Week one of class in Cusco—check! And what a fantastic week it was. Every day this week I wake up in the morning, have some glorious cereal with soy yogurt, and hit the Avenida to walk to class. We have Spanish class every morning from 9-12 and a conference every afternoon from 3-5. My friends and I are on a walking mission so we usually make the 50 minute walk from our houses at least twice, maybe 3 times, a day. In Peru, it’s a cultural custom to return to your house for lunch, so we go back and forth between our houses and the CBC 4 times every day. Public transportation is a possibility, but we prefer to walk (especially after lunch which fills you up to an extreme). Below is a picture of the notorious Condor, as viewed from my apartment complex window. My host grandma told me to use the Condor as a reference, especially when coming home at night. Therefore, the Condor and I have developed a deep love for each other and he has guided me home safely every night. Thanks Grams!
Our conferences have, thus far, been pretty boring. Every day we have a new speaker come in and talk to us on a topic about indigenous people in Peru. This past week basically included a short history on the indigenous populations in Peru, so it wasn’t too intriguing. But, we’ve got speakers this next week about bilingual education, intercultural medicine, etc. Should get more interesting! A typical post-conference hang out sesh is posted below, along with the amazing view from our classroom porch. I am wildly in love with Cusco.
Although our schedules are pretty jam-packed, we’re finding time to explore Cusco as well. After class some nights we’ll head out for a coffee or a drink in the Plaza. On Friday, we were able to stay in town for lunch, so we got the opportunity to explore more then as well. The other major opportunities for exploring are of course, the weekends. As a group, we’ve experienced the discotecas each Saturday, and they are quite the experience. But, this past Friday, at the recommendation of our assistant academic director, we hit up this place for some live Peruvian folk music. And it was fantastic! Honestly some of the best music I’ve seen live. A bunch of us were sitting at these little tables with candles on them in this great spot jamming to these 45-year-old Peruvians on pan pipes (as seen below). It was a fantastic experience and a great way to spend a Friday night.
The last major part of this week (I know there’s a lot that’s happened this week!) was the tour we embarked upon on Saturday morning. SIT nicely set up a tour of some of the major Incan ruins right near Cusco. We met up in the morning and took a bus to the farthest site out. After checking out that site, we hiked all the way back to town, stopping at others along the way. In total, we saw 4 of the major sites in the area—Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Q’enqo, and Saqsayhuaman (or as many people have nick-named it, “Sexy Woman”). Although our tour guide wasn’t too interesting, the views and the sites were phenomenal. It was pretty fantastic to hike all the way back to Cusco and admire the Andean mountains all along the way. I’m madly and wildly in love with these mountains. I know I’ve said this before, but whoa, I’m seriously in love. I can’t stop living in awe of their majestic glory around me and I don’t know how I’m going to live without them (not to be over-dramatic). Below are a few shots from our Cusco tour.
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