First Days in Cusco

Feb 21-22

Hi all!

I'm at an internet café, and it's been a great first few day in Cusco!

First of all it's been sunny and warm both days, which was VERY unexpected.

We spent a lot of time the first day just exploring the city, and what a city it is. Nestled in the mountains with it's plazas, cobble stone streets, cathedrals and great food. We started in the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, where we witnessed a traditional celebration and parade (I actually wasn't exactly sure what the occasion was, but it was very cool to see!)

We then spent a lot of time finding places to buy the tickets that we needed to get into a lot of the museums and surrounding archeological sites. We had to get the ISIC identification cards to get a discount which required some doing (getting pictures taken, print outs of academic records, etc.) We prevailed in the end though!

As far as food went, we had a traditional lunch with the locals. It was good and CHEAP. Kind of in a back allyway, but it was fun lol.

We then had dinner at a great place on Avenida de Sol, which included a great drink called Chicha Morada (tasted very interesting, like a soy milk latte/grape juice mix, very good!), appetizers, a main course and a wonderful Dulce de Leche dessert flan.

That evening we went to a theatre to see some tradtional Peruvian dances, tried some Pisco Sours (Pisco is a traditional liquor here made from fermented grapes) at a bar that overlooked the Plaza de Armas, and then called it a night.

On day two we started off with the free breakfast at our wonderful hostel and then took off to try and see the Cathedral as we had heard we could see it in the morning free of charge. There was a mass taking place though, and I guess we looked too "touristy" with our backpacks and such, so that was a no-go. We did go across the street to see the Jesuit temple "Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus". It was a beautiful structure, and we were able to hike up a rickety staircase to a balcony to get a great view of the plaza.

After that the real adventure began. We hiked about 25 minutes up to the archeological site of Sacsaywaman. On the way, however; we ran into a boy named Dario who offered us a tour on horseback. At first we were reluctant, but it included 3 additional sites, and it was less than $20 a piece. We decided to go for it.

Long story short, we had a great time, but it was a bit of a fiasco, lol. They put us on the horses, and "shhhed"us up the rocky path. We thought our "guide", Felix, was right behind us, but when we eventually decided to stop and wait, he never came. Instead, we ended up being led by a 13 year old boy riding bare-back on his little white horse!

We rode for a mile or so along the hillsides, rocky paths and fields. At one point, my horse got a little angry at Doug's and decided to go crazy and run into some bushes. I kind of fell off... ok, there's no "kinda"about it. I fell off and broke my camera, but we laughed about it (there is just a bent piece on the camera, I'm going to try and fix it tonight) and eventually made it to the first stopping point. We got off the horses expecting to go and see the first site, but instead, our "guide" told us that we had to flag down a combi (little bus) to go to the first two sites. He said it was only 1 sol each person, and after we were done seeing the sites we would have to flag down another combi to come back.

It actually worked out better than I had anticipated, and the two sites were very cool. The first was called Tambomachay, and ancient Incan bath site with springs, channeled water and fountains protruding from the rocks. The second site, was Pucapucara, supposedly an old hunting fort, and traveler stopping point.

After seeing the sites, we flagged down another combi with the locals and found our way back to the horses by some miracle. After getting back on our trusty steads we rode along a trail that led through some beautiful countryside surrounded by amazing mountain views. We saw Quenqo, a site used for sacrifices that was carved straight into a giant piece of limestone, and then continued back to Sacsaywaman, where we met Jorge.

Jorge was a very cool guy who convinced us to go on a tour with him. We didn't regret it though, the tour was very reasonable and Jorge had us laughing for the entire hour. We learned a lot about the history of the site (ask me sometime!), and then decended back down to Cusco with rainclouds at our backs and "choclo con queso" in our hands (a Peruvian snack - kind of like corn on the cob with cheese).

To finish off the day we went to three museums (Museo Historico Regional, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo and Museo de Arte Popular) and checked on our bus for Ollantaytambo, that's set to leave at 5am tomorrow morning!

Hope all is well with everyone, and I'll try and post pics, but it might not be until I return to Lima.

Arrival in Lima

February 19 – 20

Hey everyone! So, I’m going to keep this pretty short, because I have to fly out of Lima at 5am, and it’s already 10:30pm, but things have been going great so far. The flight(s) down here were relaxed and smooth. I met two guys on the flight from Newark to Lima that were really fun to talk to about the different foods and places in Peru. They gave me a lot of suggestions for new things to try! One of them lived in Arequipa, and said that I should stop by to visit on my way though (I’m flying through Arequipa to get to Cusco). I had to decline for lack of time, but it would have been fun!

Anyway, since I’ve been here I’ve been staying with a woman named Patricia and her son Alejandro. They have a very nice old house in a part of town called “La Molina” and it’s been great to stay with them so far. Patricia has been nice enough to show me around the city. The beaches are georgeous!

As for the school where I’ll be working, it’s called “Colegio de la Inmaculada” and it’s a really neat place. It is built into the side of a large hill and has four different levels. Each level has buildings with different grade levels that attend them. The lower grades are at the bottom, and as you move up in level you move up in the age of the students!

From the school the view of the city is great, and the place where I’ll be staying is on the 3^rd floor of a building located on the highest level. It’s a nice room/office, and I’ve got a nice view, and even a balcony! It’s a lot more than I had expected, and the facilities are excellent as well. There are also some really neat projects going on. For example, they treat and recycle their own water (Lima is literally a desert). They also have some pretty exotic animals that they take care of in a sort of “mini zoo) on the third level down.

Over all, things have been going well, and I’ll have a lot to post about Cusco and Machi Picchu when I return in a week!