In one of the longest days I´ve ever had

Actually, maybe this is second to my 2004 visit to the Philippines that consisted of 23 hours of travel and a family reunion for another several hours immediately after.  Neverthless, on June 6, I was in the air at midnight EST and did not return to my homestay until 11:30pm, Cuzco time... though my previous post stated that I´d be going home after the internet cafe.

So this is what went down.  Forgive me if I also don´t make sense since it took me a while to fall asleep and when I awoke 6 hours later, I felt like I hadn´t slept at all.

When I arrived in Lima, I had to go through the usual immigration procedures.  Since I managed maybe 4 hours of sleep on the place, I managed to tell the officer that I was going to be in Peru for 8 months (ocho meses) instead of 8 weeks (ocho semanas).  When he told me, in Spanish, that I could only stay 6 months without a visa, I was really confused.  Thankfully, he was very understanding of the blunder and simply smiled when I corrected myself.  The rest of my layover was interesting since I attempted to bring my check-in up to the gates, ended up buying agua con gas which exploded on my pants, got a whiff of some awful fish stench (Lima is by the ocean) and (a much happier one), ended up chatting with 3 girls who were also traveling alone and going to Cuzco to volunteer.  Unfortunately none of them were in my school, but it was nice to know that I wasn´t alone.

arriving at the airport in Cusco

Arriving in Cuzco was pretty painless.  There was a porter who helped me with my bags and we were able to immediately find my ride.  Unfortunately, my ride was waiting for other people and I was waiting in a car for an hour and a half with the driver who only spoke Spanish, but nevertheless entertained me with Peruvian music.  Finally, in came 2 more passengers from England who were very nice and we chatted until we were dropped off at our homes in different parts of town.

My host family is very very friendly and welcoming.  They speak a little English, and definitely encourage using Spanish at the house.  I met their other homestay person who isfrom Germany and had been in the house for 3 weeks.  My homestay mama had me drink mate de coca immediately and fed me a delicious meal of egg soup, a special Cuzquenan dish with potatos and cheese, chicken with an unknown sauce and carros, beets and platanos all doused with lime.  After that, I ended up taking a cold shower (misunderstood directions on how to get hot water) and went to sleep with wet hair (my blowdryer didn´t fit the adaptor).

I woke up to the sound of a guy, who kind of sounded like my sister´s boyfriend, which threw me off.  He was a third homestay-er and from Utah.  It was good that he was around because my homestay mama was able to send us into an unofficial taxi without fearing for my life.  Since it´s only 3 soles to get to the main plaza (a little over a dollar), we went there and trudged up the hill for a block and a half to get to school.  Let me tell you, 10,500 ft is no joking matter on your first day, when you are trying to hike up a hill.  But.. I managed without too much huffing and puffing and ended up at the school where we met a lot of different people from other countries.  There seemed to be very many from Holland and the U.S.

They sent us out on a walking tour with a guide.  Why they have us walking so much on the first day is beyond me.. haha.  But it was nice to see more and hear a bit about our city and get to chat with the others  along the way.  Cuzco is such a beautiful beautiful town.  I mean, I heard this before, but I didn´t realize just how much until I came here.  Halfway through our tour, my housemate managed to smell churros and had it in the brain for the rest of the tour.  So of course, when it was done, we rounded up our other classmates and went on a quest to find where the churro stand was.  We found it in a very roundabout way and only had to pay .50 soles which is like.. 20 cents.  It was amazing.  After, we had the others in the group lead and we ended up towards the more artsy district and had some drinks at El Nomade.  By that time, it was past 8.  We waved goodbye to the group but since my housemate hadn´t spoken to his family in ages, we decided to find an internet cafe.  We stayed there for an hour or so maybe and only spend 4 soles (just under 2 dollars)!  I´m really loving the prices in this town. 

After, we realized we should find some food and decided to go back to the churro stand in search of a burger.  Sadly, it closed, so we ended up at the pizzeria.  I tried Inca Kola for the first time.  Interesting.  Not too sweet and definitely tasted like how sweet fruity chewing gums do, but it was enjoyable.  We took our pizza and sat in from the the cathedral... chatting about politics, which was happily a painless conversation.  e finally decided to leave because it was getting quite cold!

Overall, I think a lack of sleep is a small price to pay for fun times with good people.  Now, I am just waiting for my class.  I ended up getting one in the afternoon.  Boo hiss.. but whatever.  I will find something to do. :)

Ciao.