sunburnt. I have never felt sun so strong in my life (yes mom, I am wearing sunscreen everyday). Then at night it cools of quite a bit and you need a light jacket.
Here are some pictures:
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Estoy aqui!
After a long night of traveling, I arrived in Cusco at 8:30 this morning. After a short tour of the volunteer organization's office, I was taken to my housing and immediately fell asleep for 4 hours. I am staying in a family house called San Pedro. There are 12 volunteers living here. I am rooming with a girl named Alejandra - she is very nice and speaks fluent Spanish so that's a plus! We have a house manager and cook who makes us all our meals. They are both very nice and speak pretty good English as well.
After my nap, I walked about 20 minutes to the volunteer office for my orientation. I also took a Spanish test to see what level lessons I should take while I'm here. Good news - I'm not super basic! I'm actually pre-intermediate - I guess all my practicing by myself in my room paid off.
Tomorrow I have my first Spanish class from 10-12, then visit the site of my volunteer project at 2:30. I'm really enjoying myself so far and am very impressed with how organized the whole process has been.
The food so far has been very good. Berto- you were right about the potatoes. Peru has 3000+ varieties of potatoes and we are told to expect them in every meal.
After my nap, I walked about 20 minutes to the volunteer office for my orientation. I also took a Spanish test to see what level lessons I should take while I'm here. Good news - I'm not super basic! I'm actually pre-intermediate - I guess all my practicing by myself in my room paid off.
Tomorrow I have my first Spanish class from 10-12, then visit the site of my volunteer project at 2:30. I'm really enjoying myself so far and am very impressed with how organized the whole process has been.
The food so far has been very good. Berto- you were right about the potatoes. Peru has 3000+ varieties of potatoes and we are told to expect them in every meal.
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| View from my bedroom window |
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| My room |
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| Another of the view from my bedroom |
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| My volunteer house - my room is the 2nd floor, 2nd from the left |
Monday, March 12, 2012
The countdown begins!
This is it...only 5 days until I leave for Peru, and 6 days until I step foot in Cusco. I'm feeling a big mix of emotions but overall, I am very excited and equally as nervous. It's kind of a scary thing to not know at all what to expect, but that is also what makes it exciting.
I'm looking forward to challenging myself in every way possible - traveling alone, living in a foreign country alone, working with children, learning a new language... it is all very overwhelming.
I know that it will not be all smiles and sunshine. I know that at times I will get frustrated, lonely, homesick, and discouraged. That is part of this experience, and I am ready to conquer those feelings and soak up everything to the fullest.
5 more days...and still lots to get done!
I'm looking forward to challenging myself in every way possible - traveling alone, living in a foreign country alone, working with children, learning a new language... it is all very overwhelming.
I know that it will not be all smiles and sunshine. I know that at times I will get frustrated, lonely, homesick, and discouraged. That is part of this experience, and I am ready to conquer those feelings and soak up everything to the fullest.
5 more days...and still lots to get done!
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