Cusco - yo estudio espanol!

  Cusco, Peru
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

After a quick stop in Lima, I arrived in Cusco on Sat May 24th. I am in Spanish classes here at the Amauta Language School for 2 weeks. Cusco is a beautiful city high in the Andes Mountains; I think we are at 10,500 feet and I believe I heard it is one of the highest cities in the world.

Plaza de Armas Cusco

Adjusting to the altitude has been okay, but wow did I get out of breath the first week when I walked uphill -- which is everywhere (well until you are going downhill of course) or up any stairs -- which similarly are everywhere as the

Streets of Cusco

streets may either be a street of stairs when it is just a pedestrian street or the sidewalk of the streets are all stairs. Hopefully some of the street photos show this a bit.

Streets of Cusco

I like to think that the shortness of breath means I am exercising a lot. I am not sure that is exactly the case, but several of us have rationalized that are bodies are definitely working harder here just to breathe & that must mean we are burning something. My current strategy is to replace whatever I am burning with chocolate cake and/or desserts in general. Those that know me well know that this is a strategy I often employ. It has not changed in South America.

Studying Spanish is hardwork :)

View from the terrace at Spanish school

The school has a couple buildings that include living quarters, classrooms, common terrace and gathering areas. Students either live in the school buildings or with a family. I am living in a room in the main school building. I took a little video of my room, which is slightly smaller than my bathroom at home. The shared bathrooms are in the hall & I left that out of the video for your viewing pleasure.

My home away from home at Spanish School

The most exciting thing about the living quarters in Cusco is that the buildings here have no heat. So while during the day it is very sunny (it is the dry season & I have witnessed only very few sprinkles in 10 days) and nice - perhaps 65 - 70 degrees. It drops to a balmy 35 - 40 degrees over night. Que bueno! How nice! :) So that has taken some adjustment. The first evenings I believe I slept in long underwear + pjs, 2 pairs of wool socks, my coat, wool hat purchased here & gloves. I have made much progress & am now comfortable in pjs, wool socks & my hat. I still use the gloves when I read in bed at night. (side personal note to Erin Axtell - I hate to say it, but you might die here -- just bring many, many long johns.) It is very exciting to note however that the showers are hot! Yay!

There are many great folks at the school - both students and staff. A couple other woman -- Lena from Sweden & Lotte from Holland -- and I bum around quite a bit. They are both similar in age, taking a break from work & just looking for a relaxing & different life experience for awhile. They are both in Cusco for 8 weeks doing a combination of language classes & volunteering. I feel very blessed to have met such cool, interesting women.

Lena, Lotte & I high above Cusco at Saqsaywaman

My days are varied as the time of class varies, but here are a couple example days that are representative of the last 10 days in Cusco -
-- Thursday -- go for 1 hour hike to Inca ruins before breakfast at school, head to cafe in morning to study Spanish with cake & coffee at 10:30 am, Spanish class from 2:30 - 6:30, go to lecture & class on traditional Peruvian music, out for dinner with 6 other classmates from Scotland, USA, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark
-- Friday -- relax in morning, classes from 2:30 -6:30, salsa lessons at Spanish school from 7-8, massage at 8:30 (Lena, Lotte & Tael) also have appointments, go to cafe for cake & coffee - oh & dinner :)
-- Saturday -- a little exercise, get caught in parade when trying to go to delicious juice place - stop and enjoy parade for a bit, half day tour of ruins outside Cusco, Indian food dinner with Lena & Lotte, delicious Chilean wine at wine bar while playing jenga with classmates

Cusco Parade 6.1.08

-- Sunday -- internet cafe to try to upload photos to this site (I hope you find them at least a bit interesting because the process has been a bit slow & so it is a fine accomplishment to get this far), fit in a little exercise, meet Lena & Lotte to go to outdoor market, get distracted by one of many parades in Cusco,

What a doll! In Cusco Parade 6.1.08

go to cafe with Lena & Lotte to study Spanish which actually becomes a discussion of our respective government structures. I even did a little graph of the executive, legislative & judicial branchs & got to explain who Condoleeza Rice works for. (note: this question however was not as difficult as the one I got today in class which was -- why did Janet Jackson showing her breast at the superbowl cause a scandal? please answer in Spanish. ugh.)


Besides cake, the food has been very good. I would not know how to characterize Peruvian food yet, but many meals - especially lunch start with soup, there is a lot of fresh fruit juice (bueno!), there is a lot of avocado (surprising to me, but delicious), a lot of chicken, bread & rice. Not a lot of vegetables :( I have not tried cuy yet, which is guinea pig & a traditional dish here, but that is planned for this week. I have had Pisco sours; I have not had the random thick corn beer, but will keep you posted. First weekend here, I ducked into what I felt was the most popular chicken place I saw that day -- many locals watching futbol (soccer). I got the 1/8 chicken deal for about US$1.25 which included soup (chicken foot included at no additional fee), an 1/8 rotissere chicken, fries & salad (which sadly I could not eat because you need to be worried about if it was washed in the local water, which is not good.) Delicious & cheap!

Hhmmm....claro! there is a chicken foot in my soup

As for sightseeing, a group of us went on a 6 hour city tour on Saturday, which actually takes you mostly outside of the city to see various Inca ruins. It is amazing how quickly you can get high above the city as you get further into the hills. The ruins really are fascinating, but sadly I am not sure how well they photograph. It is really the scale, complexity and intricacy of the structures and communities that is interesting. It is very hard to grasp unless you see it - so I apologize for limited, quality photos of the ruins. But as we touristas discussed on Saturday, I guess that is why we travel, because if you could get it all from a photo we wouldn´t need to make the journey.

Alpaca love outside Cusco at Inca ruins

So perhaps that is all for now. I suspect I will aim to update this next weekend before I leave Cusco on Monday June 9 to head to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley where I will land for the rest of June & July.

Love & Miss -
KG