Jan 6 2013
After three hours of sleep and a few failed alarms, we successfully made it out of our hostel by 5:30am. Greeted by a nice, cool breeze and the same taxi drivers as last night we began the drive back to the airport. It seemed to be a quiet Sunday morning, there were few people on the street. A few dressed up as though they were headed to church... or maybe just leaving a party.
Street cleaners were out picking up some of the trash piles in front of homes. It was a peaceful morning, that calmed us for our next day of traveling. I wish we had more time to explore Lima, but before you knew it we were back at Jorge Chavez International Airport. We quickly got breakfast. Our flight to Cusco was a simple 1 hour domestic flight.
Mark, an intern with Amauta, was there to great us once we landed in Cusco. We took a bus to our volunteer house. The city of Cusco is beautiful, words really can't describe. The city is filled with bright colors. Quechen women in their traditional clothes walk the streets, some with babies in their arms, street vendors are all around, it's a very lively city. Even though it's rainy season, when the sun comes up the blue sky is breathtaking. The clouds feel so close to you due to the high altitude. But we'd soon find out this high altitude comes with a price...
When we arrived at the volunteer house, Amauta. There were three flights of stairs, that we had to walk up with our bags. It was at that point that we noticed this altitude is no joke! Cusco is 3,400 meters above sea level (that's over 11,000 feet). We began to feel out of breath and our lungs working extra hard, but the feeling subsides after awhile.
After being assigned our rooms and dropping off our things, we had lunch at the volunteer house (sopa y pollo con arroz). Then we finally had a chance to rest! We hadn't noticed till then that we had been going nonstop for the past two days. After catching up on rest, Mark along with another Amauta employee gave us a tour of the city. We walked down to La Plaza de Armas, known as the 'square of the warrior', then saw the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesus, and when you looked far into the mountains, you'd see the statue of Cristo Blanco. We then walked through Plaza Regocijo. There's so much to see and learn in Cusco, and each place is accompanied by a historical story. After our tour, we looked around to find a restaurant to eat at, we decided to do a local pizzeria that had one wooden oven and a delicious smell that lured us in. Some of us were more daring than others with our food orders. Kate had an Alpaca pizza, which she enjoyed! At the end of our meal, much to our surprise there was a Peruvian band that began to play! They were each so talented, great voices and skills on the guitar, box drum, and flute. We all loved it and began to sing along.
After a great meal, we headed back up the hill to our house. Once there, we had coca tea, which is said to help with altitude sickness. A few of the graduate students from China began to ask for English to Spanish translations. I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I remembered from Spanish classes and simple conversations I had had in the past. As my parents have always told me, Spanish is now such an important language to learn and this trip has reminded us all of that. I truly am enjoying practicing my Spanish with locals and answering the few translations that I can, and look forward to learning more by speaking more!
We are all really beginning to bond and learn more about one another! Well tomorrow is another full day.
Hasta la mañana
AWB 2013 Peru
Written by Courtnay Oddman
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