Sorry fans, that have been quiet this week. Its been a bit tiring.

Saturday – I chilled with my volunteer housemates and in the evening went to the international volunteer party where the highlight was free drinks – sangria, mojitos, screw drivers and Cusquenas (the most popular beer named after Cusco).

On Sunday, I went on a 12 hour tour of Cusco’s Sacred Valley of the Incas. It seemed like the longest day of my life.

Problem number one – we waited almost an hour for our bus because our escort did not know which bus we were supposed to get on. Nice

Problem number two – I was on a bilingual tour and I could not understand the guides’ Spanish or English. He was talking like the he had marbles in his mouth. Double Nice!!!

Problem number three – All of the ruins had stairs and my heart almost blew out of my chest. It was quite funny actually, at one of the ruins, Ollantaytambo, which had like 10 flights of stairs, all of the tourist were keeled over halfway through. One minute I saw my guide at the bottom (mind you I was 3/4ths of the way up and it took me at least 10 minute) and the next minute he was in front of me. They say the people here have big lungs. Mine are obviously small.

On the tour I visited, Pisaq, Ollantytambo, Chincero

Pisaq is about 30 minutes from Cusco. There is a nice market there and we actually ran into a parade, Peruvians are always celebrating something. The parade was for the Virgin Carmen. There was dancing and people dressed in traditional costumes, very interesting. I had Traditional Dulce Empenada and I think it gave me food poison, but it was good. It had banana, sugar and cinnamon and something else I cant remember in it. There is an archaeological site a few miles up with fantastic views and agricultural terraces. Pisaq has rustic architecture because it was where the common Incans lived. This site was my favorite.

Then it was on to Ollantytambo, which is a testament to Incan urban planning. There are narrow streets, waterways (there is running waterways all threw town), hillside farming terraces and temples. We climbed up to The Temple of the Sun. The most amazing thing about this ruin was right across from the temple on another mountain, the Incans built the equivalent of a deep freezer. There used to be snow on some of the mountains and they would store their food there to keep it cold.

Lastly there was Chincero, which had a traditional Sunday market (people selling alpaca and food galor), colonial architecture and the colonial church. I was tired at this point and ready to go home.

On Monday, I think I had food poisoning, so I was in bed all day and finished the day with a few hours of Grey’s Anatomy. All the volunteers are obsessed with it. Its my favorite show and we are halfway through season three.

Randomness

We just got three new volunteers at our house, they are siblings, and they failed to read the weather forecast, so the first day they had to stock up on hats, gloves and warm clothes. They actually bought shorts, nobody here wears shorts. They would probably stair more then usual if I put a pair on, even though its quit hot during the day.

Strange Food – The other day, we had a very interesting dish. Imagine a two layer very yellow cake with white icing in the middle. What is it? I am not sure the name, but its actually chicken salad (that’s that white stuff in the middle) sandwiched by cold yellow mashed potatoes (that the yellow cake). Wait, I almost forgot, there is a layer of mayonnaise on top garnished with ¼ of a boiled egg and one olive. This dish is served cold. It not actually nasty, its just weird. Usually lunch is the most interesting meal of the day, interesting meaning non identifiable and not tasty. Breakfast is always cornflakes, strawberry yogurt (which is kept in a cabinet , i.e. non refrigerated) and bread and some excellent jam. Dinner is always some kind of chicken or beef with rice and potatoes, which is really good 95% of the time. Dessert is either hot chicha morada, Jello or rice pudding. The rice pudding is my fav and I don´t really like rice.

Search for firewood – Although it probably gets down in the 30′s and 40′s at night nobody here has indoor heat.- I heard it costs $350 American dollars, no wonder. Thus, my house is cold all of the time, even though its like in the 70′s during the day. I sleep all of my clothes on and my fleece plus two blankets. The other day, we discovered that our homestay had a fireplace. Its right in the living room, I am not sure how we missed it. Monday, we ventured out to buy firewood (this is after very bad 20 minute communication with our host mom about what it was called in Spanish and where to buy it). Alas, after a 20 minute walk, the store was closed. The next day we get it, fire it up and it goes out fairly quickly, why? Our hypothesis, is its because there is very little oxygen here. Mission failed!!!

Changing sites – I decided to change my volunteer placement to another school because the school I am at has between 30-40 kids in each class and we only meet with each class once a week. My school is always closed, case in point last week it was only open 2 days and yesterday one of the teachers told me that the school will be closed for the next two weeks. Me and two other volunteers probably see about 300 children a week because we have 10 classes a week and at least 25 children in each class. Its just not a workable system. Just to tell you a little about the school, its an elementary and middle school, it is only a few years old, has about 700 children and many of the children are poor and without proper nutrition and running water. They are precious though, I am always greeted and left with big hugs and goodbyes. Last year, the volunteers built a shower at the school because its the only place some of the children have to take showers twice a week. My favorite moments are the hugs, how excited they get to take pictures and see themselves in them and the moments they actually get something we taught them. We have been going over animals, colors, furniture and prepositions. I love their faces when they are correct or they are able to make sentences. Unfortunately, i was not able to make many connections with the children or learn too many names, but today my best students were Omar and Rodrigo (below).  Here are a few others:

Lessons learned over the past few weeks – you must be patient, because there will be a lot of waiting, number two – you must be flexible because you may wake up and there might be a strike, celebration or holiday and something will be closed or delayed or plans will change. I have actually grown to like this variability.

Fighting for my soles – Cuzco is the tourist capital of Peru, so the locals are always trying to overcharge all of the volunteers because we are obviously tourists. At first, its like between .5 and 3 sols, which is more than $1 an you are like “whatever”, but then you kind of get tired of being hustled and fight for the .50cents. The other day I turned down two cabs because the price is supposed to be 2.50 sols and they kept trying to charge me 3 or 4. Fed Up!!! All of the volunteers just had quite the hilarious conversation about getting gangsta with people who keep trying to overcharge us because we are foreigners. The funny thing is that 1 sol is like $.30, but its the principal. Despite all of the above mishaps, though this is not my favorite place, its quite endearing and I enjoy it most of the time. These things make for interesting stories. Each day is an adventure, for better or for worst.

My eyes

Today, I saw a pig, a dog with dreadlocks, two donkeys, 3 llamas and a women with at least 30 lbs of wool in a sack on her back (the sack was bigger then her). I was cramped in my bus with about 30 kids and someone´s stomach was on my shoulder the whole time. While on a break at school, I talked for nearly one hour with this Peruvian man that was about 80. I was trying to memorize a poem when he came over and asked me what was on my paper. We got to talking and he told me all about his life; he is 80, his wife died a few years ago, he has 7 children (two girls and 5 boys), he used to work for the government for 40 years, now he farms potatoes and corn sometimes although not often because he has pain in his back, legs and knees, he eats three meals a day at a place right across from the main plaza and he remembers the earthquake of 1950. I wanted to take his picture, but he kept asking me for what and I couldn´t explain in Spanish so I dropped it. A lot of older people here do not like their picture taken because they believe it steals their soul. He asked me when I was coming to visit him and invited me somewhere for chicken. I will probably see him tomorrow, because my last day at the school is them. My favorite moment of the day was when he said something and I said no comprendo, and he replied in a deeper voice then usual ¨no comprendo?¨ in a tone as if to say you trying to BS me or something. It was very funny.

My favorites

Peruvians – Gabo, my house brother and the guy I met in the plaza today

Americans in Peru – Effie & Tiffany. They are Af Am from VA and absolutely hilarious. They make me laugh out loud several times a day. This hypothesis may be proven wrong during this trip, but i am convinced that African American people are the funniest people group alive.

Site: Saqsaywoman and The Plaza de Armas

Food or Drink – Chicha Morada

Write you you all next week. I am leaving tomorrow night to go to Arequipa which is a 10 hour busride, but its a real developed city and I am excited. Its supposed to have the deepest canyon in the world. I´ll let you know how it is.